Minimising duplicate content
-
From a minimising duplicate content perspective is it best to create all blog posts with a single tag so google doesn't think the same post being returned via a different tag search is duplicate content. I.e. the urls below return the same blog post; or doesn't it matter.
for example
http://www.ukholidayplaces.co.uk/blog/?tag=/stay+in+Margate
http://www.ukholidayplaces.co.uk/blog/?tag=/Margate+on+a+budget
are the same posts...
thanks
-
Hi!
Little late to the party here - thanks Geoff for helping out!!
While certainly creating excerpts on for the tag pages would be great - I'd suggest doing a crawl of your own site with something like Screaming Frog SEO Spider
I just did a crawl, and see a bunch of issues needing attention:
- Just about all of your meta descriptions are exactly the same
- Your H1s are all the same
- Bunch of duplicate titles (because for example, all the author archive subpages are being given the same title)
- I don't see any meta robots or canonical tags in use at all, which would be good to help control what pages you want indexed or counted for value.
- You have tons of meta keywords, mostly all duplicates, and the meta keywords tag should not be used anymore.
You've got some additional issues to work out besides just the tags thing.
Check webmaster tools to confirm this as well, Google webmaster tools will show you everything you need to fix!
-Dan
-
You're welcome Jonathan.
Feel free to see how a lot of other successful organisations implement this on their blogs on the web. Take Mashable for example, see their topics pages, these are essentially what blog articles are tagged with. Looks like they cut off their snippets at about 170 characters.
Also, ensure that you're using the canonical link element for blog article pages too to let search engines know that those are the originals and where you want the weight placed.
-
Thanks Geoff,
I wasn't sure after the recent updates.
Copy scape finds loads of matches but google didn't....
-
No, assigning multiple tags to multiple pages on your website is good practice. (Providing they are of relevance of course).
What you should think about doing is only displaying excerpts for tag / search result pages so that it doesn't flag as duplicate content. You don't need to be displaying the entire post(s) for a tag page, a small snippet with a 'Read More' or similar link will ensure the full original is only ever at one location, it's specific URI.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Any alternative techniques to display tabbed content without using Javascript / JSON and be SEO Friendly?
John Mueller's input in the EGWMH hangout suggests that Google MAY ignore expandable content served by Javascript. Are there any alternative techniques to display tabbed content without using Javascript / JSON and be SEO Friendly? I do however view these as good for website interactivity and UX - and see many examples of websites performing well and ranking highly whilst using these techniques - are there any Google friendly ways to serve content on a page so that search bots can recognise and choose to crawl / consume the content as legitimate fodder?
Web Design | | Fergclaw0 -
Should Our Mobile Responsive Version of our Ecommerce Site include the on Page content to Help with Rankings
Hello All, We are soon to launch our new redesigned website along with a mobile responsive version but i have noticed we currently don't include the on page Content we have on the mobile version which we have on the desktop version to help with rankings etc. I am not sure how google does mobile research with regards to rankings. We have designed our responsive version to be as user friendly as possible at the expense of having to much clutter/content but I am wondering now , if we will rank on mobile if all our on page content isn't present. Just wondered if we should include it at the bottom of the pages with say a "Read more" extension to help avoid clutter? Any advice greatly appreciated thanks Pete
Web Design | | PeteC120 -
Can multiple domains compete with one another if they have the same/similar content?
Could an ecommerce site with a .co.nz nd .com.au domain compete with one another and hard organic rankings if the content of the pages are the same? All the links would be identical (apart from .co.nz or .com.au) the product descriptions, pages titles etc... would all be identical or similar (our page titles are ever so slightly different). Could this be hurting us? Thanks in advance ^ Paul
Web Design | | kevinliao0 -
Using (duplicate) content in different contexts
I have three distinct hosting products, each solving three different problems. While these three products have different features in terms of functionality, they are all built on the same platform. Now, in terms of marketing some features of the platform, f.ex. High Availability, is significant to all of the products. How do I go about to include information about this feature on all product pages without getting penalized for duplicate content? Is there a way to tell Google that parts of the content on the pages for product 1-3 is duplicated with intent, or duplicated from f.ex. a page that explains the technical aspects of the platform?
Web Design | | SYSE0 -
Duplicate page title caused by Shopify CMS
Hi, We have an ecommerce site set up at devlinsonline.com.au using Shopify and the MOZ crawl is returning a huge number (hundreds!) of Duplicate Page Title errors. The issue seems to be the way that Shopify uses tagging to sort products. So, using the 'Riedel' collection as an example, the urls devlinsonline.com.au/collections/riedel-glasses/ devlinsonline.com.au/collections/riedel-glasses/decanters devlinsonline.com.au/collections/riedel-glasses/vinum all have the exact same page title. We are also having the same issue with the blog and other sections of our site. Is this something that is actually a serious issue or, perhaps, is Google's algorithm intelligent enough to recognise that this is part of Shopify's layout so it will not negatively affect our rankings and can, essentially, be ignored? Thanks.
Web Design | | SimonDevlin0 -
Avoiding duplicate content with multi-lagusage site
Hi, We have a client in China that is looking to create three versions of the same website, English, Chinese and Korean. They do not want to use a translation plugin like Google translate, preferring to have the pages duplicated. What is the best way to do this bearing in mind that the site needs to be found in all three languages. Would also appreciate if anyone knows of a good hosting company that has English support on the Chinese main land. Thanks Fraser
Web Design | | fraserhannah0 -
Duplicat Content?start=1
I am currently trying to figure out how to fix this basically our subcategory pages are being flagged for duplicate content. Basically we have items listed on these pages and usually we show 12 items and users can click to go onto the next page of items. Here is an example of what I am seeing. I'm just not too sure on how I would go about fixing this... Thanks for any Help! http://www.example.com/Beer-Coolers-sz3193.htm?start=1 http://www.example.com/Beer-Coolers-sz3193.htm
Web Design | | MichealGooden0 -
Does listing my customer's address, phone number, and a contact form on "every page" count as duplicate content that they'd be penalized for?
I work with small local businesses (like Tree Farms, Feed Stores, Counselors, etc) doing web design, seo, etc. I encourage them to have their contact information visible at all times on their websites. I'm also delving into the world of contact forms. I want to have this info on every page - is this detrimental? Here's an example: http://www.trinityescape.net/marriage-couples-counselors-therapy-clermont-florida/ Thank you!
Web Design | | mikjgens1