Duplicate Content

[CreativeCow]

I have a client based in the UK and one of their distributors based in the UAE have copied the content for their own website, will this affect my clients rankings because of duplicate content?

[andy.bigbangthemes]

Hey,

Since anybody on the web could basically copy your content and post it on their own site without you knowing, I'm pretty sure that Google knows this and has something built in their algorythm. where there's a "first come first serve" kind of rule. If your content was the first one, it's pretty clear that it will be the one taken into account, since you won't be able to continuously track your content and make sure it's not being copied.

That being said - if you can tell them to change it - you probably should at least try.

Cheers

[donsilvernail]

Hi Dave,

This very well could. However it seems to be a standard practice of distributers, and even wholesalers welcome the practice at times. The over all objective is to provide the best content to the end user as possible. In this case the use of your clients content may drive more sales which is good for both parties but not necessarily good for seo.

Possibly talk to the distributor about using rel=canonical on their content so google knows where it originated.

[CreativeCow]

Hi Andy,

Thanks, I was aware of the first served rule, it was just that the developer in the UAE had said that it didnt count as duplicate because of the different countries, this was new to me.

Many thanks

[CreativeCow]

Hi Donald,

Many thanks for the response, it was just that the developer in the UAE had said that it didnt count as duplicate because of the different countries, this was new to me.