Ok, folks.  So… some of the people I shared the information on Duplicate Content with, seemed to think, from their training, that the information I had was not correct.  Which is cool, you can only go on your best knowledge at the time being, so I totally respect their stand.  Also, in seeing something that Google had posted on their Webmaster Tips page, I was starting to doubt it too.

So…  We had a webinar again tonight with Ferny Ceballos, so I asked in the GoTo Webinar panel, my question to get some clarification.  I would like to now share with you (complete with screenshot documentation), what I believe was Raymond Fong’s reply (as Ferny was presenting and I doubt he could have typed the response while he was talking).

My Question:

On the All Access Q&A call last Thursday, ya’ll said that when it comes to Duplicate Content, Google only considers it duplicate if it is on the SAME domain.  I’ve relayed this to others and they insist this is wrong.  Even Google’s webmaster tips says that’s not quite correct – that if they find the same or similar content that it doesn’t get ranked and indexed as well as fresh content.  Can you explain this better?

Response:

“do a quick search for “majority leader harry reid one day after he unveiled” and you’ll find the same article posted on 9 different domains”

“there’s what google wants you to believe and thee’s what’s really happening, if google does a manual review, they CAN ban one of your duplicate website, but odds are slim that they’ll doa manual review”

“So from a practical perspective and looking at what’s happening, dont’ worry about duplicate content across different domains as long as you are being ethical”

My Question:

So it’s okay to submit the same article without spinning it to say 300-400 different article sites?  Google will not penalize you for that?

Response:

“yes”

“u can imagine how easy it would be to sabotage someone’s website if duplicate content was an issue like so many people think it is”

Actual Screenshot of the conversation – click to enlarge:

Kelli Jacobson =)

I was on an All-Access Q&A business call this evening and a striking revelation was made by SEO Experts, Ferny Ceballos and Raymond Fong.  They were talking about duplicate content and what Google thinks about it.  They shared that when it comes to duplicate content, as far as Google is concerned, it is only duplicate if it is on the SAME Domain name.  So, you could have the same content in 100 different places around the Web, and it is perfectly fine.  It’s when it is on the same Domain name that it will be counted as duplicate content.

One of the examples that they shared is news articles.  Think about it.  All of the AP News articles are the same exact text.  And there are a ton of sites that carry that exact same AP News article.  Does Google not rank them and show them because they are duplicate content?  No, they show and rank them all because they are coming from DIFFERENT Domain names, so different locations.

Just thought this would be a worthwhile tip to pass on to those that strive to not duplicate content when producing articles for marketing.