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RSS Feed Creating Duplicate Content for the Same Article

Updated

If you notice that your RSS feed is creating duplicate posts or content for the same article, it’s likely due to how your RSS feed updates and how Cloud Campaign’s import service detects new entries.
This article explains why duplicates occur and how to prevent them.

 

Issue Summary

Our RSS import service automatically checks your feed every hour for new articles.
When it finds new content, it imports it into Cloud Campaign.

To determine whether an article is new, the system compares the Publish Date in your RSS entry with the last import time.

If an article’s Publish Date is updated after it’s already been imported, Cloud Campaign treats it as a brand-new article, which can lead to duplicate posts.

 

Steps to Reproduce

You may encounter duplicate content when:

  1. You have an RSS feed connected to Cloud Campaign.

  2. The feed contains an article that was already imported previously.

  3. You re-publish or update the article in your system, which updates the Publish Date.

  4. On the next hourly import, Cloud Campaign detects the updated Publish Date and imports it again as a new post.

 

Why This Happens

The RSS import tool relies on the Publish Date field to identify new or updated content.
If the Publish Date changes, it’s considered a new article—even if the title, body, or link remain the same.

This design ensures that newly published articles are captured automatically, but can also result in duplicates when existing articles are re-published or edited.

 

Workaround: How to Prevent Duplicate Content

To avoid duplicate content from RSS imports:

  1. Double-check the publish date of any articles in your RSS feed before re-publishing.

  2. Avoid changing the Publish Date unless it’s truly a new version of the article.

  3. If your CMS allows, make content updates without altering the publish date field.

Tip: Updating an article’s body, title, or metadata without changing its publish date will prevent Cloud Campaign from re-importing it.

If you continue experiencing duplicates even after verifying publish dates, please reach out to our Support team for further troubleshooting.

 

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