An easy way to build content on your website is by simply mirroring content from another source; this is commonly known as syndication. It’s a great way for a new website to quickly build content – especially if you already run a different site and don’t necessarily have enough time to create unique content for each site. Though this may seem like a no brainer for building content quickly, it requires some thought. Simply copying and pasting large blocks of content and attempting to pass it as unique copy could land you a penalty from Google in your search ranking. Hosting “bad” duplicate content is more or less SEO kryptonite, but thankfully it is possible to use this technique and still stay on good speaking terms with Google. Below are a few basic tips to avoid setting off a duplicate content flag, and ultimately avoiding a ranking penalty.

Use 301 redirects if you have recently migrated your site to a new domain. A “301 redirect” is a small line of code in your .htaccess file which will redirect your users to a different URL–and will let Google know you’ve moved your site. The last thing you want to do is leave your old website, hosting the same content, in parallel with your new domain.

Syndicate carefully if you are syndicating content across multiple websites.  This practice is commonly used on WordPress Multisite Networks, so you should be sure to post a link or a “pingback” to the original article source. This will let Google know you are hosting a syndicate network and not just scraping other sites’ content to boost your SEO.

Block known duplicate content.  If you are hosting a separate mobile version of your site, or possibly a printable version of your site, configure your site with appropriate “no index” tags to help direct Google robots to your main content area and eliminate the possibility indexing duplicate content.

Don’t worry about others who are copying your content. Google has stated many times that it’s very unlikely that another individual scraping content off your site will negatively impact your search ranking – though they certainly don’t say the same for the content leeches!

Using these simple tips, you should find yourself on the right track to using duplicate content effectively. The trick is to identify when content has been duplicated, and be smart about it. If you post the same information on one part of your site as another, such as a blog and a forum on the same domain, take care of the situation and no index whatever is the least important to you. Not only do these types of practices help direct your user to the correct area of your website – but it keeps you clean in Google’s eyes.