7 replies to this topic

[Talking Bear]

Hi

I have a question regarding duplicate, or near duplicate optimized pages and how they are indexed.

I have two different url's that have been optimized for 3 keywords each. Both URL's contain the keywords within the title, meta-description and in the body as H1 tags.

All keywords rank within the top 10 for both url's except for 1 keyword. That keyword is in URL 1 as a plural version (gifts), and in URL 2 as the single version (gift).

What I have found that google has only indexed URL 1 for both terms. The single version ranks in the 9th position, while the plural version ranks in the 5th position. I believe this occurs because there isn't an exact keyword match, "gifts" rather than "gift"

Since the keywords and optimization technique is nearly the same for both pages. does google do a "compare" and then only lists one url.

Thanks

[Leann_Pass]

I have a question regarding duplicate, or near duplicate optimized pages and how they are indexed.

Talking Bear, at the risk of sounding dumb, may I ask why you have 2 sites with the same info?

Just wondering why you chose that route.

[Leann_Pass]

OOPS! Now I am not sure if you mean 2 pages of one site or 2 different sites.

That would make alot of difference.

[Scottie]

Sounds like 2 pages... yes Talking Bear, it sounds like Google has picked only one to show. As they should!

If you've created 2 pages simply to optimize for slightly different terms, try thinking about it differently. How can you change the second page to benefit the viewer? More text, less text, different information?

[Talking Bear]

Thanks Scottie

Yes its 2 different urls for the same site. 1 url targets the plural, the other the sigular form. ( teddy bear gifts and teddy bear gift )

The reson I tried this approach is that if you were to search on teddy bear gifts in google my home page url appears at position 5. If you search on teddy bear gift the same url appears, but in the 9th position. I tried to address this issue by having each word in two different urls.

[Scottie]

You can still do that, just don't use exactly the same content. What else can you say about Teddy Bear Gifts? Maybe it is a FAQ page or a testimonial page, shipping info or a behind-the-scenes-look at how they are made.

You can still target both terms on different pages- just have different content on the pages.

[Jill]

Talking Bear, my advice to you would be to talk about teddy bears in both the singular and the plural all one one page. You don't need two different pages for that.

That said, if those are the actual keyword phrases, don't expect high rankings for just one page of a site optimized. I imagine that's a highly competitive phrase, and the sites that will rank highly for it are those with hundreds of pages of Teddy Bear information. If you don't have something like that, then you're going to have to shoot for far less competitive phrases such as "green teddy bears" or "sad teddy bears" or whatever.

In answer to your original question, Google will not show 2 pages in the results that are highly similar. They're really looking for unique content and using a template with plurals added, doesn't constitute unique content at all.

Jill

[Talking Bear]

Jill and Scottie

Thanks for the imput. Rather than going after 2 terms with 2 pages I'll try both terms in one page.

As to the content for each url, the content and structure is completely different. Except I'm sure I switch between both the singular and plural on each page. I thought the diference in the title and meta-description would drive the pages seperately, but I guess I am wrong.

Again, Thanks for your imput