Duplicate content means the same or almost the same text can be reached under several addresses, either on your own website or on others. Google does not penalise this if there is no intent to deceive, but it picks one version and does not show the others, and often it picks the wrong one. The fix is to merge with a redirect, add a canonical tag, or clearly separate the content.
A trust office wrote a post in 2024 about the extended deadline for tax returns. In 2026, a new employee writes the same post again, with current dates, under a new address. Both are online. Google sees two pages answering the same question and has to choose one. That is duplicate content in everyday life, and it arises less often from copying than from forgetting.
Internal and external duplicates
| Internal duplicates | External duplicates | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | On your own website | On other websites |
| Technical | www and non-www, parameters, print versions, http and https | Mirrored websites, development environments in the index |
| Editorial | Two posts on the same topic, location pages with the place name swapped, a service page and a guide with the same text | Manufacturer copy in shops, press releases, republication on portals, copied content |
| Who fixes it | You, yourself | Partly you (canonical, your own text), partly the other party (removal) |
The technical cases are common, but simple: they are fixed with redirects and the canonical tag, set up once and sorted for good. The editorial cases are rarer, but more costly, because they affect posts that took real work to write.
What Google does with duplicates
Google groups addresses with the same content together, picks one canonical address and shows only that one in the results. Signals from the other addresses, such as inbound links, are partly transferred to the chosen one. There is no penalty for this. Google's spam policies only mention mass copying of other people's content without adding anything of your own as a violation.
The real problem is different: Google chooses. And Google does not always choose the page you want. Then the old 2024 version with outdated deadlines ranks, while the new one stays invisible.
When duplicate content really causes harm
- Google shows the wrong version: the old one, the incomplete one, the print view.
- Two of your own pages keep swapping places in the results and both only reach position 12 instead of one reaching position 5. This is keyword cannibalisation, the editorial form of the problem.
- Inbound links get spread across several addresses and do not strengthen any of them properly.
- For shops: a hundred product pages with manufacturer text compete with a thousand other shops that have the same text.
- For location pages: ten pages that differ only in the place name are treated as one, leaving nine places without a page.
The solutions
| Situation | Solution |
|---|---|
| The same page under several technical addresses | 301 redirect to the main address, canonical pointing to itself |
| Both addresses need to stay reachable (parameters, filters) | Canonical pointing to the main address |
| Two posts on the same topic | Merge: keep the best text, work in the content from the other, redirect the old address with a 301 |
| Two posts with a similar topic but a different question | Differentiate: sharpen the title, opening paragraphs and focus, link to each other |
| Republishing on a portal | Require a canonical pointing to your original, otherwise provide a summary instead of the full text |
| Manufacturer texts in the shop | Add your own paragraph per product, with your advisory experience and Swiss connection |
| Location pages with a placeholder location | Real content per location, or fewer location pages |
For merging, follow this order: first determine the better post (more clicks in Search Console, better address), then work the other one into it, then send the old address to the new one with a 301 redirect, then point internal links to the new address. Never simply delete the old page; that creates a 404 and wastes all the links pointing to it.
The example, thought through to the end
Back to the trust office. The 2024 post has three inbound links from industry directories and ranks at position 9 in Search Console, the 2026 one is more up to date but invisible. The right solution: update the 2024 post at its address with the content from 2026, set the date honestly to the update date, and redirect the 2026 post with a 301 to the old address. This way the links are kept, and Google sees a single, up-to-date page. For how to approach such updates in general, see updating old blog posts.
The better solution, though, would have been to never let the problem arise in the first place: an editorial plan with a column for the search query, which you check before every new post to see if it already exists.
What to do with this
Once a year, sort the list of all posts by topic and look for pairs that answer the same question. Close technical duplicates once with a redirect and canonical. And before every new post, search your own website for the topic before you write.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a penalty for duplicate content?
Not in the sense of a downgrade of the whole website. Google filters duplicates and shows one version. A manual action only applies, according to the spam policies, if content is copied from other websites on a large scale without adding any value of its own. For normal SME websites, the damage lies in wasted ranking, not in a penalty.
Can I use manufacturer texts in my online shop?
You're allowed to, but then you're competing with every other shop that has the same text, and usually with the manufacturer itself. Google then shows one of the versions, rarely yours. Your own paragraph covering use, size, delivery from Switzerland and experience from advising customers makes the product page distinctive.
Are location pages with swapped place names duplicate content?
Yes, if only the place name differs. Google recognises such template pages and often shows only one. A location page needs its own content: the local team, references from the area, directions, regional specifics. Fewer location pages with real content beat many with placeholders.
Is it enough to rewrite the duplicate's text?
Only if two pages with different intent remain afterwards. Two posts that answer the same question in different words will keep holding each other back. First decide whether both pages serve their own search query; if not, merge them.