
Originally Posted by
DrByte
Note the highlighted comments above, from Google's own documentation:
Examples of non-malicious duplicate content could include:
* Store items shown or linked via multiple distinct URLs
I would add the following, taken from the same referenced document, which explains the reason for the hype:
Since your store is not attempting to be deliberately deceptive in manipulating search engine results, there is less reason to be overly concerned about the matter. Google is not going to severely penalize you or bump you out of their indexed pages just because of having multiple links to the same content on your site.
That doesn't minimize the fact that it's prudent to keep duplication to a minimum. Google goes on to say that one of their reasons for desiring less duplicate content is so shoppers viewing search engine results don't have to sort through multiple listings of the same thing when looking at google pages, theoretically making their shopping experience more pleasant ... in Google's eyes anyway.