The duplicate content issue has gone back and forth on the Internet for the last several years now. There are camps that have been saying that your web site will be penalized if you have duplicate content, to the camps that are saying your web site won't gain any benefit if it has duplicate content on it, to those that say that you shouldn't worry about it at all. With all of these opinions flying around over the Internet, which camp should you pitch your tent in?

The basic answer is there really is no duplicate content penalty outside of your own web site. There are undesirable side effects in the search engines if your website has duplicate pages, however this article focuses on duplicate content between 2 different websites. Your web site may not benefit much if you have duplicate content (duplicate content means that your entire web page content is basically the same as another web page). However there are ways to use content on your website that is used on other web sites and not have it look like duplicate content to the search engines, but that is another article. If you don't want to worry about duplicate content in any way shape or form, then having an authority content web site is the way to go.

Authority sites are sites that the search engines see as being an authority in any subject or niche. A good example of an authority site is answer.com. The search engines see this web site as being an authority in a number of different niche areas, and as a result many pages on the answer.com site rank highly in all types of search results. Even if it has the same content that is found on other web sites.

What is the result of this exercise? If you have an authority site, the search engines will rank your site higher than other sites with the exact same content, even if your site has posted the content after other web sites. This is insightful information because now there is finally definitive proof to create quality content websites.

So what are some of the characteristics of an authority content web site? The first is that it is a high quality web site that has key word related content in a specific niche. Content is also routinely updated and added to the site. Many blogs end up being authority sites, because they are constantly updated and usually tightly focused to a specific niche. Authority sites may also have a list of resources, keep a list of events, or have reviews and links to other sites (an example of this type of authority site is teleseminarlive.com). A good way to think of an authority web site is to ask yourself if you would use this site as a resource in any way, or would recommend it to someone else. If your answer is yes, then you can bet that the website is on it's way towards being considered as an authority site by the search engines if it isn't considered one already.

Authority content websites are the way to go if you don't want to worry about duplicate content. They are simple to create but take some time to build up to become an authority site. They are not something that you can build overnight with automated software. So if you are looking for a quick fix, authority sites are not for you. If you are interested in building a long term asset that will be loved by the search engines, then you should join one of the membership web sites that properly teach you how to create authority web sites.