What's the best way to handle duplicate questions and requests in your community?

Steven Way · 2025-10-20T14:10:53+00:00

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I last logged in - almost three months! I’m really happy to see how much this community has grown. So many new discussions, features, and members. Feels great to be back.I could use some advice on handling duplicate questions and feature requests in our community. We’re building a customer community around our SaaS, and I’ve noticed that most members don’t use the search bar. Instead, they end up asking the same questions that have already been answered several times.Each post has a small variation, but it’s mostly the same content - and the same goes for feature requests.For those who’ve been moderating communities for a while, what’s your go-to strategy for managing duplicate content? Do you respond to each one, merge them, or delete the duplicates altogether? Also, does it impact SEO if we leave them as is?Would love to hear how you handle this!

What's the best way to handle duplicate questions and requests in your community?

Steven Way
@stevenway

Updated: Oct 20, 2025

Views: 94

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I last logged in - almost three months! I’m really happy to see how much this community has grown. So many new discussions, features, and members. Feels great to be back.
I could use some advice on handling duplicate questions and feature requests in our community. We’re building a customer community around our SaaS, and I’ve noticed that most members don’t use the search bar. Instead, they end up asking the same questions that have already been answered several times.
Each post has a small variation, but it’s mostly the same content - and the same goes for feature requests.
For those who’ve been moderating communities for a while, what’s your go-to strategy for managing duplicate content? Do you respond to each one, merge them, or delete the duplicates altogether? Also, does it impact SEO if we leave them as is?
Would love to hear how you handle this!

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Paula Derrenger

@paulad • 3w

We get duplicates in our community quite often. We’ve created ready-made answer templates and paste them into the comments whenever a question is repeated. Not entirely sure how this might impact our SEO, though.

Kaustubh Katdare

@kaustubh-katdare • 3w

Welcome back, Steven. We're growing!

Duplicate content on the community is not a problem. Repeatedly asked questions do not necessarily fall under the duplicate content problem. Each content needs to have a different canonical URL though.

The best way to deal with duplicate content on community is through building a topical cluster. Here's how it works:

Create a pillar article or page that covers the issue and offers a direct answer.
Whenever a new question is posted by a member, simply add a link in comment pointing to the pillar article.
Do not remove or merge the discussions.

There are several benefits to this approach:

Users get what they are looking for - a detailed answer that solves their problem.
If threads are merged, users may find it confusing.
Linking back to the pillar article from multiple content items (duplicate threads) leads to forming a topical cluster for that article. Google and search engines know that the pillar article has the most up to date and correct solution to the problem.
It still gives the member an opportunity to extend their question, add clarifications etc.

We've implemented this strategy in several large communities successfully. These pillar articles rank high in Google and bring organic traffic. Let me know if you have further questions.