EVERY time you do a Q & A someone asks this question. It’s something people really worry about… Now you have a video they can refer to again and again just in case they forget!
I get this question all the time as well, Jeff. Thanks for answering the question once and for all! I usually refer folks to this article about the mythical Google penalty for duplicate content: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2010/apr/26.html
Thanks Jeff for this very clear answer to a vexing question.
I assume then that if you started an article on your Blog with a “readmore” tag going back to the article on Ezine articles, that would solve the problems – since less than 20% of the article would be actually on your blog!
Thanks again for all your help, Bill
Thanks for this Jeff. As you say this is a very common question and one that came up when I did a talk recently about article marketing so good to get a definitive answer.
I also wanted to say a huge thanks to you for showing me the way on article marketing back in 2007.
Following your strategies and using your templates means that I now have over 480 articles on EzineArticles which have generated over half a million views.
Jeff, thanks.
I imagine this potential problem exists only between your blog/website and an article on say, Ezine articles (or a similar distribution site).
I presume that you can write an artcile that is NOT on your blog (in that same form) and send it to as many article directories as you like.
Awesome video Jeff and great article resource by Denise. This has truly shed some light on this topic for me and has cleared the fog on this issue. Ok, so this brings up another question, is it wise to use an article submission software to submit to many directories as possible or is it better to manually submit the articles?
Hi Alicia – Yes, Denise really helped out, didn’t she?
Great question – here’s a few tips:
1. Always submit to EzineArticles, the #1 directory by hand. When you are first starting out and building the all important backlinks, then you want to use a mass article submitter – I recommend Steve Shaw’s Submit Your Article service…
This is the most confident answer I have heard in the past hour of searching for the golden answer to the duplicate content question. As Jeff stated, it is almost taboo out of fear the Google Gods will punish us all. personally, this is enlightening, although I am still cautious about submitting the same article to multiple sites, as Google may devalue each link if all the articles have the same content on multiple submission sites. I could be wrong, but I am just cautious.
When an article appears on several directories, while all the backlinks do count, Google will put the most value on the one coming from the highest ranked authority site…
Hope that helps – be cautious, but don’t hold back in your article distribution and repurposing
I’m one of the people who asked this question of Jeff recently. I posted the question on Facebook for him and he replied that he would make a video answering me soon. Then, a few days later, here’s Jeff with a video answer.
I’ve used this method several times with my articles by rewriting the title, first paragraph and resource box. Both articles achieved their own rankings…however
************
Now, think about it like a search engine who has come across the following situation:
– Two pages appear to have roughly the same content
– Page B has a subset of page A’s content
– Page A was published before page B
– Both pages use images from page A’s domain.
When it comes time to rank the two pages, which one do you put first? If you are a user, which page would you like to see at the top of your search results? How would you feel if you were site A?
**************
This means a paraphrased article will not rank as well as your original one. It would be better to rewrite the entire article. It takes more time but would be following Google’s Quality Guidelines
Hi Jeff,
What happens if you publish an article by someone else, from an article directory. I did not think you were allowed to alter it. Does that mean you get penalised for duplicate content, if you can not change it by 20% from the original?
John – that’s a different animal all together. Duplicate content does not apply to an article you use from someone else, say on your blog. Only applies to YOUR content…
If you submit the same exact content to the article sites that appears on your site, you risk being hit for duplicate content – if your site is really not well indexed (which is not the same as not ranking well) you should attempt to ascertain the reason for that before going hard core on any link development. My two cents…
Jeff-
That has got to be one of the fanciest graphics EVER! lol
But seriously, you did a great job explaining in plain language what people need to do. And here’s the thing– I just did something I never did. I bypassed your transcript of this video and came back here to watch it. That’s another testament to the power of video and the spoken word and I love how you showed that people can take something written and make a video of it and vice versa.
Thanks very much for this informative video Jeff. I get this question all the time and now I have a great video to share with them that is very easy to understand. Thanks!
