Duplicate Content a Myth? Not anymore...

[byronhbrown]

I get tired of massive junk in the internet. Duplicating them will be worse than creating content with wrong grammar. I hope Google will wipe those spamming strategies spammers are using - FOR GOOD!

[cashcow]

Originally Posted by blue_sky

Is this really a Myth...

a couple of days ago I used one of the legal content packages like TOS, PP, etc which of course is used by hundreds of other webmaster on the web aswell....

What I realized is that shortly after I put this pages up - my site disappeared from SERP 2 into nirvana - when I removed those pages the site came back...
Aged Domain With PR4 and Backlinks...

Google ranks pages, not websites, so I doubt adding some pages to your site caused the whole thing to plummet. More than likely, google saw new pages, came round to take a peek and did an adjustment. Usually when I add new links or new pages to my site it flits around a bit usually to return to it's normal status a few days later.

If Google penalized every site out there that used the same page (especially the TOS and privacy pages) that another site used there would be no sites left in the index.

I use the privacy policy plugin on my wordpress sites that a bazillion other people use and I still maintain top rankings for my target keywords.

But don't take my word for it - go find some other sites that use those same pages, then try to figure out the keywords for their main pages and see if they are ranking.

Lee

[smwordsmith]

Let's define duplicate content as Google defines it:

Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar. (Source: Google's Webmaster Tools)

Google's issue with duplicate content is the content that is purposefully duplicated across domains or within your site with the intention of manipulating search engine rankings or increasing traffic.

Google's quest is to improve the user's search engine results by eliminating results that basically contain the same content. Google is trying to index and show pages with unique content.

Even if you are the originator of that content, there is no guarantee that your content will be the one Google indexes. However, it appears that Google is trying to do its best to index the original content. Unfortunately, there are a few 'innocents' that are taken down with the guilty.

For duplicate content within your own site, such as that of forums, online store items, and print-versions of your web pages, Google provides "canonicalization'so you can let the search engine know how you want your URLs viewed.

[hilhilginger]

Originally Posted by Toby Lewis

I wonder how this will effect article directories? If the big ones have enough original content they should be fine.softnwords

I do second with your views on unique content. I think article marketing will have a discipline and the author will get a protection for their hard work.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Tim Franklin

@dburk


Interesting thread, and there are a lot of interesting replies in this thread, I believe that there is room for different opinions, some may be more accurate while others may not be accurate at all.

One thing I do on a regular basis is to visit forum signature links to see what kind of websites that user is promoting, for example if I am looking at a WSO thread, where a seller claims to be an SEO expert and the websites he or she is promoting are ranked, at alexa say 4 or 5 million in the world, then I sort of evaluate their experience level with the websites they promote, which I think is a fair thing to do, Do those websites, perform if that person is selling an SEO course, I should be able to see their success reflected in the amount of traffic and popularity of those websites.

Hi Tim,

While I agree with the premise that someone that demonstrates success generally has earned a higher degree of credibility. However, I don't agree that one must provide a demonstration before they can discuss and have their ideas taken seriously.

To blindly follow someones ideas just because they had a success at some point, is often not wise. We should take what others say with a healthy amount of critical thinking, including my own words.

I know a fellow that had tremendous success because of the talent he employed, and after he sold the company everything he did from that point on was an absolute failure. Turns out, while he was credited with the success, he had no idea what made it successful.

We should consider what we read and run our own tests to validate what is said. Past performance is never a guarantee of future success.

Originally Posted by Tim Franklin

So, as respectfully as I can without offending you, I would love to see websites where your thoughts on content can be demonstrated to be beneficial to website developers and website owners.

Understanding how we can better fit into the grove of the SEO search experience is something that really should be at the top of everyone's list, learning about how to produce the kind of content that website visitors really want and need, now that is something to write home about.

So, if you don't mind sharing, which websites do you have that use syndicated content and do well in say an Alexa ranking.

