Glossary / Duplicate content

What is Duplicate content?

Duplicate content is the same or near-identical text appearing at more than one web address. Search engines then have to guess which version to show.

It usually happens by accident. One product shows up under three category paths. A printer-friendly version lives at its own address. A post gets republished on a partner site word for word.

There is no penalty for most of it. The real cost is dilution. Links and signals split across versions, and the wrong copy is the one that surfaces in results while the page you cared about sits quiet.

A canonical tag is the standard fix, since it names which version is the original. A redirect is the fix when the duplicate should not exist at all. Rewriting is the fix when two pages genuinely cover the same ground.

In Creaiter

Creaiter drafts each piece against your brief rather than reshuffling an existing page, so you are not publishing the same paragraphs at two addresses.