Believe it or not, Google can get confused.
How?
When it encounters duplicate content when determining what to rank for a specific search query.
When there are multiple pieces of similar content in more than one location, it can be difficult for search engines to decide which version is more relevant to a the given search query. The result? It chooses the one it believes to be the most relevant.
The URL chosen may not be the one you want to be displayed, and sometimes the other versions of the page may be filtered out of the search result entirely!
According to research by Semrish, this is an issue that 50% of websites struggle with and is the most common SEO issue. So if you've encountered problems with duplicate content on your eCommerce website or domain in general, here's what we're talking about...
“In the vast majority of cases, website owners don't intentionally create duplicate content. But, that doesn't mean it's not out there. In fact by some estimates, up to 29% of the web is actually duplicate content!”
This resource is a great place to start for a quick refresher on duplicate content. This article by Moz will get you brushed up on why duplicate content matters, and then briefly show you 3 of the main ways it's created. In true Moz nature, this article is a quick and easy read, so let's start here and then dive a little deeper into duplicate content.
The Definitive Guide to Removing Duplicate Content from Your Site via Neil Patel
“Each duplicate piece of content has a slightly different URL. And even though you might see the same thing, Google and other search engines see several different pages. Because of that, they have different rankings, SEO juice, and even page authority.”
Duplicate content can wreak havoc on SEO, and if removed incorrectly can hurt your SEO even more! Neil Patel goes over in detail what duplicate content is, why it appears, why it’s a problem, and how you can remove it safely. This article covers it all!
“People mistake duplicate content for a penalty because of how Google handles it. Really, the duplicates are just being filtered in the search results.”
There's a lot of confusion and debate around duplicate content, specifically surrounding how google handles it and if a true “penalty” even exists. This article by Search Engine Land tackles this debate and argues that duplicate content doesn't actually cause your site to be penalized. Read to decide for yourself!
“Whether onsite or offsite, all duplicate content competes against itself. Each version may attract eyeballs and links, but none will receive the full value it would get if it were the sole and unique version..”
If you're in eCommerce, you're probably already familiar with 301 directs and meta robots tags. But are you really covering all of your bases when it comes to duplicate content? This article covers the common duplicate content issues from not setting your preferred root domain, URL parameters, to product descriptions.
Short on time? This infographic maps out the 6 ways you can avoid duplicate content on your website. Quick. Easy. To the point.
This video argues that your product description pages need to have a unique angle and not the same description that other eCommerce sites have for the same or similar products. If they're all the same, what's going to make a customer feel enticed to land on your page? Nothing!
If you want a quick way to check your domain for duplicate content, use this tool! Just type in the URL you want to check, click “perform check” and it will show you how many duplicate pages on the internet there are for that URL!
We hope these 7 resources will help you tackle any duplicate content on your website. Implementing 301 direct pages to removing duplicate content is helpful, but what if you could proactively reduce duplicate content on something your customers are always checking? Your blog posts. Download our Rules to Blog By Checklist to see how you can optimize your blogs to be clearly found by search engines.
What strategy do you use to remove or limit duplicate content from your domain?
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