Having duplicate content on your website can be an issue for SEO because it confuses both search engines and users. Neither search engines nor users, will know which URL to visit. Learn more here ….
- Search engines may not know which page to index. When search engines crawl your website, they look for the most relevant and authoritative pages to index. Duplicate content makes it difficult for search engines to determine which page is the most relevant and authoritative. This can lead to both pages being ranked lower in search results, or even being completely removed from the index.
- Duplicate content can confuse users. As soon as anything is difficult or confusing for a user, they are more likely to leave your website. If a user lands on a page with duplicate content, they may be confused about what page they are on and what information they are supposed to be looking at. This can lead to a negative user experience, which can hurt your SEO.
How Do I Fix Duplicate Content?
- Remove the duplicate content. Sometimes, it is hard to think of original content. So, you may take content from other URL’s and use it on your blog posts. Don’t do that. The best thing to do is to remove it from your website. However, another strategy is rewording the content and posting it on a new URL. But, that really is dependent on the situation. Sometimes it is better to remove and sometimes it is better to reword. Contact me for advice.
- Use canonical tags. Canonical tags tell search engines which page is the original and which page is the duplicate.
- Redirect duplicate pages to the original page. You can also redirect duplicate pages to the original page. This will tell search engines that the duplicate page is no longer the original page and that they should index the original page instead.
- Properly structure your website. A properly structured website will help to prevent duplicate content from being created in the first place because you will easily be able to see what information is on your website. Sometimes, I take pieces of information from one URL such as “What Is SEO” and reword it and put it on another URL to add longer blogs, but not have to worry about duplicate content.
Duplicant Content In Meta Descriptions?
- Meta Titles: SEO titles are also a spot where duplicate content can frequently be found. Write a unique title every time. Use variations such as SEO and Search Engine Optimization. This example would not be considered duplicate content. However, if you do end up with a duplicate, there are tools out there such as SEMRush that will show you duplicate titles.
- Meta descriptions: Duplicate content is found because the title is often found in the description to rank higher in SEO. To use your SEO title in your description, try rewording it slightly to avoid duplicate content.
SEO Services
Need SEO services for your digital marketing plan? Follow the tips above to help prevent duplicate content from harming your SEO and ensure that your website is properly indexed by search engines. However, making sure your website does not have any duplicate content can be time-consuming. Contact me with questions or help meeting your digital marketing goals.