Clarifying the duplicate content problem

[conran]

You might have seen the news that Google is rolling out a new algorithm to detect and remove duplicate content.
You can read more here: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/110225-125210


But I thought it would be wise to discuss and clarify what "Duplicate Content" is when it pertains to us as affiliates and content creators.

So whether you are an affiliate or a sponsor, I hope this thread is of use.

In the mainstream world, duplicate content is simply the use of written content seen by Google in multiple locations. This can be articles from places like Ezine, copied and pasted words from other sites and simply content that is very similar to that found on other sites.

In the adult world, this primarily means scene descriptions. For us, the primary concern will be the use of scene descriptions provided by sponsors for use on blogs to promote their material.

So why is this suddenly a problem for us?
As Google has long warned, their intention is to present original content suited to a search query. They've stated this over and over; Original content is vital. Until now, their efforts to combat duplicate content have been limited and flawed. Many bloggers and site owners have been able to bypass the duplicate content filters by gaining more links or employing suspect SEO methods to outweigh it.

But probably not any more. This new algorithm is predicted to remove 11.8% of sites from Google results. That might not seem too drastic for the majority, but consider how many sites there are, and how many of those sites are going to be retail or affiliate sites and blogs with identical copy to describe the scenes or products. Suddenly, we're looking at a major chunk of the internet.

For bloggers, this simply means that you'll probably need to go in and remove all that copypasta you've used. If it came with a sponsor update, it needs to go. Thousands of others have used it too, and they'll be in the same positions as you. So now you're back in competition to see who can get that copied text gone and replaced, and secure that top spot once again on the next Google shuffle.

But this affects sponsors too. How?
Some sponsors use the same content on their own site when they send an affiliate update. Yeah, you'd think they'd know better. New blog updates show up in Google very quickly compared to standard site updates, so by sending that out and allowing it to be seen by the Google monster they're losing the value of that copy when they add it to their site, and they're adding to the negative weight Google will find there.
In addition, many run their own blogs, but again they use the same written content on both their blog and their pay-site. Doh!

The most simple way to look at this is... every time a person writes about something (anything) there should be no copy/paste involved. It's that simple.

While many of us cannot predict what Google will do, or if they'll do it right, one thing remains a constant; original content is indeed vital.

I'm seeing my position change on new blogs daily. And I discovered three of my blogs (running for less than two months) are now on the first page in Google Blog search for several keywords. And that's with approximately 10 links in, mild on-page SEO in copy only, and plenty of original content.

What are your thoughts on the new Google algorithm? Have you seen any changes in your organic traffic?

[HunkyLuke]

I was just reading an article on The Register about this. Pretty intense stuff, the article says these latest Google changes would hit 11.8 per cent of results.

This is interesting too:

But it did compare what sites people chose to block via the extension and what websites its algorithms were identifying as crap sites.

Looking at the top few dozen sites which people chose to block from their search results, the algorithms caught 84 per cent of them, which Google described as "strong independent confirmation of the user benefits".

Which to me says its finally gotten rid of all the crap that comes up in searches that really doesn't give the surfer what they want, but prolly just links to another site (like all those stupid "ask me" or "ask an expert" sites)

This presents a huge opportunity for us to get much better SERPs on our own sites. Conran, I am predicting that you and other content writers will be busy over the next few months :-)

[conran]

I am seeing a rise in inquiries, and have taken on a few blog rewrites over the last week.

This really offers an opportunity to everyone. Bloggers could use this as an opportunity to beat their competition and get there first by rewriting everything at a faster pace than their competition. And writers like me can enjoy a rise in business with complete blog overhauls coming in.

Sponsors can expect a rise in traffic from affiliates if they push the "original content" mantra in updates and again beat their competition.

It might be worth writers teaming up with a sponsor to be mentioned in affiliate emails. It would get the writer more business, and the sponsor more sales as their affiliates beat their competitors affiliates in refreshing their blog - keeping it on top.

[attis]

It remains to be seen if it really happens or if it's just some PR campaign by Google. When those sites with absolutely no original content start to disappear from the top ranks, I'll gladly join in to applaud Google.

[conran]

It remains to be seen if it really happens or if it's just some PR campaign by Google. When those sites with absolutely no original content start to disappear from the top ranks, I'll gladly join in to applaud Google.

It is happening.
There are several threads on forums like DigitalPoint discussing it, with American webmasters reporting their web property drastically loosing Google traffic. And it's not just sites with no original content either. Sites with "little" original content are being penalised too. It seems that one original post/page in ten is not enough.
At the moment, it looks like there are a few sites (such as tubes) which are not being affected as dramatically as expected (possibly because of the thousands of links in), but plenty are seeing their sites falling from SERP's because of their duplicate content.

It's interesting to watch. You'd think people outside of the US would be preparing for it to roll out globally by rewriting. But there is STILL scepticism that Google is actually doing what it always intended to do!

It's shocking that so many webmasters don't seem to understand what the purpose of a Search Engine is! Maybe they've been blinded by years of SEO dogma, they've forgotten that a SE is DESIGNED to provide original, informative and relevant results.
If it didn't happen now, it might happen in a week, a month or a year, but it was ALWAYS gong to happen; Google would create a way to remove all the duplicate content, it had to, because it's their job.

And Google always warned that it would too. They didn't repeat the mantra of "original and engaging content" just for the sake of it. They knew it would be implemented one day, and they knew that a big chunk of the web would go if people didn't listen.

[daedal]

About time Google actually did what they have been promising for so long.

Sometimes you search for a term and you get 5 or so websites all with the same content but with a different domain name, if this stops that, then that can't be a bad thing for consumers.

For lazy webmasters then its going to be an issue if they only ever use rss feeds and never write any original content. The way I see it, if you can't be bothered writing original content why should you be making money over those that work hard on their sites, and write content and so on.

