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Duplicate content question?

by AFI
15 replies
I have a site selling affiliate products and right now I've just got the product names linked to their affiliate links. I need to go back and add descriptions for all of the products now......here is my question, if I use the description from the affiliate's site, do you think that will be considered duplicate content?

I just really really really don't want to write out unique descriptions for hundreds of products.
#content #duplicate #question
  • Profile picture of the author King Shiloh
    Banned
    You can use the description in the vendor's site but it should be in your own language. Don't copy and paste it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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    Originally Posted by AFI View Post

    here is my question, if I use the description from the affiliate's site, do you think that will be considered duplicate content?
    Hi Jennifer ... no, it won't be considered duplicate content because it won't be duplicate content. "Duplicate content" refers to multiple copies of text within one website.

    Whether the owner of the copyright will consider it "plagiarised content" is another question entirely - but I think that when you're selling someone's product as an affiliate, this isn't normally a great problem? You can always ask them, of course.
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    • Profile picture of the author AFI
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Hi Jennifer ... no, it won't be considered duplicate content because it won't be duplicate content. "Duplicate content" refers to multiple copies of text within one website.
      This is the first time I've ever heard this. :confused::confused::confused:

      I've always considered duplicate content like if I took all of the wording off of your site and put it on mine and then google would penalize my site if it got indexed second.

      Anyway I don't think it's plagiarism because they've already told me I can take anything off their site for promotions. (It's a small affiliate program)

      UPDATE: Here's an article that defines duplicate content. I guess we were both right.
      http://www.webconfs.com/duplicate-co...-article-1.php
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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        Originally Posted by AFI View Post

        This is the first time I've ever heard this. :confused::confused::confused:
        It's hugely misunderstood! People often think of so-called "duplicate content penalties", not understanding what duplicate content is. One of the urban myths of internet marketing, I'm afraid. Bill ("tpw") recently started a thread discussing it, which will help you a lot. (Unfortunately, at the moment, there's a temporary glitch in the search system and posts made on the 14th/15th October are not appearing in search results. Wouldn't you know it?! :rolleyes: ).

        Originally Posted by AFI View Post

        they've already told me I can take anything off their site for promotions.
        Well done. End of problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author King Shiloh
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    Alexa,

    What if the Help Desk of the vendor sucks? Do you have to keep waiting till the vendor answers you? I think in order to play safe you have to put the description in your own language.

    Yes, it might not be a great problem but it is a problem after all.
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  • Profile picture of the author yasser
    try to modify it at least 60 % from the original. do the job right the first time even if it will few months. you will not make money overnight even if you copy and paste
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
    If you decide to go the "write out unique descriptions" route, I would outsource it.


    Originally Posted by AFI View Post


    I just really really really don't want to write out unique descriptions for hundreds of products.
    Just a thought.

    Joe Mobley
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  • Profile picture of the author snapcontent
    Originally Posted by AFI View Post


    I just really really really don't want to write out unique descriptions for hundreds of products.
    use a spinner to add to the descriptions???
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark.UK
    Ahh, not the 'ol dupe content debate again.

    Jennifer, you'll be fine using the vendors description on your site. I do it along with thousands of others & don't suffer negatively as a specific result of this.

    Think about Amazon, Argos, Sears, Walmart & many other online retailers - They all use the manufacturers descriptions & specifications on their sites. Think of all the news stories that are syndicated to sites such as BBC, NBC, CNN & others. Do they suffer from dupe content?

    This is straight from the mouth of G:

    "Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. If your site suffers from duplicate content issues, and you don't follow the advice listed above, we do a good job of choosing a version of the content to show in our search results."

    Search G for "google and duplicate content" & "debunking the duplicate content myth"
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin_Hutto
    The problem that you have is that Amazon or the vendor in question's page has domain age on you and probably some good links, etc... so it would be to your benefit to write some good keyword rich content for your product pages, also make sure to get your keywords in the Title tags, H1 tags, meta description (helps a lot with yahoo and bing), and in the content of the page itself. It is also helpful to crosslink the pages in the site. The easiest thing that you control is your own site, you might as well do everything you can to have it help you rank.
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    • Profile picture of the author henrywolf2010
      Don't worry about duplicate content. That's a myth. I've been able to rank sites with duplicate content and even empty sites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark.UK
      Originally Posted by Kevin_Hutto View Post

      The problem that you have is that Amazon or the vendor in question's page has domain age on you and probably some good links, etc... so it would be to your benefit to write some good keyword rich content for your product pages, also make sure to get your keywords in the Title tags, H1 tags, meta description (helps a lot with yahoo and bing), and in the content of the page itself. It is also helpful to crosslink the pages in the site. The easiest thing that you control is your own site, you might as well do everything you can to have it help you rank.
      Very valid points there Kevin, but you're talking about SEO techniques. The OP refered to using vendors descriptions and potential duplicate content issues.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnbro
    There is indeed endless debate going on on the internet regarding this topic.
    I found a very good 'talk' on this topic by Ronnnie Nijmeh at plr. me/dupecontent. It presents an interesting angle of looking at it.
    After going through it it made the picture quite clear for me. You might like to check it out.
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