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[Karen Miller Company: Vitamark International Contribution Level: 2]

I hear a lot about duplicate content and how your sites can get seriously penalized by search engines for publishing duplicate content.

I have heard Duplicate content is publishing the same work on multiple sites.

I have also heard if it is your own unique content, it is OK to publish it on multiple sites (eg Better Networker article, personal blog, Squidoo, Ezine Articles)

It is only "bad" duplicate content if you take someone else's blog post or portion of an ebook and reprint it as a post/article (even if you give source credit)

So I'd like to know WHAT really is Duplicate Content and what should we do and not do in publishing our articles and blog posts?

Thank You!

[Charles Holmes Company: Isagenix Corporation Contribution Level: 2]

Duplicate content is posting the same content to more than one website.

I don't think it's a wise move to post the same content to several websites. Instead, you should "spin it" or write a newer version.

That way you aren't penalized by the search engines.

If you have a high traffic website like I do, you don't want to do something crazy that might get it blocked or banned by the search engines.

Just food for thought.

[Joe Pariseau Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 2]

You're right Charles. It wouldn't take that long to write a different version of an article. Since you (or your writer) already did the initial research, you don't have to start from scratch. You will be using the same facts. Just a little rewording is needed.

Might as well be safe.


Joe P.
aka Master Joeda

[Lynda Cromar Company: MyLeadSystemPRO Contribution Level: 7]

I think duplicate means exact replicas. In other words if you do a video, then an article, then a blog on the same topic, but the content is not exactly identical, it is not duplicate content. copy and paste word for word is duplicate content.

On the other hand, Google doesn't penalize when you post first to your blog then to an article site even if it is nearly word for word, providing it is your own original content.

[Richard Bravo Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 9]

.

The myth that you get "penalized" by search engines has been spread for far too long.
Look around, there's "duplicate content" all over the web.
From news aggregators to mashup communities, social media outlets and more.

Here is Google's own definition of duplicate content

Pay close attention to this excerpt

Duplicate content on a site is not grounds for action on that site unless it appears that the intent of the duplicate content is to be deceptive and manipulate search engine results. If your site suffers from duplicate content issues, and you don't follow the advice listed above, we do a good job of choosing a version of the content to show in our search results.

The key indicator in whether you need to worry about some sort of "penalty" is intent.
Are you posting content in a certain way in an effort to game the system somehow?

Here's a recent article from Google Webmaster Central:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot. ... n-url.html
Put this information to use if you're actually serious about the subject.
But there's the rub... most people will glance at it, push it aside and keep doing what they've been doing.
Which includes talking about myths and chasing shiny objects.

Use the information you are given, put it into action before you move on to something else. Once you do, you'll have your own hard evidence that can be brought to the conversation. Until then you're just speculating and talking in loose opinions.

So...
If your goal is to have your content indexed and displayed in Google's search results then simply follow the guidelines they've provided and you should be fine.

On the other hand...
If you recognize that Google isn't the only game in town when it comes to where you could syndicate your content, then you'll find a massive choice of communities and outlets where you can share your content with your target audience without ever batting an eyelash at what Google thinks.

Google is simply a search engine, they do not control the universe. (yet )
And they certainly shouldn't control your business in way, shape or form.
It's a tool, nothing more. And there are thousands of choices for doing different jobs.

Personally, I wouldn't put much into spinning and all that... for me its been a huge waste of time.
AND in fact I've seen more people get slapped from that type of activity far more than anyone focused on syndicating quality "duplicate content" to a multitude of target audience platforms.

Google may dominate in terms of search traffic, meaning when someone wants to look for something they tend to use Google. But outside of that function, Google is a small player in the grand scheme of the web. Estimates show they account for merely 6%-7% of all web traffic. That means outside of search, 94% of all web traffic, i.e. activity, visitors, eyeballs on content, takes place in other places; such as Facebook and other social media platforms, blogs, forums, etc.

Don't get addicted to chasing these constantly changing algorithms and fickle search engine requirements.

Google doesn't control the flow of traffic or the activity of the larger internet community.
If you realize that and focus your efforts on the bigger picture, then you'll begin to step into a mindset of doing things that are evergreen and will have a much greater positive impact on your business's long term success and growth.

That's my $599.00
.
.

[Karen Miller Company: Vitamark International Contribution Level: 2]

Thanks Chuck & Joe.
That is usually what I have heard.
I have reposted older content and freshened it up.
However, I am interested in re posting content I just created as Lynda described.

Richard...Thanks for your fresh insight and the links. I will take a look and, since I am a die hard rule follower, I will do what they recommend.
My purpose for reposting the same content is to get it in front of more eyeballs. I will tweak it to fit the audience if need be. That is the same way I write...to my readers, not to the Google Gods.

Thanks for the interaction folks...its great to hear what other network marketers are thinking!
Karen

[Karen Miller Company: Vitamark International Contribution Level: 2]

Found this interesting form the Google link Richard gave us...

Syndicate carefully: If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you'd prefer. However, it is helpful to ensure that each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article. You can also ask those who use your syndicated material to use the noindex meta tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the content.

[Joe Pariseau Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 2]

That is the same way I write...to my readers, not to the Google Gods.

That's great Karen. We would love to give our readers what they are looking for when they search for information. Whether or not Google says it's okay to post duplicate content, I personally think we could tweak the contents we post based on the audience we are targeting.

Just a thought.

Joe P.
aka Master Joeda

[Oswald Rodrigues Contribution Level: 1]

I agree with Richard Bravo a few posts above. People give tend to give too much importance to Google than it deserves. It would serve them well to explore other avenues for promoting their websites or whatever else they want to promote. After all Google is not the be-all and end-all of the internet.

[Jireh Manzano Contribution Level: 1]

It is when you post the same exact article to various websites can your post be considered a clear duplicate. Some websites are okay with this especially if you own the articles. However, there are those that are stricter than the others. Some websites have this special program that can detect if you have posted an article which is also present on other sites. They can automatically disapprove your post. The best thing to do is rewrite or spin it to make a few revisions. This can help you generate a few unique and new articles that you can post at stricter sites. make sure that the percentage of its uniqueness is high though.