Quick answer
Search systems may treat substantially similar pages as duplicates and select one URL to represent them. That is not, by itself, a penalty: product variants, print views, parameters, and syndicated material can be intentional. First establish what the site’s URLs are meant to represent.
What the issue means
NOTABIS strips markup, collapses whitespace, and compares the resulting text for an exact match. This catches identical normalised page text; it does not calculate semantic similarity or find near-duplicates. Shared navigation or a common template alone is not enough to conclude that two pages have the same purpose.
Why it matters for SEO
When several indexable URLs represent the same subject, search systems may have to choose which URL to show and signals can be split. The practical concern is clarity: one preferred page, coherent internal links, and consistent sitemap and canonical signals.
How NOTABIS detects it
The duplicate-content rule groups crawled pages whose normalised text matches exactly after that cleanup. The report shows the affected pages, but it cannot decide whether those URLs have different business purposes or whether search engines will treat them as duplicates.
How to check it yourself
Compare the affected URLs side by side. Check headings, main copy, canonical URLs, indexability, parameters, language, product choices, and whether each URL has a distinct search intent.
How to fix it
If pages are accidental duplicates, consolidate them and redirect retired URLs where appropriate. If variants should remain accessible, use coherent canonical and indexability rules. If pages are intended to rank separately, add genuinely useful subject-specific content rather than cosmetic wording.
For example, /products/boot?campaign=spring may be the same document as /products/boot. If so, keep one preferred URL in internal links and the sitemap, and use a consistent canonical policy. A different size or model page may deserve its own URL when it offers distinct information and serves a separate need.
When this is intentional or does not need fixing
Duplicates can be reasonable for print views, tracking variants, filtered navigation, translated or regional pages, and syndicated content. Make the intended relationship explicit and do not remove useful URLs merely to eliminate a report finding.
Related issues
Review duplicate titles, duplicate descriptions, and canonical URLs together. Google’s canonicalisation guidance explains how it selects a representative URL.
Run a NOTABIS audit
Run an audit to group the measured duplicate pages and inspect the evidence before deciding whether consolidation is appropriate.