subject: New Duplicate Content Meta Tag from Google [print this page] New Duplicate Content Meta Tag from Google
Google have introduced a new Meta tag aimed at protecting journalists. The new syndication-source and original-source Meta tags aim to identify the original source of articles on the internet.
Google have said in their recent blog about this that they are experimenting' with these new Meta tags.
The Meta tags use as described by Google is:
syndication-source indicates the preferred URL for a syndicated article. If two versions of an article are exactly the same, or only very slightly modified, we're asking publishers to use syndication-source to point us to the one they would like Google News to use. For example, if Publisher X syndicates stories to Publisher Y, both should put the following metatag on those articles:
original-source indicates the URL of the first article to report on a story. We encourage publishers to use this metatag to give credit to the source that broke the story. We recognize that this can sometimes be tough to determine. But the intent of this tag is to reward hard work and journalistic enterprise. For example, to credit the publication that broke a story you could use a metatag like this:
Flaws?
In my mind there are a couple of flaws which will stop these Meta tags from working.
They rely on trust and whilst the majority of website owners are honest enough to try and stick to the rules, there's still plenty out there with a less strict moral code that are likely to try to claim that they are the original source of content not belonging to them if the option is given to them.
A website owner may not know the original source of the article. If you're a website owner with little time, you're not likely to bother finding the original source of the article at a time expense to yourself.
So, the jury is still out on these new Meta tags. Will they come into use, or will they quickly join the pile of redundant Meta tags which are no longer of any use?
