Http and https duplicate content?

[Cornel_Ilea]

Hello,

This is a quick one or two.

If I have a page accessible on http and https count as duplicate content?

What about external links pointing to my website to the http or https page.

Regards,

Cornel

[Matt-Williamson]

Yes it does

Have a look here

http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/solving-duplicate-content-issues-with-http-and-https

I would 301 redirect the http:// version to the https:// version to take care of any link issues.

[Cornel_Ilea]

Hi Matt,

Thank you for your response, but I have one more question.

The article is from 2008 is it still applicable today?

Cornel

[Matt-Williamson]

The article is still applicable today and here is more info on your topic from a Q&A earlier this year - http://www.seomoz.org/q/duplicate-content-and-http-and-https

You will notice the top endorsed answer (endorsed by DR Pete) uses this method and points to this article

You will also notice a 301 redirect is recommended solution as I mentioned above though they do it the other way around. I would do it to the secure version as that is the one I would imagine you want to be the page that is used as it is secure. Search engines can index both protocols so doing it either way won't harm you...

[NakulGoyal]

Cornel

I suggest adding the rel=canonical tag on your page to the version you'd like index. That way both the http and https version of the same page, will display the same "http" canonical and avoid the duplicate content issue and also act as a 301 from your https to http for the bots. The user's would still be able to get to the https homepage if they are logged into your website and or browsing on https, so that they don't toggle back and forth between https and http.