Could this be an issue with duplicate content?
-
Hi everyone,
I am working with a business consultant in the HVAC industry and doing SEO for 8 of his clients (all HVAC businesses from around the US and Canada). Each website is essentially a mirror of the business consultant's website with really the same information-- it applies perfectly well to each individual website, but it IS nearly, if not, identical. I'm getting ready to implement a blog on the original HVAC page and have been considering using the same content (customized to reflect each business-- but still the same information) for blogs for my other 8 clients.
My questions are:
1. Is the mirroring of the website a duplicate content problem? Example if you're interested: http://www.mcair.com (original) and http://www.jpsheating.ca/ (client).
2. Is using the same blog across 8 different website (customized for each client but the same basic information) a duplicate content issue? For example-- a blog about getting your air ducts cleaned... the information is going to be the same (and relevant) with each business and each business could benefit from sharing that information with their customers.
Thanks so much for your help and explanation
-
Hi Kaitlin, Consider this perspective regarding your duplicate content, especially seeing as your content and keywords seem to be geo-targeted to different areas.
For this example, let's use a keyword like 'air conditioning repair Houston'
Let's say that you've written the best 1000+ word page on the internet about the keyword 'air conditioning repairs Houston' and Google have ranked that article/page in the top 3 results. They ranked it because it was highly informative and well written.
Now let's say you just swapped the word 'Houston' to 'California'. Would that article technically still be the best information on the internet about 'air conditioning repairs California'? Well, unless someone has written one better in California, I believe it would be.
All Google cares about is showing the best information in relation to the search query. They couldn't care less if it's duplicate. That's a problem for site owners to bicker over if someone else is using someone's content. As far as Google is concerned, that article is still the best article on the internet about 'air conditioning repairs California', which is why they'll allow it to rank first. They don't care that there's another 99.9% similar article about 'air conditioning repairs Houston', as that's a different keyword, and the searcher is searching for different information.
Even as an internet user yourself, do you care that the amazing information you're reading is available in another state? As long as your query is answered with the best information possible then who would really care. All of the top high authority news and entertainment sites circulate duplicate content all day long.
The duplicate content penalty is for pages on your domain only. If you have multiple pages under a single domain that have duplicate content, that's where the misunderstood duplicate content penalty applies. It doesn't apply if you use the same content on a different domain. You might not rank as well using duplicate content on a different domain, but you definitely won't get penalised for it.
I've tried and tested duplicate sites a few times, exact same words, images, themes etc. Although the niches weren't that strong, the complete duplicate site was soon ranking in 1st place for all of the same keywords as the original duplicate site, just in a different area. That's because the content answered the searcher's query the best. All that changed was the location, but Google still considered it to be the best content on the net about that particular keyword.
Here's another example, let's say you published a great article 10 days ago about a generic keyword. Let's assume my site is a DA60+ and PR5 and your site is a DA10 and PR-N/A. And now I publish the same article on my site, who do you think will rank better. In the worst case scenario, I would rank second, but more than likely I would rank 1st. My point being, that even though it's copied 100%, I'll still rank with it.
-
Thanks so much for your response. I really appreciate your thoughts, and inherently agree with your viewpoint. I just wasn't exactly sure where the lines are drawn for duplicate content. You've given me some great thoughts and certainly some ideas of how to jump in and start fixing the problems. I appreciate your help and that you took the time to answer.
Thanks!
-
Thanks very much for your thoughts. Your comments were both what I was anticipating and sort of afraid would happen. Since I took over these clients fairly recently, I can't help what was done in the past, but I can certainly work to better localize them and create more unique content between each client.
I really appreciate you taking your time to give your input!
-
Hi,
Here is my view:
All the websites no matter whom they belong to, should have substantially unique content. We need to keep in mind about the very purpose behind why Google exists and what does it take to be able find a place for your website in their index. If two pages serve identical content, why should a search engine like Google index both?
A good example would be, affiliate marketing setup where the affiliate website contains exactly the same content that the original product website. Even the affiliate websites should have their own unique version of content. They should also take up the effort to re-write the product descriptions so that they are not exact copies of the ones found on the original product website.
