Duplicate title issue
-
During the crwal SEO moz found duplicate title problems with quite a good number of pages. This was because my site has test questions like
http://www.skill-guru.com/12/scjp-5-mock-test/questions
and when user does next or previous, they can traverse to different pages but the title and descrition would remain same.
How can this probkem be resolved ?
-
That's a really tough one. For paginated search results, I would normally go with @128K's suggestion - let Google follow the search results, but don't index them. Unfortunately, these are both search results AND your content, which is a bit unusual.
I would still consider the META robots tag. Here's my argument - while all of these results are unique, landing on question #21 isn't very useful to search visitors, and they might bounce. It probably makes more sense to land them all on page #1. While you'll lose some indexable content, I suspect the higher conversion and loss of duplicates would offset that.
Rand had a good post about pagination, but again, it assumes a more typical search-results scenario (like a list of product snippets and titles):
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/pagination-best-practices-for-seo-user-experience
Likewise, the pages aren't duplicates, so I'd avoid the canonical tag, in the usual sense. There are viable AJAX approaches, but some will make the full content invisible to spiders.
There are SEOs who advocate using the canonical tag, but canonicalizing to a version of the page that displays ALL of the results on one page. That way, visitors still go through the list, but Google would see the full page of answers. You could also default Google to a different count of results/page (like 100) but then default visitors to 10, etc. It borders on cloaking, but it's off-white at worst, in my opinion.
-
The only thing I can suggest would be Ajax, but I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than myself will have a better answer for you. In any case, good luck.
-
In my case the contents are different. It is only the title and keywords which are repeated across pages. Since keywords tag is not important anymore, it is only the title which is hurting me.
-
Technically it's not duplicate content. If he gets traffic to particular keywords phrases from the test content then canonicalization would hurt his traffic. The traffic from the keywords might not be targeted to test takers, but if that's your only form of traffic then rel canonical would hurt; BAD. Please, correct me if I'm wrong though.
From google:
Must the content on a set of pages be similar to the content on the canonical version?
Yes. The rel="canonical" attribute should be used only to specify the preferred version of many pages with identical content (although minor differences, such as sort order, are okay).
You should probably research for yourself before you take anyone's advice: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139394
Personally though, I'd look into ajax. There are many freely available resources that you can use. Hope that helps.
-
This is a great example of good canonical usage.
-
You could change the title/description for each page reflecting the content, but that would take forever and probably doesn't fluctuate much page to page (on that specific test.) Optionally you could try using meta robots, but you may not rank when people search specific code snippets (or other test questions.)
name="robots" content="FOLLOW,NOINDEX" />
You might try out using ajax for the pages as in googles eyes it would only be considered one page. Hope it's helped.
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
-
403 Errors Issue
Hi, all! I've been working with a Wordpress site that I inherited that gets little to no organic traffic, despite being content rich, optimized, etc. I know there's something wrong on the backend but can't find a satisfactory culprit. When I emulate googlebot, most pages give me a 403 error. Also, google will not index many urls which makes sense and is a massive headache. All advice appreciated! The site is https://www.diamondit.pro/ It is specific to WP Engine, using GES (Global Edge Security) and WPWAF
Technical SEO | | SimpleSearch0 -
Email and landing page duplicate content issue?
Hi Mozers, my question is, if there is a web based email that goes to subscribers, then if they click on a link it lands on a Wordpress page with very similar content, will Google penalize us for duplicate content? If so is the best workaround to make the email no index no follow? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | CalamityJane770 -
Duplicate content : domain alias issue
Hello there ! Let's say my client has 2 webshops (that exists since long time, so many backlinks & good authority on both) : individuals.nl : for individuals (has 200 backlinks, let's say) pros.nl : exact same products, exact same content, but with a different branding intended to professionnals (has 100 backlinks, let's say) So, both websites are 99% identical and it has to remain like that !!! Obviously, this creates duplicate content issues. Goal : I want "individuals.nl" to get all ranking value (while "pros.nl" should remain accessible through direct access & appear on it's own brand queries). Solution ? Implement canonical tags on "pros**.nl**" that goes to "individuals.nl". That way, "individuals.nl" will get all ranking value, while "pros.nl" will still be reachable through direct access. However, "individuals.nl" will then replace "pros.nl" from SERP in the long-term. The only thing I want is to keep "pros.nl" visible for its own brand queries -> it won't be possible through organic search result, so, I'm just gonna buy those "pros" queries through paid search ! Put links on all pages of pros.nl to individuals.nl (but not the other way around), so that "pros.nl" will pass some ranking value to "individuals.nl" (but only a small part of the ranking value -> ideally, I would like to pass all link value to this domain). Could someone advise me ??? (I know it sound a bit complicated... but I don't have much choice ^^)
Technical SEO | | Netsociety0 -
Duplicate title tags being caused by upper case and lower case version of urls'
Hi GWT is reporting lots of duplicate titles for a clients new site. Mainly these are due to 2x different versions of the url, one with words starting with an upper case character and the other all lower case. Clients dev saying this has something to do with windows server and is ok! Is this correct or should i be telling them to delete and then 301 redirect all upper case versions to the lower case (since lower case better practice) and that will deal with the reported dupe titles ? All Best Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
How to fix this issue?
I redesign my website from Wix to HTML. Now URLs changed to _ http://www.spinteedubai.com/#!how-it-works/c46c To http://www.spinteedubai.com/how-it-works.html Same for all other pages. How I can fix this issue and both pages were also indexed in google.
Technical SEO | | AlexanderWhite0 -
Duplicate Title Tags
Hi, Are these 2 title tags different enough? Notice only the 's' on Templates is switched <colgroup><col width="559"></colgroup>
Technical SEO | | Studio33
| Invoice Templates | Invoice Template | invoicing Software | Invoice Software Invoice Template | Invoice Templates | invoicing Software | Invoice Software | Thanks0 -
What's the best way to solve this sites duplicate content issues?
Hi, The site is www.expressgolf.co.uk and is an e-commerce website with lots of categories and brands. I'm trying to achieve one single unique URL for each category / brand page to avoid duplicate content and to get the correct URL's indexed. Currently it looks like this... Main URL http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green Different Versions http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/ http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/1 http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/2 http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/3 http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/4 http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/all http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/1/ http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/2/ http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/3/ http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/4/ http://www.expressgolf.co.uk/shop/clothing/galvin-green/all/ Firstly, what is the best course of action to make all versions point to the main URL and keep them from being indexed - Canonical Tag, NOINDEX or block them in robots? Secondly, do I just need to 301 the (/) from all URL's to the non (/) URL's ? I'm sure this question has been answered but I was having trouble coming to a solution for this one site. Cheers, Paul
Technical SEO | | paulmalin0 -
Duplicate content
I am getting flagged for duplicate content, SEOmoz is flagging the following as duplicate: www.adgenerator.co.uk/ www.adgenerator.co.uk/index.asp These are obviously meant to be the same path so what measures do I take to let the SE's know that these are to be considered the same page. I have used the canonical meta tag on the Index.asp page.
Technical SEO | | IPIM0