iEntry 10th Anniversary
SEODuplicate Content Due To URL Parameters
By Navneet Kaushal
Expert Author
Article Date: 2007-09-13
It is true that URL parameters, like session IDs or tracking Ids, can be the reason behind duplicate content.
This was revealed by Google itself. Google explained that, "when user and/or tracking information is stored through URL parameters, duplicate content can arise because the same page is accessible through numerous URLs."
Even Adam Lasnik also supports this view point. He referred this in "Deftly Dealing with Duplicate Content".
When two identical content of two different URLs are crawled by search spider, there may be several negative effects, like:
* Multiple URLs can dilute link popularityTo help users and webmasters with duplicate content, Google has designed a new algorithm. This new algorithm will:
* Search results will show user-unfriendly URLs
* Detect duplicate content, and group the duplicate URLs into one clusterIf one finds duplicate content in their site, they can you help search engines by:
* The "best" URL is selected to represent the cluster in search results
* Then the properties of the URLs are consolidated in the cluster to the representative URL
* Removing unnecessary URL parametersTo reduce duplicate content more broadly, Google came up with suggestions like:
* Submitting a Sitemap with the canonical version of each URL.
1. When tracking visitor information, use 301 redirects to redirect URLs with parameters like affiliateID, trackingID, etc. to the canonical version.To read the full post, click here.
2. Use a cookie to set the affiliateID and trackingID values.
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About the Author:
Nav is the founder and CEO of Page Traffic, a premier search engine company known for its assured SEO service, web design and development, copywriting and full time SEO professionals.
Navneet has wide experience in natural search engine optimization, internet marketing and PPC campaigns. He is a prolific writer and his articles can be found in the "Best Articles" section of many websites and article banks. As a search engine analyst , he has over 9 years of experience and his knowledge is in application here.