Coming to your case, by making the content on all the consultants' websites unique, they stand a better chance to rank for corresponding keywords/phrases in search engines. If I were you, I would have re-written the content so that it becomes unique. Hope that helps my friend.
Best regards,
Devanur Rafi
-
Hi Kaitlin. The duplicate content could very well be a problem as the words are exactly the same on some pages / navigation / etc. Since these are localized businesses, I'd suggest focusing services on some rewrites and local optimization. In these cases it's probably better to start off with a little less content that is unique and great local optimization than duplicate content and poor local work.
The blog could further compound the duplicate content issues for the client sites as the content duplication will now be lining up in terms of freshness and publication date as well. Having topical themes for content is fine, but they should each be focused on their own areas / customers. At least in enough of a way as to make the work unique. Cheers!
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
-
Tool to identify duplicated content on other sites
Hi does anyone know of a tool that could be used to identify if a site is using our content without permission? Thanks
Content Development | | turismodevino10 -
The etiquette of reproducing someone else's content
Hello - Here is a scenario, representative of something that I just saw play out. Site A is a new blog about travel (as an example topic) Site B is an older, established blog about travel Site C is a new blog launched and owned by Site B that focuses on a particular travel niche (luxury travel, for example) Here is what happens next Site A writes an original piece of content Site C then republishes Site A's content, paraphrasing all of the text, but giving Site A credit with a link Site B (the established site) publishes a blurb about the article, directing readers with a link to "read more" on Site C. It credits Site A as the original author, but does not link to it. If you were able to follow that, here is what I would like to know. Did Site C do anything wrong by republishing a paraphrased version of Site A's content, even though it gave credit with a link? Did Site B do anything wrong by linking to Site C (which is for all intents and purposes the same website), but not linking to Site A (the original source)? My sense is that the established blog (Site B) is trying to get it's new publication (Site C) to outrank the original author (Site A) using its own content. In general though, I am curious to get some thoughts on this situation because it raises a few ethical questions that I am not sure about, namely: Is there anything wrong with publishing "spun" content, if it is done well and links back to the source? Is there anything wrong with linking to a republished version of an article on a sister website, rather than linking to the original article. Thanks
Content Development | | timsegraves1 -
Repurpose/reuse blog content - email address to make available for this
Hi, From Rand's recent Whiteboard Friday, I learned this: "Have right on the blog page the email address to use if they want to repurpose/reuse the content. That way if someone wants to give us a backlink and quote/reference our blog, they have an easy way to get permission." My question is, what do I say with the email address when I list our contact email? Something like 1. Just list the email address 2. "To reuse/repurpose our content, please contact adress@email.com." or something else?
Content Development | | BobGW0 -
Duplicated Terms and Conditions?
Does Google penalise duplicated terms and conditions. I know solicitors use the same legal terms and phrases all the time... Thanks
Content Development | | GaryVictory0 -
Duplicate Content
Hi Does anyone know a site where i can paste text to test for duplication? We've used some outstanding freelancer copywriters in the past but need to check the authenticity of the article created before publishing, Thanks Gary
Content Development | | GaryVictory0 -
Creating the best content in your industry
Im currently working with a new client and their goal is to create the absolute best content in their industry. I've seen alot of articles on WHY to create the best content but not a lot on HOW to create the best content. Can anyone recommend a article they recall which talked more about the HOW. I'm looking for a process on how to create awesome content, how to go about it. Any suggestions?
Content Development | | monster990 -
Evergreen content: Dedicated section or blog posts?
As part of our content strategy we are creating an ongoing series of articles to help both our potential buyers and our users learn about our product and improve their knowledge of industry best practices in general. Internally, we've had some debate as to where we should host this content within our site. We've identified two approaches: Series of blog posts Dedicated knowledge section of the website If we go with the first approach, we would created a dedicated section that indexed all the blog posts. If we went with the second, we'd create blog posts for each of the articles announcing their addition. Is there any difference, SEO wise with the two approaches? What would you recommend? Thanks, Darren.
Content Development | | dgibbons0 -
How to deal with an media press content?
We have a company that create content and send as media press. We would like to use this content in our blog. We made it using RSS and having in our blog the same content. So right now we have some concern about duplicate content. How do you guys deal with deal? Would we be penalized by duplicated content?
Content Development | | kauelinden0