When (some) duplicate content is inevitable

[atlantis76]

Hi all

I would like to establish a new site, which would have to include a lot of duplicate content.

Let's think of a Lyrics website, just to make the point: obviously, I would want to write some text about each lyrics (for that matter), but yet - some good blocks of text will be identical to the many other older pages on the web.

What approach would you utilize?

Regards
Assaf

[tedster]

Cross-domain duplicate content is different from same-domain duplicates. The first thing I'd do is make sure that I am not throwing any accidental duplcate urls on my own domain into the cross-domain mix. In fact, I'd say be ruthless and thorough in that area.

If the content you are using is something like song lyrics, where there's no way you can be first to market, then yes - adding unique content to the page would be one good action. And in fact, get it as close to the top of the content as you conceivably can. Be sure to keep your titles and meta tags in the sweet spot for both length and uniqueness, too.

You'll still need to attract some strong backlinks and PR to compete well. But having that unique value-added content on the page can help you not to be one of the urls that gets filtered out.

[atlantis76]

Thanks tedster

I just want to make sure I surely understood your reply:

1. By "I am not throwing any accidental duplcate urls" you mean to avoid duplicate content if possible or almost always?
2. "get it as close to the top" you mean that the original content should be as close to the top?
3. As for "Be sure to keep your titles and meta tags in the sweet spot for both length and uniqueness, too."

What length do you suggest?

Thanks a lot - much appreciated!
Assaf

[tedster]

1. I mean handle every technical issue that can cause two urls to resolve to the same content on your server. www versus no-www, https versus http, query strings that don't change content, mixed letter cases, there are a ton of possibilities for unintentional duplicate urls.

2. Yes, exactly. Feature what you offer that's different, not what's duplicate.

3. I aim for titles no more than 65 characters long, and meta descriptions between 100 and 165 characters.

[atlantis76]

Thank you for your knowledgeble input, extremely appreciated.

Assaf