With the arrival of the Internet, organizations have a new medium for promoting their
business and products. This led to the emergence of search engine optimization which is now leading the internet world. If you have just finished building your website then the next task on hands is its optimization. Search engine optimization is the best way to promote your
business worldwide and attract visitors and customers. Unfortunately some people suffer huge losses during this process as they get penalized on various search engines because of content duplication.
Content duplication is something which is very common nowadays and has raised many questions. In general, content duplication is nothing but the presence of the same content on two different websites. These sites are known as mirror websites. In order to curb content duplication various search engines have started penalizing websites for having the same content. This is the reason why many websites and web pages don’t show up in search engine results.
With duplicate content there is no guarantee as to which page will show in search results and which won’t. Moreover, duplication of content also means that some sites and some pages are not indexed by search engines at all. Websites carrying duplicate content never get indexed and will vanish from the search engines index.
Search Engine’s checking for Content Duplicity
There are various places where search engines see duplicate content. Few of the popular ones are:
1. Product descriptions and manuals: The first and foremost place is the product descriptions
from various manufacturers, publishers and producers. This usually occurs on large
ecommerce sites. When one or more website offers the same products, they tend to use the same descriptions. This is nothing but content duplication.
2. Alternative print pages: This is something which is unknown to many website owners.
There are various websites offering the same content on different pages that may be formatted for printers.
3. Pages that use duplicate syndicated RSS feeds: When RSS feeds from various websites are
reproduced on other pages in addition to the original source website. This appears to be duplicate content as the text which is being displayed using server side includes is presented as html on the pages.
4. Canonicalization reasons: This is a new term to the world of content duplication. Herein a
search engine may locate the same page as different pages with different URLs. This is why it is also known as a “canonical URL”.
5. Article submission or syndication: For optimizing reasons, many site owners create articles
and for popularizing offer them others for linking and attribution to the original source is made. This is at times tagged as content duplication by various search engines.
6. Mirrored websites: In content duplication this is the most widely used method. It has been
seen that when a website becomes popular and busy people tend to look for an alternative. This is when they create a mirror website and the mirrored website carries the same data or content.
Many popular websites have used mirror sites in the past and for this they often use multiple servers and load balancing techniques. Unfortunately search engines can easily detect
duplicated URL structures of mirrored websites.
Ill effects of Duplicity
If you are facing difficulties with the web pages of your site showing up in search engines, if they are shown as supplemental results or even if they seem to be disappearing from the index of a search engine, then content duplication is the issue that is harming the pages of your website.
CraigsList
Craigslist is a centralized network of urban communities on the internet that features free classified advertisements. These advertisements include housing, jobs, personals, for
sale/wanted services, resumes and forums etc. The ads are in a sorted format under various topics.
Craig Newmark founded Craigslist in 1995 for the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1999, Craigslist expanded in nine more cities in 2000. Until November 2006 Craigslist was established in 450 cities all over the world, with a staff of 22 people. Revenue is generated with the help of paid jobs in different cities. Craigslist allows you to search and post
advertisements free of charge except job listings in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Unlike ebay or other classified sites that charge fees, advertisers can place free listings that target a specific region or city.
Craigslist Statistics
As per Craigslist facts sheet on craigslist.org, Craigslist serves over 5 billion page views every month. It has roughly around 15 million unique visitors and over 12 million new classified ads each month.
Benefits offered by Craigslist:
• Craigslist is an affordable advertising option for marketers. Most postings on the website are free except when you are posting a job listing in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
• Craigslist allow marketers to reach a wide array of people. As Craigslist is a popular site, by advertising here traffic to a particular website greatly increases thus allowing for large audience reach.
• Advertising on Craigslist is a good option as compared to other traditional advertising sources, as it allows people to look for specific items and services in a specific category.
How to post Your Ad on Craigslist
Posting your ad on Craigslist is very easy but while doing this keep in mind that a simple design is more suitable as it is more in align to the Craigslist community will be most effective. For best results the ads should be posted in the most relevant category. The ad should be concise, accurate, without any grammatical and punctuation errors and legitimate. Studying the terms and conditions of Craigslist immensely contributes in creating good ads. Answering ads seeking the desired products or services increases interactivity and is also a good way to generate business.
It is a convenient place to shop at and has a user friendly interface that offers easy navigation. Local listings help in obtaining information about various products and services available in the area.
Craigslist facts as per Craigslist factsheet on craigslist.org
Q: What is Craigslist?
A: Craigslist is a local community classifieds and forums. A place where you can find jobs, housing, community information, goods & services, social activities, advice, etc. all for free, and in a relatively non-commercial environment.
Q: How was Craigslist started?
A: Craig Newmark started it in San Francisco, California. Q: How much traffic does Craigslist receive?
A: It receives more than 5 billion page views per month. Q: How many people are using Craigslist?
A: More than 15 million people are using Craigslist each month. Q: How many classified ads does Craigslist receive?
Q: How many Craigslist discussion forums are there?
A: There are about 50 million user postings in more than 100 topical forums. Q: Who is the CEO of Craigslist?
A: Jim Buckmaster has been craigslist's president & CEO since late 2000.