Including FAQ as Invividual Blog Posts Without Duplicate Issues
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My website's FAQ section has a lot of detailed answers, of which I want to upload most on an individual basis to my blog. Example: I may have 30 FAQ and I want to upload 28 of these FAQ as individual blog posts, as it could be good additional search traffic.
Question: how do I deal with duplicate content issues? Do I Include canonical? The FAQ are all on the same URL - not separate URL's - which means each blog post would only represent a small % of the entire FAQ section, though each blog would be a 100% copy of an FAQ.
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I would make your FAQ section contains links that go to your website's answers.
the best way to deal with duplicate content would be to put a no index no follow tag in the header of the blog posts you are making. This would not help you gain extra search traffic however it would allow you to put it in the format you would like that creating a duplicate content issue for you.
However
I would then add a part to the website where it allows the user to return to the original answers post blog tend to do post they were on.
It seems that if you were to duplicate your content in your blog you would just be hurting yourself. However it is your content.
Long blog posts with a simple table of contents that will take you to the frequently asked question. Would be ideal.
If you already have done a long blog on this exact information and you want to break it up into separate parts than do that. If not definitely use a canonical tag on your posts in order to tell Google where it came from. However it does not seem like it would be the best idea if was not a thorough and very long answer.
If your answers are under 500 words I would keep them in the same post.
Simply create a table of contents in your new setup however you're going to build these additional FAQs and by using a table of contents you can direct the visitor to your answer correctly.
If it represents such a small part of what you're doing and your idea is to create a blog post per an answer I would stick to one of the 2 formats. Remember the length of content does matter.
Honestly it's best to put your time and energy into creating fresh content or putting this content in the easiest to find manner for the end-user. Think of it this way would you as a person searching the web for this information want it in the format it's in now or would you like it duplicated and made into separate blog posts?
that's what Google is going to care about therefore that's what you should care about.
Do not do this with the idea of I will just go grab some traffic do it to make your site a better website overall.
Having not seen the site I don't know what to tell you would be the most user-friendly but trust me on this you want it to be for the people not for the search engines. Google understands this stuff well enough that time on site, pogo sticking, click through rate etc. will determine your rank and traffic just make the best site you can.
If it's because you're trying to help people access the data it more easily do it if not don't do it.
Sincerely,
Thomas
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thx, Thomas. I appreciate the details. I have a real estate website and the FAQ is mainly answering questions like "What is difference between fee simple and leashold", "What is a 1031 exchange etc". I can see some users on my blog interested in that and not necessarily looking at my FAQ for that. I plan to create a category on my blog "Learn Real Estate". I think it would make sense to "no index, no follow" the FAQ page and 1 by 1 copy paste the answers to individual blog posts. With the "no index no follow" on FAQ I am good to go, correct?
I would appreciate if you could let me know if I missed anything.
FYI, this is my FAQ: http://www.honoluluhi5.com/faq/ and this is my blog: http://blog.honoluluhi5.com
I feel the FAQ's each deserve a blog post in its own category as the FAQ will keep growing (just launched site 2 months ago).
thx
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what I would do in this case is take your blog and not use a subdomain but use this setup.
Becomes http://www.honoluluhi5.com/blog/
that way you're not look that as 2 separate websites by Google.
Using a subdomain does not give you all the benefits of your wonderful website that you have created. So when I link to your subdomain www. the site is given the link juice and site structure is going to benefit you dramatically.
If you want to know more about how to set up the blog without creating duplicate content
you will be interlinking between your blog subdomain and your www.subdomain so I understand why you asked which one it should be on because it's like you built to websites.
I would strongly consider making the site into a single subdomain main site.
You have a beautiful website however I will have to tell you that using a subdomain is not search engine friendly using a subdirectory
as spoken about here
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/how-to-install-wordpress-in-subdirectory
http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/basics-of-search-engine-friendly-design-and-development
&
http://moz.com/blog/duplicate-content-in-a-post-panda-world
if you have any questions about integrating WordPress into the site using a subdirectory etc. the subdomain so /blog verse http://blog. always choose subdirectory in less there is a very good reason.
I like your site quite a bit did you talk to your developer about search engine optimization when they were building it?
Sincerely,
Thomas
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thx, Thomas. Appreciate the insight. Let me ask: I should move the blog to /blog sub-folder. I should include a 301 redirect or, since the blog is very new and no links to any of the posts yet, how about I re-post each blog to the sub-folder and entirely delete the sub-domain?
