Duplicate content

Duplicate content is identical or near-duplicate text or pages reachable at more than one URL, on your site or across sites. Think http and https, www and non-www, trailing slashes, parameters like ?ref or ?sort, print views, syndicated articles, or product descriptions copied from a manufacturer.

On a small site, duplicates dilute internal links and page authority. The wrong URL may rank or none will. Your /pricing could appear as /pricing, /pricing/, and /pricing?utm=twitter. You want one URL to win every time.

• Protocol and host: http vs https, www vs non-www.
• URL variants: trailing slash, uppercase vs lowercase, index.html on the end.
• Parameters: ?utm=, ?page=2, ?color=blue, session IDs.
• Content formats: print pages, AMP remnants, PDF versions of the same guide.
• Templates: category pagination repeating the same copy on /blog and /blog/page/2.
• Reused text: manufacturer product descriptions, syndicated posts, partner pages copying your copy.

Google says there is no duplicate content penalty. It chooses one URL as canonical and folds the rest. That choice can be wrong for your business page.

Deliberate duplication to manipulate ranking is different, that sits under spam policies. For normal site issues, your job is to help Google pick the right URL every time.

• Search Console: check Pages, look for Duplicate, without user-selected canonical. Open a few examples and note the chosen canonical.
• URL Inspection: paste a duplicate URL, confirm the Google-selected canonical and the user-declared canonical.
• Your site: click key pages and copy their links. Check if your nav mixes /pricing and /pricing/. Fix internal links first.
• Server: request http and https, and www and non-www for your home page. Only one should load, the others should redirect 301.
• Parameters: list known parameters, like utm_source. Decide which change content. The rest are duplicates.
• Content sampling: pick five product pages. Search for a sentence in quotes. If many sites have it, expect Google to canonicalise to another source.

A fixed site shows one clean URL in Search Console as the canonical for each page, and your internal links all match it.

1. 1

   Set one canonical home

   Pick https and either www or non-www. Redirect the others with 301. Update settings at your host and CDN. Test both versions.

2. 2

   Use rel=canonical on variants

   On pages that must exist, add a canonical tag to the preferred URL. Example: /guides/print points to /guides as canonical.

3. 3

   Redirect when you consolidate

   If you remove /pricing/ in favour of /pricing, 301 redirect the old to the new. Update all internal links.

4. 4

   Keep internal links consistent

   Link to one version only. Do not link with and without trailing slash on the same site.

5. 5

   Noindex versions for people

   For pages that must exist but should not rank, like ?print or filtered lists, add a noindex. Keep them crawlable so canonical and noindex can be seen.

6. 6

   Reduce reused text

   Rewrite manufacturer blurbs. Change titles, intros and key specs. Make your product pages distinct.

Recheck the worst examples in URL Inspection after changes. You are done when Google-selected and user-declared canonicals match.