Scraped, plagiarized, and duplicated content can create unnecessary SERP competition and drive traffic away from your pages. Below, we teach you about Google’s duplicate filtering system, its shortcomings, and what you can do to protect yourself from SEO plagiarism.
Principais conclusões
- SEO plagiarism steals content without permission, while duplicate content refers to identical or substantially similar content that appears on multiple URLs, whether intentionally or accidentally. Both can negatively impact SEO.
- Although Google aims to surface original content, scraped, duplicated, or syndicated content can cannibalize search rankings.
- It’s not enough to rely on canonical tags and internal templates. The best solution is to create unique content for every page you aim to rank for.
SEO Plagiarism vs. Duplicate Content: What’s the Real Difference
SEO plágio is the practice of copying existing content from other websites without permission to skew search rankings.
In contrast, duplicate content is when substantially similar or identical pieces of content appear across multiple domains. In the latter, duplication typically occurs with the original author’s consent.
However, both can hurt SEO rankings. Here’s how:
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- SEO plagiarism: Google considers SEO plagiarism a violation of its spam policies and makes it difficult for perpetrators to gain visibility. However, sometimes it filters out the originals rather than the copies.
- Duplicate content: Duplicates often make it harder for Google to determine which pages should rank. Sometimes, it picks one version to surface, which may not be your ideal choice.
Does Google Always Filter Duplicates?
Though Google tries to select one version of duplicated copy to surface as the canonical version, its methods aren’t perfect.
Sometimes, it may also:
- Misidentify the canonical version
- Index multiple similar pages if it believes they serve different purposes
- Fail to recognize scraped, copied, or syndicated content as duplicates
- Show different duplicates for different queries
Because of these inconsistencies, SEO plagiarism and duplicate content can still affect search rankings. Internal duplicates can split ranking signals across multiple URLs.
Meanwhile, external duplicates or scraped copies can sometimes compete with the original page if Google misidentifies the canonical or the original source.
We Searched 10 Duplicate Listing Phrases on Google — Here’s What We Found
To measure the consistency of Google’s deduplication system, we searched Google for 10 real estate keywords and counted how often duplicate pages appeared in the search results.
Here’s a step-by-step rundown of how we conducted the study:
- We gathered 10 random listings on Zillow.
- We copied one unique sentence from the description of each listing.
- We searched each sentence in quotation marks on Google. (For example, we searched “A rare opportunity to own a piece of Chicago history in an unbeatable location.”)
We found that duplicate listings appeared in all 10 search results.
While Google attempted to filter duplicate listings twice, it still displayed more than five duplicate listings in both instances.
What This Means for Your Site’s Duplicate Content Risk
Because Google does not consistently filter duplicate content, you may not realize that your rankings have already suffered. Here are a few more of our observations related to duplicate content, SEO plagiarism, and ranking.
Syndicated content can still compete (or cannibalize) in the SERP
Publishing the same content across multiple websites forces Google to choose one version to rank highest. This means that syndicated versions placed on more authoritative domains may occupy higher rankings, redirecting traffic from the original page.
This occurred frequently in our study. For 5 of the 10 keywords, Zillow claimed the top result instead of the broker’s own website. While this can help brokers reach valuable leads, it also reduces opportunities for the original page to earn ranking signals.
Canonical tags are not directives
Canonical tags are signals, not directives. Even with canonical tags in place, Google will still consider other ranking and canonicalization signals when selecting which versions of syndicated content to show in search results.
In our study, most top-ranking pages came from authoritative domains, such as Zillow, Redfin, and Apartments.com.
Internal templates are not a substitute for unique copy
While internal templates keep your pages consistent, they don’t make your content unique. If multiple pages use the same template and nearly identical text, Google may view them as duplicates.
To help your target page rank, add original copy that gives readers information they cannot find on your other pages.
Scraped or copied content from your site behaves the same way in reverse
From Google’s perspective, scraped content behaves similarly to syndicated content. It registers substantially similar pages as duplicates whether republished with permission or copied without it.
This means that when it decides which version to rank, duplicate content can still compete for the same keywords.
Whether the content was republished with permission or copied without it, Google sees multiple versions of the same page.
How to Identify and Prevent Duplicate Content, Step by Step
While SEO plagiarism and other types of duplicate content can harm rankings, they’re relatively easy to find and get rid of. Here’s our step-by-step guide to flagging and preventing duplicate content.
Run a Screaming Frog or Siteliner crawl to flag internal near-duplicates and boilerplate
Site crawlers like Screaming Frog or Siteliner can help you identify pages inwith substantially similar content. Find the pages that repeat copy or rely on the same templates and rewrite them to include unique information relevant to the keywords your page is specifically targeting.
Spot-check your most valuable pages with an exact-phrase Google search
To flag duplicate content on other pages or websites, you can identify a distinctive phrase or sentence from your page and search for it in quotation marks, similar to how we did in the study. Google will return pages that match the exact phrase or sentence.
Set canonical tags and 301s for any confirmed internal duplicates
If two pages serve the same purpose, it’s best to use a 301 redirect to consolidate them.
If both pages need to remain live, you can use a canonical tag to tell Google which page you want to treat as the primary page. However, there is no guarantee that Google will follow the signal, which is why 301 redirects are usually the best option. l
Request removal or DMCA action for external scraped copies
If another website republishes your content without permission, ask the site owner to remove it. If they refuse or do not respond, you can submit a DMCA takedown request to have the copied content removed from search results where applicable.
Perguntas frequentes
Is SEO plagiarism the same as duplicate content?
Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else’s work without permission or attribution. Meanwhile, duplicate content is publishing identical or substantially similar pieces of content across multiple domains.
Does duplicate content count as self-plagiarism?
Typically, no. While self-plagiarism refers to the practice of reusing past works without disclosure, it is only problematic in settings that require original authorship, such as academia, publishing, research, and competitions.
Most duplicate content online simply exists to improve usability, support multiple versions of a page, or make content available across different URLs.
Does Google penalize duplicate content automatically?
Not always. Google says it may choose one version of duplicate content to show prominently in search results. However, our study found that 8 out of 10 duplicate pages were not filtered.
How can I check if my content has been duplicated elsewhere?
Search a distinctive sentence from your page in quotation marks to identify copies in Google Search. For ongoing monitoring, use a dedicated plagiarism or duplicate content checker, such as Screaming Frog or Siteliner’s plagiarism checker.
These tools can help you find duplicate content across the web and monitor your site for copied pages.
Considerações finais
Don’t assume that Google’s deduplication system will protect you from scraped or duplicated content. As our study showed, Google’s track record for filtering copies is unreliable. Protect your rankings by proactively searching for duplicate content and crafting replacements that are unique, value-adding, and relevant to your keyword.
For more SEO tips, check out our SEO basics checklist. It provides a comprehensive rundown on how to improve your search rankings.
Create original, high quality content that stands out in search with Undetectable AI.