Duplicate ContentNo Duplicate Content

As an author myself I often wonder about duplicate content. I have seen many of my articles that are elsewhere on the net being credited to other authors. I am a business professional so I really don’t have the time to file a DMHC report with the countless instances of ripped off content. I really just want to write about the subjects that I am passionate about and be credited as the author when credit is due. Regardless I shall continue because it is a great form of expression for me.

The other day I thought I’d spend a little time researching the topic of “Content Duplication”. Prior to making this decision I kind of thought that Google, MSN, Yahoo all must already have a stance on this and probably have developed consequent algorithms to determine the original author and duplicates.

Here is How I Started my Research

  • Who else to ask other than Google themselves?
  • I found 2 really helpful links on this subject the first one is from the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog which basically gives Google’s bottom line on duplicate content as posted by Posted by Adam Lasnik
  • I went to Matt Cutts’s blog to see what Google’s spam assassin had to say about it
  • I found this thread on duplicate content even more enlightening. The reason I found it more helpful is the feedback from other webmasters in the same boat I am in.

In this thread Adam himself speaks a number of times directly to the webmaster nation. One of the most important issues here (to me) is

Minimize Boilerplate Repetition:

For instance, instead of including lengthy copyright text on the bottom of every page, include a very brief summary and then link to a page with more details.

Although I enjoy writing articles I also have to make a living. How I do that is with my websites and the content I write. I got to thinking about my own domains and how they are currently set up. What is this “boiler point” all about?

Once I gathered enough info I realized the all of my sites are guilty of this. I never thought it could be a problem! I feel that my visitors like to have a common nav menu when using my system out of convenience. Now I have learned that my pages that have a common nav menu, common copyright footer or any other “Common elements” on all pages may be dished out a penalty. If you read between the lines Adam states that there are many other factors that are used to determine duplicate content but the fact remains that the good guys can get screwed here. This is why we all need to pay attention to words spoken by people that know.

The reason that Google seems to have the best approach to the webmaster community is because they have to. “You’re either with us or you’re against us”. They make no secret that they have tighten the rope. A rope I believe is too tight for most but effectively separates quality from crap. This is their way of simulating nature’s balance, the weak will die. Personally I cannot disagree with this idea, but there seems to be more to the picture than meets the eye!

Are SEOers Being Profiled?

This is a something I have highly suspected for a long time.Yes, I have dabbled in black hat back in 2005-2006 on my own domains. Once I got busted my sites were taken out of Google’s index and remained that way until recently. I even file reinclusion reports outlining my admission of black hat techniques that were no longer being used. Yet if I went out and performed SEO (minus the blackhat) for others; sites rank like magic .According to Outspoken Media

“The one that has to do with Matt Cutts taking the stage during the You&A and openly stating that Google profiles SEOs like common criminals.” Source

It seems that spammers are the main target, then duplication, then smelly SEOers. I see both perspectives and understand. Without taking the initiative of this research I would never have learned that my sites are suffering from duplication woes that need to be addressed…for that I thank Adam and Lisa Barone for confirming my suspicion of SEO profiling.

Read Between the Google Lines

The fact is I can see that Google is very proactive it the webmaster community. Their true initiatives seem to be targeting everything that pisses me off anyways…spam, duped content and so on. Even Google realizes that in many cases it is a fine line, this can result it innocent bystanders getting slammed. Because algos are getting so tight now Google has taken the approach of reaching out to the good side of the net and let them know the very basics of what and why. This is NOT advice that you want to take or leave if you are serious about your internet business; it is actually a heads up. Webmaster beware!

That brings me to the actual point of this article “Duplicate Content”. I still talk to many business people that think they can use any old content as long as there is permission to use it. “Just find me some relevant content and we’ll use it!” Ouch, if you only new the pain I feel when you say that. My point is, as a website owner expecting to get your share of organic traffic you are shooting yourself in the foot by using the same content everyone else uses. If you think about what Adam is saying your net gain from doing this could, in reality, be a negative. Translation= you’re hurting yourself injecting your site with duplicate content.

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