Duplicate Content Solutions

4000 Duplicate Pages!

[MarketingChimp9090]

Hello Webmaster World!

I have been following the forum and this is my first post. I have a client that has a Massive Duplicate Content issue. They have been in business since the late 90s, and whenever they update their schedule a demo page. The old page stays, and a new page is created each month. When Google Crawls this site, they see the old page, as a Duplicate page. I am unsure of the best way to correct this because A) there are so many pages, and B) what's the method to correct this? I can set up a redirect, but then I have to insert a redirect every month, and I have to go to each instance and insert the redirect (4000 times!). Should I use a Rel=Canonical tag, Would that have to be integrated every month as well.

I'm kind of an SEO Noob, I've been practicing for the past 2 years, and this is my first mid-sized business, most of my work has been with local small businesses (No Demos). I've scoured the internet, and haven't found anything helpful. Any input is appreciated. Thanks Ahead of time!

B/R

Will H.

[Andy Langton]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, Will!

Can you clarify what type of duplication this is? Is there an updated version of an existing page created? Can you give (exemplified) versions of the URLs? Do they link to the older pages?

[MarketingChimp9090]

Hello Andy!

Thanks for getting back to me, I appreciate your help and insight. Below is an example of what I am seeing. I get the same results using Screaming Frog or Moz, this info is coming from Moz. 29 Duplicate Pages (See Below).

https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=178&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=222&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=170&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=158&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=160&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=176&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=224&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=211&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=162&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=178&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=158&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=160&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=172&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=166&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=211&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=205&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=224&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=153&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=210&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=222&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=210&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=225&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=176&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=225&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=166&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=153&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=170&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=172&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/events/eventView.asp?EventID=205&CategoryId=7
https://www.example.com/Events/eventView.asp?EventID=162&CategoryId=7

It appears every time they update their event page (EventID=XXX), I get hit with a Duplicate Content. I have no idea where to input a Canonical Tag or any other recommendation so that a Search Engine will see that this content is outdated, and the search engine will look for the most updated page.

Any insight is appreciated, I've been crushing Google, but can't find anything to help.

B/R

Will

[edited by: bill at 11:52 pm (utc) on Jan 24, 2016]
[edit reason] use EXAMPLE.COM [/edit]

[Andy Langton]

Are these pages actually listed in Google? Many third party tools are more primitive in their handling of issues like this than Googlebot. You may have a theoretical rather than practical problem.

The best solution if you want to fix this is going to depend on the technology behind the site. If the old pages are "expired" and of no value then redirecting to the new page is the best plan, or using a canonical if that isn't possible or is technically too tricky to handle.

My instinct would be to look at a programmatic solution, e.g.:

- Include code in eventview.asp that looks up the most recent event in the database
- Send a redirect to this event or output a canonical link on the event page pointing to this event.

[MarketingChimp9090]

Excellent! Thanks Andy.

So, basically all I need to do to resolve this issue is to input a canonical link (which may look something like this; <link rel="canonical" href="w3.mysite.com/events/eventview.asp?eventid=178&categoryid=7" />) on the eventview.asp that points to the most recent event page. The Canonical Tag will tell the search engine to disregard the old pages, and look to the most updated version of the page for relevancy. Last Questions, Once the tag is on the page, will it ever need to be updated? I'm still a Noob, does it sound like I'm picking up what you're laying down.

Thanks Again!

[Andy Langton]

Once the tag is on the page, will it ever need to be updated?

If the "latest" page changes URL, then yes, you would need to update the tag. The most logical way would be to script this so it did not have to be updated manually.

[MarketingChimp9090]

Excellent! Thank You so much for all of your help.

[Andy Langton]

Make sure you test any implementation of canonical tags or redirects carefully, as (by their nature) they will remove URLs from Google results. You don't want to accidentally do this to the wrong pages! :)