Duplicate content could be the result of manual or technical mishaps. This is one of the most misunderstood SEO problems and results in organic visibility loss. While minor cases might not pose threats, major ones will add no value to your visitors.
In case your rankings are being significantly affected or you want to learn in general, here’s how to correct ranking issues due to duplicate content on your website.
Rewrite the Text
A duplicate content checker is great for SEO, since it flags any text that is identical to another page on your website or anywhere on the World Wide Web. Once you see the flagged content, you can rephrase or change it to ensure that your content remains original. Avoid simply replacing words with synonyms and rewriting the same information in many different ways. Rather, put in original opinions, which would definitely be unique. This will add value for everyone on the web and will not send conflicting signals to Google. In case anyone has copied your content, make sure they are linking it to your page and providing relevant credit.
Use Rel = “canonical”
Several URLs can have the same content and canonicals are one effective solution. These tags will let the search engine know which URL is the master copy and thus your rankings will not be diluted. Rel = canonical should be added to the HTML head of your website’s URL. Search engines will not have to wade through a sea of information and miss out your page in the process. Don’t forget to use a duplicate content checker for SEO or spot check your URLs, particularly for ecommerce websites.
Use 301 Redirects
The best way to battle duplicate content is to set up a 301 redirect from the duplicate to the proper canonical content. This works well when it is not possible to prevent the system from creating incorrect URLs altogether. All the potentially best performing pages are combined together, and they stop competing with each other. This improves relevancy and your page can soar in rankings. Visitors land on the preferred page, thus keeping up the required traffic.
Linking Back
Your content might have big chunks of pirated material detected through a duplicate content checker for SEO, or you might be unable to control the head of the site. In these cases, add a link to the original website. Make sure to place this link either below or right at the top.
If yours is the original content, make sure several links are pointed towards your work. This way Google knows which one is the genuine work and which is not.
No Index Meta Tag
Meta robots is used together with “noindex, follow.” This can be added to the head of every page you want to exclude form the search engine altogether. The pages will not be indexed, which can improve your SEO rankings. This is a particularly good solution for all duplication issues related to pagination.
Identical content problems are common but fixable with a few simple steps. Make sure to use a duplicate content checker for SEO first to know how much information has been copied. This gives you a clear idea of which method would be the most useful.
