Sites Re-Publishing Same Content

[edgarf76]

I have noticed that some sites re-publish the exact same content a few days after their first post. Is this standard from an seo standpoint?

For instance I have seen sites publish an article on monday about a football game on thursday, the article is dated for Monday. They publish more articles and then Wed comes around and the publish the exact same article and it is dated Wed?

Does anyone have any feedback or suggestions?

[universal4]

That seems kinda dangerous to me as far as duplicate penalties go.

And from the user/visitor perspective, seems kinda stupid. Why do I wanna read the same thing over again?

Rick
Universal4

[edgarf76]

I dont know, I look at other sports betting sites to see what they are doing. I noticed this in a few sites, lack of sports writers perhaps?



I use the same disclaimer on my blog posts, can anyone let me know if that is hurting my site?

I need to have a disclaimer but can the same internal text even if it is a disclaimer hurt more than help?

[slotplayer]

I did see a video from matt cutts saying they know about disclaimers on ever page and its not dup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-wkEeOKxM

[TravG]

I use a disclaimer page, so just a link to that page on every page. Also helps with keyword density etc.

As far as publishing the same article I cant think that is a good practice. If it were that easy to add content and not get dinged for it there wouldnt be any new info on the web. I would think that would eventually catch up to them.

[edgarf76]

You mean a link in the footer? That people can go too no matter where they are on a site?


I found the re pulbishing shocking, it is a pretty big website which shall remain nameless. It seems like the are trying to create a buzz from old content.

[justbookies]

edgar - do you mean republishing content with a new url or just changing the publish date so what was published on Monday now just shows as published on Thursday (but is actually same article with same url)?

I have seen the same article re-published with a new date (so actually it is the same page and not duplicate), happens a lot, but not seen it republished with a new url ?

[edgarf76]

edgar - do you mean republishing content with a new url or just changing the publish date so what was published on Monday now just shows as published on Thursday (but is actually same article with same url)?

@justbookies - That is a good question, I looked at the change of dates but not the URL. I am going to keep my eye of for that, I have not checked it.

It may be the same URL but just updating the article for the readers on the same day as the game. I am going to have to get back to you one that one.

[JackTenSuited]

I know some people change the date especially for more time sensitive posts like match reviews as Google will often display the freshness of a post, people are more likely to click a link if it was posted an hour ago as opposed to a week ago.

[edgarf76]

edgar - do you mean republishing content with a new url or just changing the publish date so what was published on Monday now just shows as published on Thursday (but is actually same article with same url)?

@justbookies - That is a good question, I looked at the change of dates but not the URL. I am going to keep my eye of for that, I have not checked it.

It may be the same URL but just updating the article for the readers on the same day as the game. I am going to have to get back to you one that one.

You were right about this. I saved the URL from Monday and I see the same thing posted. I checked and it is the same exact URL with todays date on it? I guess they are just updated their readers without re-publishing the content again?

[justbookies]

Yes, it done for the reasons Deanimus states above, just changing the publication date within their content management system (wordpress etc).

[mikebuchanan]

Just faking up to date content to trick Google ---> very lame method will get punished in a month or 2

[justbookies]

I don't think simply changing the publication date on a post will currently get you punished. I see it all the time with established sites. You could argue if you have updated the article then it is valid to change the date on it.

[edgarf76]

I think they are doing it for their readers, they are a solid site who has a good reputation. They post about all sports and I think they are just updating their "recent posts" so their readers can see the football action on game day.

I thought that they were completely re-publishing the content but they are not. I checked the URLS and they are the exact same. If it is updated the readers and not posting up another article for SEO benefits, why should that get penalized?

[edgarf76]

I found an article on this seroundtable.com/google-news-title-cheat-17651.html

I am noticing this is very common, especially with football. Question is this cheating? If a person posts something that is good for the reader on Monday about Sundays game, then puts a different date on it on Saturday for the reader and for their benefit. Is this fair?

I am curious to hear some feedback, I think this is a pretty grey area. I am seeing that people that claim to be 100% white hat doing it