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Stop Duplicate Titles! Confusing the Search Engines!!

Reblogger
Real Estate Agent with Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, TREC #0492321

Nikki has just requested that we stop using "duplicate titles" for our blogs. I know I post Facebook Fridays every week, so I will be adding more description to my titles to help out. Apparently, this is confusing Google.

Let's get the word out to everyone in Active Rain.

Original content by Nikesh Parekh

In our efforts to keep ActiveRain highly SEO friendly and to get our member blogs to the top of the search engines, we are working with a well-known SEO consultant here in Seattle.  As I had mentioned previously, Google is frequently running its user experience and content optimization algorithm called Panda.  Panda targets content farms and duplicate content and then ranks those site lower in the search results as Google believes that those sites have search spam.

Our consultant Susan found a number of interesting things within the 3 million pages of content indexed by the search engines.   

MANY of our members will publish blogs with the same titles week after week.  Examples include: Wordless Wednesday, Friday Funny, Market Update, etc.  I understand why our members do this, like a regular column in a newspaper, BUT this often confuses the search engines.  Even though the content of the blog post is different, since the title is the same AND used by many members of ActiveRain, the search engines could get confused and could label these posts as SPAM.

So, what to do?  Very simple: Add the date to the title of your blog post or add additional description.  Examples:

  • Wordless Wednesday July 20, 2011: Blue Ocean and Grey Skies
  • Market Update: Bellevue, WA July 20, 2011
  • Friday Funny - A Laughing Horse

A small amount of extra text will prevent a world of confusion AND protect the content and our domain authority at ActiveRain!

Please re-blog and share so we can get the word out. 

 

 

Comments (26)

Cathy Criado
Criado Realty - San Antonio, TX
Making Real Estate Profitable

Makes sense Jerry.  I do that mostly right now anyway since it seems to make mine stand out a bit, but am not consisent.  I will be now, thanks. 

Jul 21, 2011 10:12 PM
Liz and Bill Spear
Transaction Alliance 513.520.5305 www.LizTour.com - Mason, OH
Transaction Alliance Cincinnati & Dayton suburbs

Good thing I add a date span to our weekly Things to do posts :)  Hadn't really thought about duplicate titles irritating Google.

Jul 21, 2011 11:19 PM
Barbara Todaro
RE/MAX Executive Realty - Happily Retired - Franklin, MA
Previously Affiliated with The Todaro Team

Good morning, Jerry.....thank you for this reblog....I missed it and appreciate the information...

Jul 22, 2011 12:18 AM
Anita Clark
Coldwell Banker Access Realty ~ 478.960.8055 - Warner Robins, GA
Realtor - Homes for Sale in Warner Robins GA

Thanks for passing the information along Jerry...will do my part to keep things running smoothly.

Jul 22, 2011 12:56 AM
Doug Bullwinkel
E Mortgage Capital, Inc. NMLS 1416824 - Roseville, CA
Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS #281609

I  can see how this could be a problem with duplicate titles.  Thanks for the heads up on how to maximize your exposure to the search engines while keeping your brand identity.

Jul 22, 2011 01:30 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Yes, I was up late last night, and I saw Nikki's post. Seems like we are always learning about things that effect Google SEO.

 

Jul 22, 2011 01:32 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Hi John, I agree that a nice descriptive title should solve the problem. I am looking at ways to spice of up my titles so I don't have to refer to Speechless Sundays, or Wordless Wednesday in the titles.

Jul 22, 2011 01:35 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Thanks, Cathy. I know you have been creative with your titles. I believe that what we all need to do.

Jul 22, 2011 01:37 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Good Morning Bill and Liz. Yes, I never really thought about what these titles were doing to Google either. But, Now I know to be more descriptive with all of my titles.

Jul 22, 2011 01:39 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

You are Welcome, Barbara, I just wanted to do my part to get the Word out to as many members as possible.

Jul 22, 2011 01:40 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Thanks, Anita. We need everyone's cooperation to make things go smoother. I know you can be creative.

Jul 22, 2011 01:43 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

You are Welcome, Doug. I know Nikki will appreciate that all the members are doing their part to help with those search engines.

Jul 22, 2011 01:44 AM
Brenda Mullen
RE/MAX Associates - San Antonio, TX
Your San Antonio TX Real Estate Agent!!

Wow Jerry!  Thank you for reblogging this!  When he puts it like that it makes SO MUCH sense!  Duh :)!  I don't have very  many things that I do all the time but my market reports will need to change.  Wow.

Jul 22, 2011 02:19 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Hi Brenda. I know Nikki knows what he is talking about, since I trust his computer and technology knowledge. I know you can come up with a few creative names for your Market Reports.

Have a Great Weekend!!!

Jul 22, 2011 08:53 AM
Dave Halpern
Dave Halpern Real Estate Agent, Inc., Louisville, KY (502) 664-7827 - Louisville, KY
Louisville Short Sale Expert

Common sense prevails again. My guess is the variable text should probably be at the beginning of the title, and the constant text (i.e "market report", wordless Wednesday", etc.) should be at the end of the title.

Jul 22, 2011 11:58 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Now, that's a good solution to the problem, Dave. I will try that next time around, so I won't confuse those search engines.

Jul 22, 2011 12:06 PM
Lisa Dunham
Alexandria, VA
Associate Broker, Alexandria Virginia Real Estate

Thanks for helping to spread the word Jerry.  This is great for future reference.

 

Jul 22, 2011 03:18 PM
Janet Jones
Just Your Style Interiors, LLC - Kihei, HI
Home Staging, Interior Redesign Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Hi Jerry--thanks for the reblog.  I missed this the first time.  Good information here.  Always something more to learn. 

Jul 22, 2011 07:56 PM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

You are welcome., Lisa. Just wanted to do my part to get the word out to as many as possible.

Jul 23, 2011 03:30 AM
Jerry Newman
Brown Realty, 210-789-4216, - San Antonio, TX
Texas REALTOR, San Antonio Military Relocation

Yes, Janet. It's amazing with all the different things that we have to be aware of to get SEO on Google.

Jul 23, 2011 03:31 AM