Time to Bust that Duplicate Content Myth. (Does this make me an honorary myth buster?) Using previously published articles (Ezine Articles) does not mean you are going to suffer the wrath of Google and suffer the dreaded “Duplicate Content Penalty”
According to Google Webmaster Central Blog
“Let’s put this to bed once and for all, folks: There’s no such thing as a ‘duplicate content penalty.’ At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that.”
If you respect your readers, your guest bloggers and article authors, then you should not worry. If you are trying to deceive readers or search engines then you will get in trouble.
URLs
The name of your website is important but so is the form. Decide if you are going to include www or not. Try to keep one page from having multiple names, such as example.com, example.com/?, www.example.com, example.com/index. This is where the Duplicate Content lives, not a unique website.
Create Unique Website
The key is creating a unique website, which means including some original content. This could be re-writes of private label articles, guest bloggers with content limited to your website or your own writing. Add links to related sites you like. Encourage other related sites to link back to you.
Articles
Using articles from article sites does not mean you are going to get the Google slap either. The combination of articles you choose creates a site that is all your own. When you also are certain to provide unique content in addition to those articles. By adding the resource box and author box you are verifying that you did not scrape (steal) the articles and verifying where you got the article. Then search engines view your site as a whole.
Search Engine Results
Content is King. By providing content you are meeting visitors and search engine requirements. With your whole site and the content provided, search engines give results of the best overall site for a particular search.
A visual example
There are a dozen quilters all of them are going to use one Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Square. While that one square is exactly the same, the quilts will not be duplicates of each other. Maybe one does a lap quilt. Another a King. Perhaps one uses borders for each square. Another uses a honey comb design around the Sunbonnet Sue. The Square could be on the top left, the bottom right, dead center. This is not duplicate content just like your website is not duplicate content.
~ MJ Schrader
OH, this brings it all into focus, MJ! Thank you. You've managed to clear up some sticky wicket concerns and help people to understand that Google won't be mailing them a monetary fine to pay.
I think it basically boils down to following some simple guidelines and good manners – like keeping the resource boxes in tact and adding your original content along with guest posts and other people's articles.Super!Melanie(#blog30)
Melanie, I agree. Unfortunately I kept hearing about duplicate content as well, and wasn't certain what that meant. Since the “Google Slap” is going around like… clap (it was funny, sorry) it makes me afraid as well. Does that mean I can't repurpose my blog posts into articles? Yet from their own mouths, it's the overall picture. AWESOME!!
I'll drink to THAT!
Thanks for this insight MJ. I was a little concerned about this myself. I recently “imported” content from a free blogger blog to my ironedoutdiva.com blog. Was hoping that would not result in a google penalty. Too early to tell if I suffered, but since the articles integrated by date into what I already had on the ironedoutdiva blog, I am more hopeful it won't matter…. You truly do Rock my friend