July 10, 2017 By SEO Houston Pros Leave a Comment

Dealing with Duplicate Content

The first thing to know about duplicate content is that it is not the same things as plagiarism. You can feel the effects of “duplicate content” simply by having URLs that are too closely matched on your website. As a matter of fact, this is a fairly common occurrence, but it must be addressed posthaste before the search engine begin to drop your rankings and you lose those hard-earned visitors.

Following is a guide to addressing duplicate content:

The Essential Guide to Dealing with Duplicate Content

If a search engine is met with a choice to choose your site or the one with original content, there isn’t chance your site will make the cut. You might even have the best SEO campaign ever assembled, but if you have duplicate content your work is in vain. Following are some effective ways to handle duplicate content.

1. Redirect Various Pages to a Single URL

The majority of duplicate content errors are the result of a bad URL distribution. Bad in this case means you have many pages that lead to a single URL and the differences between them too small to be noticed. If you are using the 301-redirection option, you may point some people in the right direction. This is the first way to address this problem.

But, the duplicate will still exist, the only difference is that searchers have a better chance of finding the page they are looking for. Duplicate like this is the result of a way of collecting session ID cookies. Redirects are an effective way of fixing this oversight.

2. Double Check Your Content … Twice

The most obvious type of duplicate content is the sort that has been “borrowed” (plagiarized) from another site. Even though blog sites sometimes guess that introducing a particular piece of content as being taken from another source covers this issue, but it doesn’t.

Perhaps, in the ethical and legal definition you have absolved yourself of plagiarism but in the eye of the search engines, not so much. Your URL will receive the kick if the search engines are to choose between honoring your site or the site in which the original content can be found.

Making a simple investment in Copyscape a couple times a year is the best way to avoid this type of trouble and it is well worth the cost. The good bonus is that if you find others boosting your content, Copyscape will point them out.

3. Adjust Duplicate Content with A Rel=” Canonical” Tag

If you are running an online retail outlet, you are probably fully aware of the difficulty in distinguishing products that are so similar except in maybe size and color. You could have a website full of duplicate content simply because you have so many products that are similar.

This duplicate content can be changed by adding a canonical tag. Use a rel=canonical tag that will redirect users and accomplish the same purpose as redirects in less time

4. Check That All Links Conform

By the same measure, you can use the canonical roots for all your pages and eliminate duplicate content this way. Just be sure that every new page on the website features a URL address that conforms to its domain.

5. Link Back to Original Work

Just about the easiest way to eliminate duplicates, especially if you are sharing content with other sites, is to link back to the original content. Of course, the search engines will have to make a decision when looking at links that reach the same content. Be sure that the link you use is reaching the original site and content.

6. Collect Similar Content onto One Page

Another problem is when similar content like listings for products seem similar and end up creating duplicates. It has been estimated that 25% of all content on the web has been duplicated in some manner. Trying to come up with unique descriptions for all your products and listings will be virtually impossible. Instead, gather all the content that is similar and place this on one page.

7. Try A Search Tool to Find Duplication

Finally, there are some tools online that can help you locate pieces of duplicate content so you can choose how best to deal with each instance. You can try the webmaster tools available from Google or any other search engine.

Bonus: Get Help from the Experts

Maybe you understand all this already and simply don’t have the time or experience to handle the duplication efficiently on your own. This is when calling in the best SEO in Houston can help. Our experts have plenty of experience and can get your SEO campaign back on the road. Contact us or call today!