You have a service page that works. The layout is right, the call-to-action sits where you want it, and now you need a second one for a related service, or a near-identical landing page for a new town you cover. Rebuilding it block by block feels like a waste of an afternoon, so you look for a Duplicate button in the Pages list. In a standard WordPress install, there isn’t one.
There are still several good ways to duplicate a page in WordPress. Which one suits you depends on how the page was built and how much of it you want to carry over. This post walks through each, then covers the part most people skip: tidying up the copy so it does not trip over the original in search results.
Decide what “a copy” needs to include
Before you pick a method, be clear about what you are copying. A WordPress page is more than its visible content. It also carries:
- the title and the slug (the part of the address after your domain)
- the page template and any layout options your theme adds, such as “no sidebar”
- the featured image and the excerpt, if your theme uses them
- the parent page, if it sits under another page
- settings stored by plugins: the SEO title and meta description, schema options, page builder data
Some methods copy only the content blocks. Others copy nearly everything, including the SEO settings. Neither is wrong, but you need to know which you used, because the second kind leaves you with two pages that describe themselves to Google in exactly the same words.
How to duplicate a page in WordPress without a plugin
If the page was built in the block editor (our guide to using the WordPress block editor explains the term), WordPress can copy its whole body for you. This is the cleanest option when you only want the layout and the text, and you are happy to set the title, template and SEO fields fresh.
- Open the original page in the editor.
- Click the three-dot Options menu at the top right of the editor.
- Choose Copy all blocks. WordPress places the page’s content on your clipboard.
- Go to Pages → Add Page (older versions say Add New Page or Add New).
- Give the new page its own title, click into the empty content area, and paste.
- Open the settings sidebar and set the template, parent page and featured image to match the original if you need them.
- Save it as a draft until the content is rewritten.
The pasted blocks arrive with their colours, spacing and alignment intact. What does not come across is everything in the list above that lives outside the content. That is often a good thing: you start with a clean SEO slate. Our walkthrough on creating a new page and setting its details covers the title, slug and parent fields.
One limit: synced patterns stay synced. If the original page includes a synced pattern (what older versions called a reusable block), the copy shows the same pattern, and editing it on either page changes it everywhere. That is usually what you want for a shared contact strip, and not what you want for a block you planned to reword.
Using a duplication plugin
If you copy pages often, a plugin saves time and copies the settings too. Two are widely used:
- Duplicate Page adds a link to each row in your Pages and Posts lists. Its settings let you choose what status the copy gets, and keeping that as Draft is the safe choice.
- Yoast Duplicate Post adds Clone and New Draft links under each item in the list. It also has a Rewrite & Republish option, which lets you prepare changes to a live page on a copy and then merge them back into the original. That one is for editing, not for making a second page, so do not confuse the two.
With either plugin, the steps are short: hover over the page in Pages → All Pages, click the duplicate link, then open the new draft. The copy usually brings the template, featured image and most plugin data with it, including the SEO title and description your SEO plugin stored. Both plugins have settings that control what is copied, so look through them once after installing.
If you only need to duplicate one page, once, a plugin is overkill. Use Copy all blocks and skip the extra install.
Builder pages and saved templates
Pages built with Elementor or another page builder store their layout in the builder’s own data, not in ordinary blocks, so Copy all blocks will not help. Builders have their own ways to reuse a design:
- Elementor can save a whole page as a template. Look for the save-as-template option in the editor near the Publish or Update button. The template then appears in the library when you insert one into a new page, and also under Templates in the dashboard.
- The duplication plugins above generally copy builder pages as well, because they copy the page’s stored data along with it. Open the copy in the builder afterwards to confirm it looks right.
If you are new to the builder’s interface, our guide to editing an Elementor page explains where its panels and settings live.
Clean up the copy before it goes live
This is where duplicated pages cause real trouble. A copy that goes live unchanged is two pages saying the same thing, and search engines then have to choose one. Often they show neither the way you hoped. Work through these before you publish.
