12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Is this classed as duplicate content? What should I do?

by efil4renots
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey Guys,

I have a website that has quite a few videos on separate pages and posts. Normally I like to have the video transcript available in a "Toggle Box" so that watchers can read it if they want (plus it adds more written content to that page). The problem I am now facing is that I want to add the same video to 2 different pages. The video is around 1 hour long and has quite a few words in it so the transcript is pretty long.

My Question: If I post the same transcript in 2 places on the same website, will it count as duplicate content? If so, what should I do? Is this where non canonical links come into play, or is that only if it is posted on another site?

Sorry, I am new to this concept! haha

Thank-You very much for ANY replies!
#classed #content #duplicate
  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    If all you have on the two pages is the video, so pretty much two identical webpages, then yes it's duplicate content.

    Google will probably choose one as the 'original' and not rank the other one. Consider a canonical URL to combine SEO benefit to one URL.

    If this two different content pages and you are adding an identical segment of content (the video) it depends on the % of unique content to duplicate. There's no exact % that's OK, more unique content between the two pages less likely of an issue.

    It's the same issue with WordPress categories, if you have the full post loaded on the categories it's a lot of duplicate content and could result in duplicate content issues. If you use a theme that shows an excerpt of the posts content, it's not a problem.

    Small amount of duplicate content is fine.

    Google won't penalize your site for this, worst case scenario is the rankings are split between two or more duplicate webpages resulting in neither generating traffic: canonical URL is the solution if that happens.

    David
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10060356].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author efil4renots
      Thanks a lot SEO Dave, I really appreciate this!

      I am thinking of just adding a link to the 2nd page (linking to the original) saying that if you need the transcript, you can find it on "this page". It might be the best way to do it, as the transcript will be a lot longer than the text on the post.

      If you wouldn't mind, do you think you could explain the canonical link thing to me? I would be super grateful! haha
      Signature
      Learn How To Build an AMAZING WordPress Website in ONE HOUR, step by step for FREE
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10060497].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
        Originally Posted by efil4renots View Post

        If you wouldn't mind, do you think you could explain the canonical link thing to me? I would be super grateful! haha
        Just Google it. You'd be telling Google that despite having several copies of the same content you consider only one of them as the real deal, and hope that Google also prefers that one.
        Signature
        Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
        Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

        What's your excuse?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10060564].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
        Originally Posted by efil4renots View Post

        Thanks a lot SEO Dave, I really appreciate this!

        I am thinking of just adding a link to the 2nd page (linking to the original) saying that if you need the transcript, you can find it on "this page". It might be the best way to do it, as the transcript will be a lot longer than the text on the post.

        If you wouldn't mind, do you think you could explain the canonical link thing to me? I would be super grateful! haha
        Canonical links are really simple, it's some code added to the head section of a page to indicate a preferred URL. If you have two webpages with the same content (identical or almost identical pages) you can use a canonical URL to set which is the one you want Google to index/rank, the other webpage will pass it's SEO benefit to the canonical one.

        I have an article discussing it (from a WordPress perspective) at Duplicate Content and Canonical URLs

        David
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10061277].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Hudson White
    I would suggest not to mention transcript of video on every page. As it will anyhow create duplicate content issue.

    I would suggest you to just give the video on your webpage and create a separate page where all the videos which are present on your website will be collected. Also, there you can give the transcript of the videos with them.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10060525].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by efil4renots View Post

    Hey Guys,

    I have a website that has quite a few videos on separate pages and posts. Normally I like to have the video transcript available in a "Toggle Box" so that watchers can read it if they want (plus it adds more written content to that page). The problem I am now facing is that I want to add the same video to 2 different pages. The video is around 1 hour long and has quite a few words in it so the transcript is pretty long.

    My Question: If I post the same transcript in 2 places on the same website, will it count as duplicate content? If so, what should I do? Is this where non canonical links come into play, or is that only if it is posted on another site?

