Duplicate Content
-
Is making tabs with general product information on similar products considered duplicate content?
-
That content is duplicate content, yes. However, it's more important to have a decent amount of unique content on each page than it is to worry about how much duplicate content is on each page. Duplicate content isn't the end of the world if each page has substantial unique content, which is the first explanation I'd put forth in why you're still seeing those other domains ranking fine. This is how you'd strike a balance between having useful duplicate content and pleasing search engines.
Regarding having too many products to write unique descriptions, unfortunately you're going to have to bite the bullet on that one if you want to rank better. It might seem unfeasible for you to write all of those, but writing them one by one or hiring a writer to rewrite each one in batches is going to be essential to you ranking well.
-
I have issues with duplicate content due to the way our system works and the CMS feeds. It bothers me, but I've also realized we can OK in spite of it. So, to your point of seeing sites rank anyway, it helps to have a quality domain and be credible
I partly suspect duplicate content is a hold over from the old days of spammy sites who intentionally created a lot of duplicate content in an attempt to appear to have depth of content. I think Google has figured out that businesses that sell similar products, but maybe are only different via color or size, will have duplication. And that it's not misleading to try to fool the search engines.
-
I feel you, I know that sometimes is very difficult to play around with content only to please Google, especially when you know that you did the right thing for your users.
But I wouldn't worry that much... I mean if you have only some general info as dupe content, and you have also some product related unique info, it should be ok (I'm sure that you can describe each product a bit ... color, size, fabric, a testimonial, distinct images and alt texts etc.)
I think Google can handle these situations.
Also, if you haven't, check this out:
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66359
-
Thanks guys,
I actually already knew the answer to the question, but I see a lot of websites ranking high while still using tabs with general information (exactly the same) on similar products.
My website has mainly custom made products so the general information is the same and there are too many products to write it as unique content. I now use a button that leads to a separate page with all the information but somehow I just don't like it. It just looks so much more informative to have all this information on the product page itself without having to go to another page.
If Google really cares about giving as much information as possible, why isn't there a way to have this type of duplicate content?
-
Hello Sylvana,
duplicate content refers to content that is similar and appears on two or more pages of the same website (or different).
So, if those tabs are displayed on a single page, than you should not worry about but if the same tabs are displayed on multiple pages you might want to think writing unique product infos for each of your pages.
Cheers.
-
Yes, after all, the content is 'duplicate' across these pages. It depends on the amount of duplicate content across pages whether Google will consider it a problem though.
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
-
PDF Instructions come up in Crawl report as Duplicate Content
Hello, My ecommerce site has many PDF instruction pages that are being marked as duplicate content in the site crawl. Each page has a different title, and then a PDF displayed in an iframe with a link back to the previous page & to the category that the product is placed in. Should I add text to the pages to help differentiate them? I included a screenshot of the code that is on all the pages. Thanks! Justin 9tD9HMr
On-Page Optimization | | JustinBSLW0 -
Delete or not delete outdated content
Hi there!
On-Page Optimization | | Enrico_Cassinelli
We run a website about a region in Italy, the Langhe area, where we write about wine and food, local culture, and we give touristic informations. The website also sports a nice events calendar: in 4 years we (and our users) loaded more than 5700 events. Now, we're starting to have some troubles managing this database. The database related to events is huge both in file size and number of rows. There are a lot of images that eat up disk space, and also it's becoming difficult to manage all the data in our backend. Also, a lot of users are entering the website by landing on outdated events. I was wondering if it could be a good idea to delete events older than 6 months: the idea was to keep only the most important and yearly recurring events (which we can update each year with fresh information), and trash everything else. This of course means that 404 errors will increase, and also that our content will gettin thinner, but at the same time we'll have a more manageable database, and the content will be more relevant and "clean". What do you think? thank you 🙂 Best0 -
Is this hidden content?
Hi all, I was wondering if the homepage of www.dirtylooks.com has hidden content in a search engines eyes. There is some text which appears underneath a tile called "hair tools" that has to be scrolled in order to be viewed by a visitor. As this isn't the typical white on white or off page by CSS hidden content are we in danger of being penalised?
On-Page Optimization | | BenfromBNKR0 -
What to do about resellers duplicating content?
Just went through a big redevelopment for a client and now have fresh images and updated content but now all the resellers have just grabbed the new images/content and pasted them on their own site. My client is a manufacture that sells directly online and over the phone for large orders. I'm just not sure how to handle the resellers duplicate content. Any thoughts on this? Am I being silly for worrying about this?
On-Page Optimization | | ericnkatz0 -
Is is it true that Google will not penalize duplicated content found in UL and LI tags?
I've read in a few places now that if you absolutely have to use a key term several times in a piece of copy, then it is preferable to use li and ul tags, as google will not penalise excessive density of keywords found in these tags. Does anyone know if there is any truth in this?
On-Page Optimization | | jdjamie0 -
Notonthehighstreet.co.uk - duplicate content? a reason to not sell via 3rd parties
A mixture of questions and discussion Question 1. can the following two pages be considered duplicate content http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/gardenbeet/product/deer-head-wall-art http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/1/1/219933-deer-head-wall-art-by-garden-beet.html both pages are indexed and both pages have different meta - aimed at different search combinations Discussion The search for 'deer head wall art gardenbeet' is generated by my PR company - we have done loads of print advertising for this item yet the sheer mass and volume of noths.com stops my store http://www.gardenbeet.com/garden-wall-art/58-deer-head.html from obtaining the number one position. All is fair in the business world I suppose BUT the original marketing machine for noths.com was claiming that they were assisting the small business owner. I paid them over £600 to join and now they compete with me head on. Stupid me I suppose. Let this be a key learning for those toying with the idea of investing in their own SEO or a 3rd party selling platform. Ho hum
On-Page Optimization | | GardenBeet0 -
Tools for finding duplicate content offsite?
Hi is there a tool that will spider my site then find similar text on external sites?
On-Page Optimization | | adamzski0 -
Would it be bad to change the canonical URL to the most recent page that has duplicate content, or should we just 301 redirect to the new page?
Is it bad to change the canonical URL in the tag, meaning does it lose it's stats? If we add a new page that may have duplicate content, but we want that page to be indexed over the older pages, should we just change the canonical page or redirect from the original canonical page? Thanks so much! -Amy
On-Page Optimization | | MeghanPrudencio0