Duplicate content penalty for using the same GMB posts?

[Seo Guru]

Is there any penalty for using the same GMB post again and again?

 

[jvaquino]

I don't think there is a penalty for dupe content in GMB post. Check here Posts content policy - Google My Business Help

 

[Colan Nielsen]

@Seo Guru I've never experienced a penalty and I haven't seen anyone say it has happened to them.

 

[Annika Neudecker]

I've never seen a penalty for reusing GMB posts, either for using the same content across multiple locations or for reposting the same content for more than a week running. If they ever started penalizing the former, a lot of us enterprise types would start sweating!

 

[BenFisher]

There may not be a stated penalty, and I am pretty sure there have not been any scientific tests, however, in my talks with Googlers, they have stated that fresh content is preferred.

 

[djbaxter]

Duplicate content has never been penalized, ever, in Google search in any of its forms. It's just ignored so it may not help.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

There are two components here.
Same post repeated multiple times on the same listing
Same post (posted only once but) repeated across many listings on a multi-location business.

On the first, it would not be good user experience to have repetitive posts, don't know if there is an actual penalty.

For the second, any penalty would penalize large brands and I doubt it is even being checked.

 

[Joeri]

Does anyone have any experience with how content in the Products, Services or Q&A section in GMB-listings is valued? For example, when you use similar content from your website in the Products, Services or Q&A section of your GMB-listing, will this result in duplicate content issues?

 

[Yan Gilbert]

99.9% sure there is no problem whatsoever with reusing content.

 

[Seo Guru]

On the first, it would not be good user experience to have repetitive posts, don't know if there is an actual penalty.

But because GMB posts expire after 7 days, reusing the same post again and again for the same location doesn't seem like it would be a bad user experience to me. Especially if you are not the type of business that gets repeat customers all the time.

 

[Emily Brady]

It _could_ be a bad experience if they open up the full list of posts and see a bunch of the same thing over and over again (i.e., it'll look a bit spammy). If you really don't want to mix up the verbiage and / or image associated with the post I would recommend deleting the old version and reposting when it expires to protect the user experience. That way, when users actually click through to the archive of past posts, there won't be any duplicates.

I have done this before but only for one-off situations where an old announcement is relevant again. In those situations, I've occasionally reused the old verbiage/image and deleted the initial post. I haven't tried it over and over again, though - but it might be a viable solution for you!

 

[Ampere]

Duplicate content has never been penalized, ever, in Google search in any of its forms. It's just ignored so it may not help.

Hi @djbaxter, I am just curious about what you said here. I have seen this said before so it has made me wonder for a while.

If this is true, then that would mean that if there was an excellently written locksmith's website in Miami, that another locksmith in Chicago can copy the content without being penalized. And since they are in 2 separate areas, the plagiarizer would rank in his area just as well as the original would show in his own.

Is that correct?

 

[djbaxter]

Not exactly. Where there is duplicate content where one is an exact copy of the other, one of the copies is ignored by Google. It's not that difficult to identify which version was first and even if Google missed it eventually it would l;ikely be reported by someone,.

 

[Ampere]

Not exactly. Where there is duplicate content where one is an exact copy of the other, one of the copies is ignored by Google. It's not that difficult to identify which version was first and even if Google missed it eventually it would l;ikely be reported by someone,.

Ok, so in the situation that I described of one SAB copying the content from another SAB from a different, instead of a penalty of a lower ranking, it would just not show up at all? The ultimate penalty.

 

[djbaxter]

Once Google knows that it is a duplicate, yes.

It really isn't worth copying pages from other websites. You might also get hit with copyright violation and if there's enough copied content Google could get hit with a DMCA request potentially removing your whole site from their search results.

 

[Jackycham]

Not exactly. Where there is duplicate content where one is an exact copy of the other, one of the copies is ignored by Google. It's not that difficult to identify which version was first and even if Google missed it eventually it would l;ikely be reported by someone,.

Do you think this would still apply if you deleted the old post? Would Google still see it as a duplicate?

Also I have been testing out changing the EXIF data for images in posts to optimise for location and keywords. It seems to have been working for me but I have only been using this technique for 1-2 weeks. Does anyone else have any experience with this?

 

[carolyn2]

Is there any penalty for using the same GMB post again and again?

We have actually done tests on this - and the short answer is no penalty. In fact, we've seen if are interlinked even if they are not public they are still "there" and for businesses that have them, repeating posts can reinforce specific services and if you tune your service page you can start to trigger a knowledge panel. Lots of meat on this bone!

 

[Jackycham]

We have actually done tests on this - and the short answer is no penalty. In fact, we've seen if are interlinked even if they are not public they are still "there" and for businesses that have them, repeating posts can reinforce specific services and if you tune your service page you can start to trigger a knowledge panel. Lots of meat on this bone!

When you say interlinked do you mean using the previous posts share URL as the destination for your next post? or perhaps posting the share URL in the body of the GMB post?

 

[carolyn2]

Using the previous post's URL just like a link you would place in new content (the new post) and so on like you are stringing pearls.