It happens all the time: the manufacturer sends the product sheet, the portal where you list already has the description written, and on your website you paste the same text. It's quick and the text reads well. The problem is that your page ends up identical to others that already exist, which gives Google few reasons to show yours.
Here is what Google says about repeated content, what you can add that the portal won't let you, why your own category and area pages are an asset, and when it's better not to copy the full product sheet.
What Google says about repeated content
There's a lot of folklore around the "duplicate content penalty". What Google publishes is more nuanced:
- Having repeated content is not, on its own, a violation. Its documentation on canonicalization says some duplicate content is normal and doesn't break its policies.
- When it finds identical or very similar pages, Google chooses one as the main page to show. The rest stay in the background.
- What does appear in its spam policies is republishing content from other sites without adding original content or value, or copying the original merchant's descriptions without adding anything of your own.
- And in its guide on helpful content, one of the questions it suggests is whether your content provides substantial value compared to the other pages already in the results.
In short: copying doesn't sink you on its own, but it leaves you with no advantage. If your product page says exactly what the portal's does, it offers nobody anything they can't already find there.
What you can add that the portal won't let you
A portal or marketplace gives you a fixed template. Your website has no such limit, and that's your opportunity:
- Your own photos. The product in your warehouse, set up at a real event, in a client's hands. The manufacturer's photos are everywhere; yours are only on your site.
- Local context. If you deliver in Santiago within 24 hours, if the product holds up in coastal humidity, if installation in Punta Cana is included. That's information the manufacturer doesn't have.
- A short video. Thirty seconds showing the real product is worth more than a paragraph of specs.
- Your judgement. What you recommend it for and what not, what you pair it with, what clients ask before buying. It's what an experienced salesperson would say in the store.
- Real frequent questions. The ones you get on WhatsApp, with your answers.
You don't need to rewrite the whole spec sheet. Measurements and materials can stay as they are; the difference is what you add around them.
Category and area pages: the asset you control
A product page competes with many near identical pages. A good category or area page usually competes with far fewer, because nobody else has it:
- Categories with your judgement. "Chairs for beach weddings" or "furniture for small offices" group products with an explanation only you can write.
- Area pages. If you work in several cities, one page for each with what changes there: timelines, coverage, examples of work done in that area.
Those pages are yours: they don't depend on a portal's rules and they stay with you even if you change platforms.
When it's better not to publish the full product sheet
There are cases where copying the whole sheet onto your site adds nothing:
- When you have nothing to add to that specific product. A category page with your selection and explanation, linking to where it's sold, works better.
- When the catalog is huge and there's no time to work on each page. Start with the products you sell or get asked about most, and do them well.
- When the sale only happens on the portal. Your website can present the brand, explain why to choose you and take the client there, without repeating what the portal already shows.
What you can do this week
- Pick your five most asked about products or services.
- Search Google for a phrase from their description in quotes and see how many sites carry the same text.
- Add to each one your own photo and two or three lines from your experience: who it's for, what clients ask, how you deliver it.
- Create a category page with your judgement for the group of products you sell most.
- Check Search Console in a few weeks to see which pages start getting impressions.
If you sell products and want them to look good on your own website, with your photos and your way of explaining them, that's how a digital catalog or an online store works. And if you already have a website and want to know which pages repeat content from other sites, we review it in website optimization.