Duplicate content is a recurring issue that is plaguing businesses. The fact that language has its limitations means people often result to similar usage of words to curate content. Inevitably, duplication is encountered in various contents owing to the fact that brands and businesses use the same words to advertise, publicize, market, and describe their products or services.

One way to avoid duplicate content is to use the services of a professional writer. These writers are specialized in writing original content that can make your brand stand out. But how does Duplicate content affect your online performance?

What Is Duplicate Content?

Duplicate content simply means, identical/similar content appearing on several web pages or sites. Essentially, duplicate content has to do with part or entire sessions of articles, blogs, and paragraphs, that are identical. Search engines find it difficult to rank websites with duplicate content because duplicity is not authenticity.

To stand out, you have to make your content authentic. On the other hand, when employing duplicate content it is known as plagiarism and that will affect website ranking.

Duplicate content can be seen in materials posted on websites and social media platforms. This often arises when different platforms are owned or managed by the same client or agency.

Types of Duplicate Content

Duplicate Content can be internal or external. Both have a similar effect on the search ranking, and it is expected you take quick action when you notice either.

Internal duplicate content

While this is common in the content world, it can go unnoticed. Internal duplicate content happens when identical words are used on different pages of a website. For example, your about us page could carry the same content as your “why should you hire us” page. This might look harmless, but it goes a long way in affecting your page ranking.

External duplicate content

External duplicate content is also known as plagiarism. This means contents on one website are similar to the content on another website.

If you find that your content has been plagiarized, you should report that page, as someone is pilfering your ideas for their benefit. You can cite such an act as a copyright infringement.

On the other hand,  if your page is copied from another source, you will be reported.

Search engines are cautious about duplicate content. They often cite age as a distinguishing factor between both contents. So the older content will rank higher than the recent content m

Effects of duplicate content on websites

  • Copyright infringement
  • Loss of traffic
  • Poorly ranked website
  • Drop-in return visitors
  • Negative publicity and loss in reputation

Best way to avoid duplication

Authenticity and originality are the bedrock of any online business. If your contents are original, visitors will build a certain level of trust in your brand and what you offer. Once you lose that due to duplication, it is difficult to regain it.

So how do you avoid duplication?

  • Work with professional content creators
  • Do a thorough search for duplication regularly
  • Use plagiarism checkers like Copyscape to check for duplication before publishing any content
  • Report any duplicate content
  • Rather than copy verbatim, learn to paraphrase the contents

Conclusion

In the world of content management, duplicate content will have an adverse effect on your reputation. It also affects your websites ranking in search engines. The best practice for your business is to ensure your contents are original and authentic. You can achieve this, by working with professional content writers to produce authentic materials for your business.

It’s an unfortunate reality that duplicate content is a problem for many websites. But it doesn’t have to be! If you want help fighting against duplicate content, contact Xploited Media today and we can talk about what strategies will work best for your business. We’re always happy to chat with website owners who are looking to improve their SEO or marketing rankings by reducing the amount of duplicated material on their site.