The duplicate content debate is becoming clearer…
Did you know that Google is hosting SEO “office hours” on You Tube each week? Aptly named Google Search Office Hours.
And, yes, it is exactly as exciting as it sounds… (insert big yawn)
Seriously though, it is a good resource if you are trying to improve where your senior living community appears on the search engine results page (SERP).
Since the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing most interactions between senior living teams and families online, it’s more important than ever that you rank well.
Last week’s Google Office Hours conversation was one we talk about a lot when it comes to senior living companies that own multiple communities and offer more than one type of care.
That topic is duplicate content. And what Google really considers duplicate content to be.
What is Duplicate Content?
In a nutshell, Google considers duplicate content to be content that is found in more than one place on the internet. If each of those places has a unique URL, it’s duplicate content.
We see it often when companies have multiple communities, each offering the same services and amenities. The company has the same content used over and over for each community.
Not only does that make for a tedious visitor experience, it does nothing for your SEO.
Does Google penalize you for duplicate content?
This is where things get tricky. So we were happy to hear the team at Google address what happens when they identify duplicate content:
It’s not the case that we would say: “oh this website has some duplicate content, we will not show it at all in Google.”
Rather we will say: “There are two versions here. We will pick one of these to show and we will just not show the other one.”
So that’s something where even when we do recognize duplicate content it’s not the end of the world. It’s really just a matter of us saying we don’t want to show the same thing multiple times to users in the search results. So we will pick one and we will show that one.”
So while Google says it’s not the “end of the world,” having only one of your community pages show up in Google search engine results, really is a big deal. You want each and every one of your communities to be visible when families search, right?
How Much Is Too Much?
Another question we are frequently asked is how much of the content on a page needs to be original.
Obviously the best answer is 100%. Everything you have on your site should be original content that is unique to you.
When pushed, some of the most trusted SEO experts will say 75% is the minimum.
As a team of writers and editors, we can say with confidence that it’s much more difficult to edit copy to be 75% original than to just start over.
Ugh, right? Not what you wanted to hear. But #FactsMatter
Same Content on Different Formats/Platforms
As senior living providers are spreading their wings online, we’re seeing companies using all different types of formats. Posting their content in different types of places. That’s a good thing.
One question we’re asked is whether Google considers that duplicate content?
A big question has been if you create videos that help families self-educate, like many of you are doing, and then you post the copy written for that video to your blog…is that considered duplicate?
Fortunately, that’s another question Google answered in the last Office Hours. And this time it’s good news!
In this situation, Google would consider it to be different pieces of content. Not duplicate at all.
If you’ve got some time to kill or insomnia is keeping you up at night, here’s the video to watch this episode of Office Hours in it’s entirety.
Drop us a note if you need help creating or editing senior living content.
It’s the only thing we do…
Until next time,