Duplicate content confuses Google and forces the search engine to choose which of the identical pages it should rank in the top results. Regardless of who produced the content, there is a high possibility that the original page will not be the one chosen for the top search results.

Practical Ecommerce contributor Ann Smarty has shared two ways to remove duplicate content.

She says, “Here are two good ways to remove duplicate content from search engine indexes — and eight to avoid.

2 Ways to Remove

To correct indexed duplicate content, consolidate link authority into a single page and prompt the search engines to remove the duplicate version from their index. There are two good ways to do this.

  • 301 redirects are the best option. They consolidate link authority, prompt de-indexation, and redirect users to the new page. Google has stated that it assigns all link authority to the new page with a 301 redirect.
  • Canonical tags point search engines to the main page, prompting them to transfer link equity to it. The tags work as suggestions to search engines — not commands like 301 redirects — and they don’t redirect users to the main page. Search engines typically respect canonical tags for truly duplicate content.”

SEO: 2 Good Ways to Remove Duplicate Content, and 8 Bad Ones

Practical Ecommerce

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