Sites With Duplicate Content Ranking Way Higher

[annasus]

The site I am writing about is easendtorontohomes.com

I don't get it. I see that some of my competitors have more inbound links and have been around longer. Their SEOmoz trust etc is also higher.

But I don't get how many could possibly be ranking higher since they're sites are all template based site via Web Tech Design and the content is duplicated from one to the other.

The other weird thing is that they do everything wrong - they stuff their keywords tag, some of them use the same keywords/meta data on every single page, some of them don't even have meta tags, some of them don't even have a blog with ANY original content.

Apart from listings EastEndTorontoHomes.com has TONS of original, well-researched, and keyword rich content.

I just don't get it. Is it possible that google has some sort of relationship with that company? Or am I totally missing something?

Some of these sites include:

tinasmith.ca, mikeclarke.com, teamkassen.com

[AlanMosley]

Ask him if a 301 leaks link juice? it does confirmed by Matt cutts.

why would 2700 leaks not be a problem?

Bing denfinatly sees it as a problem. the scanner i use is what bing sees.

Browsers never ever add 301 redirects, you site is added the 301's.

ask what siort of technology is the site writtin in? ASP, PHP?

What sort of server, IIS, Apachee

[annasus]

I sent your first message to my webmaster and this is his response.

"Many browsers will automatically add the "/" at the end of a URL.  That is out of our hands and something that has very little affect, if any, on how the site performs in search engines."

No sure what to say to him?

[AlanMosley]

here is an example

The link to "http://eastendtorontohomes.com/new-listing-email-alerts-toronto-real-estate-updates" has resulted in HTTP redirection to "http://eastendtorontohomes.com/new-listing-email-alerts-toronto-real-estate-updates/".

not the "/" onj the end of second link

in your code you can see the link

the link should point directly to

[so whats happening is your link points to the non "/" url and is redirected to the "/" url. Each time it does this it loses rank, your site does this 3117 times. thats a lot of lost rank.

Give me a email and i will send you a list.](/new-listing-email-alerts-toronto-real-estate-updates/)

[annasus]

Hi Alan

Thanks for the response, but (sorry) I still don't get it

Can you tell me how/where you see this? That might help me understand the issue.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question(s). I really appreciate it!

[AlanMosley]

No i think your home page was ok. but most other pages, if you put in the url without a trailing "/" it will add it (301 redirect) thats ok, but your links in the site should send users directy to the trailing "/" address, but they dont they send to the non "/" address and arer then 301 redirected to the "/" addess. every time you redirect you lose link juice.

[annasus]

Hey Alan

I just realized I read your initial response incorrectly. I was reading it on my iphone

Anyways - I'm not actually sure I understand what you're saying about 301's redirecting to a trailing "/" Doesn't that just mean it's being redirected to the home page?

Where do you seen them - and how do you seen them? How could I see them? What do I tell my webmaster so that he'll understand how to fix it?

[AlanMosley]

70% is a bit high. I think SeoMoz has it more about 50%

How i see it , geting links for a site with crawl errors is in-efficient, you may need 2,3  or 10 times as many links to make a site with violations rank

[annasus]

Thanks! I already noticed the 302 redirects situation. Trying to get web ppl to fix that up. Was just at a seminar by CEO of searchenginepeople.com and he was saying off page factors acct for 70% of googles search ranking factors. Explains why those crappy sites would get ranked just cuz they have a lot of links. Still crazy though considering their song and dance about duplicate content and meta stuffing.

[AlanMosley]

One thing i found with your site, is it has a problem with 301 redirects. you have urls 301 redirecting to a trailing "/"

that is fine, but then all your links point to non trailing "/" urls. this mean every link is losing rank as 301's leak link juice, it may also look messy and spammy to SE's.

You should fix all those links, or 301 to non trailing "/" You have 2700+ of them

[EGOL]

I don't get it. I see that some of my competitors have more inbound links and have been around longer. Their SEOmoz trust etc is also higher.

Why don't you get it?    You arrived late to the fight and they had already taken the high ground.  You are outgunned and outnumbered.

Apart from listings EastEndTorontoHomes.com has TONS of original, well-researched, and keyword rich content.

This is the great news.  You have the makings of what it will take to defeat them.

Keep working.  Sharpen your on-page optimization.