What is Duplicate Content?
Duplicate content refers to blocks of text that are either exactly the same or very similar, appearing on more than one web page—either within the same website or across different domains.
This often occurs when material is copied entirely or partially from another source without sufficient modification to make it original.
For instance, changing a few words here and there while keeping most of the content intact still qualifies as duplication.
It’s important to distinguish duplicate content from plagiarized or scraped content, which involves copyright violations. Duplicate content doesn’t always break rules or result in immediate penalties from search engines.
That said, having too much duplicate content can negatively affect a site’s SEO performance by making it harder for search engines to decide which version to rank.
In essence, while not directly penalized, duplicate content can weaken your visibility and reduce your website’s chances of ranking well in search results.