The Sultan Of Smut

Google?s duplicate content filter is notorious. There have been many articles written about it, many forum posts and discussions regarding it, and speculation that runs rampant. What there has seemed be a lack of, however, is discussion as to whether or not other search engines apply duplicate content filters for their search results, like Google does so famously. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps it?s because Google has it all wrong, at least in the eyes of those getting penalized for duplicate content. It is, in fact, the ones being penalized that created the original content, but are no where to be found in the SERPs. It feels to those webmasters as if they invented a new product, and because of that product?s popularity duplicates popped up everywhere. Flattering at first, but in the end, it is one of their competitors who duplicated the idea, who patents it as their own. To add insult to injury the original creator of the product gets fined for claiming it was their own. It makes them want to scream ?Liar, liar, pants on fire?? Ok, I?m being a bit facetious, but it certainly feels unfair.

Is it cheating? Yes, in a way, it is. But this is how the game is played, at least for this moment in time with Google.While it does seem that most search engines apply a filter of a sort, it appears that only Yahoo and MSN have the technology to analyze where the content originated. And because their filters are working like they should be, you aren?t hearing anyone complaining about it. People generally don?t complain about something that works right; they complain about things that are working incorrectly; in fact many times a bit too loudly.