How to create different versions of the product page without causing any issue?

[LéoTargetIt]

Hi,

I'm using Google Ads a lot and CRO is often done by tailoring the user experience to the exact research the user is doing. 

I'm trying to duplicate the product page and only change a few items: my product title and maybe add an H2 title or two.

I could just use the "duplicate" option and modify those elements but it would create the following problems:

1. Create SEO problems with google because of cannibalization between similar content

2. Create general "duplicate content" problem, regarding google once again but every platform overall

3. It will be a new product ID, which I cannot afford because it would mean scattering the data across many IDs in the Google Merchant Center feed and overall to the product, causing a big loss of optimisation. 

The goal would be to have different versions of the main product page with slight modifications. They should only be accessible through a direct link to it, and not indexed by Google but still readable by the bot (so I can't simply hide the whole content from robot.txt).

In short, create different versions of product pages for the same product (each very similar to the other) without causing any trouble (another way could be to have the same page but displaying different content based on the link the user come from).

P.S: it's not about A/B testing, it's about having a different content for long-term results.

If not clear, do not hesitate to ask questions about it 🙂

[EmmanuelFlossie]

This does not answer your question, just want to give you this info so you can avoid it.

Make sure not to have two listings, as listing two identical products in Google Merchant Center, will be considered abuse of ad network, and if Google finds out, suspends your account.

[KieranR]

You can noindex the variant page to prevent dupe content / cannibalization in Google organic.

This is a good how-to guide:

https://www.ilanadavis.com/articles/hiding-products-from-search-engines-using-metafields-in-shopify

How are you intending to get traffic into these pages?

[EmmanuelFlossie]

@KieranR the user indicated Google Merchant Center, which does not allow double listing.

[SEOProStaff]

Hi @LéoTargetIt ,

Creating multiple versions of a product page for different user intents without causing SEO issues is indeed a challenge. A practical approach is to utilize query parameters or hashes in URLs for different versions, which allow customization without duplicating content. To avoid SEO cannibalization, you can use the rel="canonical" tag on all variations to point to the main product page as the "original" content. Additionally, adding noindex to variant pages will prevent them from being indexed by search engines, ensuring only your main page is visible in search results.

In terms of optimizing these pages, SEOPro can be a valuable tool. While your main focus is on creating tailored user experiences, SEOPro can ensure that your main product page remains perfectly optimized for search engines. It helps in identifying and fixing SEO issues, optimizing product titles, descriptions, and ensuring your main page ranks as highly as possible.

Full disclosure: We are the developer of this app.