Google Does Not Like Duplicate Content
One of the goals that the Google search engines have is to find distinct content that provides value to the searcher based on the words that were typed into the search bar. Generally if the same content appears in more than one place on the web, either within the same site or on different sites, Google will pick only one to list. In addition sometimes Google will decide that the duplicate content is a deliberate attempt to manipulate results and then a “reduction” in status may be assigned to one or both of the sites. As a result the ranking of either or all sites involved may be reduced or even removed entirely from Google search results.
Case In Point: Direct Selling Women’s Alliance: SEO Results
An exact case in point are the sites www.DSWA.org and www.MyDSWA.org. I was asked to assist them in getting better SEO results. Last fall, DSWA.org was not showing up at all in search results and MyDSWA.org only showed up once on page 1 of the SERP (search engine results page) for their own name. That result was near the bottom. Neither site turned up at all on the appropriate keywords that you would expect the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance to show results on, like direct sales! It only took me a short investigation to see that both sites were identical. Page for page, word for word, both websites were 100% duplicated content.
We created a new website/blog for MyDSWA.org and separated the content and the two sites. In only one month since the two sites were made unique, MyDSWA.org is # 1 on Google for the keyword “direct sales training” and DSWA.org is now showing up in its own right.
How To Check For Duplicate Content
Content Is King! Google Is King!
Google is just trying to serve the searcher the most relevant and valuable content that is available based on your search. Do not publish your content on multiple sites and do not publish content on your site that is published elsewhere. You can check for duplicate content at the CopyScape search tool.
