Can Google My Business Posts Create Duplicate Content Problems

[hinegrills]

Hi,

We are a large company with 80+ brands and within those brands we have about 1000 branches on Google.

We have been posting out content on these pages within certain brands. So for example one of our brands has 110 branches/pages and we have been posting out the same content on all those pages, these are dispersed with some branch specific content. The content we post are marketing campaigns or new offers we have which are also seen on our other social media and website.

If the exact same content is published on multiple Google+ pages will it be creating a duplicate issue.

 

[BenFisher]

I will weigh in on this one. Cwide, we have been managing G+ pages for 4 + years (for SEO purposes) and I can tell you a few things:

1. The content will not "hurt" you from an SEO standpoint
BUT
2. Google+ has a strong duplicate post filter, so there will be no value at all (all social signals are dampened)
3. A share of posts from the main entity is stronger than duplicate content (with an annotation)
4. Since the shared content is the same the posts will not help the Local entity in rankings.

There are ways to do what you are looking to achieve (assistance with local ranking) but it has to be done in a very strategic way.

I know this because I work with an international hotel chain (group) that has 10+ brands and 1000's of locations.

Feel free to reach out and we can chat. Happy to help.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Ben!

 

[JoshuaMackens]

I will weigh in on this one. Cwide, we have been managing G+ pages for 4 + years (for SEO purposes) and I can tell you a few things:

1. The content will not "hurt" you from an SEO standpoint
BUT
2. Google+ has a strong duplicate post filter, so there will be no value at all (all social signals are dampened)
3. A share of posts from the main entity is stronger than duplicate content (with an annotation)
4. Since the shared content is the same the posts will not help the Local entity in rankings.

There are ways to do what you are looking to achieve (assistance with local ranking) but it has to be done in a very strategic way.

I know this because I work with an international hotel chain (group) that has 10+ brands and 1000's of locations.

Feel free to reach out and we can chat. Happy to help.

Hey Ben,

You seem to be implying Google+ has a ranking effect? Do you believe this to be true?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yep Joshua. Ben did a big study on it and Mike Blumenthal concurred and wrote about it I think.
I'll let Ben fill us in more.

 

[hinegrills]

I will weigh in on this one. Cwide, we have been managing G+ pages for 4 + years (for SEO purposes) and I can tell you a few things:

1. The content will not "hurt" you from an SEO standpoint
BUT
2. Google+ has a strong duplicate post filter, so there will be no value at all (all social signals are dampened)
3. A share of posts from the main entity is stronger than duplicate content (with an annotation)
4. Since the shared content is the same the posts will not help the Local entity in rankings.

There are ways to do what you are looking to achieve (assistance with local ranking) but it has to be done in a very strategic way.

I know this because I work with an international hotel chain (group) that has 10+ brands and 1000's of locations.

Feel free to reach out and we can chat. Happy to help.

Thank you! Will definitely have to chat

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Yep Joshua. Ben did a big study on it and Mike Blumenthal concurred and wrote about it I think.
I'll let Ben fill us in more.

That's really strange because I've heard (and experienced) it not helping for the longest time. I'm curious to hear more about this.

 

[BenFisher]

Well, I just got done talking to Josh about this. I think I will share the info with the community

An Interview with Mike on Street Fight Mag:
The Increasing Impact of Reviews and Google+ (?!) on Local SEO | Street Fight

Mikes Presentation at Moz: (recorded on phone)
https://www.facebook.com/Steadydemand/videos/1259113827471847/

Some case studies:
https://www.steadydemand.com/case-study/

In a nutshell, G+ helps with prominence and relevance. Using semantic search techniques you can "teach" Google about an entity (in this case a local business).

Just like how Yelp Reviews (another study Mike did) can help with ranking.

Look at it this way, if you can teach Google about facts, and then have those facts verified by engagement and followers, then Google can understand much more about an entity and then rank it accordingly based on a users intent.

There is no dark magic going on here, just great content that gains engagement.