Website duplication and Google penalisation

[la vache!]

I'm putting my business up for sale and want to use one of my spare .eu domains, currently on a 301 direct to my main website. I'm worried that if I do this and use some of the photos and text from my main website that Google will see this as duplication and my main website SEO position will suffer. Should I worry about this or not as it is hopefully a temporary thing - although it all depends how long it takes to sell?

[vrooje]

Perhaps you could re-write the text from scratch? Then it would probably be sufficiently different that Google wouldn't think of it as a duplication...

[la vache!]

Thanks Brooke - is it just the text and not the photos that count? If so, then the text will be quite different anyway, so it won't be a problem.

[altyfc]

It is the duplication of text that Google will be looking for.

And yes, you'd be better off re-writing than copying and pasting any sections of the text as this could harm one or other of the two sites.

Good luck with the sale.

[Alan Knighting]

I'm putting my business up for sale.....

Susan,

Our fellow member Garri seems to be very keen on the use of blogs and from what he has said about them perhaps a blog is the way for you to go when advertising your properties for sale. I assume you could incorporate links between your blog and your web site.

Actually I’m very interested in this subject. Joan and I regularly contemplate the next step in our lives and, as far as she is concerned, it would be selling everything we now have at and moving into a house just for us and very near to the sea. We must look into all ways of advertising our properties for sale and using a website or a blog seems to be an obvious choice.

Maybe this thread might be better located in “Buying/selling your home�? I recognise that your question is a technical one but I think the subject raises questions which many of us might ask of ourselves at some time in the future.

Alan

[la vache!]

Good point Alan - perhaps Brooke or Paolo could move it?
I'd like to do a blog, but have tried and got exactly nowhere. I haven't had time to sit down and really put some effort into it though - I'm a lot happier with Dreamweaver!

[Wol]

I haven't read Garri's posts, but I agree that blogs are extremely useful for exposure. Our blog gets read by locals, our friends and family, people with similar interests and engaged in similar activities, people who find it by accident by searching for all sorts of things and other people who blog who pick it up from the random selection of blogs that come up when you log in.

There are two big advantages to blogs - you are linked to the entire blogosphere, and you don't have to stay on topic - you can introduce all sorts of non sequitors and it is rather surprising how often you get a hit because you have idly commented on something not directly connected with the main business of the blog.

Having said that, when we were house hunting, I don't think we came across anyone using a blog as a selling tool. Also, LV's comment that they are time consuming is quite right. Formatting a post so that the pictures sit where you want them to in relation to the text, and writing at any length and making the post read and look nice can take all day sometimes.

[vrooje]

Don't you sort of get into the gray area between a blog and a static website with a home sale? I mean, for a site to be a blog it typically requires regular updates. But if you're advertising a home or business for sale, after you've written the articles giving information on the location, profit margins, etc. (all of which should be included up front), then what? The biggest update would be the sale of the business -- in which case you don't need the blog anymore.

Now, a blog of your experiences while trying to sell a business... that's different. Is that something you'd want prospective buyers to see?

(Or, what did I miss? I've never sold a business before, so I am just speculating.)

[Alan Knighting]

Brooke,

I really know nothing about blogs but from what has been said it would appear that they come to fore very much more quickly than do traditional Websites and immediacy can be very important in trying to sell a property or a business. A large part of selling is coming to the notice of one’s audience.

Alan

[la vache!]

Brooke,

I really know nothing about blogs but from what has been said it would appear that they come to fore very much more quickly than do traditional Websites and immediacy can be very important in trying to sell a property or a business. A large part of selling is coming to the notice of one’s audience.

Alan

I don't think they will appear quickly enough. Most people I know who sell do so through estate agents. I still can't understand why people do so in France though, yesterday I went to see a house directly through the notaire instead of through the agent. The house is 21000€ cheaper for me this way.

[Alan Knighting]

I don't think they will appear quickly enough. Most people I know who sell do so through estate agents. I still can't understand why people do so in France though, yesterday I went to see a house directly through the notaire instead of through the agent. The house is 21000€ cheaper for me this way.

An interesting difference!

Alan

[Wol]

LV

I agree. I would just go to the notaire if I was buying now, but that is with the benefit of hindsight and experience.