Jeff, my question has to do with content in Amazon Kindle books. If I take chapters from Kindle books and publish them as articles, will my books get tossed off Amazon? My understanding is that the content must not be available electronically anywhere else. Thanks.
37 Comments
Jeff Herring
This comment from over on YouTube:
“good stuff! finally, a number (20%) to go by as far as duplicate content is concerned. thanks very much for this info :)”
~ Jeff
Maritza Parra
I’m glad you made this video!
EVERY time you do a Q & A someone asks this question. It’s something people really worry about… Now you have a video they can refer to again and again just in case they forget!
Jeff Herring
Maritza – I am too…the fear of duplicate content holds so many people back, and it is a needless fear.
~ Jeff
Denise Wakeman
I get this question all the time as well, Jeff. Thanks for answering the question once and for all! I usually refer folks to this article about the mythical Google penalty for duplicate content:
http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2010/apr/26.html
blog on!
Jeff Herring
Denise – thanks for adding to the conversation with this link – you’ve made this post more helpful to my readers!
~ Jeff
Ken Edwards
Hi Jeff
Would you agree that the recent google algorythm change will have an impact on duplicate content.
so are you saying its ok to use the same article to send to various article and directory submission sites, with a link back to your money site.
I have been taught unique content for website, and never have the same article on your site that you submit to article directories
but 20% change and it will ok
many thanks
Ken
Jeff Herring
Ken – I know of no changes from Google that effect these tips, and yes you’ve got it right…
~ Jeff
Bill Blake
Thanks Jeff for this very clear answer to a vexing question.
I assume then that if you started an article on your Blog with a “readmore” tag going back to the article on Ezine articles, that would solve the problems – since less than 20% of the article would be actually on your blog!
Thanks again for all your help, Bill
Jeff Herring
Bill – you are welcome, and you are right!
I can tell you have been paying attention 🙂
Thanks for your contribution…
~ Jeff
Duncan Brodie
Thanks for this Jeff. As you say this is a very common question and one that came up when I did a talk recently about article marketing so good to get a definitive answer.
I also wanted to say a huge thanks to you for showing me the way on article marketing back in 2007.
Following your strategies and using your templates means that I now have over 480 articles on EzineArticles which have generated over half a million views.
Keep up the great work.
Duncan Brodie
Jeff Herring
Duncan – thanks for your kind words and CONGRATULATIONS!
That comes out to well over 1,000 views per article. Way to Go Use This Stuff!
May I use your comment as a testimonial?
Thanks,
~ Jeff
Sunny James
thanks jeff
I know this is a subject a lot of people were trying to figure out & you cleared that up
thanks
Sunny : )
Jeff Herring
Your welcome, and thanks for your contribution Sunny!
~ Jeff
Frank Daley
Jeff, thanks.
I imagine this potential problem exists only between your blog/website and an article on say, Ezine articles (or a similar distribution site).
I presume that you can write an artcile that is NOT on your blog (in that same form) and send it to as many article directories as you like.
Or is that wrong?
Jeff Herring
Frank – Yes, if you are not using the article on your blog you can submit it to as many article directories as you like…
~ Jeff
Alicia Isaacs
Awesome video Jeff and great article resource by Denise. This has truly shed some light on this topic for me and has cleared the fog on this issue. Ok, so this brings up another question, is it wise to use an article submission software to submit to many directories as possible or is it better to manually submit the articles?
Thanks Jeff.
Jeff Herring
Hi Alicia – Yes, Denise really helped out, didn’t she?
Great question – here’s a few tips:
1. Always submit to EzineArticles, the #1 directory by hand. When you are first starting out and building the all important backlinks, then you want to use a mass article submitter – I recommend Steve Shaw’s Submit Your Article service…
~ Jeff
Alicia Isaacs
Thanks for the response Jeff. Will check out that link.
Kelly Rudolph
Thank you, Jeff! Great info and extremely helpful and simply put. 🙂
Jeff Herring
Thanks Kelly – always great to hear from you – you’ve been such a great support over the years – THANK YOU!
