Duplicate content 'detrimental to SEO'

10th April 2008

Websites should ensure they avoid duplicate content for effective search engine optimisation (SEO), a new report advises.

A new article in E-consultancy recommends that webmasters copy and paste sections of text into Google to ensure their content is not being replicated elsewhere.

Google penalises websites that do not include a high volume of unique content, the industry news resource explains.

Search engine rankings can reportedly fall if this strategy - one of the magazine's top five SEO tips - is not effectively implemented.

The other tips for SEO success include isolating niche keywords and attempting to rank highly on these before trying to up search positions on more mainstream terms.

Sites are also advised to ensure the technical aspects of their SEO strategy are flawless and to link keywords.

In related news, webmasters in the UK and Ireland are to be able to bid on trademarked keywords even when they do not own the trademark from May under new rules being introduced by Google.