Google Has A Lot To Say About Duplicate Content These Days

In case you’re wondering, quoting is not considered duplicate content in Google’s eyes. Cutts spoke on that late last year. As long as you’re just quoting, using an excerpt from something, and linking to the original source in a fair use kind of way, you should be fine. Doing this with entire articles (which happens all the time) is of course a different story.

Google, as you know, designs its algorithms to abide by its quality guidelines, and duplicate content is part of that, so this is something you’re always going to have to consider. It says right in the guidelines, “Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.”

They do, however, offer steps you can take to address any duplicate content issues that you do have. These include using 301s, being consistent, using top-level domains, syndicating “carefully,” using Webmaster Tools to tell Google how you prefer your site to be indexed, minimizing boilerplate repetition, avoiding publishing stubs (empty pages, placeholders), understanding your conteent management system and minimizing similar content.

Google advises blocking it from indexing duplicate content though, so think about that too. This is because it won’t be able to detect when URLs point to the same content, and will have to treat them as separate pages. Use the canonical link element.

Article Appeared @http://www.webpronews.com/google-has-a-lot-to-say-about-duplicate-content-these-days-2013-12

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