What do you mean by duplicate content?
Let’s first understand about “duplicate content to slove Technical SEO.
Duplicate content generally refers to paragraphs or sentences of content in website that either completely match other content or are unusually similar. This doesn’t necessarily mean intentional plagiarism. It can often happen unintentionally. For search engines, this can create confusion about which version to index and rank for relevant search queries.
Common Causes of Duplicate Content:
- URL Variations: WWW vs. Non-WWW: Having your website accessible through both www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com. Search engines see these as two different URLs pointing to the same content. HTTP vs. HTTPS: Similarly, if both the non-secure (http://) and secure (https://) versions of your site are accessible with the same content, it creates duplication. Trailing Slashes: Sometimes, yourdomain.com/page/ and yourdomain.com/page can be treated as different URLs with the same content.
- Session IDs and URL Parameters: E-commerce sites and other dynamic websites often use URL parameters (e.g., ? sessionid=…, ?ref=…, ?tracking=…) for tracking sessions or filtering content. These parameters can create multiple URLs with essentially the same underlying content.
- Syndication and Reposting: Automatically sharing your content on other websites or platforms (or vice versa) without proper attribution or canonicalization can result in duplicate content across domains. While uploading same content in the social media it could be the duplicate content for search engines.
- Scraped or Copied Content: Directly copying content from other websites is a clear form of duplicate content and can harm your site’s reputation and rankings.
- Internal Duplicate Content: This can occur within your own website due to poor site structure, multiple paths to the same content, or issues with your content management system (CMS). For example, the same product might be accessible through different categories, leading to different URLs with the same product description. This can be happened in big size website.
- Localized Content with Minor Variations: If you have multiple pages targeting different geographic locations with only slight variations in content like changing a phone number or address, this also could be a duplicate content for search engines. Now, let’s look at some solutions to handle duplicate content:
Solutions to Handle Duplicate Content:
- Use 301 Redirects: If you have multiple URLs pointing to the same content, choose one canonical (preferred) URL and permanently redirect the other URLs to it using a 301 redirect. This tells search engines that the content has permanently moved to the specified URL, and they should consolidate the link equity to the canonical URL.
- Implement the <link rel=”canonical”> Tag: This tag is placed in the <head> section of your HTML. It signals to search engines which version of a page is the master or “canonical” version. If you have identical or very similar content across multiple URLs, you can use the canonical tag on the non-canonical pages to point back to the main version. This helps search engines understand which URL should be indexed and credited.
- Utilize the noindex Meta Tag: If you have content that you don’t want search engines to index at all (for example, printer-friendly versions or internal search results pages), you can use the <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> tag. This prevents the page from appearing in search results. However, be cautious, as this also means the page won’t pass on any link equity.
- Be Consistent with Internal Linking: When linking internally within your website, consistently link to the canonical version of your content. This reinforces to search engines which URL you consider the primary one.
- Avoid Creating Unnecessary Duplicate Content: Be mindful when creating new content. Try to avoid situations that inherently lead to duplication. For example, if you have product variations, consider how you present them to avoid having nearly identical page content.
This is how you can deal with duplicate content and make your website healthy for ranking.