Duplicate Content - An Example and a Bit of Advice

6 replies
Hi all,

Yep, the argument about duplicate content and whether Google punishes duplicate content or not has been fought for ages.

Personally, I believe that content that is duplicated inside your own website IS a bad thing, i.e. the same content on different pages within your website. However, I've never lost sleep wondering whether my articles are too similar to others across the web.

Anyway, I was doing some random browsing on Google today and for one of the keywords I searched, there are 2 websites in the top 10 (#1 and #9 respectively) that have the EXACT same content.

The same headline.
The same meta description.
The same article word for word.
The same images.
Different domains.

I found it interesting that both articles managed to get indexed on page 1 of Google for the same keyword (770 000 000 competing pages).

To me, this shows again that Google doesn't really care if your article is 99% the same as another article elsewhere on the internet.

Now I am not saying you should go and copy & paste 1000 unedited PLR articles on your website because Google doesn't penalize duplicate content.

As far as I see it, if the same article can exist in numerous places all over the internet, your aim should be to make your article jump out and grab the reader.

That means making your article unique in terms of being written with the CUSTOMER in mind, NOT the search engine's spiders.

This is where I feel most people lose the plot. Too much is made of rewriting content just to make it 30% unique from other articles for the sake of rankings.

Not enough emphasis is placed on rewriting articles so that they grab the attention of the reader, hold the attention of the reader, and inspire the reader to take the next step.

That takes more than rearranging a few sentences and throwing in some synonyms.

So if you are rewriting articles, make sure its for the right reasons
#advice #bit #content #duplicate
  • Profile picture of the author Charlotte Jay
    I totally agree that you should be writing for the reader and not the search engines. It's all fine and dandy making it SEO friendly, but in the end what human being wants to read the same old rehashed words with a few new synonyms and adjectives thrown in. Not me, that's for sure.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kecia
    I agree as well. Sure you can throw up thousands of PLR articles on your site but if it isn't rewritten to provide unique content to your readers, it is unlikely you will be viewed as an expert in your niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
    Absolutely. Getting your article ranked on the 1st page is only half the battle. You win the battle by converting readers into buyers once they've found your article.
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    "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

    Personally, I believe that content that is duplicated inside your own website IS a bad thing, i.e. the same content on different pages within your website.
    Indeed.

    I don't think I've ever seen anyone suggesting otherwise. (And certainly not with any plausibility or credibility, anyway.) That would be running the risk that Google, in its wisdom, might decide that the same content had been duplicated within one website for the purposes of "gaming" their search engine, and IF they decide that, there can indeed be penalties for it. But only when it's "within one website", of course.

    Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

    I found it interesting that both articles managed to get indexed on page 1 of Google for the same keyword (770 000 000 competing pages).
    This happens "surprisingly" often.

    Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

    Too much is made of rewriting content just to make it 30% unique from other articles for the sake of rankings.
    I agree.

    And usually that's the opinion of people who have swallowed wholesale an urban myth of internet marketing which is based on a failure to appreciate the significance of the very fundamental and important difference between duplicate content and syndicated content.
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    • Profile picture of the author Raindance
      I totally agree. Apart from developing the connection with your readers, writing for them is a lot easier than writing for the search engine bots.

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Originally Posted by Nick Lotter View Post

      I found it interesting that both articles managed to get indexed on page 1 of Google for the same keyword (770 000 000 competing pages).
      This happens "surprisingly" often.
      Even I've seen it quite a few times but those times have just led me to frustration so I'm not really for it. :p

      Nevertheless, even if Google ever detects the presence of the exact same material on multiple websites, it skims out all the other pages except one. And the one which they leave to rank in the results is the one which was the first to be indexed. This is why, it is always recommended to let your content go to your site first, get indexed and then do whatever you please to do with it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nick Lotter
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      And usually that's the opinion of people who have swallowed wholesale an urban myth of internet marketing which is based on a failure to appreciate the significance of the very fundamental and important difference between duplicate content and syndicated content.
      That's exactly what I wanted to say, only you said it better!
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      "Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."
      William Butler Yeats
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