Visuals aid in a superior user experience. A blog or article on a website can attract 94% more views if it has more images. But compared to in-article images, the images shown at the beginning of the article are more valuable.

We are talking about featured images—and most notably, the relevant featured images that represent the intent of the article or carry a strong call-to-action.

These images can attract continuous clicks on the related posts featured on a website. If the image is brand new and ALT text is given, it has a higher probability of appearing in the top search results.

But in most cases, these images appear twice in the blog posts, which is undoubtedly not good from the perspective of SEO success in wordpress and the public’s opinion.

You might be excellent at creating the catchiest featured images. But if you have encountered duplicate images on blog posts, this guide will help you. Before we begin, let’s learn how featured images work.

How do the featured images work in WordPress?

The featured image is a visual interpretation of the type of article you are about to read next. Most blog posts’ images are purpose-built. But some people only use images either to make their content look more appealing, or to get traffic from Google Images in addition to Google Searches.

You can easily add featured images to your blog posts or articles using the WordPress dashboard.

1. Simply enter the post and select an existing post or create a new one from scratch. In the right-hand column, you’ll see multiple features given.
2. Locate the "Featured Image" section and click on it.
3. This will get you a pop-up in which you will need to drop your image to get it placed on your post.
4. Once done, get a preview of your content and publish it live on the website.

The featured image or thumbnail must be shown everywhere on the site along with the topic. How exactly the thumbnails will appear depends more on the website’s theme as well.

Some themes may shrink and fit the image in the top box panel on a website. Others might put it on the back of the blog post’s title—most common in the archives for relevant and recent posts.

Skipping featured images can make your content look a bit "off." That's why most people who don't have a lot of time to look through stock images use AUTO images.

Why is the featured image appearing twice in WordPress?

The world's leading content management system, "WordPress," enables thumbnails to get automatically posted on all blog posts and articles of sites by default—depending on whether you have selected a featured image or not.

But in most events, users end up making silly mistakes that prompt twinning and duplicate images across the site, and here addressing the root cause becomes necessary.

Why is your featured image appearing twice? Well, it can be the result of ignorance.

Most users insert an image in the "Featured Image Tab" and also give a similar image to the "post editor." This later result in image duplication on a single post.

For example, one image may appear on the post while a second, similar image appears at the top of the page.

But it also depends on the theme's style. Most WP themes want their administrator to give a separate thumbnail image to the post and design in the back, regardless of whether they are the same or different.

Some folks who have recently launched a WordPress site and are using the basic WP theme don’t see featured images anywhere inside the post. But they are visible at the thumbnails of the post and pages. So be mindful when uploading or updating images in the posts.

If you are still perplexed and unable to pinpoint the source of the problem, the step-by-step procedure to fix duplicate featured images in WordPress may be of assistance.

How to Fix a Duplicate Featured Image in WordPress

Some WordPress users are still struggling to find a permanent cure for the WordPress issues they have recently encountered. 

If you are still seeing dual images on a single post (two photos stacked on top of each other), no image in your post but seeing it in the thumbnail, or vice versa, despite completing all steps, follow up these basic steps:

First, enter the "Post Editor" and head to the right-hand side panel and select POST. Locate the "featured image" option. 

If the featured image is given, remove the image that you inserted in the post right after the main TITLE or HEADING.

You can leave the featured image if its visuals are showing in the "cover image" and it doesn’t look ugly with the post’s image.

Alternatively, you can give your "cover image" a different image that’s indeed the "thumbnail" of your post to be visible on Google Images and Related or Recent Posts sidebars on your site. This will prevent visual mix-ups, errors, and confusion hereafter.

But if you believe that your post doesn’t need an image next to the topic or before the article’s start, you can remove the image from the Content Editor.

Simply double-click on the image, and in the pop-up above, click on the three dots. Upon locating the remove block option, click on it, and the image will be removed.

You can also tell WordPress to display the featured image in-content.

Conclusion

The featured image or thumbnail on a WordPress site works as a welcome card. It attracts viewers to come and explore the content behind the link. It is a source for an attractive audience from Google Images, Google News, Discover, and so on. It adds life to your content. But after landing on the post or article, if the viewer is seeing two images on the site rather than one, it will lead to a worse user experience. It will leave a poor impression on your viewers. In other words, it tends to break the credibility of your site, as it will look unprofessional. However, we hope that this guide has helped you find a solution.