Why Duplicate Content Is Bad for SEO, Google’s Answers Are Intriguing

Why duplicate content is bad for SEO is a good question if webmasters want to have their pieces ranked on the first page of Google search. We probed on why it is bad- and ended up gathering interesting answers after knowing the nature of Google’s search robot aka Googlebot.

We should be aware how Googlebot crawls and how it ranks. According to Google executive Andrey, Google filters how a particular content is repeated. Let’s say, content is repeated intentionally by the webmaster many times over in the many pages of one website or once in many websites. The intention to repeat there is glaring to Googlebot. These are examples that show that duplicate content is bad for SEO.

Googlebot’s Intelligence in Filtering Content

Googlebot values the uniqueness of the content in an article and discriminates content that tries to deceive and cheats its search intelligence. Googlebot can filter and understand content that is intentionally repeated many times over. Duplicate content is bad for SEO.

But what about if your articles have been picked by many sites being such a good reference? Googlebot crawls into various sites and understands article being back-linked by various sites in different domain names. In this case, Googlebot filters duplicate content in its search and then ranks content and sites.

Spammy, Non-unique Content

Take note of this spinning software that repeats and makes making spins of words. There is also this bad practice of just changing terms with synonyms. These are few examples of bad SEO practices. Googlebot can easily spot these spammy deceptions.

We should know that Google gives a duplicate content penalty for specific non-unique content. Googlebot can filter non-unique content or pages. Low search ranking and page ranking can be taken as a penalty. Googlebot belittles and sinks low-quality pages before even greater readers know or read them. Knowing this algorithm is knowing that duplicate content is bad for SEO.

The SEO Tools Webmasters Should Know

As there are black hat SEO techniques, there are also tested methods for webmasters to avoid falling into bad SEO traps. Check your articles first using duplicate content tools for SEO before submission or posting. One of the duplicate content checkers for SEO is Copyscape, which knows and rates the extent of plagiarism.

But life isn’t always perfect. No matter how you try to be unique, there’s always a look alike in you, sameness of words in your piece – somewhere on the web. A 20-percent plagiarism extent in Copyscape can be taken as a maximum as a tolerable limit. A seventy percent (70%) plagiarism is too much. We encourage and achieve 100-percent uniqueness of content in iPresence Business Solutions. Using Copyscape is an excellent way of not falling into the pitfall to bad SEO practices.

The Boilerplate Content

Boilerplate content is any text that can be reused in a new context without being substantially changed from the original. Yes, the same Googlebot can also easily spot the same titles, meta descriptions and product descriptions in various URLs in boilerplate content. In all of these, now we know to distinguish specific cases where duplicate content is bad for SEO, and where it is not.

To minimize content duplication problems, have canonical link element. It serves as a way to advise Google how to see your similar content in multiple pages. Just copy for your codes: <link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish”/>. You can just put this link tag in the head section of the problematic URL. This can put you away from being flagged by Googlebot for having duplicate content.

To help you boost your site through best and tested SEO practices, check out the content writing services of iPresence Business Solutions today!

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iPresence Digital Marketing, Inc.

Leader in Digital Marketing at iPresence Digital Marketing, Inc.

We has been helping SMEs build their online presence, drive traffic to our clients' websites, optimize conversion, and free up more time for our clients and their family through our internet marketing services.