My accident with Google and duplicate content.
I had just joined WA and was very eager to get started. I went through course 1 and created my first site with some content of 400 words. This was before I knew anything about keyword research and what to name my site etc. I then came back the next day and progressed through the rest of the course. During this I found it would have been better to name my site the same as the keyword phrase I wanted to target. This meant I needed to change the name of my site and the only way I could do this was to delete it and start a fresh. What I didn't realize is, during that time my site had been added to Google's index. Anyway I deleted and created a new site, added lots more content to the original 400 words and also created my first article which got published on street articles (I was really happy about that BTW). A few days later I checked to see if my new site had been indexed and it hadn't. What I found was the old site I deleted was showing for the new keywords I had added to the new version of the site.
My new site was now not being indexed because of the duplicate content in Google's index. The only thing I could do to fix this was to delete the 400 word duplicate content on the new version and hope that Google would pick this up, drop the old site and index the new one.
My site should now be indexed properly but it will take some time for that to happen. So the lesson learned here is, make sure that your website name is absolutely what you want it to be before creating it and also to be careful if you do need to change it. Make sure that your old content hasn't been indexed, otherwise you might have the same problem I have. This is also a good example of how very strict Google are with duplicate content.
Anyway, sorry for the long winded post but it was the only way I can explain what happened and it might stop someone else from going down the same path I did!
Wishing you all much success,
Richard
Recent Comments
11
Very sound advice Richard. And don't be so quick to put yourself down. Your post isn't long winded and you shared the type of 'real experience' that people need to hear about.
Beverley
Oh wow, never thought about "fetch as Google" as an actual tool. Google usually names their stuff pretty well I think, but "fetch as Google" sounds like telling my dog to go get the newspaper.
My hat's off to you, though, for finding the tool, finding it useful, and telling us all about it.
Thanks all for the comments. My site has now been indexed after I did a manual submit with "fetch as Google" in Google webmaster tools. So I am now back on track and really glad my post has been helpful too. Thanks again everyone, Richard
I didn't find your post too long and it was very helpful. Made we a bit nervous just thinking about it. I am learning and every post I can read is only helping me more. I do so appreciate everyone here at WA. Thanks so much for the info!
Great post, I found it very informative and helpful...I didn't realize that could happen! Thanks for sharing and I hope everything goes well with your new site! -Sherry
Great post Richard. When we are learning we do make mistakes. I made more than my share of them. Thanks.
Great explanation, Richard, and a timely warning. It also applies to registering and paying for own domains. Most registrars consider a domain name sale final. So always check. And check again. Before hitting the "BUY" button! I wish I had. Rich.
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good luck. how did it turn out? How long did it take?