Resolving duplicate text issues with a duplicate image?
-
We are a listing site for programs overseas. Many of our listings are inherently the same content, because in many cases the same exact information applies. We have resolved duplicate content issues to some extent by making some of the content in these listings unique. However, for the rest of the content which is going to be the same for about 100 pages, we were wondering if its better to have an image in place instead of duplicate text content (this would basically be an image of the text in question). We know this is a problem, because this is inherently duplicate content as well (only its a duplicate image instead of duplicate text). However, what's the best solution to this problem, and is a duplicate image just asking for trouble, or might this actually be a good idea?
-
Google won't index image-embedded text on a webpage (currently only .pdf documents)
If you want a little more insurance, which you won't really need, use your handy robot.txt or rel="canonical"
As usual, keep your eyes forward:
"While search engines may not use OCR for indexing the content of web pages now, that doesn’t mean that they might not in the future, and there are some indications that the search engines are developing a much greater proficiency in the use of optical character recognition."
Here's that article, including some great references.
Good luck.
-
Could you point me to a valid reference on that OCR issue?
-
You should use rel=canonical tag on duplicate content pages. Google can read text embedded as an image through OCR algorithm. So duplicate image is not a good option. Moreover think how these images will increase the load time of the web pages.
-
To directly answer your question, there are a few ways you can present content in a manner that is not readily crawlable for search engines: flash, iframe and images.
As far as good ideas, I much prefer to offer real content which is unique to the given area. Let's say you are a US-based site offering programs for attending universities overseas. Add some content specific to each country's page to make it unique.
If you present Malaysia as a country, talk about their universities by name, awards they have won, landmarks and other items of interest such as their incredibly diverse forests. You can also provide testimonials from satisfied clients. Testimonials can help establish a lot of relevancy as clients will often mention specifics about where they are from "John from Miami, FL" and where they visited.
In short, you will achieve better results if you work within Google's system then by trying to work around it.
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
-
Duplicate Forum Content
HI everyone, great to be here, absolutely loving everything, please go easy on me I'm quite a noob when it comes to seo, but hopefully my question isn't too basic. After running the initial checks on my websites, I found there are 7,646 duplicate pages? Some are easy fixes but the majority are not, being forum pages, the edit, quote and new post links are coming up as duplicates of the main post? Does anyone know how to fix this? Best Lee
Content Development | | LeeC0 -
Can I post my MailChimp articles on my blog without getting hit for duplicate content?
I would like to post my newsletters on my blog, but am afraid of duplicate content since you can click a link on the MailChimp email blast to view the Newsletter online. Is this considered dup content?
Content Development | | RoxBrock0 -
Modifying Content to Avoid Duplicate Content Issues
We are planning to leverage specific posts from a US-based blog for our own Canadian blog (with permission, of course) but are aware that this can cause duplicate content issues. We're willing to re-write as much or as little as we must from the initial blog posts to avoid duplicate content issues but I have no idea just how much we will need to re-write. Is there some guideline for this (e.g., 25% of content must be re-written)? I've been unable to find anything. Thank you in advance!
Content Development | | QueenSt0 -
What is your take on using Google images for blogs
In your opinion, do you think it is okay to use Google images for your blog posts as long as it credits or includes a link to the site in which you located it? We tried looking at stock art for some license-free photos and had no luck in coming up with good pictures. What rules or guidelines do you follow when looking for pictures for your customers blog (or your own)? A lot of our posts have to do with "what to do in this city" or "Where to go in this city". Do you think it's okay to use Google images for these types of posts?
Content Development | | qlkasdjfw0 -
Duplicate content
Hi I keep getting errors for duplicate content and long url, when i look at these pages its all related to the news pages on my sites how do i define each new news article?
Content Development | | emmanis0 -
Does Google penalize for duplicate blog posts?
Occasionally, I get asked by another blogger if they can repost (in full) one of our blog posts on their blog as a guest post. I've always been under the impression that Google penalizes this type of behavior, but I haven't seen any evidence. Is this true?
Content Development | | Event360300 -
Duplicate Text on Blog & Internal News Page
I have two places I post news for our company. Our blog - typically more informal posts
Content Development | | seo-hunter
mycompany.wordpress.com & Our news page - typically more newsworthy than the blog
mycompany.com/news My question is, It is okay to just copy the exact text from my wordpress blog and paste to my news area of my site and vice versa? Does this hurt ranking potential for either page?0 -
New Magento store with lots of duplicate contect
Hi, I am fairly new to SEOmoz and would really appreciate some pointers. I have just received the results of my first crawl and I have over 1800 pages of duplicate content. this is an example Cream poplin slim fit mens business shirt from Jermyn Street Shirt Co. http://jsshirts.com.au/aylesbury-cream-poplin-slim-fit-shirt.html Heading other URL's indicates 10 My questions are what does this figure 10 represent? what do I need to do to remove this duplicate content. Thanks | | | | |
Content Development | | mullsey
| | | | |
| | | | |0