Why is this store getting hurt in SERPs when they removed duplicate content?
-
I work with an e-commerce client who got hit hard by Panda. They are very cautious, and want small-scale tests to prove each hypothesis before committing to larger changes.
Recently, we reworked content on 30 product detail pages. Before, these product pages featured some original content mixed with some manufacturer content. The change we made was to remove the manufacturer content completely from the product page, leaving about 300 words of high-quality, original content--all of which was written by subject matter experts.
I assumed that Google viewed this manufacturer text as duplicate content. However, when these 30 modified pages were compared to the control, they performed significantly worse.
Question 1: Does any have any idea why these pages would perform worse than the control?
Question 2: Do you have any tips for convincing this client to try another test or get the buy-in to make the larger changes that--in theory--need to happen?FWIW, this client has about 10,000 product detail pages--the vast majority of which contain just manufacturer content.
I appreciate your thoughts.
-
I would be curious to look at each form of the pages using the LDA tool.
The main reason to use the tool is to understand if you are significantly reducing the page's relevancy to your target keyword(s).
-
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
We didn't make any changes to any of the titles or any overall site changes. We measured the changes using internal tracking tools to get the daily traffic by search engine to each product detail page. We also used Google Webmaster Tools to estimate SERP positional data.
The updated pages do have about half as many total words as the control, so that could definitely explain it.
For followup testing, I'm thinking of trying:
- test versus control, same word count, test is 100% original, control is 0% original
- test versus control, same word count, test is 50% original, control is 0% original
- test versus control, same word count, test is 25% original, control is 0% original
-
Hi Sarah.
I can't blame the client for wanting small tests. It's actually a prudent strategy.
I think having some manufacturer content mixed in with other quality content is fine. Normally 300 words would be a bit thin but for product pages that is not bad at all.
What changes to the page were made other then the content? Did the title change at all?
How exactly are you measuring the performance of these pages. Please provide as much detail as possible.
Is there any other site wide changes being made at the same time?
Does any have any idea why these pages would perform worse than the control?
Assuming there are no other factors involved, which is a big assumption, the only logical response I can offer is the revised pages are viewed by Google as weaker. By removing the manufacturer's content the pages are thinner and less relevant to the keywords involved.
Do you have any tips for convincing this client to try another test or get the buy-in to make the larger changes that--in theory--need to happen?
How to restore a client's confidence after making an error?
Assure the client you realize they are highly dependent upon their rankings for sales. You are proceeding under your experiences and knowledge, which has been successful in the past. Panda is a new thing and Google is still making rolling out new changes. The industry is still learning and adjusting to these changes. You are consulting with others regarding the unexpected results and you are committed to ensuring this project is properly completed.
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
-
Clarification on duplicate content
Hi, if I have a page that unintentionally ranks for a term that I want to create a page for - say "atlanta apartments" - should I still create a page specifically intended to rank for "atlanta apartments"? Will canonical tags be crucial in this case? Hoping to avoid creating duplicate content and instead create the correct content for a specific term.
Content Development | | smiller760 -
Need advice on Paying for content?
Hi, We would like to attracting more readers onto our blog by accepting guest posting from external bloggers. Could anyone refer any good artricles on MOZ about the best practices on managing the activities and what would be the normal KPIs and ROI?
Content Development | | LauraHT0 -
Great content/news articles - but struggling to drive traffic from them
We publish 2-3 great quality news stories/posts on our sites weekly, but are struggling to gain traffic from external sources for them, other than our own blog and socials. We have followings for each of our sites, but want to expand and get our posts found in other relevant blogs, features, releases etc. The posts are 'Top 10 Tips...', 'How To... in 6 Easy Steps', 'What Makes a Great...' etc. All great things that people want to read about and share. All this of course helps towards the SEO of the sites, but the posts aren't written for that, they are written to guide and inform. My question is, how are other people getting their great content found online, talked about and shared? I personally think that our posts are awesome; containing useful information that will help people. Isn't that what it's all about?
Content Development | | bricktech0 -
Ecommerce site content upgrade timescale.
I have been upgrading my sites content and structure and I have been wondering how long I should wait for a traffic increase before I should think it has been a failure and try a new plan of attack?
Content Development | | mark_baird0 -
Will our two retail sites get hit with duplicate content?
Our retail site just rolled out a second online store. The URL is new and it is showing some of the same products from the same vendors (probably about 40% of the fist store is in the second store). Down the road, we will remove the products from the first site, however, we are keeping it for now. The products show up on both sites, with the same images, and the same descriptions and almost the same URL query string. Are we going to get hit with any penalties due to duplicate content?
Content Development | | klmarketing0 -
Page hidden in SERPs
As well as unique content, we carry press releases (contracts with PR companies) Some pages don't show up in SERPs - but sometimes a few or even hundreds of other sites do. At the end of the search, google shows this: In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 109 already displayed.
Content Development | | loopyal
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included. When the search is repeated, using that link, the page often shows up in the top 10 or top 20. I believe this is a site problem, not a page problem. We are often one of the first to publish the release.0 -
Using testimonials to build quality content
I don't see a lot of talk on here about using testimonials to build good content. From what I have seen, the search engines love client testimonials. I haven't found a good service provider for this yet. I'm thinking something combined with Twitter or FB that also allows you to show the content on your site would be great. Can anyone recommend a service like this? I'm checking out a service called, "Quick Vouch" but I haven't tested it yet.
Content Development | | BradBorst0 -
Duplicating Articles/Blogs
Two years ago, some articles and blogs were written and submitted to certain tech and news sites relevant to our field. Will it be fine to submit those to other sites now. It is our content only and not some one else, but would it be penalty to submit the copy to other article sites whereever those articles/content are relevant today also?
Content Development | | sayeed0