Google’s Webmaster Guidelines warn against Duplicate Content because it hurts the usefulness of the web. You say you don’t have duplicate content on your site. So why are your pages in Supplemental Hell?

Maybe there are things happening you haven’t looked at.

First of all, you should use a google sitemap generation tool to see if a web application you’re using is creating different urls to get to the same content. This can often happen with dynamic programs, such as directory scripts and shopping cart scripts. The fix? Filter those dupes out using your robots.txt file, and also create a sitemap filter so that when your sitemap generates, only one url is present that reaches any one page.

Secondly, run your url through Copyscape and check to see if your content has been scraped and published elsewhere. If it has, then use dns tools to locate the hosting company and ask them to take the offending content down. Also let the site owner know that they have ignored your copyright and you will be pursuing the matter. Usually these two actions are sufficient to rectify the matter, though occasionally stronger measures, like an attorney letter, are needed. Do be aware that a short excerpt from one of your posts or pages with attribution to you is covered as fair use under the DMCA, and though people are supposed to ask permission, it would be tough to fight this type of scenario. Your best defense is to keep adding fresh content.

Another possible problem is the use of RSS feeds to pull content into your pages from other websites. Small excerpts are usually okay, but if you’re pulling whole articles in, you might be sabotaging yourself. Using content from the Article Banks can also sabotage you, if that article has been reprinted many times. It’s always better, if you can’t afford the time to write from scratch, to rewrite article bank articles so they’re somewhat different, then credit the original article writer as netiquette demands and to avoid problems.

Look over your site with these things in mind, and avoid the penalty. Then, if you start adding fresh new content, you should be able to improve your placement and pull your site up in the SERPs.

Technorati Tags: SEO, Duplicate Content, Google

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 9:24 am and is filed under SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.