The system shows duplicate content for the same page (main domain and index.html). Is this an error of SEOMOZ?

[moskowman]

Should I be worried that this will affect SEO?  Most sites redirect to the index.html page, right?

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[RyanKent]

If you are seeing this error, the most likely cause is your site isn't redirecting the index.html page to the / page. If you have a site which offers two URLs which provide the same content, it will be considered duplicate content by search engines. The best approach is to properly redirect to the preferred URL.

[moskowman]

Thanks for the explanation Ryan!  I have tried so many times to get this perfect, but the host for one of my client's sites keeps screwing it up.  I will try to rectify asap.  Thank you so much, Aaron.

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[PeterAlexLeigh]

Aaron,

Change any links pointing to index.html to the root domain ie. /

[moskowman]

Hi Ryan,

I looked into this, and I currently have the redirect of my old domain going to /.  Is there anything else you could think of here?  I will go in and see if I have an .htaccess file with proper 301 language.

Aaron

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[moskowman]

I just added 301 redirect command for whole entire old site domain to the new site with the "/".  I hope that this works

[RyanKent]

Aaron, your SEOquake extension is adding data to each of your replies which makes them very difficult to read.

I have viewed your responses in FF and Chrome. Please remove the extra content from the replies.

[moskowman]

Hi Ryan,

I added url="canonical" tag for the homepage and now I have 38 pages of duplicate content (supposedly) according to my SEOMOZ dashboard.  I called my host over the weekend, and they have no idea how to redirect for SEO.  I would have been much happier leaving everything alone and going back to my 8 duplicate pages....  Any further suggestions?

Thanks,

Aaron

[RyanKent]

Based on your results and how you worded the reply, I am concerned you have not implemented the tag correctly. Can you provide your URL so I can take a look?

Please also share a couple examples of duplicate pages and the URL which should be the primary page for the selected content.

[moskowman]

Hi Ryan,

The URL is physicaltherapyspecialists.com.  I just took out the redirect and cannonical url code.  I will wait it out.  But I am not sure even what the dup pages are.SEOMoz just shows the pages that are duplicates but not the duplicate URL's

Aaron

[RyanKent]

Thank you for sharing the link.

Your site definitely has a duplication problem. Presently your entire site is available via the root domain and the www subdomain.

http://www.physicaltherapyspecialists.com/

http://physicaltherapyspecialists.com/

Both of the above links work. Both of the above links also present the site with the listed URL and a 200 header code. That means your entire site is duplicated. This is an SEO issue which needs to be addressed.

The first step towards resolution is deciding how you wish your site to be seen, as the www or non-www URL. Next, you need to be absolutely consistent with your selected URL version. If you have managed hosting, contact your host and request your site be 301 redirected to the chosen URL version.

Once this issue is resolved, I recommend you take a look at the SEO Beginner's Guide. It contains a lot of truly helpful information. You can learn any particular element of SEO such as canonical tags fairly quickly. Understanding the optimal times to use canonical tags vs 301s takes experience, and even experts will disagree at times. Your issues can be handled by yourself if you are willing to learn and invest time in your site.

Good luck.

[moskowman]

Awesome!  Thank you so much for the advice Ryan!