What is duplicate content
In SEO, we speak of duplicate content when two contents or blocks of content present on two distinct URLs are identical or almost identical (near duplicate content). Duplicate content is present within the same website (intra-site) or on an external website (inter-site). And its presence can be because of many factors. Internally, it is often due to a technical error in the architecture of the website. Externally, it can be the result of a deliberate content theft or article citation. In which case it is not alarming. Here are some pointers on what duplicate content is and how to fix it in your SEO strategy.
It harms your SEO
Duplicate content is annoying for the SEO of a page on a search engine, but does not prevent the Google search engine from indexing the pages concerned. Google just tries not to outclass a site by taking into account the same content several times. You may lose positions in the SERPs, or lose presence from the search results. It also happens to an original page to move to the background in favor of the content thief when the PageRank of the latter is stronger.
How to avoid it
Regularly ensuring the absence of duplicate content within a site and on the web is a good habit to get into. Examine your pages to detect possible human errors or those committed by the CMS itself. Consult the Google Search Console error report in the “coverage” tab of the tool. When restructuring the tree structure of the site, install 301 redirects to indicate to the crawlers which page should be indexed. If two pages with similar or identical content must remain visible on the site, install a rel=cannonical tag to tell the robot which page to index.
Mind the social networks
Many people duplicate their content to repost it on other media as part of their digital marketing strategy. If your content is interesting and appealing, it will create engagement, but it will not lead to conversion. Readers won’t need to go to your website because they already have the information they are interested in.
Remember: when avoiding duplicate content, creating original content will enhance your user experience and ensure that search engines do not have to choose between several of your pages with the same content.