Q and A: Isn't this duplicate content?

Dear Kalena...

Following your column of November 7, where you quote Google's guidelines, "Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content"...

Was wondering your thoughts on how Google allows these as their number 1 and number 2 rankings as search results for "aruba pictures":

http://www.arubatravelinfo.com/pictures.html
http://www.arubatravelinfo.com/photos.html

Lisa

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Lisa

I wouldn't call those pages duplicates. Far from it. They have a similar theme, but the layout is different, the text is different and the images are different.

That said, I have seen a lot of pages in Google SERPs that should be considered duplicates. Some of these are still ranking well. It just depends how long it takes for Google's sp@m filters to find them and filter out the duplicate. It might not seem fair, but with their content database as large as it is, Google is managing pretty well, considering.

If ever you see Google results you think go against their own webmaster guidelines, you can always submit a Spam Report.