    Sorry, I am new to this concept! haha

    Thank-You very much for ANY replies!
    If you're trying to rank the new internal pages that also include the video transcript it's doubtful that will ever happen If you include a canonical tag in the new pages HTML source code.

    What you could do is simply place the transcript content inside an iframe & noindex the iframe HTML page. That would allow any page to be ranked that includes the video transcript/iframe.

    Assumes you want to rank all your pages involved with the transcript & all pages involved have additional on-page content/text besides the transcript.

    When you use a canonical tag you're basically telling Google to forget all the duplicate pages & only consider ranking the original page where all the canonical links are pointing, don't rank the duplicate pages but instead bury them in Supplemental SERPs where they'll never be found by search traffic.

    [edit]
    On second thought, you might want to make that an external iframe hosted on another domain If you decide to use an iframe vs a canonical & not ranking the new duplicate pages.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10060625].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      You could also just take screen shots of the transcript and load it up on one page as images. No duplicate content! And the alt in the image urls will help you with your keywords, if you're smart!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10061080].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        Duplicate content, yes. Does it matter? No.

        Google does not rank pages or anything else by who posts it
        first, or even how many times something is posted.

        Duplicate content is not the issue. Ever been to the biggest video site on
        the planet? Tons of dupe videos.

        Duplicate pages are another matter. If you use them as doorways, that's
        bad. Actively trying to rank the same duplicate page is an exercise
        in futility.

        Having the same content on several pages is not the same.

        Every big site does this, from wikipedia to ebay, youtube to NYT,
        amazon to yahoo. In fact, all those sites I just mentioned even
        have the same stuff as the others in many cases.

        Paul
        Signature

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

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10061221].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

          Duplicate content, yes. Does it matter? No.

          Google does not rank pages or anything else by who posts it
          first, or even how many times something is posted.

          Duplicate content is not the issue. Ever been to the biggest video site on
          the planet? Tons of dupe videos.

          Duplicate pages are another matter. If you use them as doorways, that's
          bad. Actively trying to rank the same duplicate page is an exercise
          in futility.

          Having the same content on several pages is not the same.

          Every big site does this, from wikipedia to ebay, youtube to NYT,
          amazon to yahoo. In fact, all those sites I just mentioned even
          have the same stuff as the others in many cases.

          Paul
          It matters.

          OP isn't ranking duplicate internal pages, not happening. He'll end up burying most If not all of the pages involved in Supplemental SERPs.

          There's a difference between very similar & duplicate.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10061263].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      What you could do is simply place the transcript content inside an iframe & noindex the iframe HTML page. That would allow any page to be ranked that includes the video transcript/iframe.

      Assumes you want to rank all your pages involved with the transcript & all pages involved have additional on-page content/text besides the transcript.
      That's a good idea.

      A slight modification to the above could be one of the webpages includes the video transcript etc... (so add the content normally) and the other one (ones) reference the video transcript in an iFrame which is noindexed.

      You would have one copy of the transcript etc... which Google can index/rank and another version in an iFrame which can be used to reference the video as many times as you like from other pages and it will in effect be invisible to Google.

      I use this iFrame concept to semi-hide content. Go to the link I posted in my last response, scroll down to the author bio box (text includes "David Law > AKA SEO Dave...."). Within the author box are button links to Facebook etc... these are loaded on a separate webpage loaded via an iFrame. I didn't noindex the webpage that holds the Facebook links (don't care if it's indexed). The reason for doing this is those links are not on the webpage you visited so have no SEO impact on the page you are viewing: AKA semi-hidden content.

      I used it in this way so I'm not wasting link benefit linking to Facebook etc... Without this technique would have 5 almost sitewide links to Facebook, Twitter etc... which would waste a lot of link benefit/PR. With the iFrame loaded webpage I'm wasting no link benefit. Also not got 5 unrelated image links watering down my webpages SEO.

      David
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10061289].message }}

Trending Topics