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would this be duplicate pages

[paisley]

Hello, I am going to present a situation we are facing with two websites. I am hoping your expertise will clarify this situation.
There are 2 websites. Site A sells an assortment of items including wigdets. It is listed in the directories for wigdets and does well in the search engine rankings for many keywords. The site is owned by 2 people.
Site B is owned by one of the parties involved in site A, sells an assortment of items including wigdets on this separate site. It ranks well in the search engines for many keywords and is in the appropaite directories.
For each site wigdets are about 75% of the site content.
The question is as follows, if the two sites were to combine their wigdets and put the entire collection on both sites. Being 2 separate businesses, would that be considered duplicate pages? Is this something that would set off a red flag to the search engines and in any way could it be considered spam?
The 2 business owners are looking at the fact the combined collection of all the wigdets would get double exposure if it were on 2 places on the web. They would possbily get the traffic from the wigdet directories and the traffic from the site b directorie. More pages would be visable.
With the increasing cost of online advertising, it seems cost effective to have the wigdets in more than one place if at all possible.
The 2 sites have been up for several years and it was suggested by an outside party that they combine to collection of wigdets, is that advisable?
Thank you for your time. Paisley

[jeremy goodrich]

I would combine them, continue running the seperate, older sites as well, and just make sure to 'freshen up' the older content that gets merged, eg, change a bit around, etc.

Try to tighten up the emphasis on the consumer a bit, perhaps -> just make sure the differential is there to avoid any potential duplicate detection issues.

[paisley]

Hello, thanks for responding. You say to avoid any duplication detection. This has me concerned. My question is as follows, Does what I have described fit into the defination of duplicate pages that could get us thrown out of the search engines? I understand there are ways to get around it, but I am more interested in staying within the guidlines of the requirements for the search engines.
I have been trying very hard to find out what is black and white what is considered duplicate pages.

[jeremy goodrich]

Every search engine will have their own algorithms for duplicate detection. Many of those algorithms are described in research papers, some of which have floated around here before.

Outside the engines, you can make an educated guess, but to state anything such as 'x % similarity will result in banning' is difficult, as few if any people outside search engine employees will have that data.

[paisley]

That is the way I understand it as well. I have written the different search engines, posing my question. I have not received an answer. How does one get an answer to a question like I am asking. Where would I write a letter to a search engine employee?
When you talk about duplicate pages, are you saying to me, what I have described would be considered duplicate pages?
I do not want to try to avoid detection. I do not want to do it if it is against the rules.

[jeremy goodrich]

According to my research - it would be fine, however, your milage may vary.

Any situation is unique unto itself, and not knowing all the variables I am very uncomfortable giving a blunt & specific answer.

of course, I would love it if the search engines told us what % similarity was ok, but that would more than likely lead to more people trying to 'manipulate the search engine' and 'artificially increase their rankings'. :)

I know, I'm being vague, but the most you can do is make an educated guess, based on all the statistics, etc - and then go with your 'gut' as delaying an important business decision - rightly or wrongly, could cost $$$.

Or when in doubt, hire a professional. That way, worst case scenario, they take the blame instead of a 'staffer'.

[paisley]

Thanks for your honest responses. Every person I have asked about this suggests to me there are ways to avoid getting caught. I have no interst in doing anything risky when it comes to this web business. And at the same time, if what has been suggested to me, is within the guidlines, I would want to take advantage of it.
I will delay a decision, until I have a more concrete answer.