GOOGLE S DUPLICATE IMAGE PENALTY 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training
Table of Contents Google s Duplicate Image Penalty... 3 Google Hates Duplicate Content... 3 Google Also Hates Affiliate Websites... 3 Duplicate Images = Affiliate Website = Google Penalty?... 3 Unique Written Content + Relevant Image = Good... 5 Duplicate Written Content + Duplicate Product Image = Bad... 5 Unique Written Content + Unique Images = Good... 7 Unique Content + Irrelevant Image = Bad... 8 Not All Duplicate Images are Bad!... 9 Google Duplicate Images Take Aways... 10 Comments and/or Questions?... 11 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 2
Google s Duplicate Image Penalty Is Google penalizing your website because you have duplicate images or images Google feels are not relevant to your niche? Google Hates Duplicate Content I am sure that you have heard of Google s duplicate content penalty regarding the written content on your website. However, did you also know that having images on your site that also appear on other sites could negatively impact your rankings? Google Also Hates Affiliate Websites If you have read Google s Quality Control Guidelines Policies dated back in March of 2011, you will also know that Google has a certain amount of distain toward affiliate websites. Duplicate Images = Affiliate Website = Google Penalty? Doesn t it make sense that if Google finds a lot of images that are duplicated on other websites, that it may suspect that you are an affiliate? How to Check For Duplicate Images The color profiles of images are the DNA of that image. 1. To demonstrate, we will use a Google Places image that we modified for a webinar: http://www.seotrainingsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/google-placesproblems.jpg 2. We will then go to Google Image search and click on the camera icon 3. We will then paste in the URL of our image 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 3
4. Notice in the image search results that Google s best guess for what this image represented was Google favorite place 5. Also, note that Google found Visually similar images. 6. Note that even though I slightly modified the image by resizing it and adding text of our webinar, Google lists pages that include matching images: 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 4
Unique Written Content + Relevant Image = Good In the example I just demonstrated, Google did not penalize this page and, in fact, it is ranking very well for a number of very competitive keyword phrases. The reason for this is because the content on this page is unique and because the image was relevant to the content on that page. Duplicate Written Content + Duplicate Product Image = Bad If you are an affiliate or if you sell other people s stuff on your website, you can get into deep trouble with duplicate content. 1. For this example I have gone to the product page of the Redline radar detector on the Escort Radar website and I am going to copy the text that introduces this product to my clipboard. 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 5
2. After I paste this into Google s search box, we see that Google returns over 3,430 other pages. 3. In reviewing most of these sites, we see that not only are they using 100% of the written content from the Escort website, they are also using the exact same image from the product page. 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 6
Unique Written Content + Unique Images = Good Let us look at the content on my affiliate website, RadarDetector.org, for the Escort Redline radar detector: http://www.radardetector.org/reviews/escort-redline-radar-detector-review/ 1. You will see that all the written content for this page is 100% unique. 2. The product image of the Redline was modified with Photoshop and it was optimized for SEO purposes. 3. Two videos were created, optimized and uploaded to YouTube. 4. Following are the results for a competitive keyword term used when searching for information about the Redline: 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 7
Unique Content + Irrelevant Image = Bad Finally, let us discuss stock images and why they can be bad business for your website. 1. In this example, we will use a stock image I am sure you have seen many times from Shutterstock s website. 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 8
2. Using the Google Image search, we can see that Google s best guess for this image is customer service. 3. In Google, we can also see that this matching image was found on 537 sites. 4. Now, let s consider that you used this same stock image that Google feels is relevant to customer service on a page that was not relevant to this topic at all. (We pay very close attention to customer service here at SEO Training SW; therefore, this example is relevant <grin>). Wouldn t you think that that might confuse Google? Not All Duplicate Images are Bad! Please do not assume that all duplicate images on your website are bad; some can actually help you with your rankings. Here are some examples: If you are an ecommerce website (or you want your affiliate website to appear as an ecommerce website), consider adding some of these images/logos to your site: 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 9
1. Consider joining the Better Business Bureau so you can add the BBB logo to your site: 2. Add a Shopping Cart logo to the top of all your pages along with a link to your shopping cart. 3. If you take credit cards, add the Visa, Mastercard logos to your site. Google Duplicate Images Take Aways To review, let s highlight a few of the major issues I hope you can take away from this article: 1. Google s Search by Image is based upon the COLOR PROFILE of the image. Thus, you can change the DNA of the image by changing the color, adding other elements to the image or reversing the landscape. 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 10
2. If you do use a duplicate image (or slightly modified image), make sure that all your other content is unique AND still relevant to that image. 3. To avoid the duplicate image penalty totally, use unique images or photos of your products, brand and employees. You also avoid the perception that you are being untruthful to your audience by using images which they know are stock photos. 4. Some duplicate or similar images may be beneficial to your site. For example, having an image or photo of a coffee cup that Google feels is similar to coffee on a website for a coffee shop is helpful. 5. Optimize all your images and other multimedia on your site. 6. Other duplicate or similar images on your site that represent branding or trust are good, such as having Visa, Mastercard or the Better Business Bureau images. Comments and/or Questions? Do you have any comments and/or questions on this article about Google s Duplicate Image penalty? If you do, please use the comment area below: For more information, call now at 800-881-8736 or email us at Roy@SEOtrainingSW.com. 800-881-8736 2013 SEO Training SW - Page 11