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just another tip you can name your categories or not use them at all. It seems like you may want to use them in this case.
When insider blog you have it set up so the URL reads "category" you could use that URL to actually describe the category therefore making it necessary to have a category. For instance
http://blog.honoluluhi5.com/category/honolulu-real-estate/
becomes http://blog.honoluluhi5.com/real-estate/honolulu/ you do not have to change the anchor text or ending like I did I just was showing you that option. Because underneath that category real estate you could list everything that has to do with real estate in your blog a simple way to get rid of the category in this 2nd link would be to keep the name from above as the category instead of the word " category"
http://blog.honoluluhi5.com/category/good-to-know-non-real-estate/
if you can use a flat site structure
if you look at perm link structure in this URL it will describe what I'm talking about
http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/10-steps-to-creating-a-wordpress-blog
https://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/why-you-should-map-out-your-sites-information-architecture/
https://www.distilled.net/blog/seo/site-navigation-for-seo/
I hope this makes sense because you can tell even the best sites use a subcategory and in place of a subdomain for a blog
https://www.distilled.net/blog
needs to become
http://www.honoluluhi5.com/blog/
sincerely,
Thomas
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got you. So URL wise with my categories maybe something like
/blog/real-estate
/blog/non-real-estateCleaner and shorter.
As per my previous comment, delete Blog subdomain, re-upload all blog posts to sub-folder and make sure I have better structured URL as part of it. In this way I avoid 301 redirects to each blog posts. Would that make sense or how do you see it?
Site is 2months and 10 days old…..
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how old is the website?
I would create the site so that blog information is 301 redirected to the new subfolder.
If the site has been crawled by Google you will want to be 01 redirect everything exactly where it came from. Then you will want to get rid of the blog subdomain anyway because once it's crawled by Google the links and structure will already be understood. If there are literally no links at all to blog I would say it is very safe to start fresh. And move the content to the subfolder. I would use open site Explorer to make sure you don't have any back links that might matter Pointing to the blog.
it will never hurt you to 301 redirect from the subdomain to your new spot if there are any domains linking to your old blog then you will want to keep the link juice either by asking the person to please link to your new spot if you know them or you can read this post that I think is fairly valuable.
http://moz.com/community/q/how-to-keep-old-url-juice-during-site-switch
I am very happy to hear you're just starting out because now you can start out the right way. You should also consider installing a SEO plug-in for WordPress like Yoast WordPress SEO on you blog when its moved
https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/
Slincerely,
Thomas
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thx, Thomas. So what you are saying is: if I see the blog in its current format has NO back links (2 months old) I can quickly copy paste all the posts to the sub-folder and after 1 week when Google has indexed all those pages then delete the sub-domain and I avoid having to get my web guys to do 301 redirects. All I have to ask them to do is set up new custom URL's that are cleaner.
Please confirm I got your point correctly.
Thx: I heard of Yoast. Why do I really need that? I sometimes wonder how important those advanced tools are as Google seems to be getting better and better at identifying quality content…...
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from what I can see looking at your back links or lack of back links it most likely will not hurt you if you do not 301 redirect. I would normally tell you to 301 redirect but because of the circumstances of having to call in extra people and there being no added value in 301 redirecting something that Google does not Have any Moz or page rank plus that Google does not equated with the current site now you would not be losing anything.
Yoast Has a spectacular free plug-in. That makes it much easier for you to post your site title ( one of the most powerful things in search) your descriptions which do not count in the search engines but do matter to individuals reading them. Along with just having one simple plug-in giving you authorship, the ability to index or no index anything you want the touch of a button and many more valuable features for somebody running WordPress it is a very wise decision in my opinion to use it.
You are correct Google is excellent at finding quality however with Yoast you can make it so people can more easily find your site/blog, and the golden rule is if people our happy Google is happy. It's a free plug-in I would put it in right away when you move the blog to the subfolder. it really does a lot and will not slow you down.
The ability to show authorship, the ability to have the right settings automatically in place most of the time like canonical really cuts down on your FTP time.
If your site is shared on Facebook or twitter Open graph gives you the ability to show a quick summary of the shared link along with a photograph. Twitter Cards let you do the same on twitter without Yoast you will need other plug-ins to do this work this doesn't all free.
Sincerely,
Thomas
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thx, Thomas. Appreciated. After I have all posts uploaded to the new blog sub-folder and they are indeed indexed by Google, then I will delete the blog sub-domain. That is the order I had in mind. Hope that makes sense.
