Guest blogging & duplicate content

[gfiedel]

This feels like a question I should know the answer to and I'm a tad embarrassed to ask, but the part of my brain that gets tripped up by somewhat simple things sometimes, is begging to ask just to confirm my understanding. I want to make sure I have it right it prior to giving advice.

When one guest blogs I assume that it is critical to create content that is original and unique to that one instance of the guest blog. That means, do not also put that post on your own blog and do not submit it to any other blogs for inclusion. This is both for duplicate content issues and also to respect and not put in jeopardy for duplicated content, the blog owner you are guesting for. Is this correct?

Are there any scenarios in which there might be a deviation of this "rule"? Like some use of canonicals or anything else?

[TomRayner]

Hi Gina

You're pretty much spot on in your answer.  It's more syndicated content rather than duplicate if its put across multiple domains - but syndicated content would be heavily devalued by Google as well (to the point that it would pass little to no value on the additional sites it appears - which I believe is the Google argument behind press release services like PRWeb etc.)

But you're secondary point is more poignant with me, as it is more of a courtesy to your blogger connections not to replicate the content across other domains.  Similarly, you're missing out on the chance of writing specifically for that audience, which would increase the engagement and through traffic to your site as a result.  You should definitely take advantage of that.

A slight deviation is that I'll include a short snippet of the post when sharing it on social media. It's nice to give a quick flavour and an eye catching quote to use when sharing and I'm sure the webmaster would appreciate both the social signal and potential increase in traffic.

In summary, I wouldn't go so far as to say you could be outright penalised for doing this (although definitely wouldn't rule it out), but I would say that your syndicated content will have little to no SEO value, while it potentially irk your blogging connections.

Hope this helps!

[WhoWuddaThunk]

I agree with Tom on this point.  I'd create a short snippet, and just link back to the original article.  That way the traffic still flows through you, in case you have Ads on your site.

The only exemption to this for me would be if the content would be so amazing for my community of followers.  In that case I might accept the content, and just no-indexing it.  That way people in your RSS feeds can get it, and not have to jump over to another site, but you won't run into issues with Google.

[SEOAndy]

Tom's point is spot on.

Syndication is a great traffic driver, no doubt - but it also means that the content usually worth a little less. Also implementing the canonical tag can be away around this but it will mean that the "copy" of the content will never get a chance to rank, though it will still drive some traffic.

The answer is always original content across the board - if you must repost on your own website use the canonical to point to the other site - show the love.

off topic: i was once asked "if i add a picture of a cute cat to any post would it become unique content?" ... answers on a post card to "sill questions here"

[WhoWuddaThunk]

Depends on how cute the cat is.

[LeahHutcheon]

I've been confused about seemingly simple things too and the more you think on them, the more confused you get - it's a horrid cycle sometimes.

What I've been wondering about is Stumble Upon etc. If one does put up content here, and other reputable places, does this become duplicate with what's on the original site? It seems like it would to me, but I'm not certain.

[PIXUS]

Hi Philip

Stumbleupon is a content syndicator not a content hoster so it has no issues with duplicate content (much like Reddit and the now il-fated Digg).

Cheers

[gfiedel]

Thank you everyone. So glad my un-embarrassed part convinced my embarrassed part to just dive in and ask the question. This was all a lot of help. And because I'm in a bit of that cycle you describe, Philip, I have some second-line questions now.

Tom, I just love that the part in my question that was most poignant to you was the concern I have towards the hosting blogger. Seems to me if the generosity is extended by an invitation or acceptance, it's important to consider whatever consequences there could potentially be created by our actions. That stuck out in your response.

Also Tom, you bring up something else that I've been "confused" about: syndicated content. Here I go again with the potentially embarrassing questions:

• What is the difference between duplicated content vs syndicated content?
• Why is syndicated not considered duplicated?
• And then there's....for instance, the old, now dangerous practice of article submissions which creates duplicated content if that same content or article is on your website. How is that not considered syndicated? Does it simply rely on the basic intent of the site you are submitting the article to?

One more: please tell me if I'm getting this correctly and which would be best. If one were to guest blog and believe the content would be especially relevant to their own followers it's OK to post the same post on their own blog but best to noindex OR rel=cononical it passing up potential juice for yourself, but still getting to offer up the content.

Using snippets makes sense. I've been doing those across the board for my own blog and have occasionally wondered if any of that could be considered duplicate content if I use a quote from the blog post or if I repeat the same snippet...does any of that matter?

Once again, Thank You. I love getting help and really appreciate it.

[gfiedel]

My cat's cuter than your cat. (or he used to be before he died)