Google’s Search Central crew has launched a brand new video in its “SEO Made Easy” sequence. In it, Search Advocate Martin Splitt addresses frequent considerations about duplicate content material and offers sensible options for web site homeowners.
Key Takeaways
Regardless of considerations within the search engine optimization group, Google insists that duplicate content material doesn’t hurt a website’s perceived high quality.
Splitt states:
“Some folks suppose it influences the perceived high quality of a website however it doesn’t. It does trigger some challenges for web site homeowners although, as a result of it’s more durable to track performance of pages with duplicates.”
Nonetheless, it could actually create a number of operational challenges that web site homeowners ought to deal with:
- Problem in monitoring web page efficiency metrics
- Potential competitors between related content material items
- Slower crawling speeds, particularly at scale
Splitt provides:
“It would make related content material compete with one another and it could actually trigger pages to take longer to get crawled if this occurs at a bigger scale. So it’s not nice and is one thing you would possibly need to clear up, however it isn’t one thing that you must lose sleep over.”
Three Options
1. Implement Canonical Tags
Splitt recommends utilizing canonical tags in HTML or HTTP headers to point most popular URLs for duplicate content material.
Whereas Google treats these as strategies moderately than directives, they assist information the search engine’s indexing choices.
Splitt clarifies:
“This tag is commonly used incorrectly by web site homeowners so Google search can’t depend on it and treats it as a touch however would possibly select a distinct URL anyway.”
2. Handle Inside Hyperlinks and Redirects
When Google chooses different canonical URLs than specified, web site homeowners ought to:
- Evaluation and replace inside hyperlinks to level to most popular canonical URLs
- Contemplate implementing 301 redirects for exterior hyperlinks
- Guarantee redirects are appropriately configured to take care of website efficiency
3. Consolidate Related Content material
Probably the most strategic method entails combining related pages to:
- Enhance consumer expertise
- Streamline Search Console reporting
- Scale back website muddle
Splitt explains:
“Should you discover that you’ve got a number of very related pages, even when Google doesn’t think about them duplicates, attempt to mix them. It makes info simpler to search out to your customers, will make reporting in Google Search Console simpler to work with, and can scale back muddle in your website.”
Search Console Notices
Google Search Console might flag pages with numerous duplicate content material notices:
- “Duplicate with out user-selected canonical”
- “Alternate web page with correct canonical tag”
- “Duplicate Google selected totally different canonical than consumer”
These notifications point out that Google has listed the content material, presumably below totally different URLs than initially meant.
See additionally: Google Explains How It Chooses Canonical Webpages
Worldwide search engine optimization Concerns
Splitt addresses duplicate content material in worldwide contexts, noting that related content material throughout a number of language variations is appropriate and dealt with appropriately by Google’s programs.
He states:
“Should you discover that you’ve got a number of very related pages, even when Google doesn’t think about them duplicates, attempt to mix them. It makes info simpler to search out to your customers, will make reporting in Google Search Console simpler to work with, and can scale back muddle in your website.”
Why This Issues
This steerage represents Google’s present stance on duplicate content material and clarifies greatest practices for content material group and URL structure optimization.
See the complete video under:
Featured Picture: AnnaKu/Shutterstock
