Same content but written for different audiences
-
Hi Mozers,
The site that I work on has two pages with very similar content but written with a different sophistication of language. One page is written in a simple, easy-to-understand voice and the second is written at a high level for researchers.
My question is: does the Google algorithm really understand the difference in sophistication and then pivot results such that the more sophisticated page shows up for researchers and the simplistic page shows up for non-researchers (thereby eliminating or greatly reducing competition between these two pages)?
Thank you!
-
Great answer. Thanks so much!!!
-
Google might do some personalization, that might match content sophistication to the proper reader. However, I think that the page with the best links will rank first for almost everyone.
An alternative approach is to start the article with the easiest and most basic content and then build to higher levels of detail and complexity as you descend the page. Mark sections with prominent subheadings and float boxes with complex ideas to the side of the page beside the text that they elaborate.
With this method a person can read until they are either satisfied or challenged, and then, they can scan down the page looking at your subheadings.
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
-
Which is more important - exact match on two pages with slightly similar content or completely unique content but no exact match?
I want to rank for two terms - one is the abbreviation and one is the actual phrase (think UX and user experience). Is it better to create two separate pages to benefit from the exact match keyword (given that the content is 51% unique) or should I work both the acronym and the phrase into one page? If I made the two pages, I could get in a lot more longtail keywords, however it's my belief that I should make one really robust page to ensure all possible link equity and user signals aren't split. Is this a valid argument or does the power of exact match keywords override the need for user signals?
Keyword Research | | DigitalMarketingSEO0 -
Duplicate content across domains
I have a client with 2 websites - one is a trucking and rigging company that specializes in installation / moving / removal of safes (site #1), the other offers a product line of safes (site #2). I originally designed / implemented site #1 and was able to get "safe installation New York", "safe moving New York", and "safe removal New York" in the top 3 search results in. A little over a year ago, client was approached by another marketing company to create the site #2, who also provided commercial services that I don't. It was a business decision, and we remained in good relations. As a result Site #1 went to the new marketing company and they built Site #2. Fast forward to about 3 months ago - Site #1 was infected with malware, client wasn't happy with new service, and asked me to take back the Site #1 ( and remove malware), and take Site #2, and re-work the SEO. SEO had dramatically fallen off for Site #1, so I've been working the SEO once I was able to get the malware completely removed and reviewed by Google. Site #1 had been redesigned by the other marketing company, essentially retaining the content that I created. Site #2 has mostly new content, but under "Services", it references the same services that Site #1provides, but the content is exactly the same, except that references to the company for Site #1 also link to Site #1. So there is duplicate content for 5 pages on both sites. As it happens, Site #2 that SELLS safes, is ranking #2 for "safe installation new york" for exactly the same content as Site #1 that provides the services. Site #1 ranks >50 for the same keyphrase. Why would this be? Has Site #2 taken the lead on this keyphrase because of the malware situation and now Site #1 is being penalized for duplicate content? One other major change on Site #1 is that the web technician used Wordpress's built in page nesting (page is set as child to parent page - nested 3 deep in some cases). What are the consequences (if there are any) of having a page listed as (for example) oztruckingandrigging.com/services/safe/safe-installation vs. oztruckingandrigging.com/safe-installation? The reason I ask this is that when I Moz page optimize for the first one for "safe installation" I get a lower grade then when I Moz page optimize for the second one.
Keyword Research | | chill9861 -
Is content really king?
I have a good sized website with lots of pages. Many pages are designed around specific keywords and for the most part, they rank well. I have many pages packed with good content that don't rank well, but the keywords are related to those pages that score well. Are the under performing pages contributing to the good performing pages and/or to the overall benefit of the website because of the additional content? In short, if i remove under performing pages, will it affect good performing pages and the overall performance of the website?
Keyword Research | | KrisIrr0 -
Difference in Serp updates
I've notice that the Serp for some keywords are updated more frequently then others (or am I mistaken?) Do any of you have any data that might support that theory? what seems to be the longest periode it takes for a SERP to update for a certain keyword? Is there any rules of thumps on this matter?
Keyword Research | | Justian0 -
Finding/Building Content Strategy
I'm looking for two things: 1. Some top notch articles on building out a content strategy for a blog (coupon blog is more relevant). 2. Tools that can help to determine target keywords to focus on (Most I've seen are where the keywords start with me, are their any that will help to predict which keywords are relevant for our blog & that would be great to target). Any feedback/discussion on either is greatly appreciated!
Keyword Research | | seointern0 -
Hit by Panda, what's the quickest way to remove content
One of our client's sites got hit by panda/penguin. after careful investigation we found that the site had 6,900 pages indexed out of which about 300 are actual pages (pages with quality content and add value to the user). Needless to say we had to remove all those pages. Most of the thin pages were on the blog section of the site so we removed the WP which was on www.mysite.com/blog/. My question is how can i speed up the process for Google to realize that i have taken all those this pages down. i have fetched the homepage and all linked pages via "Fetch as Google Bot" on WMT. is there anything else i can do to speed this up???
Keyword Research | | 858-SEO0 -
Is there really "keyword strategy" for sites with User Generated content? Any experiences?
I am starting website focused on consumer complaints/reviews with purely User Generated content. Is there really "keyword strategy" for such sites? I can only think of analyzing competition's keywords and understanding long tail http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-big-is-your-long-tail-whiteboard-friday. Any experiences? Or ideas?
Keyword Research | | ShoutOut0 -
How do you do Keyword Research for a company that creates a lot of content
I work for a media company that owns 4 magazines. Our company is constantly producing new content. How do you do Keyword Research when the subject of your content is constantly changing? Do you need to do Keyword Research or do you simply optimize every article that you write for the web? Any ideas?
Keyword Research | | DerekSwanson0