URL and Canonical

[candra72]

Hello,

I ran a details SEO extension and found out that all of my products (under a collection) have canonical tags that do not match the URL. 

canonical: products-product name

URL: collections-collection name-products-product name

I asked the theme developer and they basically said that this is not an issue. "All Shopify themes worked like this for over 10 years, and all product pages have a 'canonical' tag to the basic product URL, which should prevent Google from indexing any product links with '/collections/name' in. Thousands of stores have used our themes in this way and have not reported this issue"

Is that true? Do those URLs and canonicals have to be the same, these problems were found for all of my products. Should they be the same?

Thank you

ckohlman

[Moira]

Hey @candra72,

The canonical tag is an important element in SEO that helps search engines determine the preferred version of a webpage when there are multiple URLs with similar content. In general, it is recommended for the canonical URL and the URL in the canonical tag to match for optimal SEO practices. However, there can be exceptions to this rule, and it depends on your specific website setup and requirements.

It is true that the default behaviour of Shopify themes includes using a canonical tag that points to the basic product URL, without including the collection name. This approach aims to prevent Google from indexing duplicate content across different collection pages.

While this implementation might work for many stores without causing issues, it's important to consider a few factors:

• Duplicate content: If you have the same product listed in multiple collections, having a canonical tag that points to the basic product URL may lead to duplicate content issues. This can potentially affect your search engine rankings.
• User experience: If you want to provide a consistent and clear browsing experience for your visitors, having the canonical URL match the actual URL they are on can be beneficial. It helps users understand the context of the page they are viewing.

If you are concerned about the potential impact on your SEO and user experience, you may want to consider modifying the canonical tags to include the collection name in the URL. This can be done by using SEO apps available on the Shopify App Store.

[candra72]

Thank you so much!! May I ask which one of the apps would you suggest? 

Candra

[Moira · Accepted solution]

No worries! I have found this one to be very popular and easy to use. 

[candra72]

Thank you so much!!!

[Moira]

Don't hesitate to reach back out if you require any further assistance as you continue to work on your store. 

All the best,

[candra72]

Definitely! I do appreciate your help, thank you 🙂

[Jonahwills]

Wasn't expecting this fast response from shopify. thank you