SEO Blog

Most businesses would be more than happy to emulate the success of a rival company. That’s all well and good, it gives you a clear objective and targets to achieve. However, it does represent certain problems.

There are some people who take this to the absolute nth degree though. Not only do they want to get a piece of the action, but they want to take the quick ticket to glory. This leads to emulation, rather than innovation. In some instances, whole websites are copied, often inclusive of content, design and even the name. As if you needed reminding, this is not good practice.
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Duplicate content is the bane of any SEO. Websites with page after page of matching text just aren’t going to perform well, regardless of link building and other on-page efforts. In short, it’s an unnecessary nuisance.

The trouble for many site owners comes when they take the decision to implement changes. If you’ve got hundreds of pages with content that is used elsewhere on your site, you don’t want to be rewriting each one, word for word. Although this is the only definitive solution, it’s just not possible for all sites.
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With the recent panda update there has been a fair amount of focus on the issue of duplicate content. Whilst there have been some who have claimed that there’s no such thing as truly original content, I think we can safely leave these arguments to one side for now. What I want to focus on is the issue of copy on your site, as well as marketing it elsewhere.

Essentially, duplicate content can be defined as anything that has been used elsewhere in some form. Whether it’s a small snippet, a paragraph or a whole page, Google can be a little sensitive when it sees the same thing time and time again.
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The issue of multiple websites targeting the same primary keywords is one that appears to rumble on and on. Despite the massive weight of evidence to the contrary, many people still believe that developing a replica site will yield double the traffic.

But let’s take a logical look at this for a moment. When you’re looking to develop a second (third, fourth, fifth…) site you will be in one of two positions:

1) You’ve got a site struggling to get to the top of Google and want to hedge your bets
2) You’ve already got a site at the top of Google and want to dominate the SERPs.
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There are certain elements of your website that are essential. Legally binding areas such as your Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions sit in your site’s footer. Rarely seen, even less frequently visited.

These have to be there. They ensure that your content is protected and visitors are aware of their rights. Not always an exciting read, but important nonetheless.

The question from Chad Walls though was two-fold, firstly can you actually optimise the privacy policy? Well, in theory you can. You could add links to other parts of your site and add a little strength. But in all honesty, there is very little value in doing so.
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There’s a perceived logic amongst some that somehow having more domains will improve your chances of gaining traffic. Well, theoretically yes, there is some truth to that. The only issue comes when you have numerous domains hosting the exact same site.

This means the whole structure, all the content, even the design is the same, the only difference is in the URL. In terms of traffic, the only real benefit this carries is if somebody should actually stumble upon the site by entering your address directly. Not only is that highly unlikely, but it could be doing more damage than good.
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Everybody wants to have their company seen online. Unfortunately of course there are always those pesky competitors who keep appearing and taking away some of your share of the search traffic. What can you do to stop them getting in on the act? How about hosting a number of different websites?

You’d be surprised how often people still choose to take this route. Whilst it is a practice that should have died off when the dotcom bubble burst, somehow it has survived.

The theory behind it is sound enough. I’ve got one website that is ranking well, perhaps even at the top of Google, why not build another one and get more visitors? That way you push your competitors further down the list, get more business and maybe boost your coffers a little. The perfect plan…
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Whilst there’s nothing to suggest that you will receive any kind of major drop in rankings as a result of using duplicate content or code, you certainly shouldn’t expect too many favours either. For many, duplicating content that you’ve created for other pages of a site or seen elsewhere is the easy choice.

What could be easier? You’ve done the hard work, produced a good bit of Meta or a page of copy, replicate that elsewhere and you have to been on to a winner right? Well, wrong actually. Duplication should be a last resort. It is an option for those who have to fill a page but really don’t have the time or resources to do so from scratch.
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If you’ve spent a fair amount of time developing a website, getting it a proper domain and setting it free on to the Internet, avoid the temptation to get carried away with buying new domains. This can lead to all sorts of issues, including duplicated content and canonical errors, both of which can lead to a drop in search engine rankings.

Your mission with any website is to strengthen one domain. You have a core URL, be it a .co.uk, a .com or any of the other alternatives, which should get your entire attention. Occasionally people get the smart idea to buy a few more domains, create replica websites and build up their strength by linking to one another. Don’t fall into this trap.
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Duplicate pages and, in particular, duplicate content is a major sticking point when it comes to effective SEO.  Whether you have a number of URLs for the same page, or have decided to reuse a bit of copy from elsewhere, you are running the risk of facing a penalty from Google.

You might not have been aware that an offence had occurred, or even that you weren’t strictly supposed to duplicate your content; however, in the world of SEO, ignorance isn’t necessarily bliss. It is unlikely that you will receive a severe punishment from the search engines, unless the offence is flagrant and in breach of their codes, but it could undermine your other site strengthening efforts.
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