OK, all clear on Yoast. I will get it installed.
Great reponses. Wish I could give you extra thumbs up!
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Thank you that is very kind of you. When you change the site make sure you submit it to Google webmaster tools and that both the www. & non-www are entered into Google Webmaster tools. Then select your preferred site in this case www
after which you can submit the xml site map along with asking Google to index your website using this link
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1352276?hl=en
You're very kind. I really appreciate that.
I really enjoyed speaking with you and I hope that this is helped.
I'm happy that you're off to the right start. Remember you're always welcome to contact me if you get stuck on anything my information is in my profile.
Sincerely,
Thomas
PS you can thumbs up any response you wish. for instance every time someone replies you can have the option of getting a thumbs up or a thumbs down were non at all. Please don't think I'm asking you to do that just telling you what you were able to do.
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oh, and back to confirm my initial question: after this blog "move" I can no "index no follow" the entire FAQ section and instead let each FAQ be indexed on my blog. Idea is to include a video with each FAQ and then a written version below (which is pretty much the an answer from the FAQ section).
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It is a beautiful layout that you have. You would be best not duplicating content however I would be interested to see how search engines view your FAQ is being seen by the search engines because it is collapsible it's possible it's not being seen by me have a look at it with a tool I'll answer you and 2 seconds
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Okay after looking at your http://www.honoluluhi5.com/faq/ you have over 7000 words visible to Google. Simply use the
Text the spider sees
Text seems long enough. - (spiders see 7696 words)
Google can see text on your page and there is likely enough text to help users understand your page.To check out Google sees your site use this tool with the crawl spider it also has many additional excellent tools.
http://www.feedthebot.com/tools/
I would simply use the canonical tag to let Google know that your telling them where it was found originally. However it's not a good practice to continue creating duplicate content on one site.
Here is Google's Matt Cutts on the subject but don't take it too far I think you'll be safe however I would create unique content from now on out
Sincerely,
Thomas
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thx. I think what I will do is keep growing the FAQ and then on the blog create short videos around the FAQ. This solves the issue and offers the insight from a different angle (video).
Interesting: I see Google has indexed my /faq page but when I take a piece from my FAQ like the below it does not show up. Does that mean the page is indexed, but the written content is not?
Example of content from FAQ NOT found when pasting in to Google:
"There is considerable risk not owning the land underneath: Leasehold owners pay a monthly lease rent to the land owner. Per the terms of the lease the lease rent could increase over time and is payable above and beyond the property taxes and any possible association dues or maintenance fees. Per the terms of the Lease there may be restrictions on property usage, alterations and maintenance." -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MswMYk05tk - this video by Matt Cutts seems to indicate one can use sub-domain or sub-directory, either is fine. It comes back to my thinking Google is now so advanced they probably do not care whether a blog is on a sub-domain or sub-folder. That was more something of the past….I could be wrong, but his video indicates it does not matter...
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well I don't know what was there when the site was indexed
for instance I know the actual URL has been indexed by Google
you can use the this inside the Google search box " site:http://www.honoluluhi5.com/faq/ "
in order to find out if your site has been indexed or not. However I'm getting the same info as you according to Google this is what content they show is on your site's FAQ
then click on the site link in the top right you will see an arrow come d show cached
the easy way to tell is if you would remember if the content was there on Jan 31, 2014 08:18:33 GMT
if it was then Google is having trouble reading through all the JavaScript enabled to make the folding occur.
rather not Google can read it I would stick to making that a directory to the blog posts instead of a part of your website that simply is duplicate content that way it will serve as a FAQ and point people to the right answer in the blog just be certain to interlink and allow people to go back to the FAQ when needed.
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thx. Content was uploaded Feb 2nd. I will observe. Probably next time indexing it will be included. the structure of FAQ is similar to some of Google's own pages and I am sure they can read the content…..
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Google treats them as 2 separate sites now the Google sites treats them as 2 separate video you referenced is 2 years old. You can get a penalty on a subdomain and not on another subdomain meaning blog or www
It does not work like that anymore. it is very strange to see subdomain blog because it makes no sense to use one In almost all cases.
Please read this and then I encourage you to ask the question to everyone should I make my blog a subdomain or should I make it a subdirectory?
http://contentlead.com/blog/whats-your-seo-ally-the-subdomain-or-the-subdirectory
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/
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