Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Local SEO
    4. Reviews and Ratings
    5. How can I avoid duplicate content when building a review widget?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    How can I avoid duplicate content when building a review widget?

    Reviews and Ratings
    6
    10
    3361
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • menachemp
      menachemp last edited by

      My website has a profile page for each of the home improvement contractors who signs up.  They accumulate reviews on those pages.  I want to build a review widget to display our reviews on our contractors' websites.  How can I avoid duplicate content issues for the reviews?

      Example of a profile page with a few reviews:  http://www.thehomefixers.com/members/425/waterheaters-plus-llc.php

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • MonicaOConnor
        MonicaOConnor last edited by

        I think you should use a review aggregator like YotPo. These will deliver reviews to your contractor's sites without duplicating the content because the content won't be in the source code. Any plug in you can design will prevent duplicate content. You will basically display the content without it being in the code. The only HTML the robot will see is the coding for the review system.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • menachemp
          menachemp @David-Kley last edited by

          Thanks - the problem is that the remainder of the page is also likely to be somewhat duplicate - it's mostly NAP data, business tagline or coupon offers, which are likely to be extremely repetitive as these businesses often have dozens of listings, all with the same info.  The reviews are really our only differentiating content from all their other listings.

          If the reviews popped up on their sites as well (via our widget) would a link back to their profile page (part of the widget) be enough to indicate to Google that we were the original source?  I don't think canonical tags will be an option.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • David-Kley
            David-Kley last edited by

            "I want to build a review widget to display our reviews on our contractors' websites."

            If you are going to be displaying it as a widget on their website, I'm not sure what duplicate issue you are expecting. You would not have the same reviews across mutiple sites if you are adding contractor-specific reviews to a contractor-specific site. Unless you are referring to having the review content displayed on your siet where they sign up, and also on their site as a widget. Even if that is the case, you will have so many differences between the two pages and surrounding supporting text I doubt you would see any if at all negative effects.

            Duplicate content penalties are aimed at people who use multiple pages of exact or highly similar content to try and manipulate search engine rankings. Just by having a few reviews that are the same across a few pages I dont think you would be grouped into that.

            menachemp 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • Porteame
              Porteame last edited by

              Does it apply with content writen about a product, and the description writen inside the product caracteristics in my e-commerce store?

              Right now I have the same info in the product info page, and the product in the store...

              Should I write different info for both pages?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • menachemp
                menachemp @KarlBantleman last edited by

                But would I be able to get the canonical tag on the client website via the widget code?  Or I'd need two separate code snippets for installation

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • KarlBantleman
                  KarlBantleman @menachemp last edited by

                  No, it would be for the whole page. It's good practise to have the canonical tag on anyway though

                  menachemp 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • menachemp
                    menachemp @KarlBantleman last edited by

                    Can the canonical tag be applied to only a portion of a page's content?  (basically, everything within the review widget?)

                    KarlBantleman 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • max.favilli
                      max.favilli last edited by

                      What percentage of page content would be duplicate?

                      I am asking because I remember seeing a video of our spiritual guide Matt Cutts addressing that, and he said at google they do understand content sometimes is quoted, cited, etc... And it all depends on how much text is duplicated when you quote, cite...

                      But unfortunately he was not saying how much is too much.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • KarlBantleman
                        KarlBantleman last edited by

                        What content is going to be duplicated? The reviews?

                        The best way would be to add a canonical tag to the website. You need to identify the main page the content is going to be on then add the canonical tag. For example, If you have 4 pages with similar content then pick the page that has more authority and canonicalise the others to that page.

                        Here's more info on the canonical tag https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/139066?hl=en

                        menachemp 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • 1 / 1
                        • First post
                          Last post

                        Got a burning SEO question?

                        Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                        Start my free trial


                        Browse Questions

                        Explore more categories

                        • Moz Tools

                          Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                        • SEO Tactics

                          Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                        • Community

                          Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                        • Digital Marketing

                          Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                        • Research & Trends

                          Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                        • Support

                          Connect on product support and feature requests.

                        • See all categories

                        Related Questions

                        • PerfectPitchConcepts

                          What is the best practice way to attribute a Google Review?

                          An example might be a local directory site, where multiple businesses are featured. To flesh out the respective business profiles, Google Reviews are included. Copying/pasting would be the definition of duplicate content. I wonder though if hyperlinking to the review itself would be enough? For a random example: "you literally have never had better ice cream. cutest shop in charleston sc" - Mandee Jalbert, Google Review Google doesn't appear to have a review embed option- am I wrong? If not, would the above attribution via the "Google Review" hyperlink be sufficient to head off any potential dings for duplicate content? Thanks! Stephen
                          Thanks for your thoughts! I feel like this might make for a good presentation at our SoundBoard conference someday soon.

