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I didn't know I had a twin! - Google Panda Recovery STEP 2 Great SEO!

By Joe Smith

Services for Real Estate Pros with NeNet

June 27, 2012 04:17 AM

Good Morning Friends,

I hope you are all in good health and prospering!

Although this is step 2 in recovering from Google Panda Penalties, it may be the most effective tool in getting you back to the top in google as second only to rotten links, this is the area most people are penalized for.

You guessed it, DUPLICATE CONTENT!

Duplicate content stinks

A friend of mine called me last night about a problem he was having with a SEO project in recovering a site from a Panda penalty. I took a quick look at the site for penalizable issues.. I can say that my friend is a competent SEO, and could have found the problem, but the issue is that we as SEO's sometimes will call other SEO's with issues simply because we have looked at a site for SOOOO long that the obvious issues sometimes slip by us. A fresh look was in order.

Here is the order I check sites, and what I found with this one..

Has the owner bought garbage links? (the kind that get you penalized)
Has the owner duplicated content from other sites?
Has the owner STUFFED keywords?
Is there any WHITESPACE? (Yes, I used that W Word again)
Is the site full of paid ads, or HUGE images above the fold?
Does the site offer value to visitors?
Any major CSS/W3C errors?
Is the site OVEROPTIMIZED in other areas?

OK, here is what I found on the site in question, and how I found it..

They had a MAJOR duplication of content issue going on.

Someone sometime back had redesigned the site for the customer (this was NOT done by the SEO friend of mine, but by someone prior to them).. When they had redesigned the site, the ENTIRE site had been duplicated within the site for the purpose cutting and pasting the old content into the new site. The developer had inadvertantly left the duplicated data on the site. Google penalizes for "Duplicate Content"..

Here is my recipe for finding duplicate content:

Download Google Chrome HERE
Install it
Load your site in chrome
Hilight a section of your content and Right Click your mouse
Then just click "Search Google for (the content you hilighted)

I did a test and got some amazing results.. You NEED to get a hold of this!

I did a google search for a term, then I went to page 25 and clicked on one of the results (PAGE 25 FOLKS!)

I went to the page and did a search for duplicate content on that page using the method above for finding duplicates.

Below is a picture of what I found!!! 4980 DUPLICATIONS of the EXACT text.. Can anyone tell me why that site got penalized? How blatent! I have blurred the name of that site (it is not my intention to uncover them, just to use them as an example of what NOT to do!)

The above example was a random sample just to PROVE this point is accurate.. Please don't make the same mistake they have made.

Thank you for reading my post, and please SUBSCRIBE..

Have a great day!

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Kathy Streib

Cypress, TX

Home Stager/Redesign

Hi Joe, so Google will penalize you for an inadvertent mistake like copying and pasting your old information. From what I understand, we can have a similar topic on our website or other blog just make sure you don't just copy and paste it but change the wording. Thanks again for all of your help.

Featured in Bananatude

Jun 27, 2012 04:36 AM

Ginny Gorman

RI Real Estate Services ~ 401-529-7849~ RI Waterfront Real Estate - North Kingstown, RI

Homes for Sale in Southern RI and beyond

hi joe, can you clarify what Kathy said above...if google knows it is my site between AR & my web site & i change some of the information, it won't penalize...want to make sure this is ok...i know that site!

Jun 27, 2012 05:52 AM

Joe Smith

NeNet - Tulsa, OK

Great SEO Services that you can afford!

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for coming by and commenting, and for featuring! Hope all is well with you and Larry..
What I am saying about duplicate content is that Google gets real testy about it. Their algo is unable to discern what is accidental, and what is blatent. Sometimes it can be generated by your site. In the case of the above site, their CMS system is causing most of the duplication. What you are talking about in "changing" things around is "spinning".. I have software that will "spin" or change some vital words in a document before reposting them, but if you don't spin enough of the content, you will still have a major portion of the content that is duplicated.

Also in times past, people would copy whole paragraphs out of say Wikipedia or something. It was a fast way to get a site up and running with good content. For years this was acceptable, and did not violate copyright as Wiki is under the commons... That does not work now.. Google basically indexes your site, they compare it to what is in the index (other sites) and a match is a loser..

If you spin your content, you need to make sure the right percentage of content is spun.. Otherwise you shoot yourself in the foot..