Title and slug
Change the title first. Then check the slug in the settings sidebar. If you published a copy with the same title, WordPress would add “-2” to the end of the address, and an address like that tends to stick around long after the title has changed. Set a short, descriptive slug yourself before the first publish.
SEO title and meta description
If a plugin made the copy, your SEO plugin’s fields almost certainly came across too. Open the Rank Math or Yoast SEO panel on the new page and rewrite both. Our post on editing the SEO title and meta description shows where those fields sit and how long to make them.
The content itself
Two service pages can share a layout. They should not share most of their words. A page for “boiler repair” and one for “boiler installation” built from one source needs different headings, a different opening, different FAQs and different examples. The same goes for town pages: swapping in a place name and leaving the rest identical produces thin, near-duplicate pages, which is exactly what search engines discount. If you cannot write something genuinely different for a second page, it may be better as a section on the first.
There is a wider topic here about how WordPress itself can create duplicate addresses, and how canonical tags handle it. That is covered separately in duplicate content in WordPress and canonical URLs.
Links, forms and tracking
- Buttons and links in the copy still point wherever the original’s pointed. Check each one.
- If a form on the page has hidden fields or a notification set for a particular service, the copy sends enquiries the same way. Adjust the form or use a different one.
- Schema settings, such as a service name or FAQ markup set in your SEO plugin, may also have been copied. Update them to describe the new page.
When the copy misbehaves
The copy was published by accident. Some plugins can be set to publish copies straight away. If that happened, switch the copy to Draft or move it to the Trash. If it was live only briefly, there is usually no lasting harm.
You edited the original instead of the copy. It is easy to do when both have the same title. Open the page’s revisions and restore the version from before your edits. Then rename the copy immediately so the two are easy to tell apart in the list.
The pasted layout looks different. If the original used a custom template or theme layout setting, the new page will look wrong until you choose the same template in its settings.
The builder copy is blank. Some builder pages depend on global templates or theme builder conditions. If the copy shows nothing, open it in the builder rather than the block editor, and check that the builder is active for that page type.
If you were hoping to copy the whole site to test a redesign, that is a different job; a staging site is the right tool, not page duplication.
Copying habits to drop
- Leaving several “Copy of…” drafts in the Pages list. Delete the ones you abandon, or name them clearly.
- Duplicating a page as a “backup” before editing. Revisions already do that job.
- Copying a page that has a synced pattern and then wondering why your edit changed another page.
- Publishing a set of near-identical town pages. One strong page usually serves you better.
A copy touches menus, forms and SEO settings at once. Each of those has its own section in our wider guide on how to manage a WordPress website, so they are not repeated here.
Frequently asked questions
Does duplicating a page copy its comments or revision history?
No. A copy starts its own history. Duplication plugins copy the content and most settings, but the new page has no earlier revisions and no comments from the original. If you need an older version of the original, use its own Revisions screen rather than looking in the copy.
Can I duplicate a post the same way as a page?
Yes. Copy all blocks works the same in posts, and both Duplicate Page and Yoast Duplicate Post add their links to the Posts list as well. With posts, also check the categories, tags, publish date and author on the copy, because a plugin may carry those across.
Will Google penalise me for having two similar pages?
Two similar pages are not usually treated as a penalty, but search engines tend to pick one and ignore the other, so the copy rarely earns anything. Rewrite it so it answers a different question, or keep the content on one page and remove the duplicate.
Is it safe to uninstall the duplication plugin later?
Generally yes. The copies it made are ordinary pages and stay in place when the plugin is removed. You only lose the duplicate links in the list. If you used a rewrite-and-republish feature, finish or discard any pending rewrite drafts before removing the plugin.
Our WordPress support service also takes on the clean-up when copied pages have started competing with each other, working out with you which to keep, rewrite or redirect.
Next in this series: How to Schedule a Post in WordPress (and Fix Missed Ones)
