Like two peas in a pod. What is duplicate content and why is it a problem?

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It takes approx. 4 minutes to read this article

Duplicate content can be a problem on your website, whether you own it or not. It can hurt the credibility of your website and limit your search engine rankings. In this article, we’ll look at what duplicate content is, why it’s such an issue and what you can do about it.

What is duplicate content?

Duplicate content is when the same or very similar content appears on multiple websites. It’s a problem because it confuses search engines, which then may rank the wrong page or pages lower in search results. This can lead to lost traffic and revenue for businesses. To avoid duplicate content, be sure to original and specific in your website’s content.

Types

There are two main types of duplicate content: internal and external.

  • Internal duplicate content is when you have multiple pages on your website with the same or similar content. This can be a problem because search engines may not know which page to index, or they may index them all, which could split your link equity and dilute your keyword rankings.
  • External duplicate content is when other websites have copied your content without permission. It’s bad for SEO because search engines will rank the original site higher than sites that have stolen content. 

Why does it matter?

Duplicate content is a big problem for a number of reasons. For one, it confuses search engines, which hurts your chances of ranking well in search results. Additionally, duplicate content can dilute your link equity, which means that any links pointing to your site will be less valuable. Finally, too much duplicate content can make your site look like spam, which will turn off visitors.

How do I check if there is duplicate content on my site?

One way to check for duplicate content on your site is to use SEO audit services. This can help you identify any pages that might be using the same or similar content as other pages on your site. You can also use online tools like Copyscape to check for duplicate content on the web. If you find that there is duplicate content on your site, you’ll need to take steps to fix it.

How to verify duplicate internal content? Use the available tools: from the simplest Google search engine, through Screaming Frog, Siteliner, to Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

How to verify external duplicate content? Use the Google search engine by copying the fragment of content that interests you. Be sure to put your text in quotation marks. You will then see any indexed pages containing the selected fragment.

How does Google find it?

Googlebot is designed to be able to crawl and index webpages. As it crawls the web, it discovers new pages and adds them to its ever-growing index of discovered pages. Sometimes, though, Googlebot will find two or more pages with very similar content. When this happens, Google isn’t sure which page to include in its index, so it includes both (or all) of them. 

If you’re caught publishing duplicate content on your website, you could be penalized by search engine. This means your site could be demoted in the search results, or even removed from the index entirely. In severe cases, your entire website could be blacklisted. That’s why it’s important to avoid duplicate content whenever possible.

The ways to fix duplicate content issues on your site

If your website has duplicate content:

  • edit your text and add an original, original, extensive part of the highest substantive value.
  • if you cannot edit the text, try to rewrite it (as a last resort, better delete it).
  • in the case of websites containing cookies (cookies), exclude them from indexation.
  • use 301 redirects.
  • set canonical links.
  • set the noindex tag so that search engine robots do not index your content and lower the value of the page.

If you notice your content on another page:

  • you can report plagiarism directly to Google and after verification it will be excluded from the indexing process.
  • block the possibility of copying content on your website.
  • for image files, set the file replacement option.
  • you can use the option to add a link to the copied text page.

Wrapping up

When it comes to duplicate content, the best policy is to avoid it altogether. Not only will this save you time and energy in the long run, but it will also help improve your site’s SEO. If you do find yourself with duplicate content on your hands, don’t panic. There are a few steps you can take to fix the problem. Ultimately, Tauranga SEO agency can help you identify duplicate content on your website and take steps to correct the issue.

(fot. pexels.com)

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