Thanks for the tips...I have 2 different blogs and I often post the same article to both blogs.  I'll drop that practice.

Lou - Good to know.  Thanks.

Thanks for the informative post! It's all still over my head, but I'd hate to get BANNED! Hope I do write a lot about my homes in my town. Hope that doesn't get checked as "duplication". yikes!

Lou, Very good list of Google Gotch Ya's.  I will add this to my lists binder.  Thanks for the help.

Great info! I'm working on a new Point2 site . I'll keep your words of wisdom in mind.

Great info!  I did not realize google bans anything!

thanks got sharing, lets see banned from bestbuy and several bars, but i am sure I will never be banned from Google

I am glad this helped out, I will continue to post little tidbits here and there.  If there is anything that you may have a question about, please ask.  I am here to help.

Google recently stated that duplicate content won't get you banned.  It is the very nature of the internet that there is bound to be duplicate content out there, such as those who syndicate their content, submit articles to directories, press releases, etc.

It just means that Google will only give the benefit of the content to where it finds it first.  Internally duplicate content is also not so much an issue any more, it just means only one of the duplicated pages will rank.  This is the same as having pages where the majority of the content is very similar.

Justin: I have read a little about this but it is my opinion that we as web authors, we should do our best to be unique and concentrate on the user experience.  I myself have had pages dropped from the Google index, because one of my staff copied some content from Wikipedia.  Remember too, that much of our audience are relatively new to SEO (target of my post), so it is good to start them off with good habbits.

 Here is the link to Google's Webmaster Guidelines: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

excellent tips Lou.....with regard to duplicate content....does that mean mentioning the same word multiple time.....??

I wondered about putting the same thing in two places...so this is good info.  I am also interested in what you have to say about Konnie's question

Lou nice post. Interesting that many have questions about duplicate posting. 

Thanks for the kudos Carolyn.  The duplicate content issue is a tricky one.  There are some items that should be duplicated without penalty and Google understand this and is working towards a smarter way of dealing with it (as pointed out by Justin in this post).  Things like real estate listing information and agent profiles are bound to be duplicated as it is distributed throughout the internet.  To avoid having it be an issue at all, do your best to create unique, compelling and useful content and you will never have to worry.

Konnie and Krista:  When I talk about duplicate content, I am primarily speaking about chunks of duplicate text found on multiple websites.  For example, say I had a successful website that ranked well due to the great content I had on it.  If I were to build another website using the exact same content, Google would frown on that.

 In regards to repeated word on a single page; You have to be real careful with this.  Repeating a keyword in effort to get ranked for it is considered keyword spamming and is not good.  If you are writing in natural flow and just so happen to repeat the keyword (naturally) then that is less likely to get flagged.

Check out the other blog I wrote on effective writing http://activerain.com/blogsview/406582/1-Basic-SEO-tips

I keep thinking I have learned of all the different aspects I need to work on but I keep reading everyones posts and finding more subjects I have to study. Thanks,

good tips. important to remember.

@Carol - It never ends.  The best we can do is make a good effort to keep up.  The fact that you are here and investing time and energy puts you above most agents in your market.  Keep up the good work.

 @John - It is hard to keep all these things in mind.  The more you do it, the more it will become second nature.

I have tried to be more careful about the duplicating since I heard about this.  I have two blogs and I did not realized they could not do some of the same.

-- I got two to add to that list, straight off  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769 Google's Webmaster Guildlines.

7. Automated Queries will get you banned.

8. Any keyword stuffing on the page. Loading Anchors with keywords (its not just the meta tag that gets stuffed) will get your page penalized.

Great post!  I learned a lot.  Thanks

Richard

www.habitecinspections.com

Gareth, thanks for the additions, I will post it at the top of the thread.

 Richard keep coming back.

You may not get banned for duplicate content but you definitely get dinged. I have one really successful site, Logan Utah Homes for Sale,  and I tried too duplicated the content for a more inclusive Utah Market... Well it also ranked great for a few weeks, then I got nothing. I'm pretty sure I got dinged for duplicate content. I've tried eliminating all the duplicate stuff, but still haven't gotten my rankings back... I just wish I new to avoid duplicate content before I ever started. Too bad I didn't read your blogs sooner.

Yeah, there is some content that is allowed to be duplicated and some that it is not.  I just try not to duplicate anything and play it safe.

 Thanks for the comment.

Lou,

Great to know....I am working hard to climb....I do not need to be banned!

