Firstly, what do we mean by the term duplicate content? The web savvy will no doubt be familiar with the term and understand the impact it can have on your website optimisation campaign. But what about the SEO novices ? The last thing you want to do is invest heavily in a website, only for your website optimisation efforts to be hampered by duplicate content.

Duplicate content is content which appears on more than one web page or URL. The problem arises when the search engines attempt to index the site, as they are unable to decipher which version of the text is most relevant to a given search query. This is a real flaw in any website optimisation strategy, as, in an attempt to show only the most relevant search results, search engines rarely show multiple, duplicated pieces of content. As a result, they are forced to determine which piece is most likely to be original, which is far from a simple process.

So exactly why does duplicate content cause the search engines so much trouble, and ultimately undermine your website optimisation strategy?

• Search engines are unsure which version of the content is the original, and as such it is difficult to determine which to index and display in search results.
• Search engines are unable to determine whether to directly link metrics such as trust, authority, anchor text etc to one page, or to separate it between multiple versions.
• Further difficulties are posed when search engines decide which version of the content to rank for search results.

Okay, so duplicate content is not good for an organisation’s website optimisation campaign for the above reasons. But what types of duplicate content issues can arise?

• Printer-friendly versions – versions of content which are printer friendly are more likely to cause duplicate content issues when multiple versions of pages are indexed due to the duplicate content present.
• URL parameters – some URL parameters such as click tracking as well as certain analytics codes may cause issues with duplicate content.
• Session IDs – this is one of the most frequent causes of duplicate content issues and can undermine even the most comprehensive website optimisation campaign. Problems occur when each user visiting a website is assigned a different session ID which is stored in the URL.

If you are confused about any further issues with duplicate content then contact Designer Websites, the website optimisation specialists. Call us on 0845 272 6813 today.  

We first developed a website for modelmakers back in 2008, at which point we concentrated on getting the website highly ranked within the search engines for terms like architectural model makers, exhibition models, fibreglass models and various other keywords. The site took a little while to get high positions but not outranks all competition and has been on page 1, in positions 1 to 3, for a couple of years now. Having achieved the ultimate goal Steve the owner now wanted to bring the style of the website up to date so that we could not only drive the traffic to the site but also impress the potential clients with an attractive and informative website. The latest version on the modelmakers website can be found here: Modelmakers.

This new website for Modelmakers also includes a blog, which allows the company to show off their model making skills, and gives them the flexibility to add new content anytime they want.

We have just launched a new promotional clothing ecommerce website for My Garment Factory based in Cardiff. The promotional clothing specialist provides a wide range of clothes for businesses, schools, universities, sports clubs etc. and wanted a full ecommerce website to be able to take orders online.

The My Garment Factory for Cardiff can be found here: My Garment Factory Cardiff

Recent research carried out by the digital edition of The Grocer magazine, has shown the website SEO of the leading supermarkets is a long way from where it should be, leaving some of the biggest names in British retail virtually invisible online.

One of the main offenders is Waitrose.com, which, after a £10million initial investment in their ecommerce website, is nowhere to be seen on the search engines for some key terms. 

The website SEO on Waitrose’s site is so poor that even Morrisons, which at present doesn’t even operate an ecommerce site, currently ranks higher.

The site is being held back by a number of technical issues you would not expect from a £10million ecommerce website. However, it is not only Waitrose who are falling behind on their website SEO.

Having looked closely at a range of website SEO factors which determine the visibility of websites on search engines such as Google, a leading digital agency found Waitrose, Ocado and the big four supermarkets were all underperforming, leaving other retailers such as Amazon to clear up in certain markets.

Simon Hall, retail manager at Google UK, said: “The supermarkets all need to improve – they’re just not getting the exposure they should. If they were to describe their content with more relevant items – such as recipes – then they would win a lot more business online.”

The proof is in the pudding and for the five most popularly searched recipes online: chocolate cake, cup cakes, Yorkshire pudding, pancakes and sloe gin, no supermarket ranked anywhere near the top ten, leaving other retailers that are more focused on their website SEO to clear up.

In a letter to The Grocer, one customer clearly expressed their discontent at the shortcomings of the Waitrose website SEO: “It’s time the operations director stepped in and sorts out this very expensive mess!”

Here at Designer Websites we put years of technical know-how and experience into our website SEO service, ensuring your site is search engine friendly and highly visible to your customers.

You’ve just invested in a fantastic new website for your business, but after a few searches you realise it’s currently ranking on page 33 of Google! How on earth will anyone ever find it? Welcome to the world of search engine optimisation (SEO).

Search engine optimisation, also referred to as website optimisation, is the process by which you improve the visibility of a website or page in the many search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Essentially you are jumping the queue to benefit from the higher number of website visits those at the top of the results enjoy. By appearing at the top of the search rankings for the correct keywords your website will benefit from vastly increased traffic, improved brand exposure, and, best of all, a greater amount of enquiries and therefore sales.

If you are a regular internet user, you will know that people are more likely to click on and trust those companies they find at the top of the search engines, and are therefore much more likely to do business with these companies. This is why website optimisation is such a worthwhile investment and popular with marketing managers. Compared to other marketing channels website optimisation provides a very measurable ROI.

Search engine algorithms are extremely complicated and assess a huge number of different criteria to calculate the worth of a website; website optimisation techniques will help search engines to see your site as more relevant for particular keywords, helping you to appear at the top of the rankings.

So How Does Website Optimisation (SEO) Work?

In its most basic form, website optimisation can be broken down into two different types; namely onsite and offsite. Onsite SEO takes place on your website and involves all the different things you can do to make sure the search engines view your website as a relevant result for your chosen keywords.

Offsite SEO refers to those things you can do to benefit your search engine rankings which do not show up on your website. As part of an effective offsite website optimisation strategy you should consider the following:

•    Content and copywriting
•    Guest blogging
•    Link building
•    Social media
•    Video
•    Social bookmarking

All of these SEO techniques will help your site improve your overall visibility online. Once your onsite optimisation is complete, link building should be your next port of call. Every external link obtained acts as a vote of confidence which tells the search engines that your website is a useful resource. The more links you get from the right sources, the higher up the search engines you will climb.

Links constantly send search engines like Google back to your site where they will ‘crawl’ your web pages. This means that they analyse the structure, copy and any links to judge the worth of your site. The search engines then index your site ready to be returned in search results. If you optimise your website well then the search engines will return your website for lucrative, highly sought after keywords.

Website optimisation is a far more complex process than we can convey here, although we hope this article helps you to understand the basics of SEO.

If your website could do with and SEO makeover, get in touch on 0845 272 6813 today.