Yes, you can duplicate the content. The question is should you duplicate the content. And the answer is an unequivocal "no", you should not copy the content. There is good reason why. Even though it is tempting to simply "copy and paste" from one site to another, search engines can't distinguish what human visitors can. As far as a search engine is concerned, the same content placed on a different URL is plagiarism. And that means a significant ranking penalty.
Why Duplicate Content is Penalized
Copied content is not displayed in search results for one simple reason: people surfing the Internet don't want to see the same information over and over again. Imagine typing in a search term and up comes 50 results with the exact same content. Users would either conclude there is only one source of information or the engine isn't doing its job. The latter would most likely be the assumption.
How Search Engines Deal with Duplicate Content
Search engines deal with duplicate content in a few different ways. If the content is the same on a webpage and on a print page, the indexing algorithm recognizes this and shows the original webpage on the SERP. In other words, if the Wall Street Journal or New York Times publishes a piece on the home page, then publishes the same piece in a print version, a SERP will populate with the piece on the home page. Readers can then click through to find the print version.
However, if a webmaster grabs content from another site--even if he owns it--the indexing spiders see it as an attempt to manipulate rankings and omit it from the index. For example, if a company which sells a particular product duplicates the content from the manufacturer's site, a competitor or another source without giving proper credit, the site is penalized.
How to Avoid Duplicate Content Penalization
The simplest way to avoid duplicate content penalties is to write new content. In some instances, this can be a tedious task, rewriting a website's content to say essentially the same thing. But in instances where it cannot be avoided, keep the re-purposing to a minimum. Web designers and bloggers can also make use of "noindex meta tags". These tell an engine which version the web designer or blogger wants to show up. Another method is to use "301 redirects".
Some websites try to manipulate rankings based on publishing only partial content, known as "stubs". These are typically the first one or two paragraphs of content with a link directing the visitor to the entire copy. Each search platform deals with this issue a bit differently, but the result is the same--ignore it.
Owen Richason is a freelance writer and social media promoter. He is a former business writer for "Tampa Bay Business and Financier". His work has appeared in the Houston Chronicle, on Business.com, AOL and numerous other blogs and websites.
You can read more or contact Owen by visiting: http://smartevos.com
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