No offence taken, however I don't buy into the argument that "my ___ is bigger than yours, therefore everything I say is right and everything you say is wrong" ideology. One should look critically at everything I say, regardless of how big or how many successes I have had.

If you do some digging you may find hundreds of websites I am associated with. However, I would never disclose my true money makers here on this forum, While I believe the overwhelming majority of folks on this board are great people, this is a very large board and a good many cutthroat Black Hat types and script kiddies hang out here as well. I have had some websites attacked because of critiques I've made of certain posts on this forum. The sites I expose are there as bait for such attacks.

Furthermore, I would suggest that you rethink the credibility of alexa rankings. Alexa ranking are rather easy to manipulate, Alexa stats are based on traffic of folks that have their toolbar installed. There is a certain demographic for Alexa toolbar users and any niche outside of that particular demographic will be grossly under reported and any niche within that demographic will be grossly over reported.

Originally Posted by Tim Franklin

More interesting to me would be anyone that can show an auto blog that has both great traffic, excellent revenue and a high value business model.

Okay, here's one:

Google News

I know it's technically not a blog, but the idea that you use automation is no reason to settle for low quality. There are many examples of auto-generated content were bots scrape from existing websites and provide a very valuable service. It's the final product, not the technology used to create it, that you will ultimately be judged.

Originally Posted by Tim Franklin

Just something to think about, I believe that things are about to change in the world of SEO websites and if we want to be part of that change I sincerely believe that we have to be prepared to make changes in our own websites so that we can stay up to date and provide the public with what they want, relevant results that meet the consumers needs.

I agree with that sentiment, however isn't that something that could have been said at any point during the last 15 years and ring just as true?

[Tim Franklin]

@smwordsmith

I like your post, and I agree however, I believe it is also important to address the other components of this situation, which is not just duplicate content, but also involves methods of publishing that content.

While it may seem like a sound evaluation to take the current consensus of how "Google" views duplicate content, myth or otherwise, the more pressing concern is how will the needs of the searching consumer be evaluated in the future.

I feel that it is not enough to subscribe to the current trend, but to truly be successful in this market you have to be able to accurately predict, the future of how content will be consumed online, naturally it is easier said than done but still it is a thought provoking analysis.

Finding reliable methods of staying ahead of the learning curve, and developing methods of anticipating what might come next, now that is something to consider.

Nice post.

@dburk
thanks for your reply, I think it would be difficult to reply to your post without looking like an argument, I did not intend to create a distraction, I wanted to have a normal discussion, you know like polite people do, without discussing various body parts, bad hat harry,)

I do believe that if a man is in the business of selling flying lessons he should be able to demonstrate excellence in flying, (that was not aimed at you by the way but in general, when I see sellers that are selling SEO services and the websites they own are not even ranked, then I have a hard time equating their claims with the results they are selling) simple as that no animus meant. ,

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Tim Franklin

@dburk
thanks for your reply, I think it would be difficult to reply to your post without looking like an argument, I did not intend to create a distraction, I wanted to have a normal discussion, you know like polite people do, without discussing various body parts, bad hat harry,)

I do believe that if a man is in the business of selling flying lessons he should be able to demonstrate excellence in flying, (that was not aimed at you by the way but in general, when I see sellers that are selling SEO services and the websites they own are not even ranked, then I have a hard time equating their claims with the results they are selling) simple as that no animus meant. ,

Hi Tim,

I'm sure you didn't mean to imply that my websites "are not even ranked", though it could have been interpreted as such. I'm just looking for clarity to that implication.

[MikesTraffic]

I have had SEVERAL sites that were exact copies of other sites and they pull in traffic just fine. Sure they may not be as much as the originals but let's face it.....it is free traffic and you don't have to do the maintenance because it is scraping the others. I find this works best on long term keywords etc.

[KingArthur]

Read more about Google's self created tsunami which has devastated so many web sites both the guilty and the innocent:

Affiliate Marketing Programs - Top Sites Mauled by Google!