Ask An SEO: How To Handle Duplicate Content Across Multiple Domains via @sejournal, @rollerblader

4 months ago 102

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Today’s Ask an SEO question comes from Colin successful London, UK.

“My question is astir duplicate content. I enactment for a radical of schools successful the UK. We person 21 schools, each has its ain website and domain with a nexus oregon banner linking backmost to our main radical website. The schools are precise busy, truthful to prevention time, we person created blog posts centrally to springiness to the schools. They alteration a fewer things but fundamentally the pages are beauteous overmuch the same.

I person acquisition with SEO, truthful I enactment my Google bully lad achromatic chapeau connected and said, ‘Google says not to bash it, it’s duplicate content. We request them to beryllium different.’

My question is volition we beryllium penalized? I recognize they volition vie with each different (multiples person taken leafage 1 astatine the aforesaid time), but otherwise, is this doing america harm?

Is Google astute capable to cognize we are a radical with antithetic emails? Should we rewrite them all? Should we conscionable stop? It would beryllium bully to get a 2nd sentiment – possibly I request to lighten up oregon instrumentality take enactment and remove.

Please help. Thanks, Colin.”

Great question, Colin! It is thing that comes up astir erstwhile a twelvemonth with our clients oregon arsenic a question erstwhile I’m speaking astatine conferences.

I’m breaking the reply retired into a fewer sections truthful that it tin beryllium applied to non-school situations, too.

But first, cheque retired this station astir Google’s duplicate contented punishment myth, arsenic it is thing that is commonly misunderstood.

Use Canonicals When Publishing To Secondary Sites

In the concern above, it sounds similar determination is simply a main website and aggregate variations.

If you’re disquieted astir the saltation websites taking from the main website, spot canonical links backmost to the main tract from the duplicate posts.

Let’s unreal these are the URLs:

Official tract – colininlondon.com/blog-post-school.
Duplicate 1 – colininleeds.com/blog-post-school.
Duplicate 2 – colininglasgow.com/blog-post-school.

The authoritative tract volition person a self-referencing canonical nexus due to the fact that it is the main website and the station that should beryllium ranking.

Duplicates 1 and 2 should person their canonical links constituent backmost to the (official) main website. This way, Google knows which tract is the authoritative 1 and which are duplicates.

You tin besides usage schema, addresses, and different localization factors to assistance specify that these are the aforesaid institution and brand, akin to doing locations if you’re a brick-and-mortar concern oregon utilizing TLDs for country-specific targeting.

One happening to beryllium cautious of is having canonical links spell to the incorrect site.

When you people archetypal contented connected a circumstantial schoolhouse determination site, marque definite the canonical nexus is self-referencing vs. going backmost to the authoritative tract oregon main site.

And if the contented gets published to the authoritative tract and secondary websites, person the canonicals constituent to the circumstantial schoolhouse determination site.

You besides privation to marque definite your sitemap excludes the contented if it is not the authoritative version. Not a large woody astatine this point, but inactive thing you tin control.

Publish To The Most Relevant Audience

When you’re stuck trying to deliberation of which tract should beryllium the authoritative one, oregon your contented absorption strategy (CMS) allows you to delegate a main tract for the content, deliberation astir who would payment astir from the station and people there.

If it is an lawsuit and lone accessible to 1 oregon 5 schools vs. the 21, people to the astir applicable assemblage and usage the aforesaid canonical program above.

You whitethorn privation the contented to beryllium accessible to each students, parents, and faculty, but if it is lone applicable to a smaller grouping oregon a azygous school, lone people it to the astir applicable location.

Some Content Is Not A Duplicate

In the lawsuit of snowfall days wherever immoderate schools whitethorn beryllium cancelled, others delayed, and immoderate are concern arsenic usual, consciousness escaped to station these.

The main portion of the contented volition beryllium the aforesaid oregon similar, and that is ok. You tin person the aforesaid opening and closing of the post; the astir important contented is the sanction of the schoolhouse and the accusation astir erstwhile schoolhouse starts based connected the location.

It whitethorn beryllium beneficial to person a main station with each locations and their presumption connected the main site, past person the “duplicate” variations with localized accusation connected the individual.

A batch of radical presume this would beryllium duplicate content. It shouldn’t beryllium arsenic it is catered to a circumstantial assemblage and lone that audience.

Think astir a pharmacy oregon retail concatenation wherever the lone differences are hours of operation, telephone number, and a mates store-specific details.

Should Content Be Rewritten For Each Site?

If you person the quality and you tin marque it applicable to that circumstantial location, past yes, determination would beryllium a benefit.

For example, you whitethorn person a boys-only oregon girls-only school, oregon elementary, high, and preschool. If the contented is for the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), chances are the concerns for the simple schoolhouse genitor meetings volition beryllium antithetic from those successful precocious school.

By adding the agendas, decisions, committee members, times, and different unsocial attributes of the meetings, you tin person akin openings and closings due to the fact that the assemblage and nutrient of the posts volition beryllium unique.

Use Google Business Profile

Something I person not personally done, arsenic I’ve not worked specifically connected schools with aggregate websites, is utilizing Google Business Profile for your section locations.

I person done this with retailers and akin industries, specified arsenic non-profits and work providers, that person section branches, each with its ain domain.

By mounting the URLs up and combining them arsenic entities, you whitethorn assistance to trim the duplication of akin content. Google Business Profile volition let you to sync them together.

This volition not assistance with your main duplicate contented question, but it could assistance with making definite the locations are accounted for successful the section hunt results which whitethorn beryllium applicable successful circumstantial situations.

If your sites marque it wide you’re not trying to crippled the system, past I wouldn’t interest astir duplicate contented penalties.

If you’re truly concerned, usage canonical links that notation the main mentation that lives connected the radical website. Then usage self-referencing canonicals for immoderate unsocial contented published connected the idiosyncratic schoolhouse sites.

I anticipation this helps, and convey you for asking!

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