Duplicate content and rel canonicals?

[ProsperoDigital]

Hi. I have a question relating to 2 sites that I manage with regards to duplicate content. These are 2 separate companies but the content is off a data base from the one(in other words the same). In terms of the rel canonical, how would we do this so that google does not penalise either site but can also have the content to crawl for both or is this just a dream?

[TommyTan]

Hi,

I have to agree with Devanur-Rafi.  If both of the sites are serving the exact content, although Google have the power to do whatever they want, they'll most likely take the rel=canonical into consideration and display the page the tag is pointing to over the second site.

So, yes it is a dream to display both site with the same content in the search result and by using the canonical tag, Google won't penalize both sites and display the preferred site.

That's my 2 cents.

Thank you!

[Devanur-Rafi]

Hi William, thanks for sharing your experience here. My experience has been totally different from that of your's.

Here is what Dr.Pete has to say..

Taken from: http://moz.com/blog/rel-confused-answers-to-your-rel-canonical-questions

2) Can I Use Rel=Canonical Cross-domain?

Yes – in late 2009, Google announced support for cross-domain use of rel=canonical. This is typically for syndicated content, when you’re concerned about duplication and only want one version of the content to be eligible for ranking.

(3) Should I Use Rel=Canonical Cross-Domain?

That’s a tougher question. First off, Google may choose to ignore cross-domain use of rel=canonical if the pages seem too different or it appears manipulative. The ideal use of cross-domain rel=canonical would be a situation where multiple sites owned by the same entity share content, and that content is useful to the users of each individual site. In that case, you probably wouldn’t want to use 301-redirects (it could confuse users and harm the individual brands), but you may want to avoid duplicate content issues and control which property Google displays in search results. I would not typically use rel=canonical cross-domain just to consolidate PageRank.

Best regards,

Devanur Rafi

[William.Lau]

Its true they are a strong hint but when the domains are not the same, the canonical tag will not work as well as you would think.

I've attempted this personally and it didn't work that well.

[Devanur-Rafi]

Except for very exceptional cases, Google considers and respects the rel=canonical implementation and its a strong hint for them.

Here you go for more:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/rel-canonical-html-head/

Best regards,

Devanur Rafi

[William.Lau]

The canonical tags as mentioned by Kingof5 is directional. Google can still do whatever it wants.

Preferably you should canonical the duplicate pages to the original but that may cause one to not be indexed. That still may help as the authority from the other site will be forwarded (theoretically) to your canonical page.

But yes, it is a dream.

[Kingof5]

There are no absolutes with canonicals. Google treats them as suggestions, not rules.

[Devanur-Rafi]

Hi, with rel=canonical in place, there is no way that both the pages from the two sites appearing and ranking in the search results. Only the canonical or the preferred page will be indexed and can rank in Google.

You should be thinking along the lines to make the content on both the sites unique. Though these two sites operate and target the same niche, you can definitely make the content unique from each other.

Best regards,

Devanur Rafi