(Entry was posted by Cheryl L Yancey on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, Wednesday, July 11, 2018).

Industry-provided content

I have a few clients who want to add industry-provided content (blog posts) on their site.

For example, a plumber will subscribe to a plumber`s industry organization and one of that organization`s perks is that they provide licensed blog content that their members can post on their websites. It`s pretty easy to assume that dozens - if not hundreds - of other members are posting this same content on their websites.

I`ve got several clients asking about this - from several different industries - so I don`t think this is an unusual practice. But how does this work with Google`s duplicate content rules? How do you advise your clients when they ask about this?

I have been advising my clients against this practice, but the number of organizations offering this kind of service is increasing, so I`m wondering if I`m missing something.

Thanks!!!

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions G+ community.

John Bosworth: Duplicate content for sure!!!I would get around it by adding a canonical back to the source and use it only to ‘fill’ the site out.
John Bosworth: Duplicate content for sure!!!I would get around it by adding a canonical back to the source and use it only to ‘fill’ the site out.
Dave Elliott: If its good content then put it on the site, but no-index it. Might be useful for users, not so much for seo.
Michael Martinez: Google`s recommendation for syndicated content: Syndicate carefully: If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you`d prefer. However, it is helpful to ensure that each site on which your content is syndicated includes a link back to your original article. You can also ask those who use your syndicated material to use the noindex meta tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the content. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66359?hl=en
Shelly Fagin: As someone who has several home service clients, customers aren’t going to search through and read your blog posts directly. That will only occur if the post showed up in a search the person did in Google and that’s how they landed on the plumbers site. They need original content, not something syndicated that’s on hundreds of others sites. That’s either massive duplicate content or the canonical points to the original source which is not their own so Google won’t index it for their site. Totally pointless and is used as a selling tactic by this organization that is actually hurting their members not helping them.
Scott Clark: Even if these are no index these posts can be good for social media campaigns. well written, engaging content can drive quite a bit of traffic for quite a low cost in those channels. if nobody within your target geographic area is sharing the same content you can still have high perceived value from them. And you can build retargeting audiences from that for diverse campaigns. Google is not the only game in town. 😊
Cheryl L Yancey: Thank you everyone. I appreciate the diverse and in-depth responses. This really gives me a better way to respond to my clients when this comes up. Thanks so much!!! :) :) :)