The Duplicate Content Myth

[ChrisWF]

Is there a duplicate content penalty?

I don´t think so.

I´ve just checked the rankings of one of my keywords. I´m on Rank 4 in G.
But on Rank 2 and Rank 3 are Twins with the exact same layout and content. (not mine sites)

Here are the twins:
Medically Supervised Weight Loss Albuquerque
Medically Supervised Weight Loss Albuquerque

The ankertext is the same, but the URLs differ.

Both rank high in google with 100% duplicate content. But not for long anymore, he he he
Page one has 122 Backlinks and Page 2 has only 22 BL.
So, my conclusion. Forget the duplicate content penalty.
If you have a site that is successful, then clone the site and here is your multiple ranking in Google.
Psst, don´t tell anyone. That would destroy the whole spinning Industry.

What do you think?
Christoph

[WillR]

Psst, I would not waste my time doing this.

[Richard Van]

If you have a site that is successful, then clone the site and here is your multiple ranking in Google.
Psst, don´t tell anyone. That would destroy the whole spinning Industry.

If we all went around cloning sites I'm sure the "myth", which is actually common knowledge, would swiftly become a reality.

I wouldn't advise anyone to do what you're recommending because it'd also kill the article syndication industry and as this is already a well known myth and the spinning industry still exists very happily, it is unlikely to have any impact on it other than making it stronger.

Here's another angle, what's to stop me cloning all your sites?

Lets not encourage people to do this please.

Just saying.

[Andrea Wilson]

I seriously wont want to see duplicate results on the top of my search results. So whether it is a myth or not, I wont do it.

Andrea

[seoforu]

You must be right,but still why should we use duplicate content ?We never know it can get us harmed in the future!

[nimmysnv]

Duplicate content can really affect the ranking of the site so it is better to be aware of the duplicate content. Content modification can be done but duplication may result in penalty.

[MrWonton]

Do you clone them, or did they clone you?

[ChrisWF]

I haven´t done this site cloning yet.
But maybe I´ll give it a try in the future.
Whats o ever. The duplicate content thing makes no real sense to me.

That said back to work. Need a few more Backlinks to climb up the google ladder.

Christoph

[ChrisWF]

Originally Posted by MrWonton

Do you clone them, or did they clone you?

These two sites are not mine.
They just show up in google for my targeted keyword.

Fact is, somebody managed to get on page 1 of google on position 2+3 for one keyword with two identical websites.
Just another URL and thats it.

That´s exactly what I dream on.
Pos 1 to 10 all with cloned sites.
If it´s possible for rank 2+3 why not for 1 to 10???

Christoph

[MrWonton]

But think of the end user. If Google noticed that searchers were receiving 10 of exactly the same search result, they'd seriously overhaul their algorithm. It would be bad for searchers, and thus, bad for Google, resulting in visitors using competing search engines instead.

If I got 10 of the same result every time I searched, I'd make the move to Yahoo!

[implrseoetc]

there is NO duplicate content penalty, unless you are using the same content repeatedly on the same domain.

[ChrisWF]

>That´s exactly what I dream on.
>Pos 1 to 10 all with cloned sites.

I don´t mean it seriously.
Forgot the smiley.

Christoph

[OKFarmgirl]

I have a question about this. My client started with a EMD that he decided was too long and he switched to another that I think isn't great for an EMD but it's his call. The original site is still up but all of the pages link to the second. The first page contains the exact same content as the second though, and I'm wondering if we should take it down or just do a 301 redirect?

[dburk]

Hi Christoph,

This is a direct quote from the Official Google Webmaster Blog:

Let's put this to bed once and for all, folks: There's no such thing as a "duplicate content penalty."

Source: Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Demystifying the "duplicate content penalty"

They also state:

However, some webmasters attempt to improve their page's ranking and attract visitors by creating pages with many words but little or no authentic content. Google will take action against domains that try to rank more highly by just showing scraped or other auto-generated pages that don't add any value to users.

Source: Little or no original content - Webmaster Tools Help

According to Google they do have a duplicate content filter, which is not the same as a penalty. However, if your duplicate content crosses certain lines you could have your website de-indexed:

Google tries hard to index and show pages with distinct information. This filtering means, for instance, that if your site has a "regular" and "printer" version of each article, and neither of these is blocked with a noindex meta tag, we'll choose one of them to list. In the rare cases in which Google perceives that duplicate content may be shown with intent to manipulate our rankings and deceive our users, we'll also make appropriate adjustments in the indexing and ranking of the sites involved. As a result, the ranking of the site may suffer, or the site might be removed entirely from the Google index, in which case it will no longer appear in search results.

Source: Duplicate content - Webmaster Tools Help

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[Supafly]

Matt Cutts, the head of Google's anti-spam division, recently wrote in his Blog dated January 28th, 2011:

My post mentioned that “we’re evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others’ content and sites with low levels of original content.” That change was approved at our weekly quality launch meeting last Thursday and launched earlier this week.

