Thread: Second Opinion on Duplicate content

In some cases yes it has caused a problem. Anytime that you use something that someone else also has posted to their website it can cause a duplicate penalty. Real Estate abc's offers this information to several hundred realtors throughout the country.

From what I have gatherered over the years is that the duplicate content penalty kicks in when there are two domains that are identical in content, or two sites have multiple instances of duplicate content with the same HTML structure.

CNN.com, Foxnews.com, ESPN.com, and thousands of other sites post the same AP wire stories but their sites are not penalized. It takes a high threshholf of dupe content to kick in the filter.

I think it's so unfair that real estate sites get penalized for dup. content. Although I don't mind getting a referral fee I'm really just trying to entice local buyers & sellers to choose me to work with, not a buyer or seller in Hawaii.

If I find what I believe to be good content like the Real Estate ABC stuff that I couldn't write on my own (not enough time not to mention that I'm a real estate agent, not an author) that can benefit my web surfers, why shouldn't I be able to offer (to my local potential clients) the same general buying & selling information/content that San Diego Real Estate offers to their local web surfers?

Doesn't seem like search engines understand that fact. We're really local companies and aren't trying to attract the entire world or even our whole country, like many other businesses are.

I've heard that just the page/s of dupe content would be penalized, not necessarily your entire site. IOW, the page that would be seen as being duplicate would just be dropped & not cached or indexed. That's why some just put the "do not follow" robot text in on dupe pages.

Originally Posted by judyo

That's why some just put the "do not follow" robot text in on dupe pages.

Exactly. The website owner just doesn't want to risk getting penalized. I know a lot of sites do it for "printable" pages of information.

I agree that your time is better spent serving your clients than plugging away at a web site. But I do have a few suggestions for you:

1. Try and add one new page a week (4-8) paragraphs to your web site. It doesn't take too much time to create one page, and at the end of the year you will have 52 new pages. Since we are a society built on instant gratification (fast food, quickie marts, etc.) you may feel pressure to get everything done right now. Bury that feeling and concentrate on giving quality, personalized content to your web surfers.

2. If you can't think of something to write, why not fall back on an old newsletter or other print collateral piece from the past? You may have to change a few things, but most of the content will be relevant.

HHI Golf Guy,

I agree we all need to take time to smell the roses

That was a great suggestion!

Thanks!

I agree, and don't forget that search engines are at war with one another and the final algos are far from out. Real estate has been a thorn in their eyes for a while because of the behaviours of some real estate people.

part of the plan for this forum is building a strong community and changing the image of real estate online.

find a strategy that is right for you and HHIGolf has given some great ideas!

Here is an example as to why: http:// kerdykrealestate.com/

Don't try this at home kids! I'm betting they hired an "seo expert".

it is just my personal opinion but i would not toy around with dup content websites. even if there is no penalty for doing so today (hypothetically), who knows what will be the reality tomorrow? if you think it's shady, it probably is shady...

just my .02

james