Duplicate content in an online store: typical causes
LightSEO · Technical SEO
Duplicate content in an online store: typical causes
Duplicates go beyond the technical kind, where one page is available at several addresses. Often the duplicate is the content itself: identical descriptions, template texts, copied specifications.
50+
stores with the same description
1
solution – unique texts for best sellers
Types
Three kinds of duplicates
Technical. One page at several addresses: filters, parameters, with and without www, a trailing slash.
Internal content duplicates. Identical descriptions of products that differ only in color. Template category texts where a single word is swapped in.
External. Supplier descriptions that appear in hundreds of stores. Formally the fault lies elsewhere, yet they give you no advantage.
Consequences
What they put at risk
⚖️
Competing with yourself
Two of your pages fight for the same query, and neither reaches the top.
📉
Diluted page weight
Links and weight are split between the copies instead of strengthening one page.
🗑
Wasted crawl budget
The crawler downloads copies instead of new products.
Plan
What to do
Technical duplicates – canonical tags and redirects. The fastest and cheapest fix.
Templates – rewrite them with variation. A template should produce varied text each time; the same text with a swapped-in name is of no use.
Best sellers – unique descriptions. The twenty products that bring in most of the revenue deserve their own text.
Suspect duplicates on your website?
We will run an audit: find technical and content duplicates and give you a plan to eliminate them.
