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Is the same content on two pages bad?

by Letsurf
18 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have a website with a testimonials page. There is also a plugin on the home page that lists some of the testimonials verbatim. Since the same exact content is on two pages is this a bad thing? I've heard this is a bad thing and can get your website penalized for SEO...
#bad #content #pages
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    It's not a penalty, it's duplicate content on the same site.

    One of the pages will most likely end up in the supplemental SERPs.

    Use canonical tags & unique pages titles, you might (50/50 chance) be able to get them both ranked in the SERPs.
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    • Profile picture of the author TBInternetMarketing
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      [B][COLOR="Red"][U]
      One of the pages will most likely end up in the supplemental SERPs.
      Yea this happens from time to time. Not the end of the world.
      It's not like you have thrown up 5 identical pages.
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    • Profile picture of the author Letsurf
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      It's not a penalty, it's duplicate content on the same site.

      One of the pages will most likely end up in the supplemental SERPs.

      Use canonical tags & unique pages titles, you might (50/50 chance) be able to get hem both ranked in the SERPs.
      The page with less authority should get put in supplemental right? Hope it's not my home page. Also, what does canonical tags mean?
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonB
    Now, that is the TRUE definition of DUPLICATE CONTENT...

    And yes, it's a very bad thing!
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by JasonB View Post

      Now, that is the TRUE definition of DUPLICATE CONTENT...

      And yes, it's a very bad thing!
      It's not a bad thing. Why people panic is waaaaaaaaaaay beyond me.
      I think people just fall flat on their backs when hearing
      anything that even mentions, "duplicate content."

      It's no big deal. All big sites do it. There are numerous ways
      of getting "content," from NYT to amazon, even youtube
      gives you multiple ways to visit a video on youtube.

      They even put the same friggin video on numerous pages
      created on the fly.

      Man this dupe content thing goes from the ridiculous to
      the sublime.

      How many squidoo lenses do you think have some of the same
      content? Squidoo makes it soooooooooooooooo easy.

      This is 2012. Duplicate content for a penalty, is duplicate content
      used to schmooze search engines, namely google. But that is a
      rare animal. Duplicate content across a site, done the right way,
      is typical and many times needed.

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

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  • Profile picture of the author retsek
    Not necessarily a bad thing in this case. If it's just a paragraph of text, then it's fine.

    The problem comes about if you have huge chunks of text that are indexed across different urls on the SAME domain.

    Bottom line, you make your websites for visitors first. The search engines will follow. Is displaying those testimonials useful to your visitors. If yes keep it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Crimson Penguin
    Originally Posted by Letsurf View Post

    I have a website with a testimonials page. There is also a plugin on the home page that lists some of the testimonials verbatim. Since the same exact content is on two pages is this a bad thing? I've heard this is a bad thing and can get your website penalized for SEO...
    Without seeing the site it would be impossible to say whether you are in fact guilty of duplicate content issues here. I'd have to say though that contrary to what has been said here, I don't think you do have a duplicate content issue here.

    If you have the exact same content on two pages or nearly same contant on two pages then yes you will have duplicate content issues which is bad. For more about that you can read this blog post from Google:

    googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/09/demystifying-duplicate-content-penalty.html

    However if there is content on your home page that isn't on your testimonial page and there are only a few testimonials on your homepage created by a plugin, you really don't have much to worry about.
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  • Profile picture of the author megawarrior
    I don't think you'll face any duplicate content issues for this. Google have been working for years on their algorithm and can filter deceptive practices from genuine ones. You'll only get penalised if you have many, many pages with identical content on your domain.

    Have a look at the Google guidelines of duplicate content:
    Duplicate content - Webmaster Tools Help
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Nguyen
    duplicate content is always bad but from client sites I've worked on, Google tends to index alot of duplicate URLS / content. If it's a "small" amount, you haven't got much to worry. If your site has e.g 5000 pages then you have a real problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author Letsurf
    Thanks for all the great feedback! I haven't seen a penalty so far but was getting ready to add more testimonials to the home page. After reading this I think it wouldn't be a good idea...
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  • Profile picture of the author jeppa123
    Shouldn't be much of a problem if it are small amounts of text..
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  • Profile picture of the author Letsurf
    I've researched and understand the concept of the canonical tag. But wouldn't that have to do with pages that are completely identical with different URLs? A cononical tag wouldn't apply to a wp plugin that displays part of another pages content on a different page right?
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    • Profile picture of the author megawarrior
      Originally Posted by Letsurf View Post

      I've researched and understand the concept of the canonical tag. But wouldn't that have to do with pages that are completely identical with different URLs? A cononical tag wouldn't apply to a wp plugin that displays part of another pages content on a different page right?
      Hi Letsurf,

      I completely disagree with the people telling you that you'll get penalised for duplicate content just because you have a testimonials page and a copy of them in your home page.

      I'm assuming that apart from the testimonial component, your homepage is not identical to your testimonials page (your homepage would have other things in it as well apart from the testimonials). But if the two pages are completely identical, then canonicalise one of them.

      If your homepage has other things in it as well (apart from the testimonials), then don't bother with canonicalisation, just leave it as it is with the testimonials. It's only 2 pages. You'll only get penalised if you have many pages (e.g. dozens or hundreds of pages) with identical content.
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      • Profile picture of the author james7
        Google may be confused or google may be banned your site as you have same content on two pages. In my suggestion you make some modification in the content that helps you lot.
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  • Profile picture of the author shophia
    If the same content on two page its called duplicate content. May be your both or any single webpages will be out rank in google.It's not good for your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author smartfunit
    Yes same content of two pages is bad. it gives duplicate content.
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  • Profile picture of the author suhsia329
    Same article in same website is not allowed! Don't take the risk as Google might ban your website, and it'll be awful if you already build your list or have consistent visitor on that website.
    But you can have the same article to appear on many different website, and that's NOT consider as duplicate content.
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