Am I creating duplicate content?

[austins36]

Hello,

I am currently working on a website. And optimizing it for mobile speed, I am using the Elementor builder and it allows me to disable certain columns from being viewed on desktop and mobile vice versa.

I created a contact form with a <h1> tag and duplicated it, one is viewable on desktop and the other is only viewable on mobile both on the same page, only difference is the mobile version is less detailed (no images).

My question is will Google see this as duplicate content? I had originally thought there was two types of Google bots, one for mobile and desktop if so does it understand the difference in visibility?

 

[Cherie Dickey]

Hi!

Are the two versions on different URLs?

 

[austins36]

Hi!

Are the two versions on different URLs?

Nope same page, same url. The content is stacked on each other, one only visible to mobile the other only visible to desktop and tablet.

 

[OIG_Steve]

This may be related to my favorite conundrum (ok least favorite.) I'm assuming the original question is referring to a responsive page with some of its content blocked out (display=none) for moble screensizes.

This is what I would like to be able to ensure that mobile users arent forced to scroll through too many screenfuls of stuff risking abandonment/bounce/engagement drop/lower rankings.

But given the mobile-first indexing situation, I would not want to risk reducing the viewable content for mobile users.

Sorry if this isn't matching the original question. If it does match, I am very interested in what the heck to do for reducing mobile bounce rate risk from too much content while not risking ranking drops from not having enough information on the page to let Google see all the signals I would be showing from the desktop view.

 

[Cherie Dickey]

Ah... this doesn't sound like duplicate content to me then since it seems like certain elements are just being hidden for mobile sites on the same URL.

 

[austins36]

Ah... this doesn't sound like duplicate content to me then since it seems like certain elements are just being hidden for mobile sites on the same URL.

Ahh I see where I was confused. Thanks for your replies, I was curious if Google would read both the mobile and desktop versions of my <h1> tag and be discouraged. But I'm assuming when Google indexes the mobile version of my page it won't pull data from the desktop only pieces of content.

If that makes sense?

 

[Visual Realm]

I would be careful with that. If you do any kind of audit, those will count that as using 2 H1 tags, I am not 100% of how google will treat that but most likely if you look at the source code, it is going to show your hidden H1 as well.

 

[djbaxter]

If you do any kind of audit, those will count that as using 2 H1 tags, I am not 100% of how google will treat that but most likely if you look at the source code, it is going to show your hidden H1 as well.

Whether you use 1 or 2 or no H1 tags (or any other Hx tags) is of no consequence for Google indexing or ranking.

Google Says H1 Headings Are Useful but Not Critical

Google's John Mueller answers why H1 headings are useful but not critical

www.searchenginejournal.com

Google Says H1 Tags Are Not Critical For Search Ranking

Google's John Mueller said that your site can rank fine with or without H1 tags. You don't have to use any H1 tags, or you can use many, either way, it is not a critical issue specifically for Google search. He did say it helps Google understand the structure of the page, just like it helps...

www.seroundtable.com

Multiple H1s won’t get in the way of your SEO, Google says

Google still uses semantic headings to understand the context of different parts of your pages, though.

searchengineland.com

 

[Stefan Somborac]

It's not that often that you get exactly the answer you need, in a tidy little video, directly from Google. This one, provided by @djbaxter could not be any more fitting!