Duplicate content across hundreds of Local sites and they all rank #1

[katandmouse]

Usually when we discuss duplicate content, we're addressing the topic of penalties or non-indexing. In  this case, we're discussing ranking high with duplicate content.

I've seen lots of dental, chiropractor and veterinarian sites built by companies that give them cookie cutter sites with the same copy. And they all rank #1 or #2.

Here are two companies that do that:
http://www.rampsites.com/rampsites/home_standard.asp?sectionid=4
http://mysocialpractice.com/about/

The later uses external blogs to provide inbound links to their clients' site, but not all services do that, in fact, this is the first time I've seen them with external blogs. Usually the blog with duplicate copy is ON SITE and the sites still rank #1.

Query "Why Your Smile Prefers Water Over Soft Drinks" to see duplicate content on external blogs.

Or "Remember the Mad Hatter from the childhood classic, Alice in Wonderland? Back then, the process of making hats involved using mercury compounds. Overexposure could produce symptoms referred to as being" for duplicate content on chiropractor sites that rank high.

I've seen well optimized sites rank under them even though their sites have just as much quality content and it's all original with more engagement and inbound links.

It appears to me that Google is turning a blind eye on duplicate content. Maybe because these are local businesses with local clientele it doesn't care that a chiropractor in NY has the same content as one in CA, just as the visitor doesn't care because the visitor in CA isn't look at a chiropractor's site in NY generally.

So maybe geo-targeting the site has something to do with it. As a test, I should take the same copy and put it on a non-geo-targeted site and see if it will get indexed.

I asked another Local SEO expert if she has run across this, probably the best in my opinion. She has and she finds it difficult to rank above them as well. It's almost as if Google is favoring those sites.

So the question is, should all dentists, chiropractors and veterinarians give it up to these services? I shudder to think that, but, hey it's working and it's a whole lot less work - and maybe expense - for them.

[TakeshiYoung]

It looks like the sites are just taking the content from their site, and putting it onto other blogs to generate backlinks. It's hard to imagine links from all that duplicate content helping much, but apparently it's working well enough for them. What keywords are they ranking for?

To answer your question, though, you absolutely should not give up on these niches. These sites barely have any PR. You should be able to easily outrank them with a decent site and a few authoritative links.