Duplicate content is any content that appears in more than one place on the internet, such as an article published on your website and another website. Depending on how the canonical URL reference is handled, search engines can see this as duplicate content, affecting your search position. Content that appears on two pages on your own website can also be considered duplicate content. This is often seen on international websites where the content is published on both the US and the AU website instances or for retailers managing local pages with the same information. This can also happen in marketing campaigns where the message may differ slightly for personalization or other business reasons.
Content can also be considered “duplicate content” if it’s essentially the same but with minor variations.
Google and other search engines miss about half of the content on large, enterprise websites. Missed content = missed profits.
Search engines like Google miss about half of the content on big, enterprise websites. Missed content equals missed profits.
Search engines will see these similar phrases as “duplicate content”
Because both of these messages are semantically similar, search algorithms will parse them and think they are the same content. An old rule of thumb is that so long as 60% of the content was different, that would be enough for search spiders to see the content as unique. However, many in the SEO community have pulled back from this rule, instead working to prevent the need for duplicate content in the first place.
Duplicate content doesn’t result in a penalty from Google, except for severe, repeat cases. However, just because Google will not penalize your website does not mean it doesn’t impact SEO. Google’s focus over the years has continued to shift towards providing users with the best on-site content and experience. This means that if your content is the same as another website, there isn’t much value for Google to rank to content highly as similar content already exists.
There are several ways that duplicate content can impact your SEO strategy if there is a lot of of it on your website:
Duplicate content isn’t always the result of nefarious intentions. Instead, it frequently is the result of technical SEO issues on your website. Some of the most common ways duplicate content can occur are:
Need help trying to locate duplicate content in your ecosystem? Find duplicate or near-duplicate content on your website by viewing the “Similarities/Duplicates” report in Botify or through a site audit. Learn more now!