What's the best practice for handling duplicate content of product descriptions with a drop-shipper?
-
We write our own product descriptions for merchandise we sell on our website. However, we also work with drop-shippers, and some of them simply take our content and post it on their site (same photos, exact ad copy, etc...). I'm concerned that we'll loose the value of our content because Google will consider it duplicated.
We don't want the value of our content undermined... What's the best practice for avoiding any problems with Google?
Thanks,
Adam
-
I totally agree but you should be able to have another set written with great quality - The big drop shippers always rewrite manufacturer descriptions because of this issue.
- You need to decide if the gains out-ways the costs
- You need to decide if the gains out-ways the costs
-
oops, hit submit button twice..
-
Having two sets of ad copy does effectively solve the Google issue, but it creates two non-Google issues, both of which are potentially costly. For example:
-
I have to write new copy for them which costs time and money, and even then they may still not use it, which creates enforcement issues.
-
If it's substantially different copy (and possibly inferior, because let's face it, it's hard to write two sets of good compelling copy on the same item), then it may not convert as well, which means they sell less... and we sell less
I'm not saying you can't solve my original problem with this method. I'm just saying that there are some very real costs to take into consideration
-
-
Go with David's method, or a hybrid. Present them useable text and ask that they put that on their sites and if they won't then ask they they use canonical or noindex directives.
-
You could have them add a rel- canonical - But dropshippers want your content so they can rank they will not want to use it.
-
Hey guys, thanks for all the fast responses!
I thought I remembered reading something about a technical method for demonstrating to Google that your version of content is the original version. Is there a way to do that?
And yeah, we could ask them to change their behavior (or require it), but there are costs to both and I'm wondering if there's a more effective solution (such as the possibly mythical one above).
-
penalization isnt the only thing you need to worry about its a dropshipper that is stronger then you out ranking you.
-
The best way is to give your drop shippers a feed with 1 set of descriptions and your site having another set (people will still copy but much less)
-
Are these dropshippers people who have to obey by your agreements in order to continue doing business with you? Would it hurt your business to create a requirement that they either create unique content or have their pages use the noindex code to prevent google from finding the dupe?
Do most of your dropshippers get their traffic via Organic Search? Or are they using other advertising sources?
-
There is really nothing you can do because someone else is copying your description.
The only thing I can initially come up with is asking your dropshippers to not copy descriptions.
However, the content that is duplicated and might not really negatively effect your SEO. Google understands e-commerce and a lot of the times products on e-commerce sites are very similar and they do not get penalized. Another thing is that you originally created the description and Google does index according to freshness. As long as you are indexed first with the description, I don't see how Google can penalize you.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Duplicated content by the product pages
Hi,Do you thing those pages have duplicate content:https://www.nobelcom.com/Afghanistan-phone-cards/from-Romania-235-2.htmlhttps://www.nobelcom.com/Afghanistan-phone-cards-2.htmlhttps://www.nobelcom.com/Afghanistan-Cell-phone-cards-401.htmlhttps://www.nobelcom.com/Afghanistan-Cell-phone-cards/from-Romania-235-401.html.And also how much impact will it have on a panda update?I'm trying to figure out if all the product pages, (that are in the same way as the ones above) are the reson for a Panda Penalty
On-Page Optimization | | Silviu0 -
No product descriptions
Hi all, Wondering if I could get the opinions from other Moz user's on this issue please... A client is building a new online store, it is in the flooring niche, using the drop shipping model. The plan is to launch the site with about 1,000 products and then add more as we go. All good so far (the site is magento based) However, the issue we are facing is down to product descriptions. The client needs to get the site up and running asap to start generating sales but the wholesaler has not provided any product description information for the products - save the size, shape and colour. Can anyone foresee a major issue in launching the website with no product descriptions, from a seo point of view, and then adding the descriptions as we go. Have been trying to establish what Google defines as being a thin site and all the information on the topic is suggesting it is more due to duplicate content where, for example, retailers are all still using the default manufacturer description or have spun the content. I cannot find much which would suggest that product pages missing a description would classify as thing. I am happy to be corrected though. I accept that it would be easier to rank with a good product description but the client is a two person business and it is pretty hard to find things to say about 1,000 different kinds of rugs! Any thoughts would be most welcome please. Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | daedriccarl0 -
301 redirected Duplicate Content, still showing up as duplicate after new crawl.
We launched a site where key landing pages were not showing up in google. After running the seomoz crawl it returned a lot of duplicate pages which may expalin this. The actual url of the page is /design and it was telling me the following were dupes: /design/family-garden-design
On-Page Optimization | | iterate
/design/small-garden-design
/design/large-rural-garden-design
/Design All of these URL's were in fact pointing to the /design landing page. I 301 redirected all of the pages so they all now resolve to /design After running another crawl the day after doing this it's still showing up as duplicate content on seomoz. Does seomoz evaluate the new changes right away?0 -
Duplicate content
Hello, I have two pages showing dulicate content. They are: http://www.cedaradirondackchairs.net/ http://www.cedaradirondackchairs.net/index Not sure how to resolve this issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | Ronb10230 -
Duplicate Content - Site Wide or Internet Wide?
Hello... I am creating a new website and i was wondering how you guys would define duplicate content? If my new site had the same page titles and descriptions as my existing site, would that be duplicate content? Or does duplicate content mean same titles and descriptions in the same site? I'm wondering if i can upload the same database (with page titles and descriptions and alt tags) to my new site or if that would be looked at as duplicate... Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Prime850 -
Duplicate content on my domain
I have several pages on my domain that are using the same content except for changing a paragraph or sentence. Do I need to create unique content, even though much of the information pertains to a feature and is related?
On-Page Optimization | | Court_H0 -
Percentage of duplicate content allowable
Can you have ANY duplicate content on a page or will the page get penalized by Google? For example if you used a paragraph of Wikipedia content for a definition/description of a medical term, but wrapped it in unique content is that OK or will that land you in the Google / Panda doghouse? If some level of duplicate content is allowable, is there a general rule of thumb ratio unique-to-duplicate content? thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | sportstvjobs0 -
Another SEO's point of view
Hiya fellow SEO's I have been working on a site - www.hplmotors.co.uk and I must say it has become difficult due to flaws with the content management system . We are speaking with the web site makers to be able to add a unique title, description to all pages. I know what is wrong but I would also like some 2nd opinions on this and welcome any suggestions for the site. A burnt out seo 🙂 thanks
On-Page Optimization | | onlinemediadirect0