I run courses in Australia, and use course material that several companies use. While I can 'rewrite' the overview, the course outlines are identical and there no getting past that. Is there a way to let Google know? Thanks in advance.
-
Consentual and necessary duplicate content
-
Hi Zoe,
Thanks for this answer. I already do rewrite the overview, course description - but the actual course outline makes up approx. 80% of the page - so that was my concern. The idea of writing descriptions for each section and including more visual aids is perfect though - and will do this!
Thanks! This has helped
Jamie
-
Thanks Shawn for your answer - but I didn't express my problem properly - my problem is that my outlines - as an example - for our Photoshop intro course - has the exact same outline for several competitor's Photoshop courses, because we use the same courseware/ same book - so it's not a case of 'duplicate content' within my website, but more 'duplicate content' over a number of websites.
Just received another suggestion, which looks like will be the best way to go. Thanks again.
-
Can one of the course pages be your main landing page for the topic? You could canonical the other URL's to this main page to inform Google that while all the pages have similar content, page A is the one that should be represented in the SERP's. This could help ensure that the other similar pages do not cannibalize each other. On page A, you can work to inform your visitors that you have the other courses.
-
Hi Jamie,
This kind of duplicate content is quite common across the internet, especially on E-commerce sites (manufacturer descriptions) and reseller websites.
Generally if you can't re-word the course outlines, I would focus on ensuring that your page, despite having the duplicate content, still provides the best possible answer to an interested visitor's questions. Re-write the overview to be as informative as possible, and maybe write your own descriptions of each section of the course outlines, if this is feasible. Include visual aids, images, diagrams, charts, any additional information you can which will help the user understand.
Usability is key, so remember the search engines' ultimate aim, to provide the best possible answer to the searcher's query, and make your pages as useful as they can be. If the courses are regulated or provided by a body, link to their website from your pages too, and see if that body has a 'providers' page, or somewhere within their website you can get a link from, if you haven't already.
Hope this helps!
Zoe
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
Use old content from Archive
Hello all, I just were looking on Archive.org and though what if i use the content from a really old website thats already been un-indexed. Could i just use this content on my new website and will it not be duplicate content? Thank you for your comment! Kind regards,
Content Development | | MennoO0 -
Company blog relaunch. Best practices with Google Algorithm updates in mind?
We have a company blog living on our corporate domain. The blog contained many posts with keywords and we believe google is penalizing us for over optimization as we use to be ranked in the top 5 for our main keyword now we're on page 8. Keeping this in mind, we are planning to relaunch the blog and we wanted to get some tips on best practices that addressing the following questions. Should we archive _all _of our previously published content and start fresh with this relaunch? Should we keep 50 or so published blogs visible? Where should this blog live (on our domain or a wholly separate domain)? We'd love to get thoughts and opinions, and any insight about best practices for a blog relaunch.
Content Development | | plumvoice0 -
Google adsense image - text and alternatives
Hi, there has been a lot of talk on the internet about google adsense and which is better, image or text as well as what are the best alternatives to google adsense, so i thought i would throw out the topic on here and see what real website experts think about the topic. I have experienced google adsense image as better than text and would like to know what other people think and beside affliate ads what alternatives to google adsense do people like
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Should we be using a blog for news
Our domain has/had a blog on a seperate subdomain. However we were a little slack in always keeping this up to date when we are particularly busy. Rather than reinstating the blog, I have been adding all our new articles directly onto the website rather than as blog posts. Is there any advantage from an SEO perspective to posting articles to a blog rather than as content on a site?
Content Development | | dsmdesign0 -
Soulf I use follow or no follow and why?
Is someone able to suggest the pros and cons of using follow or nofollow for comments please.
Content Development | | worldwideadventurer0 -
What's the best blogging platform?
I've always used Wordpress without really giving it much thought, but I'm open to trying out a different platform for a new blog. Can anyone give me some advantages or reasons to move to a different platform? Thanks!
Content Development | | PeterAlexLeigh0 -
What is the best way to bring a blog into my SEO strategy
We have a blog set up with Blogger and generate some great content on it. What is the best way to optimise the blog from an SEO standpoint? In particular the domain name, it is currently .blogspot.com address, is there a better way to work with that? Obviously the blog is branded with our company logo and name etc but is about the book industry. I'm basically concerned about linking people to our blog and not the website and so not getting much benefit?
Content Development | | Benj250 -
Question about Google News Sitemap
I'm submitting my site to Google News, have a few questions for creating my sitemap. The majority of my articles (800) are in a category called 'Disability News' (which is one of my main keywords). Around half of these posts are we're automated RSS feed posts (first 200 words of an article directly copied with a link thru to the original). The past few weeks I've been posting tons of unique content so I was thinking about moving all duplicate content into a category called 'Syndicated News' and excluding that from my Google News sitemap. Is this advisable? or should I just leave it as is?
Content Development | | craven220