Duplicate Content - Dispel the myth!

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There seems to be a lot of confusion over duplicate content and in particular; how / why a site is penalised for it. I really would like to understand the duplicate content penalty properly, so any thoughts / comments / suggestions that will help the cause are very welcome.
#content #dispel #duplicate #myth
  • Profile picture of the author medtranscriptio
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    • Profile picture of the author iamnotfrankkern
      The problem of duplicate content mostly arises when someone steals the content from your website although there are other reasons for duplicate content but the content theft is the most rampant and serious issue. Webmasters who give their best to create good and unique content are often appalled to know that their hard work has been stolen and is being used without their permission.
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      • Part of the duplicate content penalty issue is that it's Googles way of attempting to provide users with a good experience by providing them with good quality content that is relevant and useful.

        Unfortunatley over the years the Internet has been spammed with rubbish websites and out of date information.

        The use of bad and out dated PLR on some sites ( where the site owner has just thrown up articles without taking the time to re-write them and which many others have used before) has had something to do with this together with lots of badly designed plugins and software that automate blogging by pulling in content from elsewhere.

        Maybe it's a legacy of the automated, done for you type lives we tend to lead. Many people just really don't want to work that hard at anything anymore but still expect results.

        10 years ago if you searched for " how to treat eczema" you would likely get sent to an authority medical website where they actually told you how to treat eczema.

        More recently though, you're more likely to get sent to a website with a crap, spun article on the first page trying to sell you an equally crap product about eczema from clickbank.

        It's not just about duplicate content though, it's also about relevant content.

        If you have a blog, no matter what the subject, the content must be relevant so that the reader will find it useful.

        That is why so many sites, some very well known authority sites included, got hit by the Google Panda rule and dropped in the rankings.

        They were churning out garbage. But that has just made things easier and fairer for those people who DO produce good relevant content on their sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author hotlinkz
    Originally Posted by FerencMakar View Post

    There seems to be a lot of confusion over duplicate content and in particular; how / why a site is penalised for it. I really would like to understand the duplicate content penalty properly, so any thoughts / comments / suggestions that will help the cause are very welcome.
    Generally, there is no penalization for duplicate content. If Google detects that you are attempting to manipulate ranking resources, it is possible that some human (Google rep) intervention may take place.

    In most cases, duplicate content beyond the original versions are basically ignored. In other cases, you will often find multiple listings for duplicate content that has been spun.

    While Google's algorithms are complex, they are far from intelligent. Like all algorithms, they are based on "pattern detection." In the online marketing world, we often refer to this type detection as footprints. The bots that visit your site and pages are not some futuristic artificial intelligence entities that most marketers think they are.

    They are software programs. As such, they do what they are programmed to do. As I wrote earlier, they are very complex but they are not smart.

    Another very important point -- if you are more concerned with search engine ranking than you are with building a solid business offering in-demand products and services, you may be pursuing the wrong goals.
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