Duplicate content, when provided by sellers, can be easy to fill in a website with, but the effects may not be worth it. Image: Flickr / wherearethejoneses / CC-BY
Some of the highest-competition industries online, such as travel and product retailing, all have one problem. Affiliates and resellers make use of all of the resources available to them, including syndicated content. Syndicated content can be very useful, but balancing it with unique content can provide the SEO boost you need to stay ahead. Syndicated content is useful, but using it as the main content and not supplemental information will relegate your website to low rankings and sales, no matter what industry you are targeting.
Uses of syndicated content
Syndicated content is often provided for resellers of products or services. The same content is provided to all of the resellers, and can contain simple statistics about the products or extensive copy and images of the product. Syndicated content does a significant amount of the work of filling in the content for products or services. Syndicated content can fill up a website quickly and easily, and many search engines use this syndicated content to collate product search results.
Why syndicated content can hurt your sales
While syndicated content is both useful and easy, it can also be a Trojan horse. Search engines have been tweaking their algorithms in order to scrub duplicate content out of search results. Google has specifically said that it filters out duplicate content in order to provide better search results. For your website, that means lower search engine rankings and lower sales. Simply put, duplicate content means lower rankings.
How to put syndicated content to use
Although syndicated content can trip duplicate content filters, you can still make use of the available information. Syndicated content should be used to enhance your non-syndicated copy. Identify it as information from the manufacturer and put it after your original content. Take the time and effort to write unique descriptions of every product, even if it means your website goes up later. More unique content (not just spins or re-writes of the syndicated content) than syndicated content will help your site rank above even big-name websites that use just the provided content.
