Ask a Question
-
SEO Moz has found a bunch of duplicate content errors on one of my sites because blog archives has created a new page for each tag.
For example: http://examplesite.com/blog/tag/travel
http://examplesite.com/blog/tag/travel-photography
http://examplesite.com/blog/tag/tours
http://examplesite.com/blog/tag/accommodations
The above urls are just tags for the same exact page, hence making them all duplicates. Is it normal for each tag to be a separate page? Do the search engines see this as duplicate content? If so, how do I correct this issue if I want to keep the tags? Regards,Dino
-
Ok, I'm at a complete loss now. I've now enabled the sitemap for the yeast SEO plugin and have checked the box in the plugin settings to not allow tags or categories in the sitemap. I've also went into each tag and plugin page and have selected to noindex and to not include in sitemap tags and plugins. Did this for each one, yet I just ran another crawl report and still getting duplicate pages from SEOMoz. Any suggestions why Seomoz is still finding those pages? What else can I do? Regards, Dino
-
OK, thanks Dan, and you're right, I should have gone back and read your first response again because in the end, that is exactly what I ended up doing. I no-indexed each tag with the SEO Yoast Plugin options.
I'm expecting that the next time SEO Moz crawls my sight that it won't count these as duplicates anymore. Am I correct in believing that?
Regards,
Dino
-
Thanks for chiming in! Just want to clarify, canonical tags would be the last resort. In this case, especially for WordPress, noindexing tag archves and noindexing subpages is the way to go first.
-Dan
-
Hey There
See my other answer. You first have to noindex tag archives. Then you can exclude them from the XML sitemap.
Noindexing tags will not harm SEO. Google has been not returning tag pages in search results very much at all anymore. You really want your articles themselves to rank.
-Dan
-
Hi There
What you need to do is;
- Using your SEO plugin (hopefully Yoast SEO plugin) - noindex tag archives.
- Also, noindex subpages of archives
It is normal for tags to be their own page, but it is not desirable to let the search engines index them, thus why we'll add the noindex for tag pages. The search engines can potentially see them as duplicate or thin content. It's OK they exist, just not ok to index them.
Some resources;
My article on Moz about setting up WordPress correctly
-Dan
-
Hey Donford:
I tried to uncheck the tags box in my Sitemap Plugin for Wordpress so the tags wouildn't be included in the Sitemap. In the latest crawl report, however, it is still showing all those tag pages as duplicate pages.
In the Edit Tag pages in Wordpress there are two boxes that allow me to "no index" the tag and another one to "exclude from Sitemap." Do think I am safe if I do both? I am "no indexing" all tags and am also eliminating them from the sitemap. Do you think I may be doing any harm to SEO?
Thanks, Dino.
-
You're very welcome
-
Right on, Donford! Thanks for the quick response. Regards, Dino
-
Hi Dino here are your questions and my answers
The above urls are just tags for the same exact page, hence making them all duplicates. Is it normal for each tag to be a separate page? This is powered by your CMS content mangment system, Wordpress and Joomla have ways to fix this issue. Check with your CMS forums to see if this is way to modify this behavior, or use canonical tags to prevent the duplicate content from being indexed.
Do the search engines see this as duplicate content? Yes
If so, how do I correct this issue if I want to keep the tags? Canonical tags or change the way the tags are generated and or content is archived.Hope that helps
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
A question on keywords that rank 51+
Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to pose a question to the group about keywords and the "on-page optimization - grade a page tool." I have a list of keywords that I am trying to rank for. Some of them are not ranked in the top 50, so on the keyword ranking tool it gives you the 51+ message in the rank column. For the items that are ranked I can try to improve them by looking at grade a page and typing in the URL and keyword. It will then give me a score and suggestions on how to improve it. With that being said, is there an easy way to find out which pages I should be optimizing those keywords which rank at 51+ for, besides typing the keywords in Google and seeing what URL it associates with the specific keyword? I hope the question above is clear.
Moz Pro | | trumpfinc0 -
On-page grader question
Hi there, Getting to know the Pro tools and can't find an answer to this. Can someone explain for me please? Using on page grader, I found a couple pages with an F. I scrolled downWTO where it shows the keyword phrases and under each, the URL. Clicking on the first keyword "Building site alarms"it tells me off essentially for not optimising the page for that term. The URL is "construction site security systems" which are different to building site alarms which also have their own page. I don't understand why is Moz associating this keyword with this page? I certainly haven't told it to. Please he
Moz Pro | | DaddySmurf0 -
How to change a Discussions post to a Question
I've opened two discussions recently but they really happen to be more like questions. They were both answered but both posts are still opened : http://www.seomoz.org/q/reading-suggestions-for-a-local-french-small-biz-website http://www.seomoz.org/q/should-i-block-wordpress-archive-and-tag How can I change them back to Question so I can mark them as close? Thanks 🙂
Moz Pro | | Akeif0 -
Ask a QuestionIs it possible to duplicate a report from one campaign to another one ?
Hi, Maybe it's easy to do and I've not seen it but I wonder wether or not it's possible to duplicate a report I've personnalised from one campaign to another one. I'd don't want to rewrite it and i'd like to have the same structure within all my reports ! Thanks,
Moz Pro | | Spleen0 -
301 redirect question from a newb
So, I've been blogging for almost 3 years now. I've always used wordpress, but recently changed from a ProPhoto theme to a Woo Theme (Editorial...don't know if that matters). I've signed up for the SEOmoz website and HOLY CROW I have problems with my website out the wazoo. I am tackling issues one at a time and one of my issues seems to be 301 redirects. If you'd like to see a screen shot of the crawl diagnostics, check it out the attachment. If you'd like screen shots of anything else, just let me know. I'm not sure I'm reading the chart right, but it seems to say that all of my redirecting problems are because my links are redirecting from an http://www..... to a http://http://www... I've been in my wordpress blog post back end and can't seem to figure out how they A. Got like this. and B how to fix it. If I'm reading the chart wrong...definitely let me know. Thank you guys so much in advance! Screen%20Shot%202012-01-01%20at%202.28.19%20PM.png
Moz Pro | | TerraDawn0 -
SEOmoz Pro dashboard report question
Hi there, SEOMoz dashbard report shows 'URLs Receiving Entrances Via Search' - Is it counting only organic searches or all searches including PPC? Thanks, Gemma
Moz Pro | | RBA0 -
Open Site Explorer Question!
Hi, I have performed a search on a root domain and the page auth is higher then the domain auth? I would have thought they would have been the same or at least the other way around!
Moz Pro | | activitysuper0