Michael Guta says, “Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) recently suggested more steps toward eliminating duplicate content across the web. And website owners, including small business owners, may want to pay attention considering the search engine has a history of eventually penalizing sites for not taking heed.

Google Noindex Advice

Specifically, websites currently republishing content sourced from original authors are now encouraged to “noindex” that content. This Google noindex advice is something most content creators are unlikely to follow.

In a fight to rank on the top page of Google, specifically the top five search results, websites —  including major news outlets — often republish popular articles. Applying noindex to all of these syndicated articles would solve one of Google’s biggest headaches — duplicate content. But so far, the reward for doing so seems too high.

Overload of Duplicate Content

Currently just about every major news source including: NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, MSNBC, Fox News and others are simply re-posting content without applying noindex. The content generally comes from syndicated news sources like the Associated Press or Reuters”.

Google Says Websites Shouldn’t Mark Republished Content for Index

Small Business Trends

Sharing is caring