Duplicate Content on Shopping Sites. Avoiding Similar Product Description Across Multiple Networks.
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Duplicate content issues is the biggest problem for most shopping websites. The problem comes with manufacturer description, most owners of shopping sites simply copy and paste product descriptions which was provided by supplier, manufactures, or host of affiliate network. Word to word description appears on multiple sites across the web and cause collective punishment from search engines.
Here how Google, Yahoo, and Bing work with content… their algorithms is created to find original source of unique content and avoid appearance of a websites which steal content and violate copyright laws. When 1000’s shopping networks and sites use the same manufacturer description it moves all of them into omitted results. Often only one site remain in Google, Yahoo, or Bing index as content source.
Example:
Description from Amazon and Target websites for wooden hangers appears in 172 other websites and networks. As result, Google index only 13 of them and moved other 159 networks into omitted results with 0 chance to appear in search index when people search for wooden hangers, cheap wooden hangers, affordable wooden hangers, large wooden hangers ets…
So, why Google decided to index 13 sites and throw other ones in omitted results?
- Google indexed first site which published unique content with descriptions of the hangers. From now on it is content source and everything else looks like plagiarism for Google and other search engines.
- Domain power and website trust is another way. Google trust Amazon, Target, BizRate and other powerful sites which is long enough online with strong reputation or belong to real retailers around the world.
- Other unique content on the page. Manufacturer description can appear on a page but on the same page you can have unique reviews from customers, seller description, and unique information. For example, Target keep dosens reviews for each product and Google treat it as unique content. Duplicate (manufacturer) description becomes just a little part of overall page.
How can I fix my own site?
- The easiest way is “perfect crime” plagiarism. Take manufacturer description and rewrite it in your own words. Example: “These sturdy wood hangers keep fabrics from snagging and help clothing…” can be written as “Keep your clothing on these wooden hangers to keep fabrics from snagging…”. New content looks unique for search engines and they treat your site as unique source. More pages will be indexed and removed from omitted results.
- Let people review products or services your provide. Open comment fields. It will give more fresh content for a website.
- Create store or owner descriptions and post your own opinion about products you sell.
Real example of success:
I was hired several years ago by music store to fix their site. Owner told me that Google index only 10 000 pages but they have over 100 000 songs avaliable for download. We found that all artist bios and history of the songs was ripped off from other sites. It took almost 4 month to rewrite all song descriptions but it helped right away. Google reindex all pages and traffic from search engines increased from 1 200 to 2 100 people a day.
