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All I can say is 'wow'

I'm quite embarrassed. Thanks for your help nonetheless

The obvious is missed huh? lol.

Cole

Hi all,

We launched a new website for a customer on April 29th. That same day we resubmitted the new sitemap & asked Google to fetch the new website.

Screenshot is attached of this (GWT Indexed).

However, when I look at Google Index (see attachment - Google Index), Automated Production's old website URL's still appear. It's been two weeks.

Is it normal for Google's index to take this long to update?

Thanks for your help.

Cole

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Hi all,

Thanks for the responses & feedback.
Alan, in this example, the fresh content would be relevant. Of course there are search queries that don't need freshness or updates, but I would argue most do need updates / freshness (even the ones we think we know the answer to over time).

Once again, the conversation is not about RANKING for that page but about HELPING the domain achieve "freshness & relevance" around a topic with that duplicate content.

Would love to see others chime in.

Thanks,

Cole

Thanks for your feedback Mike - definitely helpful!

In this hypothetical, we're looking at research or comprehensive articles for specific niches that could serve multiple businesses well as an authority.

Thanks,

Cole

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the feedback. That was one potential point I was making.

Am still curious if duplicate content would be considered "fresh" within a website. Good point of the duplicate content overriding the benefit of fresh content.

Thanks,

Cole

Hi all,

I've been asking quite a bit of questions lately and sincerely appreciate your feedback. My co-workers & I have been discussing content as an avenue outside of SEO. There is a lot of syndicated content programs/plugins out there (in a lot of cases duplicate) - would this be considered fresh content on an individual domain?

An example may clearly show what I'm after:

domain1.com is a lawyer in Seattle.
domain2.com is a lawyer in New York.

Both need content on their website relating to being a lawyer for Google to understand what the domain is about. Fresh content is also a factor within Google's algorithm (source: http://moz.com/blog/google-fresh-factor). Therefore, fresh content is needed on their domain. But what if that content is duplicate, does it still hold the same value?

Question: Is fresh content (adding new / updating existing content) still considered "fresh" even if it's duplicate (across multiple domains).

Purpose: domain1.com may benefit from a resource for his/her local clientale as the same would domain2.com. And both customers would be reading the "duplicate content" for the first time. Therefore, both lawyers will be seen as an authority & improve their website to rank well.

We weren't interested in ranking the individual article and are aware of canonical URLs. We aren't implementing this as a strategy - just as a means to really understand content marketing outside of SEO.

Conclusion: IF duplicate content is still considered fresh content on an individual domain, then couldn't duplicate content (that obviously won't rank) still help SEO across a domain? This may sound controversial & I desire an open-ended discussion with linked sources / case studies. This conversation may tie into another Q&A I posted: http://moz.com/community/q/does-duplicate-content-actually-penalize-a-domain.

TLDR version: Is duplicate content (same article across multiple domains) considered fresh content on an individual domain?

Thanks so much,

Cole

Hi Dirk,

Thanks for your feedback.

In this "scenario," we were focusing on "small business owners" that were dentists. They don't want to rank for that piece of content; they only want the engagement benefit or the consistency benefit. Instead of a small business owner struggling to post content or write original content (and no budget to hire someone), they would use "duplicate content" on their domain.

From your feedback, it appears there would be no penalty. I didn't even think about just copying & pasting duplicate content from competitors.

Good points.

Cole

Hi all,

Some co-workers and myself were in a conversation this afternoon regarding if duplicate content actually causes a penalty on your domain.

Reference:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66359?hl=en

http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-duplicate-content-wont-hurt-you-unless-it-is-spammy-167459

Both sources from Google do not say "duplicate content causes a penalty." However, they do allude to spammy content negatively affecting a website.

Why it came up:

We originally were talking about syndicated content (same content across multiple domains; ex: "5 explanations of bad breath") for the purpose of social media sharing. Imagine if dentists across the nation had access to this piece of content (5 explanations of bad breath) simply for engagement with their audience. They would use this to post on social media & to talk about in the office. But they would not want to rank for that piece of duplicated content. This type of duplicated content would be valuable to dentists in different cities that need engagement with their audience or simply need the content.

This is all hypothetical but serious at the same time. I would love some feedback & sourced information / case studies.

Is duplicated content actually penalized or will that piece of content just not rank? (feel free to reference that example article as a real world example).

**When I say penalized, I mean "the domain is given a negative penalty for showing up in SERPS" - therefore, the website would not rank for "dentists in san francisco, ca". That is my definition of penalty (feel free to correct if you disagree).

Thanks all & look forward to a fun, resourceful conversation on duplicate content for the other purposes outside of SEO.

Cole

Hi Patrick,

We also drive traffic to these pages via Adwords / Bing Ads.