[PornGuy]

Dupe content is something I have preached so many times before and people just dont listen.

Soooo easy to make it your own and not use dupe. But I guess lots of people are lazy.

[conran]

Dupe content is something I have preached so many times before and people just dont listen.

Soooo easy to make it your own and not use dupe. But I guess lots of people are lazy.

It's not just the affiliates either.
While writing the forthcoming GCW report, I ran a few checks on sponsors.
I took a line of text from a shoot description and ran it through Google with quotation marks, and almost all the sponsors had been beaten by affiliates and tubes copy/pasting their own content!

Now, either those sponsors are using the same copy on their sites as the content sent out to affiliates, or they're not doing anything to make sure they are crawled before the *clever* affiliates are nabbing the more original copy from the site and beating most of their competing affiliates.

In my view, a sponsor should ALWAYS appear first place for a line of text from a description. And it would be so easy to do, and contracting it out to someone like me would cost $15 an update; peanuts to some of these companies.

So affiliates are not the only lazy ones I'm afraid!

[archer]

this whole good update thing really has a lot of people rattled.

how long does it take for things to 'settle down'

and in the meantime... what about yahoo and bing? together they have some 20-30% of the market. what are they doing?

[conran]

While looking at sponsors, Bing is not listing them when Google is in some cases, but both are consistently placing the affiliates above sponsors in most instances.

I don't want to sound like I'm really marketing my business, but I'm really surprised sponsors are not working on rewriting their content and pushing the original content idea with their affiliates.

If this update does do what Google hopes, sponsors could see a dramatic slump in sales when this kicks in. If 80% of their affiliates are just using the supplied copy, what will happen to their duplicate blogs?
And if sponsors are consistently being seen as the duplicate because some affiliates are copying their text from the site and being crawled before them, what will that mean for the positions of the sponsors themselves?

The only winners here are the bloggers who have been the first to be notified of a sponsor update, and then been crawled early for their copy/paste sponsor text, and those who write their own. But with so few of them, that could mean sales dropping for sponsors across the board.

I truly believe we're all missing a trick here. Affiliates need to rewrite their duplicate posts and add a new post more frequently (every other day), sponsors need to check they are 1st place in Google for a line of text from every shoot and rewrite those that are not, and sponsors also need to be pushing their affiliates to write original text and not use theirs!
If people don't do this, affiliates could see a massive drop in traffic, and the sponsors could see a massive slump in sales as a result.

I'm currently talking to a sponsor about their scene descriptions not showing up in Google. This is through UK search.
Their affiliates and some tubes are showing for it though, but in some instances they are not even listed. That means that either Google is not crawling those pages, or they have been removed. How does this damage their site on the whole? They could be throwing money away on SEO and link building for nothing if 30 - 40% of their pages are seen as duplicate content.
And when the farmer/panda update goes global, it could damage them even further.

I have a feeling I'm going to be back in a month or two trying to explain all this again to sponsors who have seen their conversion rates plummet. That's not good for any of us!

[HunkyLuke]

And when the farmer/panda update goes global, it could damage them even further.

yes that is a big concern, or should be a big concern for sponsors and affiliates! Good point. So what would you suggest sponsors do with content updates? We have to give text with updates, but sending out unique text is impossible.

[conran]

yes that is a big concern, or should be a big concern for sponsors and affiliates! Good point. So what would you suggest sponsors do with content updates? We have to give text with updates, but sending out unique text is impossible.

I'll contact you personally to give you my opinion on how you can improve your position (if you even need to) against those who copy your page content; it's a competitive edge thing so will benefit you if I don't openly present the idea.

On content for sponsors, I have thought for a long time - before I even began writing content for pay - that sponsors should promote a writer or company in their affiliate emails and on their sites. At the very least they should be promoting the concept of originality.
Most sponsors offer their affiliates tools and resources other than media and link codes, but very few offer advice on how affiliates can increase their sales. I have not found one who promotes the idea of original content.

When it comes to written content, sponsors should be looking at promoting writers as a partnership, just like the symbiotic relationship they have with affiliates. Because if Google does succeed in their goal (and we're all pretty sure they will, if they haven't already with this update) most of those affiliates will be gone. I don't know how much money affiliates bring to a sponsor, but I'm guessing it's a fair amount. So if 80% of those affiliates are using copy/paste they are likely to be wiped out at some point. For a business relying on those sales, 80% loss of affiliates is potentially a massive decline in overall profit.

If I was a sponsor, the minimum I would be doing is trying to explain to affiliates the risk of continuing to be lazy and simply copying the provided content. I may even limit the description to performer names and a bullet list of details. They'd have no choice but to write for it.

It's hard for me to explain all of this without sounding like I'm marketing. And I'll understand if some think I am. But I could only perhaps add another three or four clients before I'm at my maximum. I'm a one-man band here at GCW, so several sponsors promoting me to hundreds of affiliates would be a little too much to take on.
Although it would be nice to be maxed out... I think :uhoh:
I hope that shows that I'm more interested in improving things rather than simply promoting my service.

[B2BwithJoeD]

Hey Conran - is this 'tweak' already fully in effect?

[conran]

Hey Conran - is this 'tweak' already fully in effect?

If by Tweak you mean the Google algo update, it is in effect in the USA, and expected to be rolled out globally as and when Google see fit.

They will be working on fine-tuning it, but from the reports of others seeing a decline in traffic, it seems to be doing the job of filtering out duplicate content quite effectively.

[B2BwithJoeD]

Yep, that's what I meant, thanks.

On the one hand it will really clear up a lot of my search work;on the other hand it creates a lot of work for some people - and I never saw a blog replication/rewrite software that did not result in complete gibberish...