Wouldn't this be an issue of duplicate content?

[creybot]

I'm currently in the beginning stages of doing SEO analysis for a new client. They're an IT support company here in Phoenix, AZ.

In doing some keyword research and competitive research, I've noticed that one of their competitors (who ranks in the top 3 for many of the targeted keywords), is doing something that I thought would surely be a duplicate content issue.

On their home page, they have dozens of links of zip codes in the Phoenix area. Each link leads to a page devoted to that zip code. Each page is identical, except that the zip code is changed in the header tag. Most of these zip code pages are indexed in Google.

Isn't this an example of duplicate content, or better yet, content spamming? I've seen this thing quite a bit with high ranking sites, and I thought these were the kinds of things that were getting taken care of in the post "Panda" era.

I might just be misunderstanding this whole thing, but any guidance or intel would be greatly appreciated.

[reynoldsdesign]

I've got the same issue with a client of mine. Their competition is beating them on a lot of searches for their area. The competition site has a link to a 95% duplicate content page for every zip code in the state. Their page are similar to this:

Wet Basements in Minneapolis MN 55101
Wet Basements in Minneapolis MN 55102

etc

The same content except for city name and zip code are changed out.

[creybot]

Agreed. I can't stand seeing this. Hopefully, nowadays I'd think this'll be harder to do simply because so many domain names will be taken.

[Robin_Jennings]

I just saw this working well for a small web design firm in Victoria Australia. They created a separate page for all the towns in the area, linked to it from their homepage and were dominating SERPs for no reason apart from tricking google into thinking it was a larger firm than it was. That stuff annoys the heck out of  me

[creybot]

That's what I'm thinking based on what I'm seeing - most of the high ranking sites are pretty bad overall. Lot of old, early 2000 looking sites and all that goes with that.

[Zachary_Russell]

Hello,

I would agree with what was said, this is DEFINITELY duplicate content, and is also exteremely Spammy. I unfortunately see this as well on a lot of sites, especially for local SEO, without getting in to detail of these strategies. My view of this is that these concepts are adding absolutely no value to the web, and really should not be done by any legitimate online marker as a means of increasing rankings.

Here is a recommendation, since I don't belive that the "if you can't beat them, join them" approach would be helpful, why don't you create specific pages for each zip code/locality, and create unique content for every page. As a rule of thumb, I try to have 55% of content on any given page unique. Some strategies that work for me is to use local landmarks and events.

I think as google's algorithm progresses strategies like this will be beaten down, but who knows how long it'll take for that to happen.

Hope this helps

Zach

[GeorgeAndrews]

I see a lot of this for phone numbers too.

In reading your question though, I had to ask myself this question, "Are these sites ranking because there are no better alternatives?" If everyone in the space is using duplicate content/content spamming, they will all be in the results because no one is creating a site with better information.

I would view your research as opportunity. If you feel you need to connect with customers based on zip code, build  better pages and become the best result for your users.