Duplicate content

What is duplicate content?

Duplicate content is the same or nearly the same content appearing on more than one URL, within one website or across different websites. Search engines usually pick one version to show. Google does not call it a penalty, but the wrong version may rank and your signals can get spread out.

Why is duplicate content important?

• Split signals: links and authority get spread across several URLs.
• Wrong page in the results: Google may not choose the version you want.
• Wasted crawling: Googlebot visits pages that offer nothing new.

Examples of duplicate content

• A product page reachable through several URLs because of filters or session IDs.
• A site that opens both with and without www and over http and https.
• Several stores using the same manufacturer product description.

How do you avoid duplicate content?

Choose one preferred URL per page and signal it with a canonical tag. Redirect duplicate versions with a 301 redirect and write unique product copy. Finding and fixing this is part of technical SEO.