Since Google made the algorithm updates Panda and Hummingbird, using duplicate content, just like keyword stuffing, now harms your ability to be ranked well by Google and other search engines. Using duplicate content on your website is no longer worth the risk as Kintronics recently found out.
Kintronics, an IP Solutions company, inadvertently conducted their own “experiment” on duplicate content when they accidentally published the same article, “Understanding IP Camera Resolution Specifications”, to two locations at the same time – their newsletter website and their blog. This happened because Kintronics had recently changed their publishing methods and tools. In the old method they posted content to their website, and in the new method they post content to a WordPress blog.
Once they realized their mistake, that they had published the same article to two locations, they tracked and reviewed which article ranked higher on Google. What they discovered was, “One (article) was found, while the other article was not found”.
Intrigued by their first “experiment”, Kintronics conducted another test. This time with the intention of demonstrating how unique content can affect SEO. The second trial once again involved publishing the same article at the same time to two different locations. This time they changed the title slightly and they edited 30% of the content. The result? The two articles were ranked one right after the other in Google search, article #1 and article #2. After these two experiments, Kintronics made the following observations:
- The amount of website traffic received is determined by search rank.
- Unique visits doubled from about 5,000 per month to over 10,000 per month when the article moved from page two to page one of the Google search results.
- There is in fact a direct correlation between search rank and unique content
- Good content dramatically increases the likelihood that a website will be found
- The content on the blog is used to enhance SEO
As Kintronics found out, duplicate content is just not worth the risk. Publishing duplicate content within a site, or by copying content from another site, can result in significant consequences which degrade a website as a reliable source of quality. This is due to Google’s review process. When determining which website to rank first, the Google indexer examines your content in relation to websites around it and seeks to answer questions like:
- Is this content original?
- Does it show authorship and expertise?
- Does it provide a new and unique viewpoint?
- Is this content relevant and provide value?
- Is there a need for this
content?
When you post content to your website, ask these same questions to yourself. Can you answer “Yes” to each one? When you publish duplicate content on your website it makes saying “Yes” much more difficult.
To learn more about the effects of duplicate content and the Kintronics story, email sales@content