Is There Really a Duplicate Content Penalty?
ByAn alert reader of my blog and website commented on something I said on the page where I mention why I’ve started to my articles and not repeating the content in my newsletter.
Jim Lillicotch is a website designer, promotion and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert, who says that he doesn’t believe that there is a duplicate content penalty. “There is a bit of controversy on the issue, but everyone that I have confidence in says there is not now and has never been such a thing,” says Jim. “If it were true all of the people republishing your content all over the web would hurt you and not help you.”
I think he’s got a point. Are there any other SEO experts out there who want to weigh in on this? Is this idea of duplicate content just another “Internet urban myth” without any truth to it?
What about the question about whether you should submit to as many ezine article directories as possible,to get traffic back to your site?
These are pretty important issues. Weigh in with your comments–just click “comments” below and share your expertise! (Thanks, Jim, and anyone else who responds. Your reward is a link!)
2 Comments
April 16th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
[...] Last week I posted something about a duplicate content penalty, and got various responses. Some people don’t understand it or believe it’s a problem, other people are still adamant that it is. [...]
April 17th, 2007 at 9:51 am
My understanding is that there is a penalty – I’ve been told that from a number of sources I’ve grown to trust.
It would be great if there wasn’t – I hope there isn’t.
Until someone can convince me that it’s not a problem, I will continue making sure that any articles I submit to directories are at least 25% different to those on my own web site or blog.
I get the impression that duplicate content is only a problem when there is a link from the content directly to a site on which you have the same content. No link – no problem.
Obviously we want links from our articles, so I make sure my web site content is at least 25% different.
Hope this helps.
Love to hear what other people know about this.
Lynne Lee
http://www.christianlifecoaching.co.uk