I'm Pulling Hairs! - Duplicate Content Issue on 3 Sites
-
Hi,
I'm an SEO intern trying to solve a duplicate content issue on three wine retailer sites. I have read up on the Moz Blog Posts and other helpful articles that were flooded with information on how to fix duplicate content. However, I have tried using canonical tags for duplicates and redirects for expiring pages on these sites and it hasn't fixed the duplicate content problem.
My Moz report indicated that we have 1000s of duplicates content pages. I understand that it's a common problem among other e-commerce sites and the way we create landing pages and apply dynamic search results pages kind of conflicts with our SEO progress. Sometimes we'll create landing pages with the same URLs as an older landing page that expired. Unfortunately, I can't go around this problem since this is how customer marketing and recruitment manage their offers and landing pages. Would it be best to nofollow these expired pages or redirect them?
Also I tried to use self-referencing canonical tags and canonical tags that point to the higher authority on search results pages and even though it worked for some pages on the site, it didn't work for a lot of the other search result pages. Is there something that we can do to these search result pages that will let google understand that these search results pages on our site are original pages?
There are a lot of factors that I can't change and I'm kind of concerned that the three sites won't rank as well and also drive traffic that won't convert on the site. I understand that Google won't penalize your sites with duplicate content unless it's spammy. So If I can't fix these errors -- since the company I work conducts business where we won't ever run out of duplicate content -- Is it worth going on to other priorities in SEO like Keyword research, On/Off page optimization? Or should we really concentrate on fixing these technical issues before doing anything else?
I'm curious to know what you think.
Thanks!
-
I'm an SEO intern trying to solve a duplicate content issue on three wine retailer sites.
-
Hey there,
Regarding the tech issues, if Google has any difficulties with crawling your site (duplicates included), it can't reach the content and links you have there. Therefore, it's crucial to solve the tech issues first to help Google crawl your site as smoothly as possible so it can see your content.
Also, anytime the page expires, redirect it with 301 to a similar one.
Feel free to shoot other questions. Cheers, Martin
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
-
Is it possible (or advisable) to try to rank for a keyword that is 'split' across subfolders in your url?
For example, say your keyword was 'funny hats' - ideally you'd make your url 'website.com/funny-hats/' But what if 'hats' is already a larger category in your site that you want to rank for as its own keyword? Could you then try to rank for 'funny hats' using the url 'website.com/hats/funny/' ? Basically what I'm asking is, would it be harmful to the chances of ranking for your primary keyword if it's split across the url like this, and not necessarily in the correct order?
Algorithm Updates | | rwat0 -
How Google's "Temporarily remove URLs" in search console works?
Hi, We have created new sub-domain with new content which we want to highlight for users. But our old content from different sub-domain is making top on google results with reputation. How can we highlight new content and suppress old sub-domain in results? Many pages have related title tags and other information in similar. We are planing to hide URLs from Google search console, so slowly new pages will attain the traffic. How does it works?
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Is it better to build a large site that covers many verticals or many sites dedicated to each vertical
Just wondering from an seo perspective is it better to build a large site that covers many verticals or build out many sites one for each vertical?
Algorithm Updates | | tlhseo0 -
Did The Last Google Algorithm Update, Hit sites with poor anchor text?
My content is quite strong within my niche, so I ranked well, but last month my rankings plummeted. On closer examination and scrutiny I discovered my anchor text needed updating. Has anyone else seen this happening in the last four weeks?
Algorithm Updates | | simonberenyi0 -
How Can I Prevent Duplicate Page Title Errors?
I am working on a website that has two different sections, one for consumers and one for business. However, the products and the product pages are essentially the same but, of course, the pricing and quantities may be different. We just have different paths based on the kind of customer. And, we get feeds from manufacturers for the content so it's difficult to change it. We want Google to index both sections of the site but we don't want to get hammered for duplicate page titles and content. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | JillCS0 -
SERPS Issue. Why is this happening?
All of our pages have been indexed by Google and we are ranking very well thus far. Here is an example of a search where, based on my searches, we rank well. Search for "Indiana ERISA Bond". You can search for any state name followed by "ERISA Bond" and we rank really well (Top of page 1). The pages that should show up for you are here: 1. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/indiana/erisa-bond 2. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/indiana/erisa My issue is with a different product we offer. Search for "Georgia Mortgage Lender Bond". The pages I would hope to come up, in order of priority, are: 1. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/georgia/mortgage-lender 2. https://www.suretegrity.com/surety-bonds/georgia/mortgage-broker-banker-lender When I do my searches I show up at the bottom of page 2 and the URL that is being found is #2 above and not #1. I have spent a LOT of time thinking about this and am in need of some direction. What am I doing wrong? Thanks, Alex
Algorithm Updates | | dbuckles0 -
Duplicate Content & www.3quarksdaily.com, why no penalty?
Does anyone have a theory as to why this site does not get hit with a DC penalty? The site is great, and the information is good but I just cannot understand the reason that this site does not get hit with a duplicate content penalty as all articles are posted elsewhere. Any theories would be greatly appreciated!
Algorithm Updates | | KMack0 -
Site Usage Statistics and organic ranking
I'm not sure if anyone has tested this properly but i'm begining to suspect that google is using site usage statistics as a site quality guide and ultimately as a ranking variable. The this what i've seen so far on one of my sites (site A) Week 1= bounce rate (83.88%), Avg time on site (0:0:57), Pages/visit (1.28) no changes made to the site apart from the usual link building. Week 2: Traffic drops by 30%, Keywords generating traffic drops by 39%. Bounce rate (87.25%), Avg time on site (0:0:43), pages/visit (1.21). I replaced all affiliate links on my homepage to internal pages where the chunk of the content is and did a reconsideration request. Week 3: Traffic goes up by 30%, keywords generating traffic goes up by 65%, Bounce rate (30.41%), Avg time on site (0:3:02), Pages/visit (3.74). This is not the most scientific test but surely google must be using these variables and a ranking factor? Anyone seen something along these lines or have thoughts on it?
Algorithm Updates | | clickangel0