Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can be described as content on a web page that is substantially similar to (or exactly the same) as the content of a page with a different URL (the 'address' of the page e.g. www.lumina.net.nz/contact-us/).

Why is duplicate content bad?

Search engines look out for and deal with duplicate content by deciding which content is the 'orginal' and de-ranking the other pages with the similar content.

What causes duplicate content?

There are two main causes of duplicate content:

• Incorrect site structure - the website has pages or portions of pages that are similar or identical to other pages within the website.
• Copying content from another site - either stealing content directly or sometimes innocently using it without either party realising the problems it can create.

How can duplicate content be avoided?

Developers can ensure that site structure is not a problem by careful planning and configuration of the specific Content Management System they are using.

The person responsible for providing the content needs to make sure that they use original material - don't just cut and paste information from other sources.  If someone elses content is good enough to consider using, why not link directly to it?