If you are worried about the site we are developing for you, don't worry about that.. I have created NO links anywhere to it, and it is there for the purpose of development.. I would expect to take your old site down in a few days and go live with this one anyway..

Thanks and have a great day!

Jun 27, 2012 06:10 AM

Joe Smith

NeNet - Tulsa, OK

Great SEO Services that you can afford!

Hi Ginny,

Hope all is well with you! Thanks for coming by and commenting... I think I explained it above, but I will put a short example below...

Original: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog's back.

Spun: The fast brown fox jumped over the slothful dog's back.

The issue is that 75% of the original is the same...
There is a lot of contention between SEO's as to what percentage gets you hammered..
The funny thing is that in my exmple avove, All I did was do a search, then I went far down in the rankings (25 pages) and grabbed a site.. Amazingly it failed the duplicate content test. (in my opinion).. Now, my opinion could be flawed, but
they are on page 25 which is not good..

OOPS.. Sorry Ginny, I am rambling..
I will leave what is above cause it is good info, but here is your answer..

Google does not care if it's your site or someone elses. When they index content on a site and it is on another site, that is considered duplicate. Not to the point that 3 or 4 words would cause a problem.. I am talking about whole sentences, paragraphs, etc.. What their stand is is that "content" be "unique" and "relevant"...
I know, it STINKS.. and the term "relevant" (in WHO's eyes)..

Thanks and have a great day!

Jun 27, 2012 06:15 AM

Donald Hester

NCW Home Inspections, LLC - Wenatchee, WA

NCW Home Inspections, LLC

Joe,

Question. I write a blog on AR and then post it my site or vice versa. If it is just one duplication will that put you in the penalty box.

Jun 27, 2012 07:30 AM

Joe Smith

NeNet - Tulsa, OK

Great SEO Services that you can afford!

Hey Donald,

Thanks for coming by and commenting.. Here is what I (understand) it to be... this is ONLY my opinion, but it is backed by months of research..

Google Panda ONLY effects sites in the top 20 results.. It does the following:

Checks the top ranking sites against it's new algos which include duplicate content, whitespace, images, etc..

The reason I say (ETC) is because Google is somewhat vague in that all they really commit to beyond those areas is that they say they want to improve the "USER EXPERIENCE"... User Experience takes a lot into consideration..

Readability
Ease of Navigation
Unique (RELEVANT) Content...
Did the visitor find what they were looking for (IE, BOUNCE RATE)..

One of the biggest factors is bounce rate.. which they have 1000 ways to determine your bouncerate.

I also (BELIEVE) that they are trying to intimidate people into following ALL their rules.. I mean really, they have changed the entire internet based on 2 algorythms.. How wild is that??? It is almost like being able to control the currency.. Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but imagine how the folks who put these algos together are feeling a sense of power.. They put out the changes, and millions of webmasters are scrambling to bring their sites back into visibility.

Have a great day!

Jun 27, 2012 07:57 AM

Gene Mundt, IL/WI Mortgage Originator - FHA/VA/Conv/Jumbo/Portfolio/Refi

NMLS #216987, IL Lic. 031.0006220, WI Licensed. APMC NMLS #175656 - New Lenox, IL

708.921.6331 - 40+ yrs experience

Joe: This seems almost like playing detective when I was a kid. Sounds like one handy tool at our disposal. And knowing about the duplicating of posts is interesting on a personal level, as I do post in more than one site ... so thanks. Lots to chew on ...

Gene

Jun 27, 2012 11:56 AM

Joe Smith

NeNet - Tulsa, OK

Great SEO Services that you can afford!

Hi Gene,

Thanks for coming by and commenting.. Yes, it is almost that way. Google has gone far out of their way to make this difficult for everyone. I do believe they will sell A LOT of ADWORDS by holding down sites that adwords revenue is possible. We are just small potatoes.. Sites like DaniWeb lost BIGTIME!

Have a great evening!

Jun 27, 2012 12:26 PM

Anna "Banana" Kruchten

HomeSmart Real Estate - Phoenix, AZ

602-380-4886

Bookemarked Joe....good stuff! On the way to pick up my sister coming in from Toronto...now! yeah!

Jun 27, 2012 12:31 PM

Joe Smith

NeNet - Tulsa, OK

Great SEO Services that you can afford!

Anna, Thank you for coming by and commenting! You have a WONDERFUL evening... Enjoy your time with your sister!

Jun 27, 2012 12:37 PM