How to handle International Duplicated Content?

[WebmasterAlex]

Hi,

We have multiple international E-Commerce websites. Usually our content is translated and doesn't interfere with each other, but how do search engines react to duplicate content on different TLDs?

We have copied our Dutch (NL) store for Belgium (BE) and i'm wondering if we could be inflicting damage onto ourselves...

Should I use: for every page? are there other options so we can be sure that our websites aren't conflicting? Are they conflicting at all?

Alex

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Alexander,

The hreflang link in the header is probably the best way to do it. As to if it is impacting you, it depends on how much duplicate content there is to some degree. If you have set up both sites in GWT with separate sitemaps you can keep an eye on how well both sites are being indexed, a lot of unindexed pages on one or the other might indicate a problem. Best practice would be to put in the hreflag as you mention if in doubt.