Both internal and external duplicate content can often go undiagnosed for long periods of time, especially if you\u2019re working with pre-existing content that you haven\u2019t written yourself. Below we\u2019ll go through a quick guide on how to diagnose duplicate content, and we\u2019ll also outline some handy tools and pointers to help you reduce it where\/when possible.<\/p>\n
Copying content from external sites can be easily done, but doesn\u2019t help your organic visibility efforts. If you have personally added content to your website yourself, then you\u2019ll know if you\u2019ve written it, or whether it has been copied and pasted from elsewhere.<\/p>\n
If you did write the content yourself, then it\u2019s worth checking that no one has duplicated it externally. If you only have a small website, then you can easily search Google for snippets of your content to see what is returned. Whilst this isn\u2019t the most comprehensive method, as you can miss content if only snippets have been copied, it will give you a good understanding of not only if your content has been duplicated, but where and how often.<\/p>\n
If you search Google for your content, ideally your website should be at the top of the results. If you\u2019re the only result that\u2019s great, no one has copied your content. If other websites are listed below you, then it\u2019s worth checking them, as it\u2019s likely this content has been copied from your website word for word, or it has a close similarity to your own.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re running a larger website with over 50 pages, then checking for duplicate content can be a huge job. Luckily, there are programs out there to help you.<\/p>\n
Copyscape <\/a>checks for external content duplication, and multiple sources of duplication can be easily identified here, as well as single sources. If you do discover that your content has been copied, then it\u2019s worth either contact the offending website, perhaps citing Google\u2019s best practice, or flag the issue to Google, who will then take action against the website that has copied your content, usually penalising them or removing the offending page from the SERPs.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve copied content from other websites knowingly or unknowingly, then you\u2019re going to need to re write it, all of it.
\nIf you\u2019re concerned about internal content duplication, e.g. product pages using the same content on your website, then Siteliner<\/a> will check for internal duplication.<\/p>\nDealing with Duplicate Content<\/h2>\n
Dealing with Content You\u2019ve Duplicated<\/h2>\n
\nIf you have a small website then it\u2019s a fairly simple task, but if you\u2019re a larger ecommerce website, this can seem daunting. Don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\nOutsourcing Your Copywriting<\/h2>\n