Tying into what Dan just said, we work hard to get to where we are, it would be a shame to have to go back to square one (via being banned).  I know personally that I have tried really hard to keep up, technologically speaking, and it's a never ending struggle.  I haven't entered into the 'old timers' group yet, but I've been doing this for nearly 20 years, so it's real easy to say stupid things like ".... I remember when contract were 2 pages long!" or "... we've been doing it this other way for years, it's still good enough for me."  I know enough to know that even if you're on the right track, if you don't keep up you'll get run over.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, for helping keep me more technologically 'savvy',

Oh wow, so many web people have suggested the key word stuffing you mentioned.  When did that happen? 

Susan, keyword stuffing has never been good and has always been considered a "black-hat" SEO practice.  If you are getting advice, from a source that recommends this tactic, it is time to look for another source.

I have been getting a lot of response to Keyword Stuffing, so I wrote a blog on it, hope it helps.

 http://activerain.com/blogsview/431535/Keyword-Stuffing-Bad-Bad

Lou:

Thank you for your post..  you are right, we as agents can spend hours updating or sites and blogs, the last thing I would want is to be dropped or band from Google.

Thank you again for sharing such valuable information!

Lisa

You bet Lisa.  Keep coming back, there is more where that came from.

Just wondering how do you know you have been banned by Google?  Does your site not show up at all or is it just buried and hard to find?

It comes from watching your position on almost a daily (with me its an obsession so I watch my position more frequently).  When you see your position drop, a penaly has been assessed.  If you can't find your page at all in google, try googling the full URL.  If it doesn't appear, you have been banned.

 Here is more:

http://gpsgfaq.googlepages.com/banned.html

Lou:

How do you know that your template is not Google friendly. I am associated with a webmaster company that works with REALTORS and the templates are all so vanilla in style and content. Can one do research on this?

Great information.

Lou,

Great Tips, no body wants to penalized by Google.

Lou,

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.  I am curious, if I post the same blog material to my active rain blog as I do to my personal blog, will google kick me?  thanks for any assistance

I doubt it.  Blogs are widely syndicated and reproduced frequently.  With that being said, I would try to stay as unique as I could regardless.  The message I am trying to get across is to really think about who is reading it and try communicate with the humans (not the spiders).  Keep these few things in mind and you should be fine.

Thanks for the comment.

Yikes I also blog the same posts here and on my blog. Guess I had better do some more research on this one.

Thanks for the info...noticed that Google put a post about URL's matching on my PPC campaign recently as well.

I always post to several sites with the same blog entries - I never thought that could be an issue - thanks!

@ John and Lisa, please give us a link to the Google post

I think a lot of you are getting the wrong idea about the duplication issue.  To delve in it to the extent required would take another blog.  There are some situations where duplication is unavoidable.  I am not saying don't do it ever, I am merely suggesting to do your best not to.

Here is a blog on the google webmaster blog that may help:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2006/12/deftly-dealing-with-duplicate-content.html

Thank you for the info.  Apparently my site was penalized because I could at least find it when I ran a search, but now it is just buried but at least not banned. Was it the countless metatags I added?  Didn't realize that could be an issue.  I just figured it either worked and got you better ranking, or it didn't.

Janice Voelker 

www.Virtualeyes360.com   Virtual Tours

Lou, do you happen to know what companies are creating templates for realtors that are hurting our rankings?

Lou, do you happen to know what companies are creating templates for realtors that are hurting our rankings?

That is hard to say.  I would recommend however, researching the template company thoroughly before making a decision.  If I had the time I would compile a list of SEO freindly templates (it would make a great blog).

Lou- again great post... man you know your SEO stuff. This will help me psot right and not get into trouble with google and other search engines. keep it up!

You're welcome Freddy.  I think I am going to take these posts and break them down by writing a seperate blog on each of the points.

Lou, thanks for the great post, nice to know these thing.

-Bryan Flynn

Thanks. I have to admit I know way too little about SEO. This is very helpful. Bookmarked!

  Great ifo, thanks for the help.

Are you suggest just one blog and not to duplicate postings?

Thanks for the info om how to report someone copying your stuff.  I need to check some things out.

Lou, thanks for sharing this info, I didn't know Google banned website...ups..my bad!

I am in the learning process for google juice.  thank you taking the time to share the tips.

I am glad that I looked at this blog. I think I would have fallen into a lot of cut and paste moments when I start my next blog. Thanks!