Hi , I have 10 sites about to go up but my problem is they are all the same template and use some of the same text. For example i have my-birmingham-XXXXX.co.uk and my-leeds-XXXXX.co.uk and so on. All the sites have the same content on the home page but with the name of the town replaced, they will have the same content on 5 or 6 other pages too. However they do have different content for all the other pages. it's (to me) a valid use of dupe content as all the sites do the same thing, but are specifically targetted to the town they are named after. How badly will i be hit for having dupe content on these sites, and is there a way around it ? Ideally i wouldn't change the text as i intent to have about 100 of these sites and i control them all through one CMS that i've built that lets me create a whole new site in about 2 minutes.
So change up the duplicate pages. And I think my adsense ads should pay out $10000 and I should rank #1 for viagra. Maybe go with Search engine guidelines instead of your feelings. You're in for supplemental/duplicate content hell as one should be whom has a plan cranking out 100 sites with practically the same content. That's why they have these filters to begin with. Let me guess they're all MFAs as well.
There's no need to take a hostile attitude. No, they are not made for adsense - there isn't a single referral system or PPC system on the whole site - and never will be. There will be "adverts" - that is what the different content is, but they will be whole pages, designed specifically for businesses in the town i'm targetting. the "ads" will be a full page (or multiple page) mini site within my sites template. The only money these sites will make is if i sell a page over the phone to a local business.
Bottom line is, dude, you have to think of some ways to change this. It sounds a bit dihonest to me. What do you reallyt offer on your sites? Imagine a person looking in the net and deducing that these two supposedly wholly different sites have the same content word for word. That just screams "cheat".
but the don't have the "same" content - its a site specifically aimed at a specific town where people will want to have a local supplier of a certain type. Think of it the same as one of those local mags full of adverts for local suppliers you get through the door 4 times a year (that's not what mine is, but the analogy is the same) The only reason i have the same content of certain pages is because each site offers exactly the same service - but for a different town. there's nothing dishonest about it as i'm completely upfront about the other sites on the home page!
So basically you've got the same content, but with the name of the town filled in to customize it for each town? That's dupe content, by definition. If you've got a keyword on those pages that few others have on their pages, should Google list all of your pages as the top results for a search of that keyword? I think you're thinking of dupe content as a 100% match of content on thousands of different pages. Google is thinking of it as a template with content filled in and just one or two words (in this case, the name of the town) changed on each page. Bottom line: spend the time customizing for each town, or take the dupe penalty from Google.
It's *NOT* the same content on each site, it's the same on 4 pages - with the town name replaced, the other pages (between 10 and 30) are completely unique.
Make the index and all same content pages on my TLD and pages for every single town in each subdomain. Anyway, IMO, 10 subdomains with 30 pages each are a waste. I'd use folders.
If kijiji can do it and craigslist can do it, why can't hookbeak do it? I see both sites coming up in Google's search page after page with subdomains. They don't seem to be hurt by it?
If you get some IBL-s to those other unique pages i think this should be fine eventually. BUT i'm sure you'll take dupe penalty from google on the index pages... maybe a link ring between them could help you too...