2 replies to this topic

[RayWrites]

Hello,

Here's my question: I've been tasked with writing seo content for a re-designed 'property management' website. The heart of the site is their 60 properties, made up of Industrial, Retail and Office.

In some instances, there may be 7 or 8 properties in the same city. To further confuse the issue, these 7 or 8 properties may all be 'Industrial' Properties. Each description is between 100 to 150 words.

My goal is to have each property indexed and ranked by the search engines while avoiding excessive duplication from one property to the next. After all, if there are 8 industrial properties in the same city, there is bound to be some duplication of content. In order to ensure that each property is indexed and ranked, my strategy is to put a slightly different spin on multiple same type properties (i.e. Industrial) in the same city. For example, rather than naming each in the meta and header tags as 'Industrial Property in Toronto' (assuming that's the city), I'm considering using synonyms, singular and plural forms for property; such as 'space', 'units', 'building', 'buildings'.

Does this strategy sound viable? I would hate for the client to get caught in a 'duplicate content filter' and/or have the site perceived as 'spammy.' Also, what level of duplication (if any) is realistic before red flags are raised by the search engines?

I imagine these questions arise from time to time, especially for those asked to write seo copy for multiple products/services that may be somewhat redundant.

Any and all advice would be welcome.

Thanks!

Ray

[Randy]

It's always good to optimize for closely related phrases. However I guess I'm a bit confused about the question.

Since each property is going to be fairly unique (different address, different size, different features and amenities) the descriptions shouldn't be duplicating much, and there's nothing that says you can't have different pages targeting the same general keyword phrases. Sure only a max of two pages will show up in the SERPs for those more general phrases, but they're all still legitimate.

[RayWrites]

It's always good to optimize for closely related phrases. However I guess I'm a bit confused about the question.

Since each property is going to be fairly unique (different address, different size, different features and amenities) the descriptions shouldn't be duplicating much, and there's nothing that says you can't have different pages targeting the same general keyword phrases. Sure only a max of two pages will show up in the SERPs for those more general phrases, but they're all still legitimate.

Hi Randy,

And yes, you're right. Each property will have its own unique address. But the features and amenities are somewhat similar (i.e. constructed of the same materials, access to labour pool, public transportation, owned and managed by the same company, etc.) In all, there's probably about 30%-40% duplication of text from one property to the next. I'm trying to differentiate as much as I can, but a property is a property is a property.

Hopefully all the properties get indexed, ranked and the client is happy.

Thanks for the reply!

Ray