What if we change the content on these pages slightly differently.

Would that be good?

For ex: having local information such as who you've served or how you serve them (via Skype) rather than in person.

Reason why is because we get some traffic from some of these locations.

Thanks,

ETA: you can't do a local listing (Google Business) without a physical address.

I also believe one way we can improve is to have a paragraph in the middle talking about who / how we service that particular location.

We aren't hiding our navigation or other site features as some "doorway pages" do.

Thanks,

Hi Patrick,

Here is an example.

I'd like to take it down fairly quickly if I can get some feedback. I'd rather not have our example / client work available to the public for an extended time.

Thanks,

Cole

Hi all,

I read this article concerning the doorway algorithm update - http://searchengineland.com/google-to-launch-new-doorway-page-penalty-algorithm-216974

This quote is what got my attention:

"How do you know if your web pages are classified as a “doorway page?” Google said asked yourself these questions:

• Is the purpose to optimize for search engines and funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of your site, or are they an integral part of your site’s user experience?
• Are the pages intended to rank on generic terms yet the content presented on the page is very specific?
• Do the pages duplicate useful aggregations of items (locations, products, etc.) that already exist on the site for the purpose of capturing more search traffic?
• Are these pages made solely for drawing affiliate traffic and sending users along without creating unique value in content or functionality?
• Do these pages exist as an “island?” Are they difficult or impossible to navigate to from other parts of your site? Are links to such pages from other pages within the site or network of sites created just for search engines?"

We utilize location based pages for ourselves and a few clients too.

**Example Case: **

-We attempt to rank for "keyword city/state" - "keyword city/state" - "keyword city/state"

The keywords will often be the same such as "AC Repair" or "Physical Therapy" etc. with city / state combination such as "Tulsa, OK" "Seattle, WA" etc.

The goal is to rank locally for those terms (NAP is applicable in some circumstances).

Does the above case classify as a Doorway page? According to that definition, it does. However, this is a business that services that area. Some don't have physical address there but they do service that area (whether it be AC Repair or Website Design). Please advise me as to what a doorway page is exactly & if my practice is in-line.

Thanks,

Cole

Hi,

I believe Alick300 may be misunderstanding what Matt Cutts is communicating. Cutts is communicating different domains in different countries in this circumstance.

Thanks,

Cole

First, ask why they're doing this. If they're attemtping to rank for multiple locations. Change the content enough to be localized.

Second, if it's truly just duplicate content for no real purpose, then 301 redirect the domains to the domain with a higher "domain authority."

Find domain authority at opensiteexplorer.com.

Another thing to do is to double check Google Analytics code on the new website, double check robots.txt on the new website, make sure the new website is being indexed (I'm assuming there are new pages), double check anything and everything.

It is common for new launches to lose traffic for a little bit then come back to a better place. It happened to me on a large media site. The traffic dropped a 30% then recovered for a gain of 15%. Not sure why. But that's what happened.

I hope you find something or hold tight!

Thanks,

Cole

Hi Mozzers,

I have a new client who has some bad links in their profile that are spammy and should be disavowed.

They rank on the first page for some longer tail keywords. However, we're aiming at shorter, well-known keywords where they aren't ranking.

Will the disavow tool, alone, have the ability to increase rankings (assuming on-site / off-site signals are better than competition)?

Thanks,

Cole

Thanks all!

Hey Monica,

I fully understand that.

So let's say I have a Google Forwarding Number (because I'm tracking Call Conversions).

I copy that number and put it on my website (or in a magazine ad). Someone dials that number. It will register as a "click", correct?

At that point, I'm using Adwords as a call tracking service. Please help me with anything I'm missing.

Thanks,

Hi Monica,

I see your point by tacking calls on a keyword level.

But a call = a click correct?

You could set up conversions as well (for call tracking). I'm talking about taking the Google Number they provide you with and adding it to your website (or anywhere for that matter). The calls (or "clicks") would be tracked within call extensions.

I'm curious if anyone has had experience with that.

Thanks,

Hi,

I was taking over a client's Adwords account from a previous agency. It appears the former agency added the Google Forwarding Number (for call tracking on call extensions) and added it to the client's website.

Therefore, if anyone calls that number from the website, it would register within Adwords (just not as a conversion but as a click under "call extensions")

The problem:

• you can't filter by phone number (the same number calling +1 would indicate spam)
• you can filter by device (so tablet / computer) can be considered spam generally.

Questions:

• Anyone ever used this before? Your thoughts?
• Does anyone know if there is spam coming from mobile devices now-a-days?

Please tell me what I'm missing. Any advice / anyone else seen this / done this?

Thanks Moz Community,

Cole