Do I need to de-index these pages?

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I decided to buy a new domain to change the focus of my niche and I want to use some of the same pages, word for word, for a site that I want to abandon (or delete, or whatever my option is). But I do not want my new site to get penalized for duplicate content, especially since I plan to monetize it with Adsense.

These pages are on page 2 or 3 thanks to the SEO juice I've been meagerly pumping to the main site. They are one-word additions to my targeted niche keyword (i.e. if my site is "youth baseball," these pages are "youth baseball maryland" and "youth baseball connecticut").

What are some viable options?
#deindex #pages
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      There is no penalty for duplicate content in that context.
      Relax.

      It is never a good idea to de-index anything that ranks.

      You can do a 301 redirect, meta refresh, etc. from old to new.
      Or you could put a simple link at the top of the old page,
      saying this has been moved and updated, click here.

      Or you could do nothing.

      Put the duplicate content worry to bed.

      Paul
      Signature

      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author DynoMutt
        Thank you guys. That's why I love coming here. Instantaneous help.

        Sorry Brian if I wasn't clear. I have pages on my "old" site that I want to put word-for-word on my "new" site. I just couldn't take my "old" site seriously, and I didn't want to tarnish the value of those few longtail keyword pages that I felt I could salvage. I never directly sent backlinks to those pages, but don't mind doing so when they appear on my "new" site.

        I was going to delete those pages after I put them on my "new" site, but according to Paul's advice, I guess I shouldn't.

        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        There is no penalty for duplicate content in that context.
        Relax.

        It is never a good idea to de-index anything that ranks.

        You can do a 301 redirect, meta refresh, etc. from old to new.
        Or you could put a simple link at the top of the old page,
        saying this has been moved and updated, click here.

        Or you could do nothing.

        Put the duplicate content worry to bed.

        Paul
        Paul, isn't there a penalty for duplicate content in Adsense? And I don't know if it matters, but I don't plan to renew the "old" site with BlueHost after the subscription is over.
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          There's no penalty for duplicate content. Adsense would have little or
          nothing else to do with it.

          If you don't plan to renew, then there's certainly no problem.

          Don't take duplicate content out of context when talking about
          any perceived penalty. There is none.

          I would check to see how much traffic you get to the "old" site.
          If it is substantial, a few bucks a month may be worth it to keep it.

          Paul
          Signature

          If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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          • Profile picture of the author DynoMutt
            Thanks again Paul. I appreciate your reality check responses. I'm glad you posted in my thread.

            For the "old" site, I rank on page 9 for one of the keywords I'm trying to rank for, and on page 3 for a half-as-competitive-but-still-solid keyword. I've been focusing much of my attention on the more competitive term, but I think I should change my focus. In the middle of writing this response, I checked my adsense earnings as I was going to tell you I don't make money from the old site, but someone clicked on an ad today and I got really good money for that 1 click! That 1 click just threw a monkey wrench into my plans.
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