Is this duplicate content>>? Is google punishing me for it?!

[whitehat]

ok guys and gals.
Well, as a few regulars may recall I am in the process of having a new site built from scratch because the php script based site im currently running on just isnt up to the job in hand! it is very heavily customised (by me) but the code strucure is sufficiently bad and uncommented to preclude any deeper custmisations

Having said that, its all I have got at this moment (until early January when the new site should be complete) so I am trying to work out why I am where I am for a not 'so' competitive search term (2 million results)...when I have another PR6 (older) site that ranks top 10 in 40 million results plus.

ok,the issue
http://www.jobstopia.com/jobs/134-Sales-Estimator-South-Yorkshire---Sheffield.html

This is an advert that is on the site. Sometimes it rotates around and on to the homepage under the latest jobs (example only). or it can be found using the search function (banned by robots.txt)

There is a section on the site called 'list' which was created (in the script) to make adverts easily indexable by the serps.

The same advert appears again under the list page, rewritten URL again, but the URl is different...when accessed by Category - engineering - estimator

http://www.jobstopia.com/list/jobs/134.html

I already know what the answer is but I want to hear some other opinions on how badly G will punish this innocent Dupe content....

Is that why I am struggling to get above Position 21??

Should I max out development on the new site?

The list page is the only place where G can see all adverts in a list...
and I can hardly ban google from the homepage!!!

Any suggestions on this please? (I did think about trying to put a no follow on the homepage links but Im not sure if its worth trying it as this script is super duper complex and time v reward dont add up with it anymore!)
Quickfixes?

I have to get on P1 to start making some real earnings from this site...

All useful help greatly appreciated with this dilemma! Ive been puzzling over what could be holding my position on either top of P3 or tail of P2......
and ive recently got some great high PR organic links after much begging etc so Im sure its not lack of links at this time. (compared to the No1 site for my search term...)

sheffield jobs

[whitehat]

Cmmon guys....????
Someone must have an opinion on this?? Please

[jimbeetle]

The content isn't exactly the same and the page titles are different so these wouldn't be affected by the dupe content filter.

However, they're "basically" the same so I'd say it would be better for you to actually make the content the same and somehow wriggle your rewrites around so it can only be accessed by one URL. This will concentrate whatever link juice flows down to one page instead of splitting it between two.

And I just can't figure out how to access anything that looks like that second URL you posted. I've been back, forth, up and down and just can't seem to get to it. Even from your /list index any listing appears to go to pages formed like your first link. I'm a bit muddled.

Also, your meta descriptions and meta keywords appear to be the same across all pages. If you can't formulate unique descriptions and keywords for each page your best bet is to leave them out.

As an aside, please do one thing if nothing else. My eyes hurt. I'm looking at your site on a laptop at 1600 x 1200 on IE7 and I can barely read the text. And, as in IE6, text can't be resized in IE7, so I have to pump up the magnifier thingy to 150%. And then, of course, I'm faced with a long side scroll. Be nice to your visitors. ;-)

[whitehat]

Thanks for the input Jim

You make some good and very valid points.

ok. To address them, to access the URl like the second one I posted, if you go to here and then go down the page to the 'browse jobs by category section' > and then click the 'engineering' link within the category list.

This brings up a list of jobs and the URLs are different to the main 'latest jobs' or 'featured jobs' ones

The URL there is generated by the script and then rewritten slightly so I will look into using the same URl generation code (Dont ask me why they are different as I dont know any useful reason!! I blame the script author!)


Re the meta descriptions and keywords...agreed. This is a big problem and one I have known about for a good while. it is only on the actual adverts that they are the same (titles are different) because I manually changed them throughout the rest of the site but it has proven to be easier to create a new SEO loving site than try and fix this issue sadly (and expensively!)

Re the 1600 x 1200 issue. Definately needs correcting and effective browser resolution resizing (and or text increase/drecrease) is at the top of the list for the new site.
I will however see if I can sort it in the interim. Unfortunately when i bought this script and started customising it several years ago, I knew much less than I do know or I would have built a site from the ground up and saved many hours of bugfixing and customising!! However I put this down to the old 'live and learn' adage

many thanks for your comments. Much appreciated.

[beu]

Hey whitehat, sorry I missed your post! In addition to what jimbeetle said.

Even if your examples were duplicate content which they are not, they should fall under the non-malicious duplicate content "clause". Your examples are very similar to "Store items shown or linked via multiple distinct URLs".

"Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that either completely match other content or are appreciably similar. Mostly, this is not deceptive in origin. Examples of non-malicious duplicate content could include:

* Discussion forums that can generate both regular and stripped-down pages targeted at mobile devices
* Store items shown or linked via multiple distinct URLs
* Printer-only versions of web pages"

http://www.google.com/support/webmas...y?answer=66359

Some might say that your "Print Advert" page is "non-malicious duplicate content" under the "Printer-only versions of web pages" "clause" but for that to be true "Print Advert" pages would first need to be accessible to search engines and not contained within javascript.

Fix your meta, try to better direct "juice" flow and you should see an increase in terms of ranking. Duplicate content is not the real issue here.

[jimbeetle]

Ah, now I see how to get to that second page format. Guess I just clicked on the listings at the top of the page, those go to the first format.

What you really have to do here is pick one URL that resolves to one page format and go with that throughout in order to concentrate any link juice that flows down. Do it if you could with your current setup -- ideal -- or just wait and make sure it happens in the next iteration.

Also, if your future setup is going to change any URLs be sure to get a redirect/rewrite plan in place before launch.