My Personal Experience With Duplicate Content...

19 replies
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Ok so Im launching 40 clickbank aff sites, yea i know clickbank. Im going to launch some amazon sites next and see which ones bring in more $ then go from there.

anyways, I launch every site with 3 original posts all targeting one keyword and ALL of my sites are either on page 1 or 2 for the targeted keyword (yes the keywords get searches, I dont target anything that gets less than 3k EXACT searches a month in google kw tool)

So i got a lil lazy a few sites ago and decided to post some ezinearticles for my content, and yes I included the resource box and all of it. I was going to write OG content later but decided Ezine was fine for now. boy was i wrong

Withing 2 days I got slapped worse than a red headed step child. Those 2 sites got ripped out of the SERPS and NO where to be found. But all others with OG content are doing fine and gaining ranking. So I know this has to be because the Dupe Content from ezine. Ouch. Maybe others have success with it but not for me. anyways thought Id share for anyone thinking about doing that.

I would suggest against it as now I have to try and pull my 2 sites back into the top serps somehow. start with OG content obviously and see if I can save these 2. Hope that helps
#content #duplicate #experience #personal
  • Profile picture of the author Heuristic
    Get ready for the "Duplicate content is a myth" crowd to step in here any second and set you straight. :rolleyes:

    But... I have to say that I agree with you because the same thing happened to me last year. After the duplicate content was removed, my site regained its ranking in a month or so. Coincidence???
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    • Profile picture of the author dualdtmz
      Originally Posted by Heuristic View Post

      Get ready for the "Duplicate content is a myth" crowd to step in here any second and set you straight. :rolleyes:

      But... I have to say that I agree with you because the same thing happened to me last year. After the duplicate content was removed, my site regained its ranking in a month or so. Coincidence???
      I know im going to get smashed for it but to set everyone straight. I think that dupe content is a myth to a certain extent. I have used dupe content before and was fine with it. But I think something has to do with ezine that slapped the hell outta me. Sure wont do that again.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    This is just my opinion, but I think that if you don't get links to the dupe article then you will get banished to the bowels of the serps.

    So, I'm wondering, did you get links to yours?

    Lee
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    Gone Fishing
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    • Profile picture of the author dualdtmz
      Originally Posted by cashcow View Post

      This is just my opinion, but I think that if you don't get links to the dupe article then you will get banished to the bowels of the serps.

      So, I'm wondering, did you get links to yours?

      Lee
      What do you mean? I took the resource box if that's what your asking. I only grabbed the articles cuz I got lazy and didnt feel like writing OG content that day but needed to put something on my site because it was already on page 2 and getting traffic. So that was my quick solution for it but suffered dearly
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  • Profile picture of the author littlephoenix
    i never use article sites to grab articles for my site, not to mention when a site is new, its easier to get sandboxed so you want to start your site with fresh content, maybe down the line you can use dupe content......
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    • Profile picture of the author dualdtmz
      Originally Posted by littlephoenix View Post

      i never use article sites to grab articles for my site, not to mention when a site is new, its easier to get sandboxed so you want to start your site with fresh content, maybe down the line you can use dupe content......
      Lets just say I learned my lesson and thought I would post it to let others know about it. Like I said its just my personal experience and may work for others but not in my case
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Here's a thought to chew on...

        Did you check on the domain(s) linked to in the resource boxes? If those were considered "bad neighborhoods", you could have been seen as endorsing the problem site. That will slap you silly in the rankings.

        I've used articles from article sites, and EZA specifically, without harm. But I am careful about not only the article content but also where the article links to...

        I'm not claiming this is fact, but it could be a factor. If it was purely the fact that you used content that appeared elsewhere first, no one who ever pulled a syndicated story from a news feed would ever rank for anything. (I say "content that appeared elsewhere first" because in my mind 'duplicate content' means the same content appearing in multiple places on the same site.)
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        • Profile picture of the author dualdtmz
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Here's a thought to chew on...

