Duplicate Content, Friend or Foe

I've been reading a lot of information about this concept of "duplicate content". Essentially, duplicate content is what happens when individuals post content on their website that was originally published elsewhere on the web. If the content has been indexed by Google on the original site, and then appears on a different website, Google apparently devalues the content.

What this means for you
If your website is largely comprised of duplicate content than this issue could impact your websites popularity and in-turn search engine results listing. For those of you who have been reading my blog or have used my products (like The Webmasters Book of Secrets) know that I am a large proponent of Article marketing and original content creation. This seems somewhat confusing because article marketing is the practice of creating a single article and distributing it to many sites resulting in DUPLICATE CONTENT.

Article marketing tip
Since the information about Google and how they treat duplicate content has been posted, I've made some adjustments to my article marketing tactics. Here's what you can do:

• When developing an article, post to your website first. This informs Google that it is in fact your content, and as a result, you won't be significantly impacted when it appears on other sites.
• Find high ranking article directories like EzineArticles and GoArticle for primary articles submission. When you submit to these sites (after posting on your own site and waiting a few days), add your article with a different title, intro, and summary paragraph.
• Once you know that the articles have been added to these websites, begin your general article marketing using what ever method you prefer.

These tips will make your article marketing effective in light the recent changes announced by Google and the issue with duplicate content. When people ask me whether or not duplicate content is friend or foe, I simply respond, "Article marketing is here to stay".