Demystifying the duplicate content penalty: There is no such thing"

[djbaxter]

Demystifying the "duplicate content penalty"
by Susan Moskwa, Webmaster Trends Analyst, Google
Friday, September 12, 2008

Duplicate content. There's just something about it. We keep writing about it, and people keep asking about it. In particular, I still hear a lot of webmasters worrying about whether they may have a "duplicate content penalty."

Let's put this to bed once and for all, folks: There's no such thing as a "duplicate content penalty." At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that.

...more

 

[cherie27]

But most article directories won't allow the same article to publish to the directory. Even the content is changed, just the title didn't change.

So far, i have been submitting the same articles to the different directories. But i didn't get any penalty for it yet.

 

[djbaxter]

The article excerpted above is about how search engines deal with the duplicate content issue. What article directories or other organizations do with it is an entirely different matter.

This article is from Google employees and is once again trying to lay to rest the myth that Google and other search engines penalize duplicate content (i.e., as in applying some sort of ranking penalty).

 

[Undecided]

what a fascinating find Minstrel thank you. I've been watching a couple of my competitors and thinking how the hell are they getting away with that ... now I know.

 

[Starr]

Thanks for the clarification.

Hi, Minstrel, good to see you here. I didnt know your username here or I would have listed you as the referring member when I registered. Sorry!

I loved that article. Thanks for posting something that really clarified the duplicate content issue. That was a very helpful post. LOL I keep looking for the 'thanks' button, guess they dont have those here. '-)

 

[djbaxter]

No. Not yet, anyway...

Welcome to 5 Star, Starr. (That almost sounded like a stutter in my head )

 

[beryas]

I wouldn't say there is a "penalty" for duplicate content either but the links are just downgraded on content that has already been indexed.

 

[djbaxter]

I wouldn't say there is a "penalty" for duplicate content either but the links are just downgraded on content that has already been indexed.

Not quite. Generally the duplicate pages drop out of the index, so it's a bit more than doungrading links.

 

[bigcat1967]

This is a great find. This shows me that I should be spending more time on googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com so I can learn more.

Thanks again Minstrel!

 

[bobjones121806]

hi, i 'm still a little bit confused
anyway--duplictate content is bad i get it

 

[cragsoig]

I always wondered the exact specifications on this, but never thought to look. Thanks

 

[freight guy]

For the pass 4 years I thought copying someone else content was a bad thing!! I guess not

 

[djbaxter]

It still is, There's a big difference between plagiarism and duplicate content.

 

[Linda Buquet]

For the pass 4 years I thought copying someone else content was a bad thing!! I guess not

Copying someone else's content IS bad, it's stealing. That's not what this thread is talking about. They for the most part are talking about creating your own article, but then submitting that same article to multiple places and if Google gives that a duplicate content penalty or not.

 

[Mike22]

hi, i 'm still a little bit confused
anyway--duplictate content is bad i get it

Yes, duplicate content is very bad because you get good ranking only with quality content, and duplicate content is not quality content.

 

[janellelk]

thanks for the clarifications. definitely debunked a few personal myths. much appreciated!

 

[JamesQ]

There are some definite misconceptions about duplicate content. However, with the new Penguin update are the circumstances the same?