          Did you check on the domain(s) linked to in the resource boxes? If those were considered "bad neighborhoods", you could have been seen as endorsing the problem site. That will slap you silly in the rankings.

          I've used articles from article sites, and EZA specifically, without harm. But I am careful about not only the article content but also where the article links to...

          I'm not claiming this is fact, but it could be a factor. If it was purely the fact that you used content that appeared elsewhere first, no one who ever pulled a syndicated story from a news feed would ever rank for anything. (I say "content that appeared elsewhere first" because in my mind 'duplicate content' means the same content appearing in multiple places on the same site.)
          This may be a possibility and the reason I say this is because I used the articles all from the same author. Might be possible. Good thought to chew on
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      • Profile picture of the author Heuristic
        Disclaimer*** The following is my personal opinion only...

        As a result of my own testing and what I've seen others doing, I think there is more to making duplicate content work than meets the eye. No doubt, there are other things to consider when it comes to Google - Like:

        • Domain age
        • History
        • Trust factor
        • Niche
        • Quality of inbound links
        • Inbound links to the duplicate content on your site(as Lee mentioned)

        It's common to see syndicated articles appearing on the first page of the serps from different web properties, yet they seem to co-exist just fine.

        The fact that I can't get it to work with my sites may have more to do with the above factors (lack of certain attributes a more authoritative site may have).

        It seems reasonable to assume that Google wouldn't reward an "unknown" posting duplicate content. If that was the case, I would quickly be dusting off my 100K PLR article cache and dominating each niche one at a time.

        When it comes down to it, all we really have are theories - unless you work for the big "G."
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Just want to add that what you might have seen was Google dancing, not Google slapping. I've seen my sites drop to oblivion even after adding original, unique content, then they reappear within a couple weeks or so. Sometimes longer. It's not any kind of penalty. It's just Google re-assessing your site and where it belongs in the SERPs after your additions. Just a thought. Might not be what's causing this in your case, of course.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author dualdtmz
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      Just want to add that what you might have seen was Google dancing, not Google slapping. I've seen my sites drop to oblivion even after adding original, unique content, then they reappear within a couple weeks or so. Sometimes longer. It's not any kind of penalty. It's just Google re-assessing your site and where it belongs in the SERPs after your additions. Just a thought. Might not be what's causing this in your case, of course.

      John
      You might be right, but considering that I have launched 40 sites now ALL doing the same thing. I know what to expect for the most part. BUT at the same time it could be pure coincidence that it just so happened to the 2 sites with dupe content and didnt happen to any others. They could re-appear in a few weeks like you said, But I just have this "feeling" that it was because I used dupe content from ezine for whatever reason it happened. But it did and gotta learn from it and move on
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cashcow View Post
    This is just my opinion, but I think that if you don't get links to the dupe article then you will get banished to the bowels of the serps.

    So, I'm wondering, did you get links to yours?

    Lee
    What do you mean? I took the resource box if that's what your asking. I only grabbed the articles cuz I got lazy and didnt feel like writing OG content that day but needed to put something on my site because it was already on page 2 and getting traffic. So that was my quick solution for it but suffered dearly
    What I meant was did you get links to the articles on your site. Link back to that page on your site where you posted the dupe article from somewhere else.

    Lee
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    Gone Fishing
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  • Google has to make a decision based on content which site is more relevant. If you create a new site that is using articles that are already posted you will no doubt not be the benefactor of the ranking. This is NOT a "Slap"... this is how Google works.

    If you have a large site that is ranking and has the authority... then you get the benefit.

    This is why sites that contain Articles they did not produce outrank the site who originated the content. This is why Ezine Articles out ranks the author sites.

    This is not a duplicate content penalty. This is a FILTER. And it makes perfect sense.

    Your new sites that are not original are devalued. So what you learned is if you want to include other peoples content you had best be outranking the other sites that already contain the content.

