New WordPress Plugin Prevents Duplicate Titles From Being Published

By default, if a post or page uses a title that’s already been used, WordPress appends a -2 to the end of the slug to prevent conflicts. Not only do duplicate titles cause conflicts, they’re not good for SEO. Developed by wallfa_hm, the Duplicate Title Validation plugin checks the title and displays a notice if it’s considered a duplicate.

Duplicate Title Detected
Duplicate Title Detected

I tried to publish a post with a duplicate title but the plugin prevented it from being published and saved it as a draft instead. This is a nice touch and forces the writer to use a unique title.

Duplicate Post Saved as a Draft
Duplicate Post Saved as a Draft

It’s not difficult to determine what the plugin is doing but the notices could be improved so they’re easier to understand. If you publish a lot of content, this plugin is an easy way to make sure each post or page has a unique title.

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6 responses to “New WordPress Plugin Prevents Duplicate Titles From Being Published”

    • Hi Joseph,

      WordPress doesn’t allow duplicate slugs which is the most important thing. There are valid use cases for duplicate titles. For example I run a job website. There must be several hundred posts titled “English Teacher in Beijing”. They are all unique with their own URL, so that’s fine. If everyone had had to make the title unique, it would be hard for the users submitting the jobs..

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