3 Ways Your Brand Can Avoid Duplicate Content Issues
In this increasingly digital age, as your brand grows, so will your online presence. And while that's a positive development in terms of marketing, exposure and conversions, it can also create a few issues, including duplicate content.
The more web pages your company is on, the higher the likelihood that duplicate content will exist, posing major issues when it comes to your search results and online marketing strategy. In fact, according to research conducted by Raven, duplicate content is one of the top five SEO issues that sites face. Here's what you can do to combat the problem.
1. Remain Consistent
More often than not, duplicate content is a result of an inconsistency with your URL's structure or makeup. Your URL should remain the same across all platforms and domains to optimize your search results. So what should you do? First thing is to create a standardized URL and properly use canonical tags. Whether you decide on the www, the non-www, the HTTP, or the HTTPs version, it doesn't matter — as long as they're consistent, you're less likely to run into problems. When it comes to Google, you also have the option to set your preferred URL by changing the settings in the preferences section of the Google Webmasters account.
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2. Delete or Redirect Duplicate Content
It may seem like a simple solution, but in some cases, deleting the duplicate content may the simplest and more effective way of removing it from the web. It may also be certain settings causing the duplicate content, in which case you can change these to get rid of it. Examples of this include disabling your session ID's in your URL, or disabling your comment pagination in Wordpress. If deleting isn't an option for you, then redirect to the correct page. The best way to do this is to set up a 301 redirect; by combining the multiple pages into one single page, you increase the strength and relevancy of the correct page, and positively impact its ability to rank well.
3. Utilize Technology
Luckily, we have access to fast and effective technology to help marketers manage any online issues. By implementing the right software, you can ensure that issues are identified early and resolved as soon as possible. Screaming Frog, for example, is an SEO-specialized software that easily searches for duplicate content as well as other URL parameter issues. With consistency being a major issues for many companies, and also being a major reason for duplicate content, utilizing software to implement consistency is key. For a retail business that has product pages on various sites, for example, utilizing a software like Content Analytics could be beneficial to your ecommerce product optimization. By ensuring the visual and written content remains consistent across pages, as well as up to best practices standards, it can help in managing as well optimizing your content.
Duplicate content issues can pose concerns for big brands that have a strong online presence. However, if managed properly and identified early using some of these tips, you have the opportunity to minimize damage on your marketing efforts.
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