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Duplicate Content concern I've yet to see addressed

by TSDMike
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey Warriors,

A client asked me the other day a question about duplicate content that I couldn't answer so I told her I'd research it and get back to her. By 'research', I meant I'd turn to you guys and gals

She asked me about duplicate content and any perceived penalties. I told her that there really weren't any penalties - you just won't get credit for them and so on so forth. Then she asked me about the 'non-duplicate' elements of the page.

For example, say the same article is found on two or more different blogs. The article is the same, but all other page elements are different - footer links, sidebar blogrolls, etc. Is the entire page disregarded by Google because the content is identical to that found elsewhere on the web? Or, do the elements that are unique to the page still get indexed and count toward inbound link counts?

Thanks in advance.

MJ
#addressed #concern #content #duplicate
  • Profile picture of the author deloriagod
    Originally Posted by TSDMike View Post

    For example, say the same article is found on two or more different blogs. The article is the same, but all other page elements are different - footer links, sidebar blogrolls, etc. Is the entire page disregarded by Google because the content is identical to that found elsewhere on the web? Or, do the elements that are unique to the page still get indexed and count toward inbound link counts?
    What you're talking about here is syndication, in theory it's a good thing. Duplicate content only exists within a single domain. If you post the same article twice on your site, that's duplicate content. If you post your article on your site, then someone else likes it and copies it to their blog then that's syndicated content, which in theory would show popularity but I doubt it does anymore due to people posting their own articles all over the place.

    Short answer: That's not duplicate content, there is no penalty, and neither page is disregarded.
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    • Profile picture of the author TSDMike
      Originally Posted by deloriagod View Post

      What you're talking about here is syndication, in theory it's a good thing. Duplicate content only exists within a single domain. If you post the same article twice on your site, that's duplicate content. If you post your article on your site, then someone else likes it and copies it to their blog then that's syndicated content, which in theory would show popularity but I doubt it does anymore due to people posting their own articles all over the place.

      Short answer: That's not duplicate content, there is no penalty, and neither page is disregarded.
      Thanks for responding. My understanding of dup. content is that you can post the same article a million times all over the web without penalty - but only one of those pages will get indexed. I've never heard that DC only applies to the same domain.

      The syndication example you mention only begs to be exploited, as it is way too easy to plaster your stuff all over the web. I doubt Google gives much consideration to the frequency by which the content is published.
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by TSDMike View Post

        Thanks for responding. My understanding of dup. content is that you can post the same article a million times all over the web without penalty - but only one of those pages will get indexed. I've never heard that DC only applies to the same domain.
        Hi MJ,

        Actually, many of those pages are likely to get indexed, however all but one will likely be filtered from search results for a particular keyword. Typically it is the page with the highest PR that avoids the filter. Google does apply duplicate content filters to indexing, but many duplicates are usually indexed before the filtering will kick in for indexing.

        Originally Posted by TSDMike View Post

        The syndication example you mention only begs to be exploited, as it is way too easy to plaster your stuff all over the web. I doubt Google gives much consideration to the frequency by which the content is published.
        Again, when the same exact content is published excessively, their duplicate content filter eventually kicks in and stops indexing the same content. There is usually quite a few pages of duplicate content in their index before the filtering is triggered at the indexing level.

        As far as penalties, no duplicate penalty exists, only a duplicate content filter.
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        • Profile picture of the author TSDMike
          Originally Posted by dburk View Post

          Hi MJ,

          Actually, many of those pages are likely to get indexed, however all but one will likely be filtered from search results for a particular keyword. Typically it is the page with the highest PR that avoids the filter. Google does apply duplicate content filters to indexing, but many duplicates are usually indexed before the filtering will kick in for indexing.



          Again, when the same exact content is published excessively, their duplicate content filter eventually kicks in and stops indexing the same content. There is usually quite a few pages of duplicate content in their index before the filtering is triggered at the indexing level.

          As far as penalties, no duplicate penalty exists, only a duplicate content filter.
          Thanks... I think this is the answer I am looking for. So what you're essentially saying is that what they index and what gets displayed in the SERPs are two different things. You can still get inbound link juice from a page that will never see the light of day in the SERPs.

          Am I missing anything?
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      • Profile picture of the author TSDMike
        I think a better way to ask the question is does duplicate content make the entire page unindexable?

        OR

        Will Google give outbound link credit despite Duplicate content? We already know the answer is no for the content itself, but what about the rest of the page?
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        • Profile picture of the author dburk
          Originally Posted by TSDMike View Post

          I think a better way to ask the question is does duplicate content make the entire page unindexable?

          OR

          Will Google give outbound link credit despite Duplicate content? We already know the answer is no for the content itself, but what about the rest of the page?
          Duplicate content is indeed indexed, however it can trigger an indexing filter after many copies of the same content is already indexed.

          Google seems to use a formula, however they haven't disclosed the specifics of the formula. Most test results I have seen indicate that as long as a page has approximately 30% unique content isn't as likely to be filtered from indexing.
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          • Profile picture of the author TSDMike
            Originally Posted by dburk View Post

            Duplicate content is indeed indexed, however it can trigger an indexing filter after many copies of the same content is already indexed.

            Google seems to use a formula, however they haven't disclosed the specifics of the formula. Most test results I have seen indicate that as long as a page has approximately 30% unique content isn't as likely to be filtered from indexing.
            I think when I get a little time I am going to do some experimenting and see if I can come up with a more definitive answer. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.
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