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Apr

The 9 Myths of Duplicate Content

Filed Under duplicate content, website traffic myths

Do duplicate content penalties exist? There’s a great deal of confusion over this subject, and you need to know how to cut through that confusion if you want to have a successful website. I’d like to share with you some myths and what my take on reality is.

One of the best ways to promote your site or blog is by syndicating your content. That is to say, distributing your content across the web on multiple websites is an excellent way to build traffic, exposure, and branding. But, you have to be careful with this as you can run into penalties for duplicate content.

I have heard some people claim, however, that duplicate content penalties do not exist. I’m here to tell you that they do, and Google says so.

Although the wording is mine, many of these conflicting and confusing views have been stated in various ways on online forums. You can infer then, that many more people are having doubts and confusion about this issue. It’s no wonder, since Google themselves are rather (surprise!) vague about it. I have quite a bit of personal experience using both unique and duplicate content on my site, as well as distributing unique and duplicate content elsewhere on the web, so allow me to share.

A while back, I read Allan Gardyne’s advice about not placing the same exact content on your website as you place elsewhere. He didn’t express that as a mandate (e.g. “don’t duplicate your content”), he just happened to mention it as part of what he does. Ever since then, I’ve considered it a best practice.

You may or may not be following a similar practice. But, do you comprehend the significance of modifying your content so that it is unique on each and every website to which you syndicate? If not, you’re missing a big opportunity, and you may be hurting yourself. I myself, did not at the time “get it.”

But, have a look at what Google says about duplicate content:

“Syndicate carefully: If you syndicate your content on other sites, make sure they include a link back to the original article on each syndicated article. Even with that, note that we’ll always show the (unblocked) version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer.”

In other words, in the search results for a given keyword, Google may show your Ezinearticles.com article instead of the page on your site. So, it’s clear (as mud) that Google may penalize you for duplicate content and, in the worst case (that I can think of), will not show your page in the search results pages for your chosen keywords. Nice. So, the question is, why take the chance?

Note: I’ve said this before elsewhere, but if you’re totally confused about duplicate content (and I understand if you are), then I urge you to forget about the search engine issues and whether or not duplicate content penalties actually exist for a moment (all indications are that they do exist, and Google tells us they do as above, it’s just that the concepts here are very misunderstood and full of “what ifs”). Assume they exist, and it becomes much clearer as to how to proceed.

If we assume that duplicate content penalties exist, then we certainly want to avoid them in order to do well in the search engines. You also want to avoid duplicate content with respect to visitors. Think about this… let’s say you have a brand new, unproven site about cats, which has no trust and authority with Google.

You write an article on cat diseases. You place that article not only on your site, but also on 10 article distribution sites without modifying any of it. A number of websites pick up your article and publish them. So, over time, you have a total of 50 identical article instances out there on the web. If one or more of those sites has more trust and authority with Google than your site, it’s highly likely that one of those sites will rank higher than yours.

That, in a nut shell, is the issue with duplicate content across multiple domains. Now, here’s the thing. Even if Google does list all 50 of those articles as the top 50 for your keywords, what happens to the visitor experience when every site they go to has identical content?

If someone is searching for information on cat diseases, then they’re going to get tired of seeing the exact same article over and over again. After a couple of reads, they’re going to say “oh, I’ve seen this before…” and they’ll click that “X” to close the page without ever visiting your site.

On that note, here is the rule:

Do not place content on your site that is also substantially similar to content elsewhere or you risk having your pages not come up in the search results. Why? Because Google says so as above, but more importantly…

When an author writes a book, they don’t recite the entire contents of the book on the Larry King Show. Instead, they do an interview that is either a teaser for the book, a different take on the subject, a personal view on things, and so on. When an actor goes on Oprah, they don’t show the whole movie, only clips that they then elaborate on. The Web is no different in these respects.

Your website is your “book” and all the other sites are promotional vehicles. Yes, add information to those sites. Yes, add value always. There may be times when it’s appropriate to duplicate as well as some exceptions, but don’t, as a rule, reproduce the same content from your site in its entirety for syndication to other sites.

Here are the 9 Myths of Duplicate Content

1. Duplicate content penalties do not exist. False.

They do, and Google says that they do.

2. I only need to worry about duplicate content within my own site, not when syndicating on other sites. False.

You need to avoid or handle differently substantial blocks of duplicate content on multiple pages of your site, as well as avoid duplicating content from your site on other sites.

3. I only need to worry about duplicate content when syndicating on other sites. False.

This is the opposite of number 2, and yes, I’ve heard this one as well. You need to handle it in both cases.

4. Duplicate content penalties only affect low quality spam sites. False.

Duplicate content, as stated by Google, will be dealt with by showing whichever page Google’s algorithm determines is the most appropriate for visitors. Unless you can control that, I suggest you control your content.

5. If I get my page listed first, and then put an identical page on another site, I’ll be the “owner” of that information and there will be no duplicate content penalty. False.

I’ve heard this one a number of times, and it is totally misleading and false.

6. The penalty for duplicate content is that my pages or my site will be dropped from Google. False.

Your pages may or may not be dropped from a given search engine, for any number of reasons. Duplicate content does not automatically mean that your pages will be dropped. In fact, Google state that they would rather filter results than drop pages from the index.

7. If I submit an article to an article directory (like Ezinearticles.com), then when other sites publish that article, I’ll be penalized for duplicate content. False.

While it’s much more effective to syndicate unique content to each and every site that publishes it, your site will not be penalized if other sites reproduce your identical articles. As long as that identical article is not on your site as well, there will be no repercussions.

8. I won’t rank high in Google if I use other people’s duplicate articles on my site. False

This may sound contradictory to what I’ve been saying, but hear me out. It is possible to become the more relevant site for blocks of content that are duplicated elsewhere. How? By eliminating weaknesses that your site may have.

Getting the proper on and off page criteria right, having a solid internal linking structure, having more powerful inbound links and more of them, higher Page Rank, and other factors can all contribute to higher rankings, even when using duplicate content. If you don’t believe that a site filled with substantially duplicate content can do well, you need look no further than Ezinearticles.com.

9. I don’t need to worry if other sites use my non-unique articles, because the articles were written by me. False.

Authorship has nothing to do with whether or not your pages will be considered more relevant.

So, to recap a bit, assume that duplicate content penalties do exist, and it will be easier to create a plan of action for a successful website. Avoid or handle duplicate content issues carefully. Make every effort to make the content on your site unique, and syndicate using other sites as promotional sites where you repurpose your content, making it unique as well.

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