The TRUTH about Google Dublicate Content Penalty

Webmasters worry a lot about duplicate content, the fear of Google penalties seems to be a never ending discussion and all kinds of techniques are used to avoid this. Google recently published an article about this hoping to clarify their policy and put and end to the discussion.

The article "Demystifying the duplicate content penalty" by Susan Moskwa, states that Google don't penalize duplicate content the way people think they are. The article actually confirms what most of us already know from the Webmaster Guidelines; Google fancy uniqueness and its unwise to scrape content and republish it on your web site. But, if you add some value like rewriting it, or add something "new and valuable" to the text content - then its accepted. Below are a few more "rules" you should keep in mind:

Do not create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with similar or duplicate content - guess this is pretty obvious to everyone.

Avoid cookie cutter approaches like affiliate programs with little or no original content Meaning. the same web site is found "all over" the net and your site don't represent any value to the users -watch out for turn key solutions.

Make sure your web site provides relevant and valuable content if you participate in an affiliate program. There is nothing wrong with affiliate links on your web pages as long as the content is unique and adds value.

Generally Google tolerates pretty much before penalizing a site or web page as long as its not designed to mislead users or manipulate the search engines. But be aware of that duplication might weaken the strength of an URL or Web site.

When Google discover duplicate content generated by default by CMS, Google put these pages in a cluster and pick out the URL they find most relevant and consolidate this URL using for instance Pagerank. This "cluster URL" will be shown in the Search Engine results page (SERP).

Susan Moskwas distinct article clarifies many of the frequent questions Webmasters have about duplicate content. We encourage you to read it carefully and follow the links in the article for more in depth info - you find it at Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Source: Google Webmaster Central - kindly provided by Article Promotion Journal

Article Marketing

An excellent way of driving all kinds of traffic, including traffic you wouldn't expect, to your site is to write useful articles and post them to article directories, encouraging people to download and publish your article on their website for free.

Article directories are huge repositories online with thousands of articles on every conceivable niche market and large market, usually they'll accept articles from almost anyone who wants to donate one. Register, set up the byline you want to use and your URL, and your article goes up, free to the world to download.

Why you should give away articles for free?

Because with every article download your URL and your name and often a short bio as well, are required to be set up along with the article in something called a "resource box." This means that if a hundred webmasters download your article, you have just gotten a hundred free links back to your website, many of them from sources you'd never have thought to ask prior to this.

It can also means that your name has just received the status of "recognized expert" to every person who thereafter reads your article on the other website. You give away free content, but you get real recognition and status in return.

Visit the Article Directory category for an overview.

Communications on the Internet

Internet communication is quite a challenge in today's information flow. Never the less, its one of the most important skills to govern if you want to win opinions, sell products or services, promote and have a successful website. To win this race you need a communication strategy based on the intention and goals of your Internet presence. The basic challenges are fierce competition, information volume and busy net surfers.

Net surfers are in a hurry and the time to communicate to them is limited. Normally a visitor will leave your website within 5 to 10 seconds if he or she don't find it interesting. So it's vital to catch the visitors attention and know how to get your message across. In case you are uncertain of how your website is doing, check your site stats. If many of your visitors leave quickly, it's a good chance that there is something wrong with your communication. Find out which pages the visitors are entering on your website. Its no use in having a great and catchy front page if the majority of the visitors are landing on a boring sub page.

You only have one shot to communicate the message to your Internet visitors. Keep in mind that those visitors, reading your message don't spend much time to find out what you have to say. Therefore, say it fast, say it precise and in a way the website visitors would like to hear. Learn the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid) and how to address your messages direct and simple.

There are some basic rules that you should beware of when you're writing for the Web: Ask yourself the following questions:

What communication style do my visitors prefer and how do I catch their attention?
Find out what the visitors want to read and then write for them. Investigate and collect information from sources like blogs, forums, websites and similar. Don't just write something for the sake of filling up your web space.

What are my visitors looking for?
Identify and refine the message that you want to promote to your visitors. Pinpoint your focus, zoom in and communicate it to your visitors in a language that they can trust and relate to.

Is the website adapted to the group or market I am targeting?
Evaluate your information sources. Make sure that the information you're basing your website content on is creditable and precise. Does the information represent the values that you wish to communicate? Is the information based on facts, or is it a personal opinion? Many times the combination of fact and opinions go hand in hand. Meaning that strong personal or public opinions have inflated the visitors attitude long before they arrive at your website.

Consider all aspects and implications of your writing. Make sure that you end up with an appropriate conclusions that your readers will more or less agree with. Analyze the costs, benefits, and consequences of the content that you plan to publish on your website. Discuss SEO (Search Engine Optimization) versus targeted communication. The best decision off course, is to choose a strategy that lead your visitors into the desired actions.

:: Author Info ::
Tony Gregson is an experienced Internet Marketer and online Entrepreneur. Tony is educated in Marketing and Business Administration. He is a Manager and Co-owner of several online projects. Some of his latest sites are Internet SEO Marketing and, Website Article Content an Article Marketing directory and a place to get fresh reprint articles