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Correcting the Most Common SEO Mistake

Presented by: Kate Morris

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Not a Penalty!

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http://www.zazzle.com/i_love_low_hanging_fruit_hat-148999723577209949

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Client’s Traffic Numbers

Duplicate Content Identified in September

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CAUSES OF DUPLICATE CONTENTMost Common

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/business/economy/fed-holds-rates-and-strategy-steady.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

New York Times Article

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Similar Product Names

• Find a way to distinguish the content

• Merge the pages to a main page• Maybe rel canonical to the main

page

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Geography

– City Names, use state also

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Tag/Category Blog Pages

– Mainly blog issues, noindex these

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(Sub)domain issues

– Use absolute linking

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Homepages

• www, non-www, index on both• Pick one version• 301 server side redirect all others• Ensure that the redirect for www or

non-www works on all pages

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eCommerce/Session IDs

• Rel canonical is your best friend• Reduce the number of parameters• Set Google and Bing to ignore un-

necessary parameters• Make pretty URLs if possible• Examples

– Sofa.com– DepartmentofGoods.com

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Search Pages

• Nofollow links to the results pages• Noindex pages if not necessary• If necessary (think photography

and review sites), make popular searches actual pages, 301 redirect

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Remember

• Duplicate Content is not typically a penalty …

• Crawl Time is Limited• Indexation is at stake

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Track Indexation

• Build good sitemaps using sitemap indices

• Track once a week/month as to how many are submitted/indexed

• Don’t sweat the small stuff

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Thank You!kate.morris@distilled.net