Duplicate Content - Category Pages 2+

[2bloggers]

I have my Wordpress SEO settings to deindex past page 1 of each category. However, Google Webmasters is selling me I have 210 pages with duplicate title tags.

My site tanked last weekend and I don't know if it was Google Panda or what. I have been getting some fantastic backlinks and it seems like they just decided to disregard all of them as I am completely off the SERPs.

Is this duplicate content a contributing factor? How can I get google to deindex my category pages past page 1? (I do need the first page to index as that does bring me organic traffic)

Thanks.

[MikeRoberts]

That's a tough one without more information. So I'll go into part of my standard WordPress spiel...

Other than categories, what are you doing about Tag Archives and Author Archives duplicating your content? Are you using tags properly or do you have tons of one-off tags everywhere? Do you have your homepage & archives set to show the full article or only a preview? Because if everything is set to full article, you're tagging like crazy, and your archives are all being indexed... every new post is being duplicated a minimum [4 + (# of Tags)] times on your site.

What are you using to try to handle your duplicate issues? Practically everyone suggests using Yoast.

[2bloggers]

I am using Yoast. I did the recommended settings. But Google seems to be ignoring the archive settings and indexing past page 1. Can I reboot Yoast or something to try and get it to "take"?

I don't use tags or author archives and those are noindexed.

My archives show the full article. I would like to do a preview but without a picture it is just way too boring. I should probably figure out how to show a picture preview. I am using Genesis.

Suggestions?