How much Duplicate Content is too Much?

Everybody does it right? Well, likely. But should you?

How much duplicate content is too much?

Really in the ideal world all work would be original and accredited and new ideas would flourish. But that takes so much WORK.

Many sites use content form other sites, some sites do not even really have any original content but are just kind of like indexes to other web page's content. There is a fear that some day you will not be able to find more that a few sources of new information online since most would refer to take the easy road and generate content rather than create.

If you choose to use others content it should be accredited (even linked to) and applicable. If you want to use a chart or other data snippet it can be placed on your web page as an image instead of text so it does not appear as duplicate content. Most search engines will over look short selections. However, you may want to be careful about duplicating your own content too much, such as displaying your mission statement or company philosophy over and over again on your site, that may also be seen as duplicate content. If it is helpful to your site to do this, post it as an image.

As mentioned in a previous post, if you plan on keeping your site around for a while, you may want to do a little extra work now to prevent problems later. And if you think duplicate content may hurt you in the long run, create original content and quote other web site content only when it is necessary and properly credited.