Duplicate content is content that appears at more than one URL on the web — either on your own website or between your website and another site. It’s one of the most common technical SEO problems on local business websites, and one that many business owners don’t realise they have until they investigate why their pages aren’t ranking as well as they should.
Google’s preference is to show searchers unique, original content. When the same or very similar content appears at multiple URLs, Google must choose which version to show — a process called “canonicalisation.” The version Google doesn’t choose may be excluded from the index entirely, or may rank significantly worse than it would if it were the only version. The pages you’re not aware of that are causing the problem may be suppressing the rankings of the pages you care most about.
The Most Common Causes on Local Business Websites
www vs non-www versions of your website. If both https://clickwebsites.redronin.org and https://clickwebsites.redronin.org serve the same content without one redirecting to the other, Google sees two versions of every page on your site. This is one of the most common and easiest-to-fix duplicate content problems — a single redirect configuration in your hosting control panel or .htaccess file resolves it permanently.
HTTP vs HTTPS versions. Before SSL certificates became standard, many websites were accessible at both http:// and https:// versions. If the old HTTP version still serves pages rather than redirecting to HTTPS, every page on your site has a duplicate. Google consistently prefers HTTPS — and the redirect from HTTP to HTTPS should be in place on every website operating today.
Thin location pages. A common but problematic SEO tactic is creating suburb pages by taking a template page and replacing only the suburb name. If “Plumber Frankston” and “Plumber Mornington” pages share 95% identical content with only the suburb name changed, Google identifies these as near-duplicate pages and either refuses to index them or ranks them poorly. Location pages need genuinely distinct content about each service area to avoid this.
Copied product or service descriptions. For ecommerce stores or businesses that use supplier-provided content, product descriptions that are identical across multiple retailers create duplicate content. Google typically shows the version it determines to be the “original” — which may not be yours. Writing original product and service descriptions, even if the underlying products are identical, solves this problem.
Printer-friendly or parameter-filtered pages. Some websites generate separate printer-friendly versions of pages, or serve the same content with URL parameters appended (from filtering, sorting, or session tracking). Without canonicalisation, these generate duplicate URLs that Google may index alongside the primary versions.
How to Fix It
The primary technical fix for most duplicate content scenarios is the canonical tag — a piece of code in the HTML head of a page that tells Google which version of a URL is the “canonical” (preferred) version. When a canonical tag points from a duplicate page to the primary version, Google consolidates its indexing and ranking signals to the canonical URL.
On WordPress with Yoast SEO or Rank Math, canonical tags are managed automatically for most scenarios and can be manually specified per-page where needed. Proper redirect configurations (301 redirects from www to non-www, HTTP to HTTPS, old URLs to new) handle the remaining major duplicate content scenarios.
At Click Websites, duplicate content prevention is part of the technical foundation we build into every site — correct canonical tags, consistent URL structure, and redirect architecture that eliminates the conflicting signals that suppress rankings. Request a free website health check to find out if your current site has duplicate content issues, or get in touch to discuss what’s affecting your search performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Google penalise websites for duplicate content?
Google does not issue manual penalties for most duplicate content — it typically handles it algorithmically by choosing which version to index and ignoring or devaluing the others. The harm is not a penalty in the traditional sense but a dilution of your content’s search performance: instead of one strong page ranking for a term, you have two weaker pages competing with each other. The exception is intentionally deceptive duplicate content created to manipulate rankings, which can receive manual action.
Is it okay to republish my blog posts on LinkedIn or Medium?
It carries a risk — if the republished version outranks your original in search results, your own website loses the traffic from that search. To mitigate this: publish on your own website first and wait for Google to index it before republishing elsewhere, use the canonical tag feature on LinkedIn Articles and Medium to point to your original, or simply summarise rather than republish the full post, with a link to the original for the full version.
What’s the difference between duplicate content and plagiarism?
Plagiarism is copying someone else’s content and claiming it as your own — a legal and ethical issue. Duplicate content is a technical SEO issue where the same content appears at multiple URLs, which can include your own content appearing in multiple places. They overlap (copying competitor content creates both plagiarism and duplicate content problems) but are distinct issues addressed through different means.
Can thin content cause the same problems as duplicate content?
Yes — and often more severe ones. “Thin content” is content with little original value — very short pages, pages with only boilerplate text, or pages that don’t meaningfully cover their topic. Google can exclude thin pages from its index (“Crawled — currently not indexed”) or rank them poorly even when indexed. For suburb pages and service pages specifically, adequate content depth is required to avoid being filtered out as thin content.
How do I know if my website has duplicate content issues?
Google Search Console’s Coverage report shows pages excluded from the index — the “Duplicate, submitted URL not selected as canonical” status specifically identifies canonicalisation problems. Tools like Screaming Frog (free for up to 500 pages) crawl your website and flag duplicate page titles, descriptions, and content. Running your website through these tools reveals the specific duplicate content scenarios present without requiring expert interpretation.
Should suburb pages on a local business website have unique content?
Yes — absolutely. Suburb pages with genuinely unique content (specific references to local landmarks, completed projects in that suburb, local knowledge about the area’s specific needs) serve both search engines and visitors better than templated pages. Google explicitly rewards content that demonstrates local expertise and penalises thin location pages created at scale without genuine local information. If you can’t write something genuine and distinct about each suburb you serve, a single well-written service area section is preferable to multiple thin suburb pages.
