How does Google treat duplicate content from classifieds websites

15 replies
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I have been looking around to test this and I found out that a lot of classified ads posted on websites have duplicate copies on other classifieds websites from the same user , I guess some people want more exposure to their ads , so they will post the same ad in many places . How does google exactly treat this kind of duplicate content because I see that many top classifieds website have duplicated content elsewhere. I was just curious because I started a classified ads website and I'd like to make sure this will not be an issue . It doesn't seem to be an issue from what I have observed because the vast majority of top sites have many of their ads duplicated on other sites . Any thoughts ?

Thank you much
#classifieds #content #duplicate #google #treat #websites
  • Profile picture of the author Adam Roy
    If the content from your site is shared onto other sites, don't worry about it.
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    • Profile picture of the author EuropeGiant
      Originally Posted by Adam Roy View Post

      If the content from your site is shared onto other sites, don't worry about it.
      Cool ... But how does google know that I'm the initial site that got the content ? Also , a lot of the users posting on the site also first posted their ads of what they're trying to sell on other classified sites first , then stumbled upon my website and posted again to get more exposure .. How does Google view that ? I have seen a trend of classified sites users posting their ads almost everywhere to get buyers quick ... and they will copy and paste their ads , so it will look identical. What would happen in this kind of situation ? It's not a blog situation here , it's a classified ads website situation with users coping and pasting their ads on my similar sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    The truth is that classified ads sites really do not care how Google treats it. They are not trying to rank for much of anything, and certainly not trying to rank individual ads.

    When was the last time you saw Craigslist pop up for a relevant search?
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      The truth is that classified ads sites really do not care how Google treats it. They are not trying to rank for much of anything, and certainly not trying to rank individual ads.

      When was the last time you saw Craigslist pop up for a relevant search?
      True about Craigslist but I doubt the scraper sites let those same ads expire.

      Even ebay which is basically a classified site can rank product pages such as Buy Now pages where those pages can last a long time in the SERPs.

      OP, the scraper site/page with better SEO wins when it comes to duplicate pages across multiple domains. I would imagine most scraper sites have very weak internal pages since they're most likely automating the scraped content/pages & not really building any links for those scraped pages.
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      • Profile picture of the author TomKaz
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        True about Craigslist but I doubt the scraper sites let those same ads expire.

        Even ebay which is basically a classified site can rank product pages such as Buy Now pages where those pages can last a long time in the SERPs.

        OP, the scraper site/page with better SEO wins when it comes to duplicate pages across multiple domains. I would imagine most scraper sites have very weak internal pages since they're most likely automating the scraped content/pages & not really building any links for those scraped pages.
        Yukon is right on this regarding scraper sites/pages with better SEO wins.
        I own Lionseek.com which is essentially an aggregator and it outranks a majority of the sites the original content is from - it's just that I paid more attention to SEO from an architecture/semantic perspective.
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  • Profile picture of the author craigsposterpro
    I believe it will receive the same treatment as any other duplicate content with Google. When there are multiple host sites for the same identical content, Google prefers to display the site with the most trust and authority.

    I also agree with Mike that I have not seen individual classified site ads show up in the SERPS that often.
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    • Profile picture of the author EuropeGiant
      Originally Posted by craigsposterpro View Post

      I believe it will receive the same treatment as any other duplicate content with Google. When there are multiple host sites for the same identical content, Google prefers to display the site with the most trust and authority.

      I also agree with Mike that I have not seen individual classified site ads show up in the SERPS that often.
      So duplicate content punishment doesn't apply to classifieds ads websites right ? Because all of the big websites have duplicate content everywhere . I copied and pasted some of the ads on my website and other classified websites and you can see that the ad has been posted on MANY other sites and there is no way I can control that . I assume that I should not be worrying then right ?
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by EuropeGiant View Post

        So duplicate content punishment doesn't apply to classifieds ads websites right ? Because all of the big websites have duplicate content everywhere . I copied and pasted some of the ads on my website and other classified websites and you can see that the ad has been posted on MANY other sites and there is no way I can control that . I assume that I should not be worrying then right ?
        The same content showing up on multiple websites is not "duplicate content". Duplicate content is the same content showing up on the same website over and over again.
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        • Profile picture of the author EuropeGiant
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          The same content showing up on multiple websites is not "duplicate content". Duplicate content is the same content showing up on the same website over and over again.
          Thank you for the LESSON ! May I see where you got that knowledge because I was thinking that duplicate contents also includes different sites . Happy to hear that !
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          • Profile picture of the author aivil
            Very interesting thread. I was also searching for the same for a long time. The answers are quite satisfactory and i understand that we should focus on improving the authority of our classifieds website if we really want to improve its presence in SERPs.

            One more fact: we can't control duplicacy beyond a certain limit on a classifieds site compared to other content submission webs! the only way left is to rank your classified website higher and enjoy the lesser penality impact by Google for content duplicacy !!
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        • Profile picture of the author pororo
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          The same content showing up on multiple websites is not "duplicate content". Duplicate content is the same content showing up on the same website over and over again.
          https://support.google.com/webmaster...er/66359?hl=en
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanLB
    I don't see it as a big deal. Content is picked up and syndicated all the time. They won't outrank you, and generally they aren't even trying to rank.
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  • Profile picture of the author LiftMyRank
    In my experience the more authority a site has the more it can get away with scraped/duplicate content and still rank, try adding 1,000 scrapped pages to a brand new site and rank it, compared to if wikipedia added 1,000 scrapped pages they would rank fine...
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  • Profile picture of the author RandySwanston
    Why does a classified site need organic traffic, if the website is popular enough, they would get tonnes of direct traffic. (ofcourse they need to compete for popular keywords like "post ads" "classified ads" etc). They never bother about organic rankings like other niches do.
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    • Profile picture of the author EuropeGiant
      Originally Posted by RandySwanston View Post

      Why does a classified site need organic traffic, if the website is popular enough, they would get tonnes of direct traffic. (ofcourse they need to compete for popular keywords like "post ads" "classified ads" etc). They never bother about organic rankings like other niches do.
      My classifieds ads website is relatively new . I launched it in February 2013 .. I was just worried about the duplicate content because users post the very same ad on many different ads website .. so if I understand it right , I won't get punishment from google I assume because all other big sites have the same duplicate content too . Classifieds DO NEED SEO as well especially the new ones .
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