Hey I'm just wondering if Google will hurt you SERP / PR if you use a duplicate paragraph on different web pages on you website. I'm just wondering since Google seems to penalize people for duplicate content.
Google doesn't penalize for duplicate content, They simply filter it out so that no two pieces of identicle information appear in the SERPS. You wont be penalized for having the same paragraph in more than one place. Think about how blogs work, They don't get penalized. At any one time a blog can have the same article on a dedicated page, on the front page and in the archives.
In such a case, the best thing to do would be to format the text differently, instead of simply cutting and pasting the same on multiple sites. Use Similar Page Checker for tips to make your content unique.
Your site or page won’t be banned or penalized for minor similarities. But, substantial duplication could affect your Page Rank adversely or the site could altogether disappear from SERPs.