Duplicate content - big brand players

[play007]

Hi

I understand the concept of duplicate content and its impact, however I do have a couple of doubts that I would like to hear expert comments.

• Product description/content listed in Amazon.com (for instance Canon EOS 600) same content/description can be seen in Amazon.co.uk - how does google see this ?

• same product listed in amazon is found it target , walmart , Bestbuy and other big player with same description - Who gets the penalty ?

• Ipad Air launched yesterday, a detailed description can be found on apple site, and the same description / features / word by word will be found in all legit major online sites - How does google see this ?

My Business example.

Let say I own Samsung camera / other Samsung products. Obviously I do not sell them on my brand site and provide only information on Samsung.com. Products are sold all over the world on retailer websites like bestbuy, target, walmart, amazon.com, amazon.co.uk etc etc.

I only have 1 detailed description per product to provide to all these retailers which they use the same information on their website.(I dont mind them doing so, however is this duplicate content ? )

If the answer is all retailers have to alter my original description, this may not be feasible, coz I have 1000+ products and 100+ retails. Remember I am Samsung. How does google see this, What is my Online strategy,

Appreciate your comments.

[BeanstalkIM]

I used to do a lot of affiliate marketing but it's been a while so take this with a grain of salt though I do work with sites in a similar situation ...

The key here in original source.  If you get picked up as the initial source of the content then you're OK, if you don't then your resellers will outrank you and you'll be paying them for traffic they  earned with your content.  The same can be said if they are significantly stronger than you.

In your shoes I'd write 2 versions of the descriptions, one for you and one or resellers.  Don't let them take yours, let them take the content that meant for resellers.  Then you'll always have original content.  It'll be double the work of course but that's better than writing copy for every site.

To be fair - you may want to mention that they should consider writing their own copy but if they don't want to they can take the copy you're offering to give away.

[play007]

Thank you for your response,

I can see where you coming from, however can you think me of a major player for instance samsung.

Samsung do not sell on their website, they load the content and description about the product and if you want to buy you will have to click on their recommended retailers. The same content will be given to amazon, bestbuy etc. I do not mind if they outrank me, infact I think they should outrank me so that the sale is made there.

To be more specific

• Product description/content listed in Amazon.com (for instance Canon EOS 600) same content/description can be seen in Amazon.co.uk - how does google see this ?

• same product listed in amazon is found it target , walmart , Bestbuy and other big player with same description - Who gets the penalty ?

Thanks

[BeanstalkIM]

In a case like this (with major brand sites as those listed) you won't be dealing with a penalty insomuch as you'll be dealing with a case of content being ignored.  For example, if a local shop has the same content as Amazon, Amazon will generally win.

I can't possibly answer the question better than Matt Cutts himself so he is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgbOibxkEQw#t=77 You'll notice that the focus of what he's saying is on unique content and giving Google a reason to rank you.  This is a case like that noted in my comments about strong outranking weak; if a site is up against a strong site - Google is going to rank the one they believe is the most trustable and that will be the biggest brand (generally).

Now, I cannot for the life of me find it but I know that recently Google has comment elsewhere that they may look to user intent.  If a user or their query indicates a preference to online buying then they would rank Amazon and if they tend to imply a local purchase then a local site would rank with exactly the same content.  I know that's from recent comments from Google but I cannot remember where I saw that.  Sorry - not a great source.

Either way however, the stronger site will win if the content is all up at the same time and the stronger site may even beat original source if Google decides it's more reliable or fits a searchers intent better.

[play007]

That is a good Answer. Helps !

Can you please define stronger sites, do you mean strong by authority ?

I am Samsung, my major retailers are amazon and best buy. If user searching for "samsung galaxy s4"  I dont mind amazon or bestbuy being on top and myself #3, sale will happen with amazon or bestbuy on top and if user get in to samsung site(original content source) that will just create brand engagement as no buying withing samsung .

[BeanstalkIM]

While the exact definition of "stronger" generally falls on pure authority and strength, it is skewing more to perceived user intent.  What I mean by this is that if Google infers that the user is looking to purchase a product they would be more prone to rank Amazon however if they believe the user is simply looking for product information they would rank the Samsung site.

I a lot of generic queries it's difficult for Google to determine, at least early in the search cycle where they may not have a pre-defined idea of what you're trying to do.  In that case they would have to lean on pure strength.  That said, as they're getting better and better at personalization of results, one could conclude (and I personally do) that if they see you searching phone models and generally clicking on online stores, that they would then infer that even on the next model-specific generic search, that you'd prefer a shopping experience delivered over the Samsung site and it's product based information.