Bad SEO for duplicate WordPress.com AND WordPress.org blogs?
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Hi All,
I recently started a blog at WordPress.com and a self-hosted one with WordPress.org. I really like the .org’s independence and control, but I also like the .com’s active community, views, and comments.
My plan was to run two duplicate blogs (.org and .com). The .org would gain a following organically, but very slowly. The .com would gain a larger following faster, due to the community. Once the .com has a momentum, I could then maybe migrate my followers over to the .org site and shut down the .com site.
The problem is, I’ve read that having duplicate content is bad for SEO, which can result in both sights being penalized in search rankings and hits.
WordPress.com has an option to “discourage search engines from indexing this site”, but I believe this is only a no index (search engines can still follow/crawl the site). If so, does that mean search engines are still evaluating my sites and I can still potentially be penalized for the duplicate content? What to do…
Thanks!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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If you run a blog here that is just a duplicate of a blog elsewhere, staff request that you set it to Private or it will be subject to suspension.
The duplicate content thing is also a HUGE, HUGE issue. It will affect your site not just now but for months to come if you duplicate a site the way you are suggesting. I suggest you simply concentrate on building up a following on WP.com using a Custom Domain and mapping, and when you’re ready to move off Wp.com, you just transfer the content and the domain name and POOF! Done and no duplicate penalty and no suspension either.
People do this every day. It’s routine, accepted, and the best way to do it.
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Thanks for the input! I’ll move my self-hosted site to private.
Why, though, is it such a huge issue for WordPress.com? All of the duplicated content is mine. I’m not plagiarizing or violating anyone else’s copyrights. I’m only aware of potential SEO penalties…
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Because they have to guard against spammers trying to leverage the various community benefits of WP.com including tag pages. If they didn’t protect against that, literally every ambitious blogspot, tumblr, and wix user would have a double here. And what good is that to WP.com? None.
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