Google showing my content on the serps in a different domain
-
Hi all,
Recently a partner of ours discovered that Google is showing a meta description on the serps for his homepage that is not his but ours. On his site, he sells add-ons for our software, so the name of our software appears many times and as well there are many links pointing to our site.
He claims he hasn´t copied this text from us, and I have used some tools to verify this. I don´t understand how Google can get confused and show our text as the meta desctiption on the serps for his homepage.
Any idea on why this happened?
-
Hey there
So Chris is right, this isn't always the meta description showing, but often snippets of text based upon what the searcher typed. But Google is getting the text from somewhere on the partner's website.
One thing you should do is check Google's text only cache - type cache:www.domain.com/url-name (adding cache: in front will give you Google's cache - and then click "text-only" in the top right. Search for the text in question there. It's possible either the content is "hidden" somehow but crawled, or maybe it used to be there, and it's still in Google's cache even thought the current page is different.
-
A couple of things come to mind Paessier:
Firstly, what shows up in the search results is a "snippet", which is usually composed of the title tag, along with some or all of the description meta tag, and/or some copy from the body of the page. Additionally, the snippet for a page can change based on the search query, so it's pretty difficult for two pages on different domains to share the exact same snippet (but not necessarily impossible). You can easily tell if the two pages you speak of have the exact same meta description by looking at their source code, which it sounds like you may have already done. If the meta descriptions are not the same, the titles are not the same, and the copy on the two pages is not the same, yet the snippet for both pages in the results for the same search query is the same, then I'd say it's a freaky coincidence that Google happened to slice together the same snippet for two different pages with different meta data and different copy.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Getting different search queries in Google Webmaster
Hi All, I have a website Afrofood.com. In it's Google webmaster search queries i have more than 90 Queries, but not a single query is related with this site. All queries are from different site or subject, they have no any relation with my site. Can any one please tell me how to correct this... Site is Afrofood.com related with African foods, recipes, spices and all that. But showing search queries are: [canada goose](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose) [canada goose outlet deutschland](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose outlet deutschland) [polizei shop düsseldorf](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#polizei shop düsseldorf) [canada goose deutschland](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose deutschland) [canada goose weste](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose weste) [canada goose kaufen](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose kaufen) [canada goose hamburg](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose hamburg) [canada goose größentabelle](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose größentabelle)
On-Page Optimization | | 1akal0 -
Pages with near duplicate content
Hi Mozzers, I need your opinion on the following. Imagine that we have a product X (brand Sony for example), so if we sell parts for different models of items of this product X, we then have numerous product pages with model number. Sony camera parts for Sony Camera XYZ parts for Sony Camera XY etc. So the thing is that these pages are very very similar, like 90% duplicate and they do duplicate pages for Panasonic, Canon let's say with small tweaks in content. I know that those are duplicates and I would experiment removing a category for one brand only (least seached for), but at the same time I cannot remove for the rest as they convert a lot, being close to the search query of the customer (customer looks for parts for Sony XYZ, lands on the page and buys, insteading of staying on a page for Sony parts where should additionally browse for model number). What would you advise to make as unique as possible these pages, I am thinking about: change page titles. meta descriptions tweak the content as much as I can (very difficult, there is nothing fancy or different in those :(() i will start with top top pages that really drive traffic first and see how it goes. I will remove least visited pages and prominently put the model number in Sony parts page to see how it goes in terms of organic and most importantly conversions Any other ideas? I am really concerned about dupes and a penalty, but I try to think of solutions in order not to kill conversions at this point. Have a lovely Monday
On-Page Optimization | | SammyT0 -
Issue: Duplicate Page Content
Hello SEO experts, I'm facing duplicate page content issue on my website. My website is a apartments rental website when client search apartment for availability. Automatic generate same url's. I've already block these url's in robots.txt file but facing same issue. Kindly guide me what can I do. Here are some example links. http://availability.website.com/booking.php?id=17&bid=220
On-Page Optimization | | KLLC
http://availability.website.com/booking.php?id=17&bid=242
http://availability.website.com/booking.php?id=18&bid=214
http://availability.website.com/booking.php?id=18&bid=215
http://availability.website.com/booking.php?id=18&bid=256
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=17&bid=220
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=17&bid=242
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=17&pid=220&bid=220
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=17&pid=242&bid=242
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=18&bid=214
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=18&bid=215
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=18&bid=256
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=18&pid=214&bid=214
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=18&pid=215&bid=215
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=18&pid=256&bid=256
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=3&bid=340
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=3&pid=340&bid=340
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=4&bid=363
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=4&pid=363&bid=363
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=6&bid=367
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=6&pid=367&bid=367
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=8&bid=168
http://availability.website.com/details.php?id=8&pid=168&bid=168 Thanks and waiting for your response | |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |0 -
Why is this site 1st in Google??
Hello The site www.woodensigns.net is 1st in google for the keyword "wooden Signs". All seo indicators are poor except keyword in url; wich, i thought, was not a + for google anymore. Could someone help me to understand here? Thank you Emmanuel
On-Page Optimization | | manu450 -
My text does not show up in Google
Hi there. I've got an urgent question I hope someone can help me with. I've made a website (www.tonyharrismakingcents.com.au) with a few content pages. I don't get a lot of traffic. All my pages are scrawled and I don't see any errors. However, when I copy an entire paragraph and Google it, it does not show up in the search results. This makes me believe that the pages are not scrawled correctly. Only when I search for the exact paragraph by putting it between "", the website shows up on the results page. What can be the reason for this? Thanks for your help..It's much appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | csrinpractice0 -
Why does Google no longer like our site?
Hey guys, I'm trying to figure out why the traffic and rankings have been plummeting on www.readprint.com. It's a collection of both public domain books and books on Amazon's store. If anyone can offer any pointers as to if it's duplicate content or ??? It used to get 300K visits/mo but has slowly been dropping over the last year. I appreciate anyone's expertise!
On-Page Optimization | | CoBraJones0 -
Is This Duplicate Content Hurting Our SERPs?
We sell 1000s of audio book title, many of which are published in more than one format (abridged, unabridged CD, and/or unabridged MP3) by the same publisher. Currently each title has its own page but the basic description of the title (story) is the same. Here is an example title that is offered in three formats. 44 Charles Street - Danielle Steel - abridged CD audiobook 44 Charles Street - Danielle Steel - MP3 CD audiobook 44 Charles Street - Danielle Steel - CD audiobook Each of the above pages has a different page title, a different URL, a different meta description however much of the body (from [Listen to a FREE Audio Clip] down is the same. Is this duplicate content hurting our SERPs?
On-Page Optimization | | lbohen1 -
Duplicate Content
What I can do to avoid the duplicate content on the index and in the categorys, I cant block my categorys, cause are pages with big autorithy, so what i can do ?
On-Page Optimization | | nafera20