Duplicate Content Question

[AmyLB]

My understanding of duplicate content is that if two pages are identical, Google selects one for it's results...

I have a client that is literally sharing content real-time with a partner...the page content is identical for both sites, and if you update one page, teh otehr is updated automatically. Obviously this is a clear cut case for canonical link tags, but I'm cuious about something:

Both sites seem to show up in search results but for different keywords...I would think one domain would simply win out over the other, but Google seems to show both sites in results. Any idea why? Also, could this duplicate content issue be hurting visibility for both sites? In other words, can I expect a boost in rankings with the canonical tags in place? Or will rankings remain the same?

[NakulGoyal]

I have seen that happen sometimes. There could be multiple reasons. Here are the questions I would suggest you look into to get a better read on the reasoning behind it:

1. Is there any other content on the 2 websites that is independent and not duplicated between the 2 sites ?
2. Are the 2 sites interlinking to each other ? (I am guessing not.)
3. Are the 2 sites on the same IP ? (I am guessing not.)
4. Are both the domains/sites pretty established, authority, with tons of unique backlinks from industry sites ?

I am sure answers to the above questions would lead you to a better read on the original question. If not, let me know what the answers are and if you'd like to share the URLs, I would love to look at them.

[Mark_Ginsberg]

When you say both sites show up in results, but for different queries, are you referring to the actual duplicate content pages/articles, or the homepage and other target pages. These pages/sites may be ranking for these different terms due to strength of the site/page and backlink profiles.

In terms of canonical tags, if one site is going to be doing a cross domain canonical to the other site, I don't see how this could help the site that is doing the cross domain canonical. The site receiving the canonical tag and being credited as the source of the original content, I could see this helping them and helping the page of content to rank higher, but I don't see why this would help the site linking out with the cross domain canonical.

My suggestion - the site producing the content should get the credit, cross domain canonicals should be used to associate the credit for the content with the site producing the content, and you should also include a piece of text in the content piece that says this originally appeared on xyz website, or something along those lines. I'd provide as many signals to the engines as possible as to where to attribute this content.

[Audiohype]

Mark's right, you need to be providing signals to the search engines as to which one is the original. Quite often if most of the metrics are similar, the first article that Google crawls is given the weighting of the original. Linking back from the duplicate will help. I would also suggest leaving a delay before syndicating the content to allow Google to find the original.

With regards to both pages ranking that is slightly odd - is this on a very specific / long tail search? For example have you searched for the whole article title or something like that?

[AmyLB]

Thanks very much.

Yes, most of the content on the two sites is unique

The sites do interlink but not on these pages

Not on same IP

Yes, both sites have good authority

Here is the site originating the content:

site that originates content

site that copies the content

[AmyLB]

Thanks for your reply. The target pages show up.

I recognize that the canonical tag will basically give all teh exposure to the target page. I'm just wondering if the target page will see an improvement in rankings.

[AmyLB]

yeah, it's strange...if you look at my reply to the first response, you will see the urls.

the page that copies content shows up #1 for "stem cell transplant boston" while the original page shows up for "stem cell transplant" (page 3) and other searches.