Google Not Following Their Own Advice re: Duplicate Content

[bhartzer]

I was looking around on Google.com and noticed over 26,000 (twenty six THOUSAND) pages of duplicate content on the Google.com domain. Here we are trying to get rid of low-quality content on our own sites and remove the duplicate content because of updates like the Google Panda update...and Google can't even follow their own advice.

Recently, while reading Google’s own Webmaster Guidelines (http://www.google.com/support/webmas...n&answer=66359), I read the Duplicate Content section. What caught my eye specifically was the 2nd bullet point on that page:

Be consistent: Try to keep your internal linking consistent. For example, don’t link to http://www.example.com/page/ and http://www.example.com/page and http://www.example.com/page/index.htm.

It appears to me that Google is not following their own guidelines when it comes to duplicate content. In fact, Google has an extra 26,000 pages on their web site that should NOT be there: they’re duplicates of other pages on the site.

Not only is Google linking internally to their directory pages, they're also linking to their /index.html pages, as well. Which are all duplicates.

I have screen shots and more specific examples of this on my recent blog post: http://www.billhartzer.com/pages/goo...-own-web-site/

Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't Google themselves be expected to set an example here? Follow their own advice?

[williamc]

Seems like yet another one of Google's 'Do as we say, not as we do' routines.

[hawkwind dave]

if we all practised what we preach the world would be a very different place.

[NickTyler81]

Google think (and may be) they are in the driving seat for the moment and therefore can and will just do what they want.

[bhartzer]

Google think (and may be) they are in the driving seat for the moment and therefore can and will just do what they want.

They are right now when it comes to Search. And they need to be kept to a higher standard here. There's absolutely no reason why they should have 26,000 pages of duplicate content on Google.com, especially when they're going around bringing down our sites because of duplicate content.

[NickTyler81]

They are right now when it comes to Search. And they need to be kept to a higher standard here. There's absolutely no reason why they should have 26,000 pages of duplicate content on Google.com, especially when they're going around bringing down our sites because of duplicate content.

I agree it's just if you tried to tell them that they would laugh you out of their chambers empty handed and take a nother bite of their giant hog roast before throwing the bone over their shoulder for the "pesants" Bing and Yahoo to pick at the sinues and grissle!!

[bhartzer]

I agree it's just if you tried to tell them

Well, I guess we just did tell them. Not that they are listening at all, but perhaps if enough people tell others about the fact that Google themselves has over 26,000 pages of duplicate content on their site they'll do something about it.

[SemAdvance]

Is it me or am I missing something??

Every site has duplicate content for the most part. Walmart Kmart Target Ebay Amazon Zappos Etc Etc. Very little will change on the product pages except for the actual product.

You are not filtered for duplicate content on your own site.

You are filtered for taking content from another site, and posting it on your own. I am not sure how this action moved into having dupe content on your site but there is a vast difference.

Maybe the author should learn the difference, before going into a diatribe about something that is no harm, no foul.

Also Google needs the dupe pages as noted, in order to have inventory to carry their contextual ads (Adwords).


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[williamc]

Sounds like a good blog post Bill

[williamc]

Clint: while I agree that duplicated content due to different url structures is not at all harmful to your website (according to google at any rate), they still say all of those urls should be rewritten to the proper url you wish indexed, or using the canonical tag at the very least. It is still a case of do what we say, not what we do.