Why is this store getting hurt in SERPs when they removed duplicate content?
-
I work with an e-commerce client who got hit hard by Panda. They are very cautious, and want small-scale tests to prove each hypothesis before committing to larger changes.
Recently, we reworked content on 30 product detail pages. Before, these product pages featured some original content mixed with some manufacturer content. The change we made was to remove the manufacturer content completely from the product page, leaving about 300 words of high-quality, original content--all of which was written by subject matter experts.
I assumed that Google viewed this manufacturer text as duplicate content. However, when these 30 modified pages were compared to the control, they performed significantly worse.
Question 1: Does any have any idea why these pages would perform worse than the control?
Question 2: Do you have any tips for convincing this client to try another test or get the buy-in to make the larger changes that--in theory--need to happen?FWIW, this client has about 10,000 product detail pages--the vast majority of which contain just manufacturer content.
I appreciate your thoughts.
-
I would be curious to look at each form of the pages using the LDA tool.
The main reason to use the tool is to understand if you are significantly reducing the page's relevancy to your target keyword(s).
-
Hi Ryan,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
We didn't make any changes to any of the titles or any overall site changes. We measured the changes using internal tracking tools to get the daily traffic by search engine to each product detail page. We also used Google Webmaster Tools to estimate SERP positional data.
The updated pages do have about half as many total words as the control, so that could definitely explain it.
For followup testing, I'm thinking of trying:
- test versus control, same word count, test is 100% original, control is 0% original
- test versus control, same word count, test is 50% original, control is 0% original
- test versus control, same word count, test is 25% original, control is 0% original
-
Hi Sarah.
I can't blame the client for wanting small tests. It's actually a prudent strategy.
I think having some manufacturer content mixed in with other quality content is fine. Normally 300 words would be a bit thin but for product pages that is not bad at all.
What changes to the page were made other then the content? Did the title change at all?
How exactly are you measuring the performance of these pages. Please provide as much detail as possible.
Is there any other site wide changes being made at the same time?
Does any have any idea why these pages would perform worse than the control?
Assuming there are no other factors involved, which is a big assumption, the only logical response I can offer is the revised pages are viewed by Google as weaker. By removing the manufacturer's content the pages are thinner and less relevant to the keywords involved.
Do you have any tips for convincing this client to try another test or get the buy-in to make the larger changes that--in theory--need to happen?
How to restore a client's confidence after making an error?
Assure the client you realize they are highly dependent upon their rankings for sales. You are proceeding under your experiences and knowledge, which has been successful in the past. Panda is a new thing and Google is still making rolling out new changes. The industry is still learning and adjusting to these changes. You are consulting with others regarding the unexpected results and you are committed to ensuring this project is properly completed.
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
-
Reposting content.
I have some good articles I wrote for article directories a couple of years ago. I took them down 6 months ago. I am hoping to repost them somewhere better if the content isn't listed on google and passes Copyscape. Would this be safe?
Content Development | | T0BY1 -
Curated content on page one of google for medium competition keywords?
Has anyone here ranked curated content on page one of Google for medium competition keywords?
Content Development | | jtbaker19710 -
How to optimize content pages with ecommerce?
Some content pages act as buyers guides for certain products for example Used Paddle Boards for Sale - http://www.islesurfboards.com/used-paddle-boards-for-sale.aspx this is a content page that gets huge amount of traffic and is pure content with no products on the page, but we also have a ecommerce section of the site that is Used Paddle Boards for Sale -http://www.islesurfboards.com/buy-used-paddle-boards-for-sale.aspx however this page just has a small paragraph and all the ecommerce product related to this section on the page. The content only page above gets all the traffic and rank and then they click over to the actual ecomm section wiht the products from a link on that page. Should i merge these two together so its just one page and put the content on the ecom page? If i do all the content with push the ecommerce products down which is not good so what does anyone recommend as a best practice? Also will this mess up the content pages rank is i merge them assuming i redirect? or Keep them seperate like i have with a content page regarding "used paddle boards for sale" and an ecommerce page that sells acutal "used paddle boards for sale"
Content Development | | isle_surf0 -
If we use content copied from another site ( assuming we have not plagerized), does it hurt our Google Rankings?
We have permission from another company to copy their content and use it on our site. This happens when we are describing a manufacturer's product and we copy pages from their site and add these pages to our site in order to describe the product we are selling. Is this considered duplicate content? Can this practice hurt us?
Content Development | | huskers0 -
Does a directory running on a subdomain help or hurt SEO on the main site?
I have a blog, with a directory on the subdomain: directory.fbforbusinessmarketing.com. Is that smart for SEO, as it gives the overall domain more traffic? Or bad for SEO because of the different topics and all those outbound links? I'd appreciate opinions. Thanks.
Content Development | | PegCorwin0 -
I have created 2 blogs for a client as they have 2 domains (1 for their core business, and 1 for a product). I want to use the same content on both blogs. What is the best way to set this up so there are no ranking or duplicate content issues?
We are pushing SEO for only one of the domains, therefore I would like one to be dominant. We will be sending the blog post via email to their database, therefore each blog needs to have the same content. Thank you!
Content Development | | MarketingResults0 -
How do you get your content ideas?
What kind of research tactics are the best for finding great ideas for content or articles? What tools are the most helpful?
Content Development | | MichaelWeisbaum0 -
If you have the best sales on the weekends, when is the best day to post the content?
The Client has the best sales on the weekends and his writing a weekly blog post to help the overall site rank better and hopefully drive more sales. When is the best time to post this content? On Monday so that it hopefully gets indexed by the weekend? or On Friday so that we can leverage twitter and Facebook to increase sales.
Content Development | | anchorwave0