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Duplicate Content

So what does this have to do with marketing? The content of your pages greatly affects your ability to get indexed, and to draw on free marketing sources.

Search engines DO penalize for duplicate content. But it isn't as simple as using the words "duplicate content” because there are “acceptable uses” and “unacceptable uses”.

Now, some of the sellers of Replicated sites will tell you that there is nothing to be concerned about. They quote a Google official who stated that “honest” website owners did not need to be concerned about duplicate content.

Here's the problem – YOU are honest. The person who sold you the replicated website without warning you about the duplicate content issue, or who told you it did not matter is NOT honest. And their dishonesty is going to get YOU into trouble!

Google and other search engines penalize duplicate content to prevent three situations:

• Something called “scraping”, where someone uses a computer to spider the web and actually duplicate website content from the ground up. They may actually replicate your entire site. This is a violation of copyrights, so Google bans sites that do this, giving the search engine traffic to the site that is the oldest. Replicated websites that you bought legitimately will look exactly like this kind of site.
• Precisely to prevent people from using replicated sites. You see, a replicated site does not just have identical content, it has identical EVERYTHING. Filenames, page tags, colors, layout, content, everything! Top to bottom the page code is identical. And when Google talks about not having to worry too much about duplicate content, this is NOT what they are telling you not to worry about. This is EXACTLY what they are trying to prevent! This is a shortcut, it provides nothing new to the information archives online, and they will penalize you and ban the site, if they even index it in the first place. Anyone who has used one will confirm this (except those who are selling them, who insist on touting them as a shortcut that will take all the work out of it). I actually sell some of these, but they have FULL instructions for customizing them, and I NEVER tell a client that they are not work.
• Use of unaltered PLR articles for lazy site content. Again, they add nothing new to the substance of the web, except copyright confusion. Article directories and search engines both are SCATHING in their comments about these types of articles!

So, what are the legitimate uses of duplicate content that Google IS telling you not to worry about?

• Printer friendly and standard site pages for the same item.
• Similar product listings on two different sites that you own that overlap in content.
• Reprinting items that you have the rights to reprint with author credits.
• The odd duplicated page in your site that happens for unusual reasons.
• A replicated site that has been customized, so that it has “value added” features on each page. This DOES add something new to the information online.
• Honest reasons for duplicate content, or honest mistakes in having duplicate content. This is not the same as deliberate use of duplicate content, which replicate sites are classed as.
• You don't need to worry about domain duplications - http://www.yourdomain.com and http://yourdomain.com ARE seen as the same site by the search engines, even if other people tell you otherwise, and you don't need to worry about any technical issues that result in landing on the same page. If it is the same page, it is NOT duplicate content. If you would like one of these domains to appear in the search results over the other then you can select the one you want to use (http://www.yourdomain.com or http://yourdomain.com) with Google Webmaster Tools.

So, when unscrupulous marketers tell you to go ahead and buy their site and upload it and don't worry about duplicate content, they are lying. And yes, there is no other conclusion but that they are doing so knowingly, because they have heard the complaints, and seen it first hand.

It is NOT dishonest to sell a replicated site, but to do so while telling you that it will work without problems IS dishonest. Replicated Sites require a systematic and consistent step-by-step process to take them from duplicate, to completely original. It CAN be done, and in less time that it would take you to build the site from scratch, BUT, you really need instructions to do it, and you need to know which things matter.

So if your intent is to upload a site that will work to earn you money over the long term, then you'll want to avoid the duplicate content trap, and get started right!

That means, if you bought a replicated site, get instructions to change it into a unique site. It will take you some time, but it will still take you less time than it would to build a site from scratch, and you'll end up with something that WILL actually work. Email us on this site if you need to know how to get instructions, or if you need to hire someone to do the work for you.