Microsoft Bing explains how duplicate content can hurt your visibility in AI Search

Did you know that duplicate content can hurt your visibility within AI Search? Fabrice Canel and Krishna Madhavan from Microsoft explained that with AI Search, having duplicate content makes it harder for systems to understand the signals reducing “the likelihood that the correct version will be selected or shortened.”

This is not much different than duplicate content or similar content can cause ranking problems in traditional search. That is, because AI Search, on Bing and Google, is based on the same signals used in traditional search – having duplicate content can cause confusion and blur the signals of intent.

The problem with duplicate content and AI Search. Here’s a bullet point from the Bing blog on why duplicate or similar content can cause problems with that content showing up in AI Search:

• AI search builds on the same signals that underpin traditional SEO, but adds additional layers, especially for objective satisfaction.
• When several pages repeat the same information, those intent signals become difficult for AI systems to interpret, reducing the likelihood that the correct version will be selected or summarized.
• If multiple pages cover the same topic with similar wording, layout, and metadata, AI systems cannot easily determine which version best matches the user’s intent. This reduces the chances of your favorite page being selected as a primary source.
• LLMs combine nearly duplicate URLs into one set and select one page to represent the set. If the difference between the pages is small, the model may choose an outdated version or not the one you intended to highlight.
• Campaign pages, audience segments, and local versions can serve different purposes, but only if those differences are meaningful. If variations reuse the same content, the models have several features to match each page to the unique need of the user.
• AI systems love new, up-to-date content, but duplicates can slow down how quickly changes are seen. If searchers revisit duplicate URLs or lower rates instead of updated pages, new information can take longer to reach systems that support AI summaries and comparisons. A clear objective strengthens AI visibility by helping models understand which version to trust and portray.

Content for sale. Most people don’t know that resale content, content that you may have published on your site but allow others to copy and publish on their sites, can also cause problems.

Commercial content, at least as Microsoft defines it, is considered duplicate content. “When your articles are republished on other sites, identical copies can exist on all domains, making it difficult for search engines and AI programs to identify the original source,” Microsoft wrote.

How to reduce duplicate content? When it comes to marketing content, you can try asking your marketing partner to:

• Add the canonical markup from the publishers on their site, to the original version on your site
• You can ask them to rework the content, so that it is not too similar
• You can ask them to write the content, so that the search engines do not see it

Campaign pages. Microsoft also said “Campaign pages can be duplicate content if multiple versions target the same goal and differ only by minor changes, such as headlines, images, or audience messages.” So you want to make sure that you are very careful about your internal site page organization and URL structure.

• Choose one main campaign page to collect links and engagement.
• Use canonical tags for variables that do not represent a unique search intent
• Only keep separate pages where the purpose clearly changes, such as seasonal offers, local prices, or comparison-focused content.
• Merge or 301 redirect old or obsolete campaign pages differently.

Localization pages. Of course, localization can also create duplicate content pages. If you have multiple pages that say the same thing but swap the city or location, that’s too similar to other pages, which can cause problems. “Localization creates duplicate content when regional or language pages are nearly identical and do not provide meaningful differentiation to users in each market,” Microsoft wrote.

To fix it, Microsoft suggests:

• Localize meaningful changes such as names, examples, regulations, or product specifications.
• Avoid creating multiple pages in the same language that serve the same purpose.
• Use hreflang to specify locale and language orientations

Some technical SEO news. And yes, technical issues on your site can cause duplicate content. You may have a problem generating multiple URLs for the same piece of content. Generally, most search engines can handle this automatically but why let the search engine decide, you should control this by making sure you only have one URL for that one piece of content. URL parameter issues can cause this, HTTP vs. HTTPS, uppercase and lowercase URLs, trailing slashes, printer-friendly pages, staging or test sites, and more.

To fix this, Microsoft suggests:

• Use 301 redirects to combine different ones into one popular URL.
• Use canonical tags when multiple versions should always be accessible.
• Enforce consistent URL structures across the site.
• Block staged or archived URLs from being searched or indexed.

Why do we care. Duplicate content in SEO is not a new topic and will move from traditional search to AI search. Many of you have a lot of experience dealing with duplicate or similar content and how that negatively affects indexing and ranking.

For more tips and advice, check out the Bing Webmaster blog.