How to find and fix duplicate title tags to improve SEO

Duplicate title tags are cases where multiple pages on a site share identical title tags in their HTML body, which can lead to lower search engine rankings and a poor user experience.

Common causes of duplicate title tags include:

• Duplicate pages that target different countries or users
• Content management system (CMS) platforms automatically generate default titles without customization
• Parameter-based URLs (such as those for ad campaign tracking) Creating duplicate versions of a page
• Paginated content that does not mention page numbers in each title
• Category and tag pages that use generic titles

Yes, in most cases duplicate title tags are problematic.

Here are several reasons why:

• Search engines struggle to determine which page to rank for specific keywords when multiple pages share the same title tag (called keyword cannibalization). This can lead to lower rankings for all affected sites.
• Users who see identical title tags in search results may not be able to tell which page best matches what they are looking for. This confusion leads to lower organic click-through rates and higher bounce rates for your site.
• You miss out on opportunities to target different keywords and search height. Each unique page deserves its own optimized title tag designed to help it rank for relevant queries.
• Google may choose to ignore or devalue pages with duplicate titles if they see them as low quality. This may result in lower or no rankings for these pages.

You can find duplicate title tags using a couple of methods.

You can crawl your site with an SEO Spider tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider. Then export the title tags to a spreadsheet and sort them to spot duplicates.

Image source: Screaming Frog

To streamline the process of finding duplicate title tags, use Site Audit (which automatically scans your site for 140+ issues).

Follow the prompts to run an audit, go to “Question“Tab and search” Duplicate title tag. “

Then select the number listed in “# Problems with duplicate title tags” to reveal the affected URLs. And you will see a list of the URLs grouped by those that share the same title tag.

Like this:

Visit each of the affected pages and study their content to see how they differ.

You can then log into your CMS or website platform to make the necessary adjustments.

How to solve duplicate title tag problems

Here are four proven methods for resolving duplicate title tags, listed from simplest to most technical:

Create unique title tags

Create different titles for each page of:

• Including the page’s primary keywords to tell search engines and users what your content is about
• Adding any unique identifiers (such as product names, categories, locations) that may be relevant
• Using consistent patterns that still allow for uniqueness
• Keeping the title length between 50 and 60 characters
• Make your title tag and H1 the same or similar

Here is an example pattern for product pages:

[Product Name] – [Category] | [Brand Name]

And here is an example blog post:

[Post Title] – [Main Topic] | [Site Name]

Use canonical tags

When you need multiple pages with similar content (such as printer-friendly versions or variants targeted at different audience segments), use canonical tags to tell search engines which version of a page you want them to index, rank, and display in the results.

1. Select the main version of the page
2. Add this line to the HTML for both the duplicate pages and the main page:

Use hreflang attributes

Add hreflang attributes to multilingual and/or multiregional sites with similar content to help search engines understand which versions are for which users.

An hreflang attribute is included in your HTML

Section and tells search engines which pages to show searchers based on their language (indicated by the first two letters after hreflang = “) and location (indicated by the second two letters after hreflang =”).

If this is your case, you must:

1. Add hreflang attributes to specify which version is for each language/region
2. Link all language versions to each other

For example, a site with the same page in English and Spanish might use this entry for both pages:

Use dynamic title tags

Using title tag templates with dynamic variables that change based on the page is useful for large sites with many similar pages (such as e-commerce or catalog pages).

To do this:

1. Create title tag templates in your CMS or website platform (this varies by platform)
2. Insert dynamic variables that pull unique data, such as:

Variables may include:

• Product names
• Categories
• Prices
• Locations
• Model numbers

This approach scales well, but requires careful template design to ensure that each title generated remains unique and meaningful.

Depending on your familiarity with your CMS or other website platform, you may be able to work with someone who has more technical expertise.

Finding and correcting duplicate title tags is a quick and relatively easy way to improve your SEO performance.

How to get started:

1. Sign up for a forever free Semrush account
2. Configure site auditing
3. Run your first audit (you can review up to 100 URLs with a free account)
4. Go to the “Issues” tab to find any duplicate title tags

Want to see future duplicates before they become a problem?

Schedule regular audits (weekly or daily) during setup. You will receive an e-mail each time a review is completed.

Run your first audit now.