Can having similar content on my company's two sites hurt our rankings?
-
We have a very successful website that has been up for a number of years (www.comellaortho.com). We rank high in the natural rankings for that site.
A few months ago, we started seeing patients in another nearby city. I purchased a new domain name, www.dansvilleortho.com, and had our web company duplicate the website under the new domain name. The reality is that the content on these two sites are nearly identical. Some of the pages are different; for example, there are fewer pages on the new site. But the pages that do exist are nearly identical.
My question is: Can having similar content on my company's two sites hurt our rankings?
Based on what I've read thus far, I believe the answer is "Yes". However, I'm curious how bad this may hurt us.
I'm not as worried about the new site (dansvilleortho.com) because our competition in that city is slim to none. But I AM worried about harming the original site/business (comellaortho.com).
Which site(s) rankings may be affected by this, and if so, how bad?
Thank you.
-
Thanks! The problem is, the businesses have two completely different names/branding/logos, etc. I'm trying to create a seamless & separate experience for both cities.
Would an alternative (albeit less desirable) option be to re-write the content on the duplicate site? Or at least change it enough to not be so identical?
-
Absolutely can cause a penalty. I would take down the dupe site immediately.
Also two sites are against Google TOS. Instead of having a second site, create city/state pages for your main site and get those ranked instead.
-
Rewriting or repurposing the content wouldn't hurt you. Thumb rule is to never have identical content on any two pages on the web.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Separate service page for each key-word we're ranking in
Hello guys, I have a service-based website. Right now, I have around 30 commercial pages for different services, that we offer. I came up with idea to add service page for each keyword we're ranking in. For example, we offer home-construction service and we have 1 commercial page for this service. I will create 10-20 pages for keywords, related to home-construction services.
Content Development | | MykhailoRudenko
For example: bricklaying, Fundamental works, Landscape works, Concrete works, etc. I saw similar approach on this website. It's a link on bricklaying page: https://kiev.kabanchik.ua/ua/category/kladka-kirpicha If you scroll down you will see section with keywords, related to bricklaying and each keyword has separate page with duplicate content. My questions are: Do you know the name of this SEO tactic, so I can google more information about it? Do you think that it's good idea to use similar approach in order to improve your rankings for certain keywords? Is it a dangerous SEO tactic that may cause some penalties for your website or it's completely safe? Thank you for helping, guys! 331ea1ea-1d49-4f6c-89ef-510ef4657fa4-image.png c5999dbb-6dfb-4fbe-b3e8-ab9a0943bd88-image.png0 -
How much do I have to differentiate syndicated content, exactly?
We have about 15-20 articles we'll repurpose on a partner domain (think: media outlet). To avoid duplicate content suspicion, how much exactly do we need to differentiate the content on the second domain? Yea, this is assuming we can't obtain a canonical for whatever reason. I've found some good advice here, but am looking for some quantification. Like: "A sentence/paragraph of introduction at the top of the piece, plus a link back to the original at the end of said introduction ought to do it." Any help is appreciated. Thanks! Tim
Content Development | | Jen_Floyd0 -
How to best host a blog - standalone or on the site?
HI We are redesiging our site currently - at the moment we have a low key blog on the site which is pretty well hidden (to be changed with redesign) but is hosted as brand.com/blog name. I have been advised it might be a good idea on relaunch to have the blog as a standalone blog linking back to our main site but also having a graphic on the site that promotes the blog. The blog does not currently have the same name as the website so would work as a standalone site but I understand it would not have any seo benefits from the original site. I have seen on previous posts here that the best practise is domain.com/blog but wondered if anyone thought different? Hope someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks, Penny
Content Development | | Pday0 -
Getting an image to rank in blended search
Hi Mozzers, Has anyone got any good tips to get an image to rank in blended search when a user searches for a specific company name. I'm not talking about image search - I'm talking about the regular SERPs that sometimes contain images (normally logos) when you search for 'Coca Cola' for example - any ideas. Thanks Gareth
Content Development | | Bush_JSM0 -
The same phrase in many different pages of one site
Hi,
Content Development | | webg
Recently, I had to add the same phrase, with 15 words, nearly, in 700 posts in a same blog. In this phrase is written about the site ownership and eventually some links showing the posts sources. I thought in create a image, but it will be some variations in the source words (2 or 3), therefore I chose to use text format. I'd like to read some comments and opinions about this kind of insertion (the same phrase in many different pages of one site). For exemple, did you handle this in your site? Problems or benefits (mainly with indexing)? Special code to indicate in this case? Any threat?0 -
Define: Good Content
I am curious to hear what you guys consider to be the characteristics of good content and in which order if you have a preference. Here are a few I can think of: Informative (you can learn something new) Substantial (enough of it and thorough) Complete (doesn't give half-baked information or ideas) Unique (not regurgitated original content) Helpful (practical actionable information) Visual (content complemented by media) Referenced (claims made are substantiated through citations) Entertaining (or otherwise emotional, e.g. surprising, sad, shocking, controversial) Formatted (easy to read and follow) Timely (right content at the right time, applies for news) Professional (writing style, grammar, spelling and sentence structure) Can you add to this list?
Content Development | | Dan-Petrovic1 -
My WebSite has two sections with overlapping, or redundant articles on the same topics. Google is only listing one or the other article in Search Results. What should I do to have both pages (similiar but unique content ) to be listed?
My Web Site has two sections with overlapping, or redundant articles on the same topics. Google is only listing one or the other article in Search Results. What should I do to have both pages (similar but unique content ) to be listed? Example: http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/pregnancy_week_12.htm http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/pregnancy_12_weeks.html
Content Development | | docjamesmd0 -
Best way to avoid duplicate content issues here.
I am planning to write an article that refutes some claims made in another article. The original article is a 20 page pdf. What I plan to do is to take quotes from this PDF and then under each quote write my arguments for or against the quote. If I take direct quotes from the article, is Google likely to see this as duplicate content?
Content Development | | MarieHaynes0