Duplicate content refers to identical or very similar content reachable under several URLs. It rarely triggers a penalty but causes a loss of control over which version becomes the main one.Open glossary entry → refers to content that is fully or largely identical across several URLs. For users it is the same page, but for search engines it can be different URLs.

A distinction is made between internal duplicate content (within a site, e.g. through parameters, www/non-www, HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the protocol through which browsers and servers exchange web content. HTTPS is the encrypted, secure variant of this protocol.Open glossary entry →/https, filters or print versions) and external duplicate content (the same text across several domains, such as manufacturer descriptions).

As a rule there is no automatic penalty. The real problem is loss of control: Google picks a canonical version itself, signals spread across multiple URLs and A snippet is the compact display of a result in the search results, usually made up of a title, URL and description. It is what users see before clicking.Open glossary entry → look interchangeable. Common symptoms are duplicate title tags and meta descriptions. Depending on the case, duplicate content is resolved via canonical tags, 301 A redirect forwards users and search engines from one URL to another. It can be permanent (301) or temporary (302) and transfers signals to the target URL.Open glossary entry →, noindex or unique content. The robots.txt is usually unsuitable for this.