                          Reviews and Ratings | | PerfectPitchConcepts
                          0
                        • Eroc

                          BazaarVoice Paginated Reviews Not Honoring Canonical & Indexing Multiple Pages

                          If there are enough reviews on a product page to warrant page 2, 3 etc, BazaarVoice appends the below snippets to each new page of reviews, which are then also indexed, despite BazaarVoice SEO settings that automate a canonical tag (seemingly since the differing reviews on each page are not similar enough to honor the canonical). <cite class="iUh30">?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r</cite> <cite class="iUh30">?bvstate=pg:3/ct:r</cite> It seems Target.com has found a way to hack the BV code to create a dedicated page to view all reviews: https://www.target.com/p/ultra-soft-fitted-sheet-300-thread-count-threshold-153/-/A-13973172?showOnlyReview=true While Ikea.com blocks it in the Robots file (defeats SEO value) - Noindex: */catalog/products/bvroute=Review Noindex: */catalog/products/bvtab Tons of brands apparently have the issue, and you can see more examples if you search "inurl:bvstate=pg" Anyone aware of a solution to this?

                          Reviews and Ratings | | Eroc
                          2
                        • eport12

                          What is the best online reputation management software for generating legitimate Google (and other online) reviews?

                          Hello! Does anyone have a good experience with using an online reputation management tool to help generate online reviews for a Google My Business listing, Facebook, etc? The reason I ask about a review software is because of my client's age demographic (50+), so we need to have an automated system to request reviews from their clients and to make it simple for them to leave reviews.

                          Reviews and Ratings | | eport12
                          2
                        • PeterCol12

                          3rd Party Approved Reviews - Widget or API Feed - Any thoughts ?

                          Hi Mozzers, We use a google approved 3rd party review company to collect reviews for our branches and now also for our products( this is about to be implemented). We currently use one of their widgets on our site (its javascript) to show the reviews. I don't think google can read this and  I don't think we currently, therefore, get any direct seo benefit from it. My questions are as follows : I obviously want to get any SEO benefit from any review text which customers leave but as the data itself is housed on the review site with a widget on my site pointing to it,should I use an API feed as opposed to a widget. If google can read the review text on my page - then surely i should some benefit from it even though, it could technically be classed as duplicate content what are peoples thoughts ? . thanks Pete

                          Reviews and Ratings | | PeterCol12
                          0
                        • MissThumann

                          Why can I not add Schema Mark up to my homepage?

                          I've paid a company to add Schema to my website, but they just told me they can't add it to my homepage? Is this correct??

                          Reviews and Ratings | | MissThumann
                          0
                        • obkommy

                          What's the best way to keep Google My Business reviews when the business changes names?

                          I work with an interior designer who is re-branding and changing her business name to focus specifically on windows. Can she keep her GMB reviews and just change the name of her business, then reverify with Google? She doesn't want to lose her current local pack ranking.

                          Reviews and Ratings | | obkommy
                          1
                        • KempRugeLawGroup

                          Do ratings/reviews show up in Organic Search Results anymore?

                          I read about using schema or h1review to add markup that would get an individual person's review to show up in organic search, but it was from 2013. I did a few queries for keywords in my area, and none of the results had this. Then I did some queries for generic things like "best pizza in Tampa" and "coffee in tampa" and they didn't have it either. So, is this still something that can be done or not? I do see it when a review site like yelp comes up or in ads, but I'm specifically talking about organic search results from our website. Thanks, Ruben

                          Reviews and Ratings | | KempRugeLawGroup
                          0
                        • RobertFisher

                          Having Yelp Reviews Removed

                          Since we all work with Yelp on a local basis, I believe many are aware that if a review is placed by a non customer about a company, Yelp will typically remove them if you show that it isn't valid, etc. We all know they made a show of outing those who posted fake reviews as well. Here is a question I have though: Have any of you been aware of Yelp taking down valid negative reviews for companies? I have just run into this and find it somewhat perplexing. If you know of this, I would love to hear how it happens? Thanks,

                          Reviews and Ratings | | RobertFisher
                          2

                        Get started with Moz Pro!

                        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                        Start my free trial
                        Products
                        • Moz Pro
                        • Moz Local
                        • Moz API
                        • Moz Data
                        • STAT
                        • Product Updates
                        Moz Solutions
                        • SMB Solutions
                        • Agency Solutions
                        • Enterprise Solutions
                        Free SEO Tools
                        • Domain Authority Checker
                        • Link Explorer
                        • Keyword Explorer
                        • Competitive Research
                        • Brand Authority Checker
                        • MozBar Extension
                        • MozCast
                        Resources
                        • Blog
                        • SEO Learning Center
                        • Help Hub
                        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                        • How-to Guides
                        • Moz Academy
                        • API Docs
                        About Moz
                        • About
                        • Team
                        • Careers
                        • Contact
                        Why Moz
                        • Case Studies
                        • Testimonials
                        Get Involved
                        • Become an Affiliate
                        • MozCon
                        • Webinars
                        • Practical Marketer Series
                        • MozPod
                        Connect with us

                        Contact the Help team

                        Join our newsletter
                        Moz logo
                        © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                        • Accessibility
                        • Terms of Use
                        • Privacy

                        Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.