Duplicate Content Query

[RockyB]

Okay, this may be a bit long winded.

I write articles mainly to distribute to various article sites around the net to pick up backlinks. However I also put the articles on my site, as an example of my work.

Now my site is only about a month old due to a recent domain change and I'm worried about Google getting the idea that I'm just duplicating content. Due to the new domain I'm not actually getting any searches on the articles. I'd say these articles make up about 10% of my overall content.

So my question to you is should I block the articles in my robots.txt in order to avoid any possible duplicate content penalty from Google, as these articles are distributed fairly widely about the net?

[Alioc]

Don't do this. Just make sure that the pages are not the exact copy at whole. If you want to feel really safe, adding, changing a few words would do the trick.

[JulesJ]

/un-lurk

RockyB,

I also write articles for reprint. The approach I have taken is to never publish these articles on my own websites. I write them purely for publication by other people, and benefit from the links back in my biography. In some cases I have taken existing content from my site and rewritten it for this purpose. These articles are published on websites with higher PR than mine, plus I get referrals through those articles, and I don't have to worry about duplicate content.

That's my approach. Caveat Emptor: I have not tested this in any way other than, "it seems like a good idea".

[kenchix1]

Regarding duplicate content, does it mean publishers (websites that publish other people's articles) are just wasting their time and effort publishing those articles on their website/s because search engines will just filter it (and possibly get penalized)?

I've seen lots of websites that have thousands of articles that were submitted to them (and they also distribute those articles), do they get penalized?

[texasville]

Shouldn't it negate a possible duplicate content penalty if the article being carried on another site carries your copyright, title of your site and the url in a hot link to your site? I hope so. If not, I am toast.

[kenchix1]

I really don't think they penalize or filter article publishers.

[texasville]

kenchix1, I hope not but I do have the problem that a couple of nice authority sites picked up my articles and published them on their "on topic" sites. But they do have the copywright, my name, site name and a hot link to my site. Hope this negates a penalty pop. Both sites have more pr than mine. I do have the articles on my site as part of original content. I would hate to have to rewrite them or take them out.