Can I have two websites with the same content

17 replies
I want to target Indian customers and British customers.

Each will have local domain extensions .co.uk and co.in. Each hosted in their local countries.

Will they ever appear in the same set of search results? Would Google ban the sites for duplicate content?
#content #websites
  • Profile picture of the author HorseStall
    You are better off "wrapping" the content differently on the two sites. Its best if you present them differently, you can use the same content but differences will help the sites rank better and avoid duplicate content.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4013782].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author animesh
    Yes.. Google will consider them as duplicate and will affect ranking of both sites.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4013796].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author WillR
      Originally Posted by animesh View Post

      Yes.. Google will consider them as duplicate and will affect ranking of both sites.
      That is NOT what duplicate content is. If that were the case then half the news syndication and press release sites out there would be considered duplicate content.

      Duplicate content is only something that can occur on the same website.

      If the OP is really worried then just have one site as noindex so Google does not index any of its pages.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015081].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by animesh View Post

      Yes.. Google will consider them as duplicate and will affect ranking of both sites.
      Desertsafari - yes you need different content for your website other wise your website will be out of the of SEO
      TobyR - I agree you need them to be different otherwise your rankings will suffer
      Horsestall - but differences will help the sites rank better and avoid duplicate content.
      Oh yes, of course, that's why all the myriad of article directories allow you to take articles from their sites and reprint them on your own. In fact, that's what they're really there for.

      What you all wrote is a classic bit of fictional nonsense. :rolleyes:

      Simonp_ccfc - Surprised Google penalises duplicate content if sites never appear in same search results but thanks for your input guys.
      It would be even better if they just got their facts straight.
      Signature

      Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015206].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tobyR
    I agree you need them to be different otherwise your rankings will suffer
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4013937].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author simonp_ccfc
    Surprised Google penalises duplicate content if sites never appear in same search results but thanks for your input guys.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4014296].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      Typically duplicate content refers to the same content on the same site, not so much in the setting that you are talking about.

      It is highly doubtful that you will receive any penalty for doing what you are thinking about. It is possible that some of your pages from one of your sites will be included in the regular search engine results and some in the supplemental index.

      But as far as duplicate content goes, from what you have said here, there shouldn't have much of an issue, if any.
      Signature


      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015052].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Fazal Mayar
    duplicate content is no good, try to rewrite the content
    Signature

    Blogger at RicherOrNot.com (Make Money online blog but also promoting ethical internet marketing)

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015186].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author magnates
      Originally Posted by Fazal Mayar View Post

      duplicate content is no good, try to rewrite the content
      Exactly. No use writing the same exact content all over again . You are better re- purposing the content if you still want to use it again . Turn articles into audio or video or podcast e.t.c Or you can rewrite the articles altogether and use it again
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015273].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
        Originally Posted by magnates View Post

        Exactly.
        . You are better re- purposing the content if you still want to use it again . Turn articles into audio or video or podcast e.t.c Or you can rewrite the articles altogether and use it again
        I'd respectfully suggest you look at posts #7,#10 and #12.

        Magnates - No use writing the same exact content all over again
        Well, you would actually have to write the same content again, would you?
        Signature

        Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015311].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ken Leatherman
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by animesh
    Yes.. Google will consider them as duplicate and will affect ranking of both sites.

    Quote:
    Desertsafari - yes you need different content for your website other wise your website will be out of the of SEO
    Quote:
    TobyR - I agree you need them to be different otherwise your rankings will suffer
    Quote:
    Horsestall - but differences will help the sites rank better and avoid duplicate content.
    Our friend Horsestall is the only one above who got it partially right and I quote:
    but differences will help the sites rank better
    . The rest of you guys missed the target by a very wide margin. As stated by several other folks the same content on different sites does not constitute duplicate content. And this is per Google. Duplicate content - Webmaster Tools Help . Please Pay Particular Attention To The Last 3 Paragraphs.

    A simple search on Google for "Google duplicate content" will give you the actual knowledge your looking for. And the above link is not the only one on this subject. You can go back several years on Google and find discussion on the duplicate content.

