Will having two pages with the same content on both the www and dev subdomain of my Webflow site cause any SEO issues?

Having two pages with the same content on both the www and dev subdomain of your Webflow site can potentially cause SEO issues. Search engines like Google strive to provide the best user experience by ranking websites based on their relevance and quality. When search engines encounter duplicate content, they may struggle to determine which version is the most relevant to show in search results. This can result in both pages competing against each other, ultimately diluting the visibility of your website in search engine rankings.

Here are some potential SEO issues that can arise from duplicate content across subdomains:

1. Keyword cannibalization: When you have identical content on both subdomains, it can lead to keyword cannibalization. Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages on your website are targeting the same keywords. As a result, search engines may get confused about which page to rank for a specific query, lowering your overall rankings.

2. Page authority dilution: Duplicate content across subdomains can dilute the authority of your website as search engines may not know which version to prioritize. This can impact your overall visibility and rankings on search engine result pages (SERPs).

3. Backlink confusion: If you have multiple versions of the same content, it can create confusion and inconsistencies in backlinks. Backlinks are crucial for SEO, and having different versions of the same content can lead to backlinks pointing to different pages with similar content. This can weaken the overall authority of your website and adversely affect your rankings.

To mitigate these potential SEO issues, it's recommended to follow these best practices:

• Choose a preferred domain: Decide whether you want to use the www or non-www version as your primary domain. Set up a redirect from one version to the other to ensure consistent URLs.

• Canonical tags: Implement canonical tags on both pages to indicate the preferred version to search engines. This helps consolidate the ranking signals and prevent duplicate content issues.

• Robots.txt and meta tags: Use the robots.txt file to block search engine crawlers from accessing the duplicate version of the content on the dev subdomain. Additionally, use meta tags to instruct search engines not to index the dev version.

• 301 redirects: If it makes sense for your website structure, consider redirecting the dev subdomain to the primary domain. This ensures that users and search engines are always directed to the correct version of the content.

In summary, having duplicate content on both the www and dev subdomain can lead to SEO issues. To avoid these problems, establish a preferred domain, implement canonical tags, adjust your robots.txt file, and consider using 301 redirects where appropriate.

Additional questions:

1. How can I set up a redirect from one subdomain to another in Webflow?
2. What are some other SEO best practices to improve the visibility of my Webflow website?
3. Does Webflow offer any built-in SEO features to optimize my website?