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I work for a large healthcare system and we have an initiative to populate 2,500 of our our provider bios on WebMD. The proposed method for providing content is to supply it via API, in exactly the same way provider bio content appears on our site.

When my colleague and I pointed out this would be an anti-practice as it would be disseminating duplicate content, we were asked to weigh:

1. The penalty of the duplication
2. The time and resources necessary to provide an alternative method (i.e., is there a programmatic way to supply unique content to WebMD)

A few other questions we are investigating is if we can include links to each provider bio from WebMD to our main site. If this is the case, we can include a very short intro and direct users to our site if they want to learn more. The benefit of being included on WebMD is showing up for searches pertaining to expertise/specialties, as this will open our system to new users who likely won't search our providers by name.

Any advice on how to measure the potential effect of displaying duplicate content on WebMD, considering their impressive domain authority?

Hi Patrick, I hate to be the dissenting opinion here, but I think it would be best to use a subdomain or something connected to the main brand domain.

For example, I feel heart.nebraskamed.com (or even building up nebraskamed.com/heart, but giving it a distinct brand and look) would get off to a better start by leveraging the existing DA, while also being separate enough to have an associated brand. Branding is super tricky, but I know it's also a marathon to launch a new website from scratch and compete for new business. Is there a lot of cardiology competition? Are you trying to compete locally or regionally, or both? Plus, wouldn't you want to leverage the strength of the local brand, for something as serious as cardiology where the best-of-the-best expertise is sought?

Just a few thoughts. Of course if your organizational compass points to a completely separate domain, I would establish a linking strategy and go from there.

Best of luck!

Kristine