I agree with the last comment that there may not be a penalty, but Google certainly does not like it and I would not recommend cloning sites. It will catch up to you eventually.

Regards,
Dino

[BenJackson]

Real, naturally occurring "duplicate content" -

www.yoursite.com/green/widget

VS

www.yoursite.com/widget/green

Two different URLs with the same content. The penalty? Zip, zilch, there is none. This goes hand in hand with canonicalization - choose one canonical URL and 301 redirect the other pages to it just to make things easier for Google.

If you're not familiar with it, I did a post on canonicalization: What is Canonicalization | SEO Discovery

When a number of pages from different domains all have the same content, one (or a few) show up in the results and the rest are placed in the supplemental index.

How can you get penalized for DC? You might if you make an entire site with the same article posted on every page:

www.yoursite.com/keyword1
www.yoursite.com/keyword2
etc.

Just don't be stupid ^(see above example)^ and you'll never have any problems with DC.

[Kysersoze]

Originally Posted by ChrisWF

Here are the twins:
Medically Supervised Weight Loss Albuquerque
Medically Supervised Weight Loss Albuquerque
Christoph

Cloning sites and getting them both ranked on the first page may work for a term with little competition such as the one you used in your example. Replicating such results with a more competitive term would not work and may actually hinder your chances at getting to the front page especially when dealing with more experienced webmasters and competition.

[jhonsean]

Duplicate is always duplicate there is no changes in that. I would suggest that spend your time in creating strong content to become more competitive in the market.

[Branlan17]

If you want to create sites that invite and convert, don't use DC. However, for backlink purpose many of my submissions I just spin the title well and find similar articles indexed dozens of times.

[TZ]

It really comes down to HOW MUCH a piece of duplicate content has been duplicated. Google has no problem indexing a half a dozen piece of content that are identical.

The big scare on dup content is false.

[nimmysnv]

Originally Posted by Supafly

Matt Cutts, the head of Google's anti-spam division, recently wrote in his Blog dated January 28th, 2011:

I agree with the last comment that there may not be a penalty, but Google certainly does not like it and I would not recommend cloning sites. It will catch up to you eventually.

Regards,
Dino

Yes, it all depends on catching and when Google catches the duplicate content than they may pull the site back to the below position (ranking) in SERPS.

[smwordsmith]

While I have absolutely nothing against the desire to make money, I do have a problem with the money-making desire turning into greed.

Greed, to me, is making money without providing anything of value. Copy-cat content is not valuable.

Actually, doesn't copy-cat content fall into the theft category?

[JohnnyEnglish]

once, my competitors copypasted my original article to their site. they was on 3d position and i was at 1st for certain query for a months. after, i wrote them and they've delete my article.

but fact is a fact - they was on top

[Heavenstorm]

it may be truth that google does not penalize duplicate content now, but in the future if they decide to punish this act...all your duplicate sites will go to waste and its not worth it to risk doing this

[dburk]

Originally Posted by Heavenstorm

it may be truth that google does not penalize duplicate content now, but in the future if they decide to punish this act...all your duplicate sites will go to waste and its not worth it to risk doing this

Hi Heavenstorm,

I disagree, in part, with your assertion. Google is not in the business of issuing penalties, they are not the Internet police, nor do they want to be. They are simply trying to deliver useful and relevant results for their users, nothing more.

[nimmysnv]

Originally Posted by dburk

Hi Heavenstorm,

I disagree, in part, with your assertion. Google is not in the business of issuing penalties, they are not the Internet police, nor do they want to be. They are simply trying to deliver useful and relevant results for their users, nothing more.

Yes, you are right but, at the same time they dont really allow any such activities that may let down those results of websites that are not having any duplicate.

[outwest]

I have heard the opposite
that google does not care about dupe content on the same domain, after all its the same person nobody is stealing content, I thought they worried about dupe content on different domains, someone trying to steal someone elses content and then checked to see by their records who first posted the content, then ignored the new "copy" content on the different domain

[dburk]

Originally Posted by nimmysnv

Yes, you are right but, at the same time they dont really allow any such activities that may let down those results of websites that are not having any duplicate.

Hi nimmysnv,

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say, but Google allows you to do whatever you want. As long as it doesn't violate their webmaster guidelines they will index the pages of your website. Again, Google is not trying to tell you what to do, they are just trying to deliver useful and relevant search results for their users.

[dburk]

Originally Posted by outwest

I have heard the opposite
that google does not care about dupe content on the same domain, after all its the same person nobody is stealing content, I thought they worried about dupe content on different domains, someone trying to steal someone elses content and then checked to see by their records who first posted the content, then ignored the new "copy" content on the different domain

Hi outwest,

Google doesn't care if you want to use duplicate content as long as you are not using it in a blatant attempt to manipulate the search results to an undeserved advantage.

Generally, they have no way of knowing if content was syndicated or stolen, unless you file a DMCA complaint. Google will display dulpicate content in search results when no other near equally relevant information can be found. Otherwise, they filter duplicate content to provide users with diversity in the SERP.