Duplicate content (duplicated content)

What is duplicate content?

Duplicated content refer to significant portions of identical or very similar text that appear on more than one web page. This can be the case within a domain or across multiple domains. So-called duplicate content is considered problematic for SEO, as search engines avoid including similar web pages in search results because it affects usability.

According to Matt Cutts however, duplicate content will not harm your site's SEO unless it is "spammy". If you have concerns about duplicate content on your website, apply the following principles:

• Use 301 Redirectsto redirect traffic from old or retired URLs to new URLs.
• If there are duplicate content pages on your website that you do not want to appear in search results, uninstall them with the tag noindex
• If there are multiple versions of a page with very similar content, use canonicalization to tell Google which version is the "canonical" one. URL is
• Consider consolidating similar pages rather than hosting multiple pages with very similar content

What does Google think of duplicate content?

• Duplicate content leadsNOT cause your website to be penalized.
• Google knows that users want variety in search results and not the same article over and over, so they choose to consolidate and display only one version.
• Duplicate content is not a reason for action unless it is aimed at manipulating search results.
• The worst thing that can happen with this filtering is that a less desirable version of the page is displayed in the search results.
• Google tries to determine the original source of the content and display it.
• If someone reproduces your content without permission, you can request its removal by filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act request.
• Do not block access to duplicate content. If they can't search all versions, they can't consolidate the signals.