Will Duplicate Content Hurt SEO

With so many websites containing duplicate content in one form or the other. It has now become imperative if not necessary for a site to have original and well-researched content to survive the onslaught of alight Google under the hood of Panda Update.

Though the Panda Update has been with us for quite some time, webmasters and so-called SEO experts are finding it hard to figure out what Google engineers, to be particular – Google bot, are treating as duplicate content.

Do It Yourselfers Are Common Offenders

No one is now so naive as to copy and paste an entire article from another source on his website. Instead, they are trying to tweak it here and there to make it ‘look genuinely unique. This mainly happens when a business owner tries to do SEO themselves.

Sadly for them, Google has gotten a bit smart this time, and this will not help anyone drive targeted traffic to one’s website. Let’s make a quick round-up of the repercussions of duplicate content on a site.

Duplicate Content Penalties

Let’s be straightforward; duplicate content will cause you a penalty, which might hurt a business more than you could imagine. Your SEO Agency may help you overcome this penalty over time, but this will cost a business organization dearly.

Ranking Drop

Apart from losing all its ranking, which was probably the only source of getting new clients, it can impact the brand value. Your brand image will likely come under the scanner if the website contains content copied from other sites.

De-Indexed aka: Banned from Googe

Google and its likes have already made it clear that they are waging war to weed out shallow and duplicate content from the web altogether. So, if you do not want to face the wrath of Google and do not want to see your website erased from Google’s search index completely, it is a wake-up call.

Legal issues

Duplicate content can lead to legal tangles as well. If anyone publishes the content of other websites without their prior permission, they can find themselves in a messy situation sooner or later. Those websites can file DMCA or a lawsuit that can lead to a loss of reputation. Besides that, doling out fat compensation will make you feel the pinching effect in your pocket.

Example on Ezinearticle.com

Ezinearticle.com and its likes are still finding it hard to recover from the Panda massacre, and the reason why Google axes them is quite simple – they have many duplicate articles on their websites. However, some SEO companies are claiming that it is not duplicate content that can trigger Panda outrage. Harboring shallow or thin content can lead to the same problem.

So, if you do not want your website to get rough treatment from Google and other search engines, you must ensure that your site has unique, well-researched, and exciting content that adds value to users.