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.
I want to use some content that I sent out in a newsletter and post as a blog, but will this count as duplicate content?
-
I want to use some content that I sent out in a newsletter a while ago - adding it as a blog to my website.
The newsletter exists on a http://myemail.constantcontact.com URL and is being indexed by Google.
Will this count as duplicate content?
-
You've asked a great question, Wagada. The fact that the version of the content on Constant Contact's page has already been indexed does mean that you'll have a duplicate content challenge, but there are ways to address it.
The whole problem with duplicate content is not that it generates some kind of penalty, (it doesn't) it's just that search engines then have to decide which of the dupe pages they should point to in the search results.
The version you publish on your own site already has several things going for it, and you need to add additional signals to help the search engines prioritise your site's version. First, at least part of the rest of your site is probably already talking about the same topics, so there will be more relevance there than from the random topics on Constant Contact. Plus, if your newsletter is like most, it will be linking back to your site, giving the SEs another signal.
The biggest thing you can do to get your site's page considered as the canonical (primary) version is to get at least a few links pointing to it. Social media links can be very useful for this, especially from Google Plus, but a solid link or two from other sites will go a long way as well. Also, make sure your page does NOT link to the CC page - that way there's a clear authority signal that only travels one way.
For future reference, if you're going to publish newsletter content on your own site, there are a couple of steps to take in preparation.
- Publish the content on your own site a day or a couple of days in advance
- Use the Fetch and Render tool in GSC to help it get crawled and indexed before sending the newsletter (SEs take "first published" date into account when trying to ascertain which page to return in results.)
- Make sure it's strongly-linked internally - maybe even put a link to the newsletter content page on your homepage before sending the newsletter
- Get a few incoming links to the newly-published page before the newsletter goes out.
- Use the newly published page's address in the newsletter's preheader text link where it says "If not showing up well in your email, you can read this in your browser" so the dupe page actually links back to the page you want to be considered primary.
- Or best yet, do the above and also turn off the newsletter archive on Constant Contact altogether and make the prepublished page on your site the only version. This is the best, but obviously takes a bit more work and preparation to pre-publish. It also offers the massive benefit of delivering those newsletter viewers who do want to read in a browser to your own pages where you can induce further activity/conversions. Though it should be said that in the newsletters I've managed, very few people click the "view in browser" links anymore anyway.
Hope all that makes sense?
Paul
-
While a good solution if it were possible, unfortunately ESPs like Constant Contact don't give you any way to alter the content of the of their pages. And canonical tags must be in the or they'll be ignored.
-
Gaston is right, Great answer Gaston
-
hello,
Yeap, it will be duplicate content.
Add a canonical tag from that myemail site to the blog post and issue resolved.Hope it helps.
Best luck.
GR.
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
-
Can I use expired domain content on My Blog
Hello Expert, I wanted to know, can I use expired domain content on my blog channel. I have done many searches on google but couldn't find a satisfactory answer. Please help me to find out this.
Content Development | Apr 23, 2019, 1:25 PM | vijay77960 -
Shopify Blog vs Wordpress
We are moving our Ecommerce site to Shopify. Currently we run our blog on Wordpress and I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on using the Shopify blog vs Wordpress?
Content Development | Jun 30, 2016, 11:38 PM | Glaze0 -
Where to post article?
What Website could we submit the article and be posted? I work on articles and summit them to the site like articlecity, cbs baltimore but they have never get posted. Is that mean my articles aren't good enough?
Content Development | Feb 15, 2016, 2:01 PM | mongor0 -
Free Duplicate Content Checker Tools ?
Hi Moz, I am really looking for free tools which can carry my content duplication issue, as i visited http://moz.com/community/q/are-there-tools-to-discover-duplicate-content-issues-with-the-other-websites suggested copyscape which is paid. I want FREE to handle my duplication issue.' Thanks in Advance. Best,
Content Development | Aug 31, 2013, 2:11 AM | Futura
Teginder1 -
Duplicate Content behind a Paywall
We have a website that is publicly visible. This website has content. We'd like to take that same content, put it on another website, behind a paywall. Since Google will not be able to crawl those pages behind the paywall is there any risk to ua doing this? Thanks! Mike
Content Development | Aug 13, 2013, 4:46 AM | FOTF_DigitalMarketing0 -
Is there a tool for measuring content freshness?
i.e. crawling a site to identify last date of new or changed content? Thanks.
Content Development | Dec 1, 2012, 6:14 AM | PeterTroast0 -
Duplicate external links?
I have been guest posting at a variety of reputable blogs in my niche. I generally write once or twice a month and have a bio link with a link to my blog. I'm wondering if multiple links from the same domain (but different pages) helps, or if there are some diminishing returns here. Should I only be writing one post for them? Of course, there are other non-SEO benefits too, because these are reputable sites. But I'm wondering how this helps my SEO? Thanks in advance!
Content Development | Oct 30, 2012, 12:21 PM | JodiFTM0 -
2,500 Word blog post? What's your advice?
Most of my blog posts end up being 400-600 words, sometimes more, sometimes less. I have written one that is 2,500 words this time. If it were you, would you make one huge post, or split it into two or three? Or would you say it wholly depends on my site and the type of content? As far as link bait goes, one page is better . . . I guess. But would anyone ever read a 2,500 word blog post, even it it's about a subject he/she is interested in? Additionally, what's better for SEO? Just wants some second opinions. Thanks!
Content Development | May 7, 2012, 9:46 AM | UnderRugSwept0