{
    "title": "Duplicate content",
    "seo_title": "Duplicate content: definition, causes and fixes",
    "h1": "Duplicate content",
    "description": "Duplicate content: why it is not a penalty, how Google picks the version it shows, and the typical duplicates found on a WordPress site.",
    "lead": "Duplicate content is identical or very similar content available at several URLs, on the same site or across different sites. Google groups these duplicates and usually shows only one version, the canonical URL, which is not necessarily the one you would prefer.",
    "language": "en",
    "locale": "en-US",
    "type": "definition",
    "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/",
    "canonical": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/",
    "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/index.md",
    "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/index.json",
    "published": "2026-10-28T08:00:00+00:00",
    "modified": "2026-10-28T20:00:32+00:00",
    "site": {
        "name": "WP Masquerade",
        "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/"
    },
    "translations": [
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            "language": "en",
            "hreflang": "en-US",
            "title": "Duplicate content",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/index.json"
        },
        {
            "language": "fr",
            "hreflang": "fr-FR",
            "title": "Contenu dupliqué",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/definitions/contenu-duplique/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/definitions/contenu-duplique/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/definitions/contenu-duplique/index.json"
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        {
            "language": "es",
            "hreflang": "es-ES",
            "title": "Contenido duplicado",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/glosario/contenido-duplicado/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/glosario/contenido-duplicado/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/glosario/contenido-duplicado/index.json"
        },
        {
            "language": "de",
            "hreflang": "de-DE",
            "title": "Duplicate Content",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/de/glossar/duplicate-content/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/de/glossar/duplicate-content/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/de/glossar/duplicate-content/index.json"
        },
        {
            "language": "it",
            "hreflang": "it-IT",
            "title": "Contenuto duplicato",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/it/glossario/contenuto-duplicato/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/it/glossario/contenuto-duplicato/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/it/glossario/contenuto-duplicato/index.json"
        },
        {
            "language": "pt",
            "hreflang": "pt-BR",
            "title": "Conteúdo duplicado",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/pt/glossario/conteudo-duplicado/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/pt/glossario/conteudo-duplicado/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/pt/glossario/conteudo-duplicado/index.json"
        },
        {
            "language": "nl",
            "hreflang": "nl-NL",
            "title": "Duplicate content",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/nl/woordenlijst/duplicate-content/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/nl/woordenlijst/duplicate-content/index.md",
            "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/nl/woordenlijst/duplicate-content/index.json"
        }
    ],
    "headings": [
        {
            "level": 1,
            "text": "Duplicate content"
        },
        {
            "level": 2,
            "text": "How Google handles duplicates"
        },
        {
            "level": 2,
            "text": "The most common sources of duplicates"
        },
        {
            "level": 2,
            "text": "For WordPress"
        },
        {
            "level": 2,
            "text": "Common mistakes"
        }
    ],
    "body": "Duplicate content worries a lot of site owners, often for no good reason. Google says it plainly in its documentation on canonicalization: some duplicate content on a site is normal and is not a violation of its spam policies. The real risk is not a penalty but a loss of control: Google chooses which version to show, and it isn't always the one you would have picked.\n\n## How Google handles duplicates\n\nDuring [indexing](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/), Google groups identical or very similar pages and selects one of them as the [canonical URL](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/), the most representative of the group. The other versions are crawled less often and rarely shown. Your hints (canonical tag, redirects, sitemap) are signals Google takes into account, not orders: it may choose a different URL if they contradict each other.\n\n## The most common sources of duplicates\n\n- **Protocol variants**: the same site reachable over both HTTP and HTTPS.\n- **URL parameters**: sorting, filters, tracking IDs added to campaign links.\n- **Regional variants**: several countries served the same text in the same language, a case the [hreflang](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/) attribute helps clarify.\n- **Accidental copies**: a staging site left open to crawlers, duplicating the entire production site.\n- **External copies**: another site republishing your articles, with or without permission.\n\n## For WordPress\n\nWordPress already takes care of part of the problem: it adds a canonical tag to posts and pages, and automatically redirects some URL variants to the official permalink. A few points remain to check:\n\n- The site address under Settings > General should be the final version (HTTPS, with or without www), and every other version should lead to it through a [301 redirect](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/).\n- Tags and categories that group exactly the same posts produce nearly identical archives: keep your taxonomies distinct, or exclude useless archives from the index with your SEO plugin.\n- A WooCommerce store whose filters create thousands of URLs needs a clear policy (canonical to the category, robots.txt for worthless combinations), otherwise it also weighs on your [crawl budget](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/crawl-budget/).\n- A staging copy should be protected with a password, not just with the “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” checkbox. Our guide to WordPress staging sites explains how to set it up.\n\n## Common mistakes\n\n- **Conflicting signals**: a sitemap that lists one URL, a canonical pointing to another, internal links to a third. Align them all on the same URL.\n- **A canonical pointing to the home page** set on every page by a theme or a misunderstood setting: Google may end up ignoring your inner pages.\n- **Blocking duplicates in robots.txt**: Google can no longer crawl them, so it sees neither their canonical nor their redirect.\n\nMasking settings, for their part, don't create duplicate pages: with WP Masquerade, permalinks and the canonical tag stay the same, as explained in our article on [the real effects of masking on SEO](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/hide-wordpress-seo-impact/).\n\n## Related terms\n\n- [Canonical URL](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/)\n- [301 redirect](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/)\n- [Indexing](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/)\n- [Crawl budget](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/crawl-budget/)\n- [Hreflang](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/)\n\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Google Search Central : qu’est-ce que la canonicalisation ?](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization)\n- [Google Search Central : fonctionnement de la recherche Google](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search-works)",
    "definition": "Duplicate content is identical or very similar content available at several URLs, on the same site or across different sites. Google groups these duplicates and usually shows only one version, the canonical URL, which is not necessarily the one you would prefer.",
    "group": "SEO and marketing",
    "aka": [
        "duplicate pages",
        "duplicates",
        "content duplication",
        "DC"
    ],
    "related": [
        {
            "title": "Canonical URL",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/index.md"
        },
        {
            "title": "301 redirect",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/index.md"
        },
        {
            "title": "Indexing",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/index.md"
        },
        {
            "title": "Crawl budget",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/crawl-budget/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/crawl-budget/index.md"
        },
        {
            "title": "Hreflang",
            "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/",
            "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/index.md"
        }
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "title": "Google Search Central : qu’est-ce que la canonicalisation ?",
            "url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization"
        },
        {
            "title": "Google Search Central : fonctionnement de la recherche Google",
            "url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/how-search-works"
        }
    ],
    "format": "application/json"
}