    This is a very good thing, this is what keeps scraper sites from ranking.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndyBlackSEO
    I'm running a case study right now that kind of tests dupe content (from various sources). I literally paste in a list of keyword phrases, click a button and my app builds all the relevant pages for me.

    Within a day I got the sites indexed in Google. Within a few days about 55 pages from both test sites were indexed and cached in Google which is near enough ALL the pages I've added so far.

    The interesting thing is that if I copy and paste some text from the dupe content on these indexed pages into Google search bar - with "quotes", it doesn;t even list my site as having that content. If however I search for one of my pages main keyword phrases which was added by me (ie - from the list of keyword phrases orignally pasted in) then it does rank, although at the minute not that great.

    So, for me... the verdict is out on this one. I'm just waiting to see how Google evaluates these two test sites over the next couple of weeks. I might throw a 'few' links at them but not many at this stage.

    This is purely a test... but if by ANY crazy chance I can get these sites too earn a little income each day I'll be able to replicate this and set up 100 page websites inside of an hour each. Don't you just love experiments!
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    • Profile picture of the author SuccessPoint
      Originally Posted by AndyBlackSEO View Post

      The interesting thing is that if I copy and paste some text from the dupe content on these indexed pages into Google search bar - with "quotes", it doesn;t even list my site as having that content. If however I search for one of my pages main keyword phrases which was added by me (ie - from the list of keyword phrases orignally pasted in) then it does rank, although at the minute not that great.
      When you search with quotes like that and you don't see it in the SERPs... it means it has been moved to Google's supplemental index... and that is where the majority of duplicate content goes.

      It's not a penalty... it's a filter.
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    • Profile picture of the author cryptone24
      Originally Posted by AndyBlackSEO View Post

      I'm running a case study right now that kind of tests dupe content (from various sources). I literally paste in a list of keyword phrases, click a button and my app builds all the relevant pages for me.

      Within a day I got the sites indexed in Google. Within a few days about 55 pages from both test sites were indexed and cached in Google which is near enough ALL the pages I've added so far.

      The interesting thing is that if I copy and paste some text from the dupe content on these indexed pages into Google search bar - with "quotes", it doesn;t even list my site as having that content. If however I search for one of my pages main keyword phrases which was added by me (ie - from the list of keyword phrases orignally pasted in) then it does rank, although at the minute not that great.

      So, for me... the verdict is out on this one. I'm just waiting to see how Google evaluates these two test sites over the next couple of weeks. I might throw a 'few' links at them but not many at this stage.

      This is purely a test... but if by ANY crazy chance I can get these sites too earn a little income each day I'll be able to replicate this and set up 100 page websites inside of an hour each. Don't you just love experiments!
      Hey Andy, keep us updated and let us know how this little experiment goes...will you?
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan B Rusu
      Originally Posted by AndyBlackSEO View Post

      I'm running a case study right now that kind of tests dupe content (from various sources). I literally paste in a list of keyword phrases, click a button and my app builds all the relevant pages for me.

      What app are you using for this?

      By the way dualdtmz, I got a click out of "Click Here To Learn How I Made A $57,990,985,875 in 26 SECONDS!!"
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  • Profile picture of the author tony-raymondo
    Originally Posted by dualdtmz View Post

    So I know this has to be because the Dupe Content from ezine.
    I think its quite likely that google maintains a database of 'copy from' article directories - like ezine and goarticles.

    And, if a new website pops up with content from these articles, google sees it as "adding no new value to the internet" right off the bat. And hence, sees no reason why you should be ranking.

    This is what I would do if I was them.

    I had some success with duplicate content last year with an affiliate site. I emailed the affiliate and asked if i could duplicate their text. (they had a LOT of it.)

    to my surprise, they said they didn't care.

    so i tried to get the content ranking for other keywods than the main site - and it worked.

    i call this "content arbitrage"

    if you change the h1, h2, and first paragraph, google doesn't seem to mind - so long as you are not targeting the same phrase that the original content was targetting.
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