Ok, this is going to be a short but very powerful. So read very careful.
Here is a question that pops up occasionally, “Can you get penalize for having duplicate content?”
I’m not sure if someone told you that Google will penalize you if you have duplicate content if you are a blogger or webmaster.
Guess what?
I rolled up my sleeves and started searching to prove it to you that…You Don’t Get Penalize!
Not only would you not get penalize for it. There is no such thing as duplicate content penalty. So don’t worry, you are not going to Google jail or serve some kind of Time Out.
Check this out…
I went straight to the source and was even able to pull it from the man himself. Drum roll please…
From Google, “Let’s put this to bed once and for all, folks: There’s no such thing as a “duplicate content penalty.” At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that.”
Still don’t believe me…
Here it is, check it out for yourself from The Official Google Webmaster Central Blog, “Demystifying the “duplicate content penalty”
So, there it is my friends…no Google duplicate content penalty.
Now, if you have more than one article that has the same content. Whichever article Google sees first, it is going to give it ranking.
Google does not want to see 10 articles on page 1 with the same content from different sites. That is why it makes senses to change up content within articles if you are looking at ranking for more than one article for a specific keyword. 
Remember the goal of article marketing is not to get all of the same articles on the same page of Google. The main purpose is to steer traffic from the articles and receive back links to your blog or site within the resource box or signature box.
I’m sure this question will pop up again. In the meantime, go have an awesome weekend!
To Your Success,
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How many times have you heard about the Google Duplicate Content Penalty?
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Hi Josh,
I am pleased you have dealt with this topic. The amount of time people spend fretting over whether they will be penalized for duplicate content is crazy.
When someone first warned me about this I decided to publish duplicate content purposefully to see what would happen. As you point out – absolutely nothing!
I have never worried about it again but as you say there is not much point in publishing duplicate content for ranking purposes anyway.
The only thing I would suggest is that people think carefully about where they do publish work first in order to focus on building up authority in one place first.
Great post! Have an awesome weekend.
~Marcus
Hi Marcus,
That is great you put it into action and tested it yourself. I had to dig into this topic.
Hi Josh, thanks for sharing. Now i know we don’t get penalize but it is not advisable to duplicate content as you will get caught by your readers sooner or later. Your creditability will surely be affected unless you cited the source and give credit.
Have a nice weekend too
Lye
Hi Lye Kuek,
What we mean by duplicate content is using your own work and posting it on different article directories. I’m not referencing using other people’s article and posting those article on directories. That defeats the purpose of ‘You, inc.’
Regarding duplication of content, one of the biggest worry was concerning multiple links to the same content, specifically on CMS (e.g. WordPress), where tags, archives and categories on various pages would point back to the same content, but not necessarily on the same web page as far as the URL would indicate.
For example, on my personal blog, you could reach the same content via these links:
http://andreleger.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-your-website-over-promoting.html or
http://andreleger.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html
On the safe side, you should use a nofollow on tags, categories and archive links, or use the robots.txt file to make sure search engines see what you are doing. Also, it is always preferable to provide search engine with a sitemap.xml that points to the optimal links. Site maps are specified in the robots.txt file and can also be submitted via your webmaster tools account.
Once again, great post!
.-= Andre Leger´s last blog ..Utilisabilité 101 ou l’Art du web convivial =-.
Hi Andre,
Great point you bring up!
It’s about time somebody shed some light on this topic, Josh.
I hear it all the time from different directions and each time it makes me cringe. Why are people so afraid to do some research on the matter before blindly believing what they hear “through the grapevine”.
I am glad that Andre made the point above – that’s the REAL issue with duplicated content. Making sure that your post can be reached through as few URLs as possible will definitely be of great help.
Here’s another way your blog can “appear” to have duplicated content: through title tags.
I’ve noticed many bloggers tend to add their blog name at the end of their title tag for each post. So their title tags look like this:
My Post Name | My Blog Name
What happens here is you lead Google to believe that all your posts have similar content in them because they all have your blog name in them, which Google considers keywords. It’s particularly bad when your post name is short and your blog name makes up the majority of the title.
Hope this nugget helps.
Ana Hoffman
.-= Ana | Traffic Generation Cafe´s last blog ..Traffic Generation Cafe on Laughing Matters =-.
