How Duplicate Content Is Killing Your Business’s SEO Authority

We’ve all heard about “duplicate content” but what effect can duplicate content actually have on a website?

For any website, duplicate content is like bad cholesterol in your body; it’s the silent killer – especially with the recent Google Panda and Penguin updates. Duplicate content creates 3 major issues for search engines:

1. Search engines are unsure which version of the duplicate content that is being presented to index
2. Search engines are unsure of which piece of content is the one they should rank
3. Search engines are unsure of how direct link metrics to a specific page or separate them between the duplicated versions; thus, any links you receive will be

So…what happens when a search engine can’t perform and of these actions? One of two things:

1. The page is pushed to the bottom of the search engine results page (SERP)
2. Or your site receives a penalty from Google which can cause a powerful drop in site traffic.

How Do You Know If Your Site Has Duplicate Content in It?

You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to find a website that is laden with duplicate content and there is a very simple way to find out if a page on your business’s site is suffering from the duplicate content woes. Simply go to Copyscape.com and type in the page in question in the search box.

Some of the biggest culprits are business’s about “About Us” pages – many times, businesses like automotive dealerships will find that the content on their site has be used and reused dozens of times between other dealerships locally and across the country. Typically, your website’s “About Us’ page is one of the most visited pages on your site; and if a major search engine like Google doesn’t know what to do with it, chances are your site could be missing out on serious opportunity when it comes to attracting quality and local traffic.

So Is Duplicate Content Only On the Pages of My Website?

Many businesses fall victim to cookie-cutter website solutions that use the same Title Tag Meta Description for hundreds of pages. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how this adversely affects your business.

For example, suppose you own an automotive dealership in Philadelphia and you have a prospective client who is searching for an oil change in the Philly area. He types in the search engine “oil change in Philadelphia.” Your Philadelphia dealership offers fantastic oil changes and has a webpage dedicated to highlighting your exceptional oil change services with an easily accessible call to action that allows website visitors to schedule an appointment immediately. Sounds great right? Unfortunately, many times the reality is your prospective client never finds your page because the meta data associated with page has been optimized for a “Used 2010 Chrysler Sebring.”

So What Can Your Business Do?

The bottom line is if your business’s website is laden with duplicate content, your website needs some serious attention.