The problem of duplicate content

Websites that feature user-generated copy, such as classified advertisements, job listings or rental properties, can end up jeopardising search engine optimisation (SEO) rankings due to the content being featured on other websites, one sector commentator has warned.

Randfish, writing on the online blog of SEOmoz, explained that when the content is duplicated on the websites of a firm's competitors, this can be "frustrating".

Not only can this cause the search engine not to list all of a website's content, it can even result in unique copy also being excluded.

The answer, according to Randfish, is to ensure the site's users create unique and interesting copy should they want to post information, by designing categories for them to input data.

This can result in the users posting less interesting content stopping using the site and increases the quality of the website.

"You might even find that you're outranking the competition because you have higher quality, more detailed listings - even on the duplicates - along with more ways to sort, search and organise the data," he concluded.

Meanwhile, in an earlier posting, Randfish claimed that search engines needed to more carefully monitor their rankings.

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