The Duplicate Content Issue Demystified
01.07.10
If you have your business website or a blog up and running, you have probably already heard the term 
“duplicate content” (SEO). If not, then here are some pointers that you need to know if you want your site to be on the “nice” list in *Google’s records this year.
What is duplicate content?
It is when you have several copies of the same content under different URLs (pages). For example, it could be a duplicate article on your own website, or a copy of your site’s article on a third party website. It happens often when people write for other blogs and then post the same content on their own site. It also happens if you don’t have proper blog settings on and your articles are posted under several categories, etc.
Why is duplicate content bad?
Imagine your Mom tells you a joke. Then you ask your Dad to tell you something funny, and he tells you the same joke. Then you ask your friend, and he repeats the same joke again. How annoying would that be? Google thinks the same way. It doesn’t want to show the same page in its search results several times, when people are searching for, let’s say, “different ways to fold a napkin.” That’s why when Google finds duplicate pages on the Internet, it decides which one has more value and then adds it to its index.
In order to decide which page has more value, Google will assess the site’s reputation. The site that has a better reputation in Google’s eyes will be indexed and will appear in the search results. The other duplicate page might or might not even be indexed after all.
How could it affect your entire site?
If you have a lot of duplicate content on your site, Google will slowly start losing interest in it. It might crawl your website less often, which will affect your organic ranking position in the long run.
That’s why you want to make sure that your content is unique, because that’s what Google is aiming for – to deliver valuable search results to users.
How much duplicate content is too much? When does it become evil?
No one knows how much is too much exactly when it comes to duplicate content. The general rule of thumb is to stay away from it as much as you can, and make sure that your content is as authentic as it can be. That being said, there are some situations when you cannot avoid duplicate content (e.g. you share your research results or white papers with your clients, etc.), and Google understands that. Just try to be as natural as you can, this is the main rule when it comes to Google.
Also if you do write for other blogs, you might want to consider saving a high-quality copy for your own blog and write a separate, simpler, shorter one for distribution.
Not sure if your site is in good standings with Google? Give us a shout and we will be happy to help you figure it all out.
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*By Google I really mean all search engines. Google is the biggest one out there, so I use it in my example.
Tags: Duplicate Content