Duplicate content across a number of websites.

[fraserhannah]

We have a client who has approximately 25 retail sites (mini department stores) selling in general the same merchandise ranges - some stores carry all the ranges (brands) while others have fewer due to space restrictions. Each destination is different has its own branding and unique selling point which needs to be reflected.

The client wants us to build individual websites for each location as they want to promote each location individually. I know that the search engines don't penalise duplicate content, but the core of each website is going to be essentially the same. My concern is there is no way you could write 25 different pages about the same Colony Candle range!

Any ideas suggestions would be much appreciated - a one site option would not work as the client wants individual website and due to the different branding, USP and the fact they want to market them individually I would agree with them.

Thanks

Fraser

[LoganRay]

Hi,

You've got a really big mess on your hands, IMO. Search engines absolutely _do _penalize duplicate content, and it sounds like you have a ton of it on the existing sites, with plans to create even more.

What types of locations are the 25 different sites going to be targeting? All within the same country, or one for each of 25 different countries? The answer to this question will drive any further recommendations.

[donford]

Hi Fraser,

The solution is to use a single website with local options. Yes! I know it is exactly what you said the client doesn't want, but then again, the client came to you for your expertise....

Build a national website with localization focus for each product offered. A company with 25+ locations "SHOULD" be ranking nationally for every product!!!!!!!

As for the localization part, if its a franchise or whatever then let the "main" website feed the locals, who should be on their own ranking.

I'd be happy to expand on my thoughts with more details,

Don

[fraserhannah]

Hi Both,

Perhaps its easier to think of these as destination outlets stores, each with its unique selling point. An example,  one is in a historic cotton mill with a rich history and museum attached, while another is in a redeveloped industrial park with attached soft play area and go-cart track, another has a wildlife park attached.

The client is not looking to sell directly through the site just to promote each location, but they need the locations to stand on their own, which is why the want individual sites.

They are spread out across the UK.

Hope that helps.

Fraser

[MikeRoberts]

The problem, as stated by Logan and Don, is that if each of the 25 different locations are too similar then none of those are going to do well in the SERPs. You need to determine how much of each site is going to be too similar and/or duplicate content and consolidate that. One way to do that, as stated by Don, is a single site with local options.

Some achieve this by using geolocation or entering in postal codes &  either choosing their local store or having site parameters alter product availability. The content is then restricted by the offerings at the visitor's local store instead of showing all available options from the overarching corporation. So the product pages still exist and are crawlable but some color options may be grayed out where they aren't available or "Out of Stock" warnings will appear where applicable.

One other option i've seen is using differing subdomains to offer up the same basic idea as geolocation/postal code but could help with local organic search. e.g. NewYork.Webstore.xyz vs. London.Webstore.xyz This would allow each location to essentially have its own mini-site that is on the company's main site (like a halfway point between one big single site and 25 duplicate content sites). Now with the single site altered by location data, you only need one version of a product page but you would need to write up some great localized landing pages for each individual store. For the subdomain idea, you'll want to canonicalize all the duplicates to a main version... so the page for NewYork.Webstore.xyz/ProductA/ and London.Webstore.xyz/ProductA/ would have rel="canonical" pointing at your main site's page Webstore.xyz/ProductA/ so authority is passed to the root domain and you don't get penalized for duplicate content.

[CPR_PTANTONO]

I totally agree with Logan Ray, Donford and Mike Roberts. It sounds like the content will slightly differ from location to location. If this is the case then I agree with the "rel=canonical" method and with the sub domain method to point to main site's root domain. For SEO Link Juice, I think you probably want to focus little more on the content uniqueness of each individual location "mini-site" and power it from other sites such as Yelp or Google Local. These sites are localized so though it's probably a  "nofollow" link (meaning: no link juice), it does draw visitors to click on the link for your local site. I guess this also ties into how do you want to do your Local SEO and how do you plan on tackling the social media information dissemination.

If your client is in fact have full understanding of their business use case as in different branding for each site, then unique content development will also play a key role. At this point, you probably want to focus little more on Page Authority and increase the link equity that goes into this particular page. For the product pages or categories, you probably just want to have a "follow" just on the root domain categories not on your sub domains. In this way, google only crawl/re-crawl and eventually index the products from your root domain while recognizing the other sub domains as location.