Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Does having the same descrition for different products a bad thing the titles are all differnent but but they are the same product but with different designs on them does this count as duplicate content?
- 
					
					
					
					
 does having the same description for different products a bad thing the titles are all different but but they are the same product but with different designs on them does this count as duplicate content? 
- 
					
					
					
					
 I heard Matt Cutts on a video say that meta description is not a ranking factor anymore. But have the same meta description repeat many times throughout your site can sound like a spam site. I personally would write different meta description. If it's only a couple hundred, just hack it out and get it over with. If it's in the thousands, well you have a problem. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Yes, because it make sense for both the users and Google. Google is against duplicate description all over your site for home page, contact, about and product pages just because that will impact the users in a negative way. In your case, like in zazzle.com it dose make sense. It will be weird and un-helpful just to change the description so you don't have duplicates or just change slight words again for the same reason. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 I have to disagree - I still strongly suggest not to focus to much on this issue in your case - but this is why this filed is exciting  different opinions and approaches different opinions and approaches If the description for the product is the same why changing it ? We should do this for the user not google if we want to keep everything clean and white. And in this case for the user it dose make sense to have the same description. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Yeah that should be fine. Sorry, you didn't mention before how closely related the products were. Just try to keep the description as unique as you can, as hard as that might be when exact same product but a different colour. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Hi The problem we have is the only difference is the design printed on the case the actual case itself is the same as all the others made out of the same material etc etc. So we presumed google looks at just the title etc. So if we just changed the words slightly to each other or just describe the image would this be okay 
- 
					
					
					
					
 Hi David, If it's exactly the same description used for different products then yes, it still counts as duplicate content. Why are you not writing unique descriptions? It would be much more informative for the customer if the description was specific to the product they wished to purchase. Multiple product pages with the same description is a large problem now with Google Panda. Avoid doing it. 
- 
					
					
					
					
 For sure it dosen't count as duplicate content ! The only down side is the CTR in search results pages - if having the same description your user could be confused then it's a problem if not then it's 100% ok. Hope it helps. 
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
- 
		
		Moz ToolsChat with the community about the Moz tools. 
- 
		
		SEO TacticsDiscuss the SEO process with fellow marketers 
- 
		
		CommunityDiscuss industry events, jobs, and news! 
- 
		
		Digital MarketingChat about tactics outside of SEO 
- 
		
		Research & TrendsDive into research and trends in the search industry. 
- 
		
		SupportConnect on product support and feature requests. 
Related Questions
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Do content copycats (plagiarism) hurt original website rankings?
 Hi all, Found some websites stolen our content and using the same sentences in their website pages. Does this content hurt our website rankings? Their DA is low, still we are worried about the damage about this plagiarism. Thanks White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | vtmoz0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Why to add a product id in the url
 Hello ! shop.com/en/2628-buy-key-origin-the-sims-4-seasons/ Why will people use a product id in the link? Is there any advantage like better ranking or else? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | kh-priyam0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Pages mirrored on unknown websites (not just content, all the HTML)... blackhat I've never seen before.
 Someone more expert than me could help... I am not a pro, just doing research on a website... Google Search Console shows many backlinks in pages under unknown domains... this pages are mirroring the pages of the linked website... clicking on a link on the mirror page leads to a spam page with link spam... The homepage of these unknown domain appear just fine... looks like that the domain is partially hijacked... WTF?! Have you ever seen something likes this? Can it be an outcome of a previous blackhat activity? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | 2mlab0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		I'm changing title tags and meta tags, url, will i loose my ranking?
 Hi Guys QUESTION: I'm currently going through a re-design for my new website that was published in November 2014 - since launching we found there were many things we needed to change, our pages were content thin being one of the biggest. I had industry experts that came in and made comments on the title tags lacking relevance for eg: our title tag for our home page is currently "Psychic Advice" most ideal customers don't search "Psychic Advice" they search more like "Online Psychic Reading" or Psychic Readings" I noticed alot of my competitors also were using title tags such as Online Psychic Readings, Free Psychic Readings etc so it brings me to my question of "changing the title tags around. The issue is, im ranking for two keywords in my industry, online psychics and online psychic readings in NZ. 1. Our home page and category pages are content thin.... so hoping that adding the changes will create perhaps some consistency also with the added unique and quality content. Here is the current website: zenory. co.nz and the new one is www.ew-zenory.herokuapp.com which is currently in development I have 3 top level domains com,com.au, and co.nz Is there anyone that can give me an idea if I were to change my home page title tag to **ZENORY | Online Psychic Readings | Live Psychic Phone and Chat ** If this will push my rankings down though this page will have alot more valuable content etc? For obvious reasons im going to guess it will make drop, I'm wondering though if it is worth changing the title tags and meta descriptions around or leaving it as is if its already doing well? How much of a difference do title tags and meta descriptions really make? Any insight into this would be great! Thanks White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | edward-may1
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Can H1 and Meta title be exactly the same ?
 I've heard from some SEO's that H1 and Meta Title shouldn't be exactly the same, why ? Both of them describe what is ON the page right ? Why is it Spammy? Is it ? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Tintanus2
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Are All Paid Links and Submissions Bad?
 My company was recently approached by a website dedicated to delivering information and insights about our industry. They asked us if we wanted to pay for a "company profile" where they would summarize our company, add a followed link to our site, and promote a giveaway for us. This website is very authoritative and definitely provides helpful use to its audience. How can this website get away with paid submissions like this? Doesn't that go against everything Google preaches? If I were to pay for a profile with them, would I request for a "nofollow" link back to my site? White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | jampaper1
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Unique page URLs and SEO titles
 www.heartwavemedia.com / Wordpress / All in One SEO pack I understand Google values unique titles and content but I'm unclear as to the difference between changing the page url slug and the seo title. For example: I have an about page with the url "www.heartwavemedia.com/about" and the SEO title San Francisco Video Production | Heartwave Media | About I've noticed some of my competitors using url structures more like "www.competitor.com/san-francisco-video-production-about" Would it be wise to follow their lead? Will my landing page rank higher if each subsequent page uses similar keyword packed, long tail url? Or is that considered black hat? If advisable, would a url structure that includes "san-francisco-video-production-_____" be seen as being to similar even if it varies by one word at the end? Furthermore, will I be penalized for using similar SEO descriptions ie. "San Francisco Video Production | Heartwave Media | Portfolio" and San Francisco Video Production | Heartwave Media | Contact" or is the difference of one word "portfolio" and "contact" sufficient to read as unique? Finally...am I making any sense? Any and all thoughts appreciated... White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | keeot0
- 
		
		
		
		
		
		Hiding content or links in responsive design
 Hi, I found a lot of information about responsive design and SEO, mostly theories no real experiment and I'd like to find a clear answer if someone tested that. Google says: White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | NurunMTL
 Sites that use responsive web design, i.e. sites that serve all devices on the same set of URLs, with each URL serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device
 https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details For usability reasons sometimes you need to hide content or links completely (not accessible at all by the visitor) on your page for small resolutions (mobile) using CSS ("visibility:hidden" or "display:none") Is this counted as hidden content and could penalize your site or not? What do you guys do when you create responsive design websites? Thanks! GaB0
 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
			
		 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				 
					
				