The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. Link Building
    4. Duplicate Website.. Please Help!

    Duplicate Website.. Please Help!

    Link Building
    13 5 859
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • arlenea2z
      arlenea2z last edited by

      Hi,

      My Client's Website has been duplicated, exactly the same website theme and etc. It's like a mirror site and my client couldn't figure out who duplicated his website. Actually, it has been hit by Penguin update last May and didn't fully recover yet, because of unnatural links but there's a little improvement with its ranking. I have already fix the keyword stuffed from his homepage with a link to it and the footer links. After fixing it about a week, its ranking is moving up a bit from page 14 to page 8 but it's not stable. Sometimes it go back to page 10 then back to 8. But  there still a lot of unnatural links pointing to his website using its targeted keywords to much. I guess the main issue here are the duplicate site and unnatural links pointing to his website.

      By the way, here's the original site of my client www.apparelus.com and here's the duplicate one www.fs-biz.info/

      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Talooma
        Talooma last edited by

        The best way to go about it, is to contact Google and let them know that your site has been duplicated. Google usually chooses the website that has been indexed first but I'm not 100% sure about that. They also take into consideration which website is more active and updates content more often.

        If you are concerned about the links that are coming in, you should try to contact the webmasters of those domains and request link removals or no-follow attributes added to links. If they do not reply or refuse to remove the links, you can use the Disavow Tool. But this should only be done as a last resort.

        Disavow Link Tool: www.google.com/webmasters/tools/disavow-links-main

        arlenea2z 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • MarkScully
          MarkScully last edited by

          Hi there,

          I think is a lot more serious than using the Disavow tool. They have an exact duplicate copy of your website. This is a major concern.

          You need to file a DMCA takedown request.

          It's also worth reading this - http://support.google.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1386831

          You can contact Google - dmca-agent@google.com

          I would suggest you make this a priority.

          Hope this helps,

          Mark

          arlenea2z 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
          • gcdtechnologies
            gcdtechnologies last edited by

            Hi Arlene, I agree with Mark: I would make filing a DMCA takedown request a priority. Good luck.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • arlenea2z
              arlenea2z @MarkScully last edited by

              Hello Mark,

              Actually, when I update the site like uploading some new products an content, the duplicate site will automatically update as well. Well, thank you so much for your suggestion here. I hope this could solve our problem. Thanks a lot!

              Arlene

              MarkScully Talooma arlenea2z 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • arlenea2z
                arlenea2z @Talooma last edited by

                Hi Rod,

                Thanks for you reply. Actaully, I already requested for link deletetion on webmaster tool using the disavow link tool last week. I uploaded those unnatural links through an excel file. When will actually this would take effect? I requested last week, Wednesday.

                Thanks,

                Arlene

                Talooma arlenea2z 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • MarkScully
                  MarkScully @arlenea2z last edited by

                  Hi Arlene,

                  I find this hard to understand though. If you added a product right this minute, would the duplicate site have the same product listed within a matter of minutes?

                  What I've found is that any site that goes to such lengths is typically a competitor wishing to go down the black hat route of trying to have your website penalized. I have witnessed this and it wasn't pleasant. Thankfully we were able to have the duplicate site shut down within 24 hours.

                  I would stress how urgent this is to you. This site needs to be deleted immediately.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Talooma
                    Talooma @arlenea2z last edited by

                    It could take up to a few months. Google need to manually moderate the links. I'm sure there are plenty people who are doing the same thing.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Talooma
                      Talooma @arlenea2z last edited by

                      If the new products are going live, on the duplicate site, as soon as you upload them, then you might have someone who has access your product database or has hacked into it. I cannot see any other reason as to how this is happening.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • edwardrj
                        edwardrj last edited by

                        The perp hasn't downloaded and copied your site. He/she is using domain masking to point the URL to your site. Still, I would consider doing something about it a high priority.

                        arlenea2z 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • arlenea2z
                          arlenea2z @arlenea2z last edited by

                          Hello Mark,

                          Yes, all the products that we have been uploaded will automatically duplicated from the original site. That is also my suspicion because the site rank on top of Google before the Penguin update has been released. I actually requested a disavow request already from Google webmaster tool last week.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • arlenea2z
                            arlenea2z @edwardrj last edited by

                            Hello Cardigan,

                            So, how do actually solve this issue if this is the case? I think you got a point!

                            Thanks,

                            Arlene

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • arlenea2z
                              arlenea2z @arlenea2z last edited by

                              I see.. That's what I told to my client that it would take a few months for his website to get fully recovered. But, he's really pressuring me that he wants to get on top of Google back ASAP because his website has a high authority score. I explained to him that it's not that easy to get fully recovered if you hit so badly by Penguin update. He's not thinking that I was just started for almost 3 weeks yet also.

                              Thanks

                              Arlene

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • 1 / 1
                              • First post
                                Last post
                              • Would a link from an unrelated website, that is popular, help me ?
                                Roman-Delcarmen
                                Roman-Delcarmen
                                0
                                3
                                78

                              • Duplicate contents with competitors websites
                                Kurt_Steinbrueck
                                Kurt_Steinbrueck
                                0
                                3
                                208

                              • Does it help to have more than one backlink from the same website?
                                MoosaHemani
                                MoosaHemani
                                0
                                5
                                488

                              • Help I have spam backlinks on my site and I am trying to remove them. Can someone please help me.
                                Dr-Pete
                                Dr-Pete
                                0
                                17
                                1.5k

                              • Ranking going down slowly please help
                                CandymanKen
                                CandymanKen
                                0
                                2
                                242

                              • Backlinks from websites with duplicate content
                                firstconversion
                                firstconversion
                                0
                                2
                                758

                              • Please help me analyse my competition...
                                Emeka
                                Emeka
                                0
                                3
                                552

                              • Duplicate content when uploading articles on other websites
                                AlanMosley
                                AlanMosley
                                0
                                6
                                1.2k

                              Get started with Moz Pro!

                              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                              Start my free trial
                              Products
                              • Moz Pro
                              • Moz Local
                              • Moz API
                              • Moz Data
                              • STAT
                              • Product Updates
                              Moz Solutions
                              • SMB Solutions
                              • Agency Solutions
                              • Enterprise Solutions
                              • Digital Marketers
                              Free SEO Tools
                              • Domain Authority Checker
                              • Link Explorer
                              • Keyword Explorer
                              • Competitive Research
                              • Brand Authority Checker
                              • Local Citation Checker
                              • MozBar Extension
                              • MozCast
                              Resources
                              • Blog
                              • SEO Learning Center
                              • Help Hub
                              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                              • How-to Guides
                              • Moz Academy
                              • API Docs
                              About Moz
                              • About
                              • Team
                              • Careers
                              • Contact
                              Why Moz
                              • Case Studies
                              • Testimonials
                              Get Involved
                              • Become an Affiliate
                              • MozCon
                              • Webinars
                              • Practical Marketer Series
                              • MozPod
                              Connect with us

                              Contact the Help team

                              Join our newsletter
                              Moz logo
                              © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                              • Accessibility
                              • Terms of Use
                              • Privacy