~ Jeff
Alan Allard
Jeff, very interesting! I was not aware of the 20% principle, thanks!
Jeff Herring
Alan – glad to help. Thanks for your comment…
~ Jeff
QuickMedical
This is the most confident answer I have heard in the past hour of searching for the golden answer to the duplicate content question. As Jeff stated, it is almost taboo out of fear the Google Gods will punish us all. personally, this is enlightening, although I am still cautious about submitting the same article to multiple sites, as Google may devalue each link if all the articles have the same content on multiple submission sites. I could be wrong, but I am just cautious.
Jeff Herring
Glad I helped in your search.
When an article appears on several directories, while all the backlinks do count, Google will put the most value on the one coming from the highest ranked authority site…
Hope that helps – be cautious, but don’t hold back in your article distribution and repurposing
~ Jeff
Bob Crawford
Jeff, you rock!
I’m one of the people who asked this question of Jeff recently. I posted the question on Facebook for him and he replied that he would make a video answering me soon. Then, a few days later, here’s Jeff with a video answer.
Thanks Jeff!
Jeff Herring
Thanks for the question Bob!
I appreciate your ongoing support…
~ Jeff
Herman
I’ve used this method several times with my articles by rewriting the title, first paragraph and resource box. Both articles achieved their own rankings…however
Google seems to be cracking down on low quality content as evidenced in this article
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=21e50ed1333526fc&hl=en
Matt Cutts (Google employee) summarizes…
************
Now, think about it like a search engine who has come across the following situation:
– Two pages appear to have roughly the same content
– Page B has a subset of page A’s content
– Page A was published before page B
– Both pages use images from page A’s domain.
When it comes time to rank the two pages, which one do you put first? If you are a user, which page would you like to see at the top of your search results? How would you feel if you were site A?
**************
This means a paraphrased article will not rank as well as your original one. It would be better to rewrite the entire article. It takes more time but would be following Google’s Quality Guidelines
Here’s Google’s “Quality Guidelines”
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769#3
Jeff Herring
Herman – thanks for a great contribution to this discussion.
My response is yes, and…
Yes, follow those guidelines, and repurpose your content in as many ways as possible…
~ Jeff
Lesley
Thanks for clarifying this Jeff. I have been taking a lot of time to spin my content from Squidoo to Ezines to Hub etc.
This will make my life a bit easier!
Jeff Herring
Yay Lesley – I sure like the way you are repurposing
Keep it up!
~ Jeff
John Wilkes
Hi Jeff,
What happens if you publish an article by someone else, from an article directory. I did not think you were allowed to alter it. Does that mean you get penalised for duplicate content, if you can not change it by 20% from the original?
Jeff Herring
John – that’s a different animal all together. Duplicate content does not apply to an article you use from someone else, say on your blog. Only applies to YOUR content…
~ Jeff
Dr Joe
Honestly I enjoyed watching that video on dupe content I have learn t something new on article marketing. Thanks Jeff
Mysoft101
If you submit the same exact content to the article sites that appears on your site, you risk being hit for duplicate content – if your site is really not well indexed (which is not the same as not ranking well) you should attempt to ascertain the reason for that before going hard core on any link development. My two cents…
Felicia Slattery
Jeff-
That has got to be one of the fanciest graphics EVER! lol
But seriously, you did a great job explaining in plain language what people need to do. And here’s the thing– I just did something I never did. I bypassed your transcript of this video and came back here to watch it. That’s another testament to the power of video and the spoken word and I love how you showed that people can take something written and make a video of it and vice versa.
Yay Jeff!
Talk soon, I hope!
Felicia Slattery
Gina Carr
Thanks very much for this informative video Jeff. I get this question all the time and now I have a great video to share with them that is very easy to understand. Thanks!
Mia
Jeff, my question has to do with content in Amazon Kindle books. If I take chapters from Kindle books and publish them as articles, will my books get tossed off Amazon? My understanding is that the content must not be available electronically anywhere else. Thanks.
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