Methods for Finding Duplicate Content

There are many different methods for checking duplicate content. The most straightforward is to copy and paste a dozen words from your website in a Google search box with “quotes” around the entire phrase. The results will include other internal and external pages with similar text. Tools like Copyscape can also check for duplicate content and instances of plagiarism by other sites.

Other problems originate from site organization problems. For example, you may not realize that there are HTTP and HTTPS versions of the same webpage on your site. The same issue could also occur with www and non-www URLs. Google’s Search Console can help you locate this type of unintended duplicate.

Advantages of Removing Duplicate Content

Contrary to popular belief, Google does not penalize sites for having duplicate content. However, this does not mean you do not have to worry about the problem. If the content on multiple pages is the same, the search engine web crawlers are forced to choose between the pages. One will get ranked, and the other left off the rankings. Removing duplicates ensures that pages you want to rank get indexed.

In the case of duplicate pages, inbound links will lose some of their clout because some will point to one URL, and some will lead to the duplicate. Removing copies concentrates the full SEO value of inbound links on one page. Finally, cutting out duplicates ensures a better user experience. Viewers get unique content on every page, increasing the likelihood that they will continue navigating your site.

What If You Do Not Want to Remove Duplicate Content?

In some cases, you may not want to remove duplicate content. For example, you may have a mobile version of your site that you do not wish to delete. In these cases, you can use rel = canonical tags. This code tells the search engine that the page is a duplicate of another URL. The search engine will then attribute all SEO attributes to the source page, and it won’t consider ranking the duplicate page.

301 redirects, which send traffic from the duplicate to the original, and noindex tags, which tell crawlers not to add pages to their search engine index, are other options for dealing with duplicate content that you do not want to delete.

Learn More About How to Handle Duplicate Content

The issue of duplicate content goes far beyond copying and pasting text from other sources. You need to understand site layout and navigation and best practices for choosing URLs, creating metatags, and using HTML code to keep search engines from indexing duplicate pages. At In Context Inc, we are building a collection of blog posts on all these different topics so that you can fully understand all the aspects of SEO and building quality websites. Sign up for our newsletter to get access to our newest articles.