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What the heck? - Using Duplicate Content on Town-Specific Pages

by joeyjamz
9 replies
Hey guys

I have noticed that in a lot of my clients' markets there are competitors that are using this model:

- Create several different pages, each with a URL targeting a specific town (for example: www.CarpetCleaners.com/Smithtown-Carpet-Cleaner)

- Use the same content across all of those different pages and just change the town name in the content and URL.

These guys are ranking very well using this model, BUT it goes against everything I've ever learned about SEO! They are using the same content word-for-word on like 20+ pages sometimes, and they're ranking high in Google.

Is this eventually going to get them penalized? Should I do it as well? Because let me tell you, I am having a hard time explaining to my clients why this is a big no-no when all their competition is doing it with good results!

Any insight or feedback would be awesome! Thanks

-Joe
#content #duplicate #heck #pages #townspecific
  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Originally Posted by joeyjamz View Post

    Hey guys

    I have noticed that in a lot of my clients' markets there are competitors that are using this model:

    - Create several different pages, each with a URL targeting a specific town (for example: www.CarpetCleaners.com/Smithtown-Carpet-Cleaner)

    - Use the same content across all of those different pages and just change the town name in the content and URL.

    These guys are ranking very well using this model, BUT it goes against everything I've ever learned about SEO! They are using the same content word-for-word on like 20+ pages sometimes, and they're ranking high in Google.

    Is this eventually going to get them penalized? Should I do it as well? Because let me tell you, I am having a hard time explaining to my clients why this is a big no-no when all their competition is doing it with good results!

    Any insight or feedback would be awesome! Thanks

    -Joe
    Change the position of the text. Change a few Sub Heads.

    Most content can be the same. Different map. Different video, different photo. Different outgoing links (to a high Pagerank local website) and you should be fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    I thought "duplicate content" pertains to when it's on the same site. I could've sworn I've heard it doesn't count as duplicate when it's on different sites, because in that case anything that's syndicated, like API stories and columnists, would get any sites they appear on penalized.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      I thought "duplicate content" pertains to when it's on the same site. I could've sworn I've heard it doesn't count as duplicate when it's on different sites, because in that case anything that's syndicated, like API stories and columnists, would get any sites they appear on penalized.

      Yep. I had to reread the first post.

      Yeah, duplicate content is on the same website. I was assuming the different pages were on the same website. Different sites? All of them should rank well (not in the same search) for the business-town.
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      • Profile picture of the author joeyjamz
        No that's what I mean - the same website with different pages all using the same content, and all just targeting a different town.

        Thanks for the feedback
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by joeyjamz View Post

          No that's what I mean - the same website with different pages all using the same content, and all just targeting a different town.

          Thanks for the feedback

          Then the pages aren't using only the same content. The text may be the same, but they are doing something to hide that fact from Google. You can just rearrange the lists, re-position paragraphs, use different photos, and it's a different page. The page title is certainly different. Change fonts. change the links.

          To Google, this is different content.
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  • Profile picture of the author CageyVet
    Duplicate content will not rank for the same keyword no matter if it is on the same or different domains.

    So putting up two exact same pages with exact same content with same position of text and elements, only 1 will rank for any specific keyword.

    If you change out a few elements, especially the ones you want to rank differently...then that change in content will be the differentiating factor for the different rankings for a different keyword. So it is ultimately ranking for the "Different" content and the duplicate content portion is not a determining factor.

    This works well but that does not mean it will work for ever. I usually try to have at least 25-30% different content on local business sites that target different cities or areas. A good way to really change up the content is to create a separate video and image for each city/area keyword. Then have a unique intro for the particular area and a differently formatted ending(could be same words, just is different orders so like spun but more like sentence spun)
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    • Profile picture of the author shockwave
      On the sites that I have seen doing this (including my own ) it's typically a matter of changing the Title and tweaking the description a bit (aka. "content spinning").

      I don't believe all the hype about duplicate content either. If someone lands on the page and stays there for a while, that lowers the bounce rate. Thus, big G may feel that whatever content that's on the page must be "useful and relevant" (regardless if it's almost/all exactly the same as what is on other pages).

      I think the sites that actually get whacked for this kind of stuff are the one's that get manually reviewed by people who are hired as search engine evaluators.

      ....it's all theory though, I have not tested any of it.
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        Harry punched John in the face.
        John punched Harry in the face.

        i.e.

        small differences make a big impact

        carpetcleaner.com/niles-carpet-cleaning is trying to rank for niles carpet cleaning
        carpetcleaner.com/dupage-carpet-cleaning is trying to rank for dupage carpet cleaning

        It works nicely till Google comes by and say: Dude, you've got thin content, and kicks you out of the SERPS. I know for I got one such email message from Google about my first site ever. The information was the same, the actual words were pretty different.

        From Google's email, I got the feeling they care about the import of your web pages on humans not about how much alike they are... Though, obviously, if they're identical you lose impact.

        But, if changing 2 or 3 little things changes the meaning/usefulness of a page, you ought to be good to go.

        I am assuming that if you have a carpet cleaning company in one city that offers the very same services as one in the city next door and their prices are the only real difference, to me, as a would-be buyer, the fact that everything else is the same is irrelevant, I still feel I got different and useful info.

        So, almost identical wording can be irrelevant while different wording can cost you (I ran my deindexed site through copyscape and copyscape said each of my pages were not identical, except for the site name still I agree with Google, the site didn't deserve to exist even except for one factor: it WAS making me some, not a lot but regularly, money).
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  • Profile picture of the author CageyVet
    The other thing to consider is if you are targeting local business keywords, the competition is most likely quite weak. So it does not take a lot of on-page SEO or Off-page for that matter to gain a decent rank in the SERPS.

    So just having a decent keyword density for the "service + city" is more than enough for these types of sites. Thus the content inbetween the keywords is pretty much irrelevant since it is just a simple explanation of the service itself. And cleaning a carpet, fixing a toilet, mowing a lawn etc etc...there is not much that is extremely unique about how one business does it to the next. Thus the service explanation is even more irrelevant and the targeted "service + city" is even more relevant to the internet user's requested search result.
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