9 March 2016

SEO Search Engine Optimisation

Do Do Not Not Duplicate Duplicate

Duplications – let’s get one thing straight. Unless you’re an identical twin, it’s just not OK. And this is even truer when it comes to writing digital content.

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to content production is that Google (and any search engine for that matter) despises duplications and preventing them is really just a measure of quality control.

The problem with having so many factors being taken into consideration when it comes to Google rankings is that there is just that much more content to be written – but, as they say, the fruits of online marketing are hard earned but well worth the effort. It is something that needs to be done once, and done well so you might as well utilize your time effectively once and prevent yourself from wasting tonnes of time on it afterwards rectifying all your mistakes.

Duplications could refer to any of the following:

• The same content across several pages of your website
  
  
• The same content across your pages, meta descriptions, blogs etc.
  
  
• Copying content from other site (this could be blog material, web page content etc.)

Note that duplication refers to exact word for word writing for large blocks of text. Duplicating certain words is OK and necessary, especially if they are keywords/key phrases.

But duplication is not always done maliciously. For instance, you could have duplication of text if you are trying to make a printer friendly version of a particular web page. This is a common mistake to make but can be quite harmful to the rankings of your website. This is because it confuses the Search Engine as to which page is the actual webpage and which one is the duplicate. Plus, you are actually creating competition for yourself for no reason by doing this!

What can you do to minimize duplications?

In order to ensure you lower the chance of duplications as much as possible, you can take some of the following steps. Although not guaranteed to work (as there may be someone out there who might try and pinch your work – rest assured though that Google will punish them) they can be a good way to minimize duplications and prevent them from occurring as much as possible:

• Try and keep content that is similar all on one page.
  
  
• Check how the structure of your website works. For example, you only want any blogs that you post to be posted in one place. Not on the homepage, archive section and blog section of your website. This will also prevent sloppy websites and thus increase user friendliness – and we all know Google loves users.
  
  
• Use redirect pages e.g. 301 redirects so the Search Engine robots can be redirected to the correct page smartly.

In order to ensure that you don’t need to do any damage control, it is probably worth getting expert help. FDC are a web design and digital marketing agency in Leicester that has the friendly experts and up-to-date knowledge. To find out more for free, you can book a consultation with us.