    I'm sure the above posters that are in error meant no harm, but simply typed in what they had been told or even may have learned in some e-Book. Keep your self safe, don't be lazy, go to the source - Google It.

    Ken Leatherman

    Old Geezer.com
    Signature
    Ghost Writing Services Coming Soon


    So Check Out My WSO
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015302].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author simonp_ccfc
    I tend to agree with those saying I won't get penalised ( I would wouldn't I) but it seems common sense if my 2 sites are never going to appear in the same set of results.

    I am trying to market a product to two different countries so telling Google not to follow links on one of the sites is a non starter.

    Thanks for the input guys even though it is a mixed message. Seems like I'm not the only one confused by this question.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015481].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Originally Posted by simonp_ccfc View Post

      I tend to agree with those saying I won't get penalised ( I would wouldn't I) but it seems common sense if my 2 sites are never going to appear in the same set of results.

      I am trying to market a product to two different countries so telling Google not to follow links on one of the sites is a non starter.

      Thanks for the input guys even though it is a mixed message. Seems like I'm not the only one confused by this question.
      With respect there is no confusion.

      Duplicate content is having the same content more than once on your own site.

      Why would article directories exist if it was a penalty?

      This is in Ezine Articles terms of service. If you got punished for it, why do they say the following?

      If you wish to publish/reprint any article from our site in your ezine, website, blog, forum, RSS feed or print publication, you must:

      • Respect the copyrights of the authors by publishing the entire article as it is with no changes.
      • Agree to include the FULL Resource box or SIG line at the end of the article.
      • Agree not to change the title or content of the article in any way.
      • Agree to make all links so that they are Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.
      • Agree to include the article source credit below each article reprinted with the link active:
      Strange TOS if you were going to be punished for it.

      Publishing an article over and over on one site is duplicate content, publishing it across different sites is syndicated content.

      Despite some people thinking the only reason for an article directory is backlinks, that idea came about long after they were invented. Hence the expression "Ezine articles" and "article directories" - Directories of articles for people to republish in their Ezines, blogs or sites.

      I'm just using article directories to prove my point, this is the same for News sites and so much more.

      The only confusion is the misinformation so freely peddled.
      Signature

      Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015523].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Mr Pond
        What about sub domains? would you be penalized by google for duplicate content if the sub domain was using the same content as the main domain?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015575].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
          From what I have seen, part of the confusion with duplicate content seems to come from ideas about using content on your own site.

          At one time, maybe even today to some extent, it was a common practice to produce large amounts of content pages that were for all intents and purposes the same content but had some of the keywords changed. This was typically done when people were trying to produce large adsense sites by reusing the same content.

          It kind of worked for a while, but now does not work so much. In the page Ken has pointed to in his post, the folks at Google are making a distinction between duplicate content on the same domain as being deceptive or not. In the cases where they find deception to be the case, I would suspect a harsher penalty, perhaps even de-indexing would be administered.

          In regular cases without an intent of deception, they suggest ways to fix the dupe content. In cases of syndication, the only thing they really say is that they might not treat all instances of that content with the same value and may indeed only show one particular version in the regular listings.

          They also say this may or may not be to your benefit, but that is about it.

          If you have two different domains with the same content on them, one of the sites may have the content in the regular index and one may not, but that is about it. If you want all your content indexed in the regular serps and treated equally so that each page has the chance to show up, you probably need unique content on all the pages.

          But only because Google is trying to show the most relevant instance of your content, not because you are being punished.
          Signature


          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4015745].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
            The problem with that kind of questions is that you get a lot of (contradicting) advice from people who have no clue what they talk about - but they present their ideas with an aura of certainty.

            There's a lot of BS in this thread.



            Ralf
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4016024].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RajaRajan
    after reading this, no wonder everyone confused.

    but i like what Ken Leatherman said... i wanted to know the same answer to this question.
    and i am a firm believer in logic.

    you want to find out what Google says about duplicate content?
    how about we do the logical thing and ask them... after all they are here to help us with the way they organise things right?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4016276].message }}

Trending Topics