This helps a lot! Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Mavis
.-= Mavis Nong´s last blog ..How To Build Your Network Marketing Business On AutoPilot =-.
Hi Ana,
I was tired of hearing about on my end. So I decided to do a little research on it. Glad that I did!
Hey Josh
Thanks for the timely post.
What does this mean – > “At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that”
I think it means that if you have duplicate content all over the web you do not control which one will end up on indexed on page 1, and that may be a problem or not. So if the wrong page gets indexed some may feel that is a penalty.
As for WordPress and duplicate content, if you are using something like All in ONE SEO just make sure that Canonical URLs is checked. Using Canonical URLs tells the search engines that the content is duplicate and the url of the original source.
.-= Peter Fuller MBA´s last blog ..Attention this book will make you MONEY =-.
Hi Peter,
If the content originated from your blog. Google is pretty smart in knowing that.
Hi Josh,
thanks for shedding some light on a mysterious subject. Your post help will help me- including with André’s and Ana’s comments to put up my future article submission strategy.
Take care
Oliver
.-= Oliver Tausend´s last blog ..The Anatomy Of Quitting – Would You Like To Change Places With Another Person =-.
Hi Oliver,
Go post some article.
Hi Josh,
Thanks for laying this question to rest.
I spent my early days as an online entrepreneur worrying about the Dupe Content deal, only to later find out that I was being Duped by misinformed people.
Enjoy your weekend!
Ryan Biddulph
Hi Ryan,
That is funny…Being duped by people. Have a great one, buddy!
Hey Josh,
Thank you for shedding some light on this subject. We now have direction.
Thank you once again.
Have a great weekend too!
All the best,
Mavis Nong
.-= Mavis Nong´s last blog ..How To Build Your Network Marketing Business On AutoPilot =-.
Hi Mavis,
I’m glad that I was able to distribute this information.
Hi Josh,
I’m please that you have answered this question as if I’m honest I knew nothing about the so-called Google duplicate content penalty. My concern was posting the same content on different sites but as you point out if you are looking for backlink this isn’t a problem. Thanks for you leadership.
Tristram Lodge
.-= Tristram Lodge´s last blog ..5 Tips For Your WordPress Post =-.
Hi Tristram,
Posting articles is a great way to drive traffic to your blog or site. Plus, as a bonus you can create a backlink.
Nice to see that you’ve addressed this topic, Josh.
There’s way too many people out there talking about things that they just don’t have a clue about, trying to sound like they do.
I’d love to be able to put this topic to rest, but I think we’ll always have to come back and revisit it time after time as more people start businesses online and want to develop content.
Keep the good stuff coming!
Mike
.-= Mike Paul´s last blog ..Latest Articles – Network Marketing- Blogging- List Building- and Twitter =-.
Hi Mike,
I agree with you, too many individuals talking about this topic and don’t have a clue.
Josh thanks getting to the heart of the matter. I like Marcus experimented with it just to see what would happen.
I would post the same article with Ezine and then submit as a blog I saw no adverse affects.
The question I kept asking is what is the difference between this and social bookmarking?
If I tick only wire when I submit my post and it blast it out to various sites isn’t this duplicate content??
I guess duplicate content is like cholesterol you have the good kind and the bad.
Steve Shoemaker
Steve Shoemaker (duplicate)
.-= Steve Shoemaker´s last blog ..Ten Twitter Tools I Twuly Love =-.
Hi Steve,
There are many times I submit my post to an article directory and nothing happens. Sometimes, my blog post is showing up before the other article and vice versa.
I’ve heard alot of talk about duplicate content but to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what it was or how it can affect your ranking.
Thanks for doing the research and clarifying the consequences or lack of for us.
As you said I’m sure we will have to revisit this question to see if Google changes anything.
Keep up with the great informative posts and I will keep on coming back as will all the others.
.-= Phil Aguilar´s last blog ..3 Things NOT to Do For a Newbie Network Marketer =-.
Hi Phil,
Yes, this question will come up again. At least you are aware of it.
Hi Josh,
Great job of clearing this up.
I can’t even count the number of times I’ve heard people worry and ask about this. That’s great you laid out the facts today.
Enjoy a wonderful weekend!
Susanna
.-= Susanna Hess´s last blog ..Todd Falcone’s 16 Action Steps For Success =-.
