Duplicate content – a definite “no”!

Why unique content is important for your website and blog

I’m prompted to write this article in response to a number of recent cases where clients have provided what was claimed to be unique content for their new dental websites, in particular the treatment pages.

As a matter of course we always check a few extracts of any supplied content to make sure it is unique – a quick check in Google will tell all. Simply select a couple of sentences and let Google find any similar instances – if its out there on the web, it will almost certainly be in Google’s content cache.

So during a couple of recent checks of this type, it quickly became clear that the content which had been provided was “borrowed” from elsewhere and at best reworked to just change a few words. Unfortunately this is not good enough and aside from possible copyright issues, will get you into trouble with Google. So why is this……?

Why “dupe” content on your website is a big problem

Google is all about providing the best sources of information to its users and eliminating anything that clogs up the search index with low-quality content. Duplicate, non-original content falls within Google’s definition of “low quality” and at best will result in your page being eliminated from the rankings and at worst gaining your website a site-wide ban i.e. you are pushed way back in the ranking or possibly even de-indexed.

This is why you must ensure that any text that is used on your website or blog is unique – failure to do this risks elimination of your page from the rankings or worse still a site-wide ban.

Are there any circumstances where duplicate content is allowed?

If you need to use content that has already been published elsewhere, there are recognised web-authoring methodologies which tell Google that you are not attempting to “game” their system. For example, if you need to quote text from elsewhere, make sure that a relevant reference and attribution is supplied. Also ask your dental web design partner to explain how the website code can be “flagged” so that Google understands the context and purpose.

What can I do if I think my website has attracted a duplicate content penalty?

“Dupe” content penalties are rife in the world of dental web design, particularly where some providers roll out the same text content time after time – you tend to find this where the text content is offered free as part of the web design package so please look out for it. If this applies to your website and Google has caught up with you, then the only answer is to completely re-work your text and wait for Google to re-include your page/site in the search index. Unfortunately this recovery can takes weeks and sometimes months – hence it really is worthwhile checking to make sure that your text is unique and high quality from the outset.

“But I don’t have time to write my own text….”

Don’t worry if you are struggling for time to get this done. Our professional copywriters have been writing dental web copy and blogging for years and they are very experienced. We can provide this service as part of the original project or for a text retrofit if you need it.

Please call us on 01332 672548 if you’d like your dental website assessed for duplicate content or if you’d like us to assist with any dental copywriting requirements.