Avoid Duplicate Content…

Posted by MLadmin on Feb 17th, 2009 | no comments home title

Having duplicate content on your site can really hit you hard in the search engine game.

t's not that the search engines hate you because your content is not unique, it's just that they want to provide the most relevant results to their users. So, for example, if a user is searching for information on plugging up a hole in the wall with goat cheese (don't ask), and there are 20 sites that have content and keywords relevant to this search, a search engine will only display one or two sites, at best. Generally, the site that was indexed FIRST with that content gets the prize of showing up as a search result. The other sites will simply get filtered out by the search engine due to duplicate content.

There are ways to avoid this and give yourself a heads-up before you post content likely get you filtered out. You can use the free online tools below. They can be really handy.

CopyScape
This site gives checks the web for duplicate content and returns the results, (in a search engine result format), of all the pages on the web that are identical to the URL you are checking. This tool also a great way to check if anyone else out there is ripping off your OWN unique content.

Compare Content
This site lets you enter 2 URL's and then gives you an analytical comparison of both text and HTML similarity. You get calculated percentages of how similar the text and layout design may be between the two URL's you submit. Try it out. It's fun.