Hi Susanna,
I’m sure this will come up again. Next time, we hear this again, now we can point them to this post.
Hi josh.. it very interesting and great explanation.. My blog also have duplicate content.. i hope Google don’t penalize my blog..
.-= Azuan´s last blog ..Epilog Syurga Cinta Slot Akasia TV3 =-.
Hi Azuan,
They won’t penalize you.
There is no external duplicate content penalty, however google does not like to see the same content on multiple pages within a website, maybe with different title tag or other small modifications.
Hi Andreas,
That is why it is good habit to change things up on an article if you are looking at owning a page on Google with different article directories.
Josh,
Thank you for your post. I had basically “heard” what you said as being the facts. but I had never seen PROOF of it before. I really enjoyed the way you made it crystal clear and left links to prove your case. Now I can lay the small lingering doubts to rest.
Thanks
Steve
.-= Steve Scott Site´s last blog ..What is the Best Post on YOUR Blog =-.
Hi Steve,
It’s hard to focus on something when you have a little doubt lingering around.
I always wondered about that Josh,
Thanks for the information. You got it from the source so I definitely trust your answer. Thanks for searching that out.
Fred Williams
The Simple Video Marketer
.-= Fred Williams´s last blog ..MLM Personal Development Coaching- You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do! =-.
Hi Fred,
Thanks for trusting my answer.
Nice post Josh – it would be pretty hard to actually crack down on duplicate able content what with quotations, jokes, retold stories all tweeted, shared, twisted and aggregated into a million different pages
Probably no harm that there is a bit of paranoia though might limit down right plagiarism
Thanks for sharing
cheers Kiaran
.-= kiaran´s last blog ..The Power of Negative Thinking! =-.
Hi Kiaran,
Yeah, no need to worry. Just keep doing business as usual.
Thanks Josh! That was very helpful. I’ve been wondering about that question. However when you make a Squidoo page, they do get mad at you lol!
~Erin
.-= Erin Smith´s last blog ..Secrets Of Your Prospects Deepest- Darkest Thoughts- How To Know What’s Going On In There =-.
Hi Erin,
They get mad because you created a Squidoo page? Oh Well!
This was one of things I never knew what was the truth.
I remember months back when I heard Ty Tribble share this, and it was a relief hearing what I heard.
But just never can be sure. So, it’s good thing you brought more light to this.
Have a great day buddy,
Jerome Ratliff
.-= Jerome Ratliff´s last blog ..6 Prospecting Habits You Never Want to Have =-.
Hi Jerome,
I thought having a link to the source will close the chapter for now.
Hi Josh, great ‘to the point’ article. I like your style
I’m not always up on the ‘latest’ so had no idea I might have something to worry about… thankfully I don’t. keep ‘em coming. – Anne
Hi Anne,
Nothing to worry about. Just keep ‘em coming…
Thank you Josh…perhaps you should re-brand yourself as “The Internet Myth Buster”! Thanks again for the great research and for sharing with others.
Cheers!
Hi Karen,
I think that title is already taken.
Hi Josh,
I really am glad you rolled up your sleeves and went to work to set our minds at ease. Thank you so much! I have always wondered how much of that was true. Now I know.
While I would never put the same article more than once on my blog, I had been uneasy of sharing it elsewhere (other networks) or article submission sites without making major changes.
Thanks, you’re the man!
Have a great weekend!
Ilka
.-= Ilka Flood´s last blog ..To “DoFollow” or “NoFollow” that is the Question =-.
Hi Ilka,
I sometimes submit the same article that I have within my blog to other directories. The proper way is changing up the article or spinning the article.
I have found this entry useful .this is an informative post .I have just added a track back from my site.
.-= konccepts´s last blog ..Backlinks- What they are and how to get them =-.
Hi Konccepts,
Thanks for visiting and including a trackback to this post.
Thanks, Josh, for the clarification on this topic!
I’ve heard of a duplicate content penalty, but I haven’t been online long enough to really worry about it.
It’s go to know and I’ll not overstress the issue in the future.
Thanks for your leadership!
Heather
.-= Heather C Stephens´s last blog ..The No Traffic Obstacle- A Beginning Bloggers Guide to Get Over It! =-.
Hi Heather,
That is great that you were not worrying about it. Just keep doing the great stuff you are putting together.