Lucy Griffiths

Is Duplicate Content Killing Your Business?

15th Apr 2008 SEO Blog 1 minute to read

Koozai > Blog > Is Duplicate Content Killing Your Business?


This is a very basic issue but one that we see crop up regularly.

Duplicate content, in very simple terms, is to be avoided. This could be a page that has been used elsewhere on your site or a very keen Webmaster buying every domain extension of your brand and replicating the content on each.

We sometimes have a situation where a client purchased a domain and then through a branding initiative or other strategic reason, have gone on to buy a second domain. This could be a different name or just a change of extension, e.g. .com to .co.uk.

Either way, if not properly managed, this could lead to a duplicate content penalty and one or all sites could be negatively affected.

So what should you do? If you’re dealing with a potential issue of duplicate content within the same site, e.g. landing pages used for Pay per Click, these should be excluded from the natural search results by use of your robots.txt file.

If you have moved from ‘old.domain’ to ‘new.domain’ you should implement a 301 re-direct, i.e. permanent redirect in your .htaccess file. A 301 can also be used to manage ‘old.page’ to ‘new.page’ and acts basically as a sign-post informing the search engines that there has been a change. If used correctly, as well as re-directing the visitor to the correct destination, other factors such as in-bound links and search rankings should carry over to the new location.

Of course this only covers inadvertent duplication. If you have borrowed content from elsewhere on the Internet, be aware that Google will find it and could punish you as a consequence. Whether it is just a blog post you liked or the entire body text from a competitor’s website, you could see your rankings slip as a consequence.

Duplicate content adds no value to your site. Whilst visitors might be oblivious to it, the search engines certainly are not. It won’t add to the individuality of your site and will do little to maintain any kind of running theme. Your best bet is to always start afresh and produce unique content that is targeted for your site’s visitors.

There is an excellent article at Google Webmaster Central Blog that discusses dealing with duplicate content in more detail.

Share this post

What do you think?

aspect-ratio
Gary Hainsworth

What is Black Hat SEO?

Gary Hainsworth
22nd Sep 2023
SEO Blog
aspect-ratio
Gary Hainsworth

The Importance of Keywords in SEO

Gary Hainsworth
19th Sep 2023
SEO Blog

Digital Ideas Monthly

Sign up now and get our free monthly email. It’s filled with our favourite pieces of the news from the industry, SEO, PPC, Social Media and more. And, don’t forget - it’s free, so why haven’t you signed up already?

We create cutting edge, award-winning digital marketing campaigns

Digital Marketing Audits

Are you a UK business that needs some expert help to uncover what’s holding your digital marketing back? Let us show you!

Questions?

Call us on 0330 353 0300, email info@koozai.com or fill out our Contact Form.

Map of Hampshire Digital Marketing Agency
Hampshire Digital Marketing Agency
Merlin House 4 Meteor Way Lee-on-the-Solent, PO13 9FU, UK
Map of Lancashire Digital Marketing Agency
Lancashire Digital Marketing Agency
Cotton Court Business Centre Church Street, Preston Lancashire, PR1 3BY, UK
Map of London Digital Marketing Agency
London Digital Marketing Agency
Albert House 256 - 260 Old Street London, EC1V 9DD, UK

Unlike 08 numbers, 03 numbers cost the same to call as geographic landline numbers (starting 01 and 02), even from a mobile phone. They are also normally included in your inclusive call minutes. Please note we may record some calls.

Circle Cross