Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
My WebSite has two sections with overlapping, or redundant articles on the same topics. Google is only listing one or the other article in Search Results. What should I do to have both pages (similiar but unique content ) to be listed?
-
My Web Site has two sections with overlapping, or redundant articles on the same topics. Google is only listing one or the other article in Search Results. What should I do to have both pages (similar but unique content ) to be listed?
Example:
http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/pregnancy_week_12.htm
http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/pregnancy_12_weeks.html
-
When I suggested combining the two articles, what I meant was to sit down with both articles and merge them into one article. This wouldn't be a simple copy and paste the two articles together. Instead you would logically merge the content, excluding any duplicate information.
When you are finished, review the article and then ask others to do so as well. Each article offers a lot of content. To help you better target key terms you can split the final article up into two articles.
I know this sounds confusing so I will clarify. Lets say you have Article A and Article B. Each article covers the same topic and contains about 1500 words. Upon reviewing both articles you realize about 1000 words are the same. The goal would then to merge the 500 unique words into the first article and make a single 2000 word article.
Once that process is complete, you can then set out on your original goal of targeting more key words. To do that, you can break your 2000 word article into two (or more) articles, each targeting a couple phrases.
-
Hi Ryan
I have thought of combining the two articles into one, but was concerned about the added content as being duplicate. etc....
-
Google recognizes there are two pages with the same content. You have two options:
1. Let Google know these pages have the same content but you are choosing to keep both to provide a better user experience. This can be achieved by adding the canonical tag to your head code. Since you specifically stated you wish both pages to be listed, I'll move on to option 2.
2. You need to offer a significant variation between the two pages. Google is looking for UNIQUE content. Your header, footer and both side bars offers identical content on both pages. That is a common practice, but it also works against you in this instance. These two articles clearly are discussing the exact same subjects and Google recognizes it as such.
It is very clear you are using these two pages in an attempt to rank for more key words. Google's system is designed to prevent your efforts. Even if you were to get through, it is only a matter of time until an adjustment is made and one of the pages gets filtered out.
Look at your site from a reader's point of view. If a visitor read one of those articles, would they gain anything more by looking at the second article? Try combining the two articles into one, and then possibly further segmenting them. Some ideas:
-
pregnancy 12 weeks from a doctor's point of view
-
pregnancy 12 weeks from a mother's point of view
-
pregnancy 12 weeks from a father's point of view
You can also look at "pregnancy complications" or sub-topics such as "Signs my baby is healthy". The ultimate goal of this process for you will be to offer more opportunities to use this content to target more key word phrases.
You want to decide "What is in the best interests of my readers" then take those steps. Currently you give the clear impression you wish to get traffic on your site so you can sell the items listed.
-
-
You found the issue here with your question. They have similar content, so Google is showing only one. I would try to change the on-page SEO attributes of your articles to target different keywords.
It's not very often that Google is going to show the same site for the same search unless the articles are quite unique. They strive for diversity in their links.
You may be able to accomplish a little more uniqueness by changing the Title, H1, name of the article, subheadings, content, incoming links, etc.
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
-
Reusing content on different ccTLDs
We have a client with many international locations, each of which has their own ccTLD domain and website. Eg company-name.com, company-name.com.au, company-name.co.uk, company-name.fr, etc. Each domain/website only targets their own country, and the SEO aim is for each site to only rank well within their own country. We work for an individual country's operations, and the international head office wants to re-use our content on other countries' websites. While there would likely be some optimsation of the content for each region, there may be cases where it is re-used identically. We are concerned that this will cause duplicate content issues. I've read that the separate ccTLDs should indicate to search engines that content is aimed at the different locations - is this sufficient or should we be doing anything extra to avoid duplicate content penalties? Or should we argue that they simply must not do this at all and develop unique content for each? Thanks Julian
Content Development | | Bc.agency0 -
Page Break
Hey guys, A client has asked us to install a page break function on their Wordpress site in the hope of increasing page count. It's a very common practice but have never used it as part of a strategy. Any thoughts, pros or cons?
Content Development | | wearehappymedia0 -
How much should I pay for one hour of content creation work?
Hi I have recently been looking for some new content creators to work with. And I recently asked a blogger that I know of how much he would charge for some content creations. I told him that I'm looking for some good compelling content that is about 400 to 500 words. And he told me that he would charge $180 an hour. I sorta feel like that's a bit to much, but I don't want to jump to conclusions without any advice from you all. I'm very well versed in my SEO and do most of the work for my site. But I think a fresh touch would really be helpful.
Content Development | | LittleDog1 -
Images & Duplicate Content Issues
Here's a scenario for you: The site is running WordPress and the images are uploaded to the media section. You can set image attributes there such as the Description & Alt Tag. Let's say you'd like to reuse the same image in two different blog posts. The image keeps the same Description & Alt Tag associated with it in the media section. Would this be considered duplicate content? What would be the best practice in this case to reuse the same image in multiple posts?
Content Development | | VicMarcusNWI0 -
Content Writing Service Recommendations
I am looking to hire a content writer for our sites. Anyone familiar with a service where the manage the content on your site? Basically, come up with topics & content ideas, then writing the content. Please give me an idea of the pricing if possible. Greatly appreciate any help.
Content Development | | inhouseseo0 -
Is it possible for a website with only 20 pages to be ranked in top?
Hi, I want to ask is it possible for a website with about 20 pages to be ranked well in Google for keywords with middle concurency? Most of the web sites in the top for such keywords are with much content and many pages. This is the web site: http://logos-sofia.com/ And that's are the comeptitors: https://www.google.bg/search?q=курсове+по+немски&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
Content Development | | vladokan0 -
Services Page vs Page For Each Service Offered
Read an interesting article about how websites with just a "services" page suffer and they should try to create a meaningful page for each service they offer... Read so many blogs right now that I can't remember where I saw it
Content Development | | JamesFx0 -
Can you have too many words on a page for SEO?
One line of thinking is that you can not have too many words on a page because the more words you have the higher the chances that a long tail phrase will attract traffic. But can you go overboard with this? Is there a limit to the number of words on a page in terms of SEO?
Content Development | | ProjectLabs0