Duplicate Content Issues on City Landing Pages

[lukaszadam]

Hey There everyone! My first post in here, I hope I do everything right. If not, just let me know

I have a small problem regarding the content of some City Landing pages. These pages are about a Fitness Company which has different Fitness Centers across the whole county. They are using City Landing Pages for every City. The Content on these pages is fresh and unique (300 words). The problem: There is legal information about every city center which is exactly the same (also 300 words).

Now I know Google sees some of the content which is repeated over a few pages as Supplemental Content (SC). However, in this case I think it is too much, since its 300 words. What would be the best solution? Creating an extra Page, is there any special Markup or maybe it is not a problem at all?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Phil Rozek]

@lukaszadam, in my experience that amount of generic content is not a problem.

What I'd suggest is adding to the unique part over time - and never call those pages "done." Every time you get a new photo of a job, or get a new review, or add a new staff member at a location, or just have an idea, you'll want to add that new stuff to the relevant page(s).

 

[Dan Foland]

If each of these pages has a unique address and contact info it shouldn't be a problem.

I had a client that had a single location and roughly 100 'service area' pages for towns and cities nearby. They mostly had unique content, but they were likely looked at as doorway pages by Google. The site didn't get penalized (as it doesn't exist for duplicate content), but the service area pages were performing badly in search and saw very little traffic.

 

[lukaszadam]

Thanks for all the great Help Guys, but wouldn't it be the best solution, to create an extra page for the legal information and to just put a few important points on these City Landing Pages?

 

[Dan Foland]

I don't think it will really matter either way. You're likely not trying to rank for the legal information, so having it on every page doesn't dilute anything of value. What is best for your user? If having it on a separate page is a better user experience I would do that. If having it on each of those pages is a better user experience then do that. I'd personally have it on a separate page with a link to it, but that's only because I don't think people actually read or care about the legal information.

 

[lukaszadam]

I don't think it will really matter either way. You're likely not trying to rank for the legal information, so having it on every page doesn't dilute anything of value. What is best for your user? If having it on a separate page is a better user experience I would do that. If having it on each of those pages is a better user experience then do that. I'd personally have it on a separate page with a link to it, but that's only because I don't think people actually read or care about the legal information.

Thank you for your respond! That really helped me.

 

[MeganR]

Hi, Welcome.

What about putting the 'legal' info into an image? Google won't read it as duplicate content, and yet, it's still readily available for visitors to read.

 

[lukaszadam]

Hi, Welcome.

What about putting the 'legal' info into an image? Google won't read it as duplicate content, and yet, it's still readily available for visitors to read.

very good idea! Thanks for writing this. I will check that.

 

[boydlake]

I just saw this forum today and joined, and had a couple of thoughts to add.

Most companies will want a lot of visual similarity for branding reasons. For example, the layout and design, branding etc. will all be identical.

Given that, I try to differentiate between store/locations with the content within this framework, focusing on what makes each location unique and distinct. Business name, address, and phone number should all have their unique information. Additionally, each location can carry other info such as maps, location photos (with distinct location alt text) etc. that further differentiate the location's page. Meta information should all be localized too of course.

Off-page, there's a lot that can help distinguish pages too, like the local GMB/Bing Places and other citations that distinguish the local business as distinct to search engines.

Good Luck!

—Boyd

 

[lukaszadam]

I just saw this forum today and joined, and had a couple of thoughts to add.

Most companies will want a lot of visual similarity for branding reasons. For example, the layout and design, branding etc. will all be identical.

Given that, I try to differentiate between store/locations with the content within this framework, focusing on what makes each location unique and distinct. Business name, address, and phone number should all have their unique information. Additionally, each location can carry other info such as maps, location photos (with distinct location alt text) etc. that further differentiate the location's page. Meta information should all be localized too of course.

Off-page, there's a lot that can help distinguish pages too, like the local GMB/Bing Places and other citations that distinguish the local business as distinct to search engines.

Good Luck!

—Boyd

Thanks for your help

 

[JoshuaMackens]

If each of these pages has a unique address and contact info it shouldn't be a problem.

I had a client that had a single location and roughly 100 'service area' pages for towns and cities nearby. They mostly had unique content, but they were likely looked at as doorway pages by Google. The site didn't get penalized (as it doesn't exist for duplicate content), but the service area pages were performing badly in search and saw very little traffic.

I've also seen where the doorway pages are penalizing the homepage as well. It may go under the radar sometimes because the homepage may only slip a few spots, but it's there.