Ask Our SEO Director: Is duplicate content hurting my SEO?
“I have been told my website has ‘duplicate content.’ What is that?”
Duplicate content is exactly what it sounds like. It’s copied content, reused across multiple websites. It could be:
- Sentences
- Phrases
- Whole paragraphs
- Pages
Using duplicate content is a widespread practice for marketing companies who use website templates and offer inexpensive website design. It allows these firms to save money and charge less because all they need to do is switch out colors and templates.
“Will duplicate content hurt my SEO with Google?”
While duplicate content isn’t considered a penalty for Google, it WILL have a negative impact on your search results. Google scans ALL websites every seven days. If they see the same content on different website URLs, the search engine has a difficult time determining which website has the original, quality content for users. In turn, Google will not index your web page.
For example: Let’s say you’re a dentist in Seattle with a section about teeth whitening. If a dentist in Toronto has the same content about teeth whitening, Google will see that and will not count it as custom content. It may be okay for users to read, but it’s not going to help your SEO rankings; in fact, it will hinder them.
“Is there duplicate content on my website?”
There are many online tools to determine whether you have custom or duplicate content:
- Google Search – The easiest way is to copy your website content and paste it into a Google search bar. Based on your search results, you’ll be able to see whether multiple sites have the same content as your site.
- Siteliner – All you need to do is put your site’s URL on this site, and it’ll calculate if there are any duplicate content, broken links, page power, and so much more helpful insights about your site.
- Copyscape – Probably the most useful content checker out there, Copyscape alerts you of duplicate content and provides advice on how to get rid of the duplicate content.
- SEO Review Tool – Just copy and paste your site’s URL and content you’d like to check and let this helpful tool do all of the work for you.
These tools are easy to use and encourage you to take proactive steps to ensure all of your website’s content is custom.
How can you make sure the content on your site is custom and valuable to patients?
When writing content, make sure you’re solving your patients’ problems. Ask yourself these questions:
- Why do you love dentistry?
- Why do your patients love you?
- How do you overcome their barriers?
- What conveniences do you offer to patients?
- What makes you unique?
Answering these questions and writing your content based on those answers is the right step to creating content your patients can truly connect with. Check out our previous blog about how you can separate your website from the competition.
“I don’t have time to write my website. Can I take my current site and have you refresh the content?”
Yes, but it depends. Some companies own the site and content you’re using. While some sites are owned outright, others are merely “rented” from the company that built it. If you own the website and have the most up-to-date technology, we can refresh your content.
How can you tell you own the site? You can either find the original contract or ask your existing company to send you all of the content from the site.
Here at Roadside Dental Marketing, we write custom content built to match our clients’ voices and practice philosophies. The best part? You own your site! We specialize in the dental field and consider ourselves experts in dental terminology; we know how to explain it to patients (and Google!). Our sites rank well due to our diligence and content checking. We also don’t hire outside writers – we create all of the content in-house!
Curious to know how your SEO is doing?
If you have some feedback for me or want to talk about where your site is at on the SEO scale, here are a few good ways to keep the conversation going:
- Call or email me directly
- Request your free SEO report
- Or, leave a comment below!
Do you have any SEO questions for Kelsey? Leave your question(s) in the comment section below, and he may address it in his next blog post.
