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Geo Targeting and Duplicate Content

by brandon2664
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
My keyword is "dmv test questions" and im on page 2.

When people type in dmv test answers or anything regarding driver's licenses they tend to also add there state in. For example dmv test questions florida, or dmv test questions alabama.

I want to make a separate page for each state. www example com/dmv-test/florida.html. I plan on changing only the state name on each page. Will I get penalized for duplicate content?:confused: Can someone shed some light on this?
#content #duplicate #geo #targeting
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Yes, you might have a ranking problem with that. If you are changing only one word and repeating the rest of the content on page after page on the same site, that is the definition of duplicate content as google sees it.

    State regs are all different for what you are doing so why not make each page worthwhile by have some basic text you use and adding regulations for the state.

    Otherwise, you are going to be doing a lot of work - and end up with what could be a crappy site in my opinion.

    kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    I would possibly put each state in your meta keywords instead. As Waddle and Kay said, you might run into problems with your idea.

    However, you could create a page for each state. Optimize the title and put a blurb on each page about DMV, then set the page to redirect to the page you want visitors to actually land.
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    • Profile picture of the author brandon2664
      I appreciate the response. I think Im gonna write a unique 300 word paragraph for every state. Maybe I will do a redirect from every state page to my homepage.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        I'm not sure it has to be a long text - it's possible most - or at least many - of the states have a blurb or two about their questions that you could use. Check the terms but most govt sites are public domain (perhaps not all - but most).

        I think you would have a much better sites in the end if you do something to customize each state.

        If you do use a few lines of the same text, don't have it at the top of the text of the various pages.

        kay
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  • Profile picture of the author brandon2664
    Thanks for the input kay. I think i'm definitely gonna make a template for all 50 states and write a unique paragraph at the top of each page. My competition is doing it but they don't have any unique content. They just do the cookie cutter method and replace the state name. They show up first every time for the keyword and state.

    I have to figure this out because it can prove useful for my real company plumbing. It is impossible to rank organically for "emergency plumber" but for "emergency plumber davie" or "emergency plumber miami" I think it would be easy to clean house.
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    • Profile picture of the author gregw2
      You have hit on several topics without knowing it.

      First, duplicate content is a Google thing, and they do not penalize for duplicate content other than your own website. This is what they say.

      . . . BUT DO NOT BELIEVE Google.

      If it is true . . . then most websites do not have anything to worry about as long as they are not using the same content on more than one page.

      Using the same content on more than one page of your site is not a good idea under any circumstances, but to a certain extent it is hard to avoid when using website templates.

      This is when original content takes the stage. BY a rule of thumb you should be seeking to have at least 60% of your page content different than any other page on your website, 75% is better.

      And this content should be original to your site, not articles from article directories or online content mills.

      Google claims that it does not punish sites that share content but they do. It reflects in the rankings that they attribute to each site.

      If all of your content is 100% original then your Google ranking will be higher, than if you are sharing content with other sites.

      There are high ranking sites that share content and duplicate articles but if the content of those sites was completely original their ranking would be even higher.

      I had one site that was ranked a 4 in Google and after I hired a writer that used duplicate content my website dropped to a Google rank of 3, so they (Google) do penalize and just claim not to.

      Google does penalize for duplicate content a little bit, but they deny this, and claim that they only penalize if the duplicate content is on the same site (repeated on pages within the same site).

      The main point is do not duplicate content on your site's pages, and be careful about the content that you garner from other sources. The more duplicate content you have on your site the lower your ranking in Google.

      There are ways to circumvent the Google penalties for a while, but eventually Google's bots will catchup to you and see everything that you are doing. So the best thing to do is to try very hard to have original content as often as possible.
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