Duplicate Content issue

[CPLDistribution]

I have been asked to review an old website to an identify opportunities for increasing search engine traffic.

Whilst reviewing the site I came across a strange loop. On each page there is a link to printer friendly version:

http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7&printfriendly=yes

That page also has a link to a printer friendly version

http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7&printfriendly=yes&printfriendly=yes

and so on and so on.......

Some of these pages are being included in Google's index.

I appreciate that this can't be a good thing, however, I am not 100% sure as to the extent to which it is a bad thing and the priority that should be given to getting it sorted.

Just wandering what views people have on the issues this may cause?

[cmaddison]

I believe this may cause duplicate content issues.

If possible, remove the link to the printer friendly version from the printer friendly pages.

http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7 would have a link to printer friendly page.

http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7&printfriendly=yes If &printfriendly = true, do not display the link.

Also ensure you're using rel=canonical to show that http://www.websitename.co.uk/index.php?pageid=7 is the actual page that should be indexed. The following should be placed in the head tags of the printer friendly page:

[Hurf]

use the rel=canonical on the main page/s to show that they are the original/source/master page of the content.

See this helpful guide:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/complete-guide-to-rel-canonical-how-to-and-why-not

Don't forget you can also tell Googlebot to ignore certain URL parameters to prevent them being indexed and treated as duplicate content.

"If your site uses URL parameters, some of the parameters may be unnecessary for page navigation. Asking Google to ignore these parameters can reduce duplicate content in Google's index and make the site more crawlable."

This is done through Google.com/Webmasters - Your Domain - Dashboard - Settings - Parameter Handling.