How to use canonical tags to eliminate duplicate pages by search engines and improve SEO?

Store Design
1

Hello,

Each link of the product page has different duplicates as each product page can be clicked from the products option, from collections, from the search bar, etc.

This creates multiple URLs for each product page which hurts the site SEO as Google recognizes them as duplicates.

Is there a way to use the canonical tag which eliminates such duplicacy without creating a bulk of redirects?

As an example - the following product can be reached out using any of the links below which are automatically created within Shopify using products, collections, searches, and more.

https://muselot.in/collections/plain-t-shirts/products/plus-size-t-shirts-dark-solid-colors

https://muselot.in/products/plus-size-t-shirts-dark-solid-colors?_pos=2&_sid=ac935ff35&_ss=r

https://muselot.in/products/plus-size-t-shirts-dark-solid-colors

Thank you in advance.

2

First of all I would remove the collections part of all your product links. This will limit the problem. Some themes already do that but if your theme do not its quite easy to remove in your templates.

Regarding CANONICAL-tags it is NOT a redirect - and NOT a directive. It is a “signal”. Google often use this signal but not always. So using CANONICAl-tags (or any other META-data for that atter) is not sure way top get it as you want. Only directives and server solutions can do that.

Having said that, as CANONICAL-tags do most often work, that is OK for your product variations (unless you have the development resources to do a client-side solution instead. Unfortunately no Apps provides that option. It will be part of the coming SEO App my team and I are working on). Shopify insert that as default.

1 Like
3

Hi Demib,

Thank you for such a clear response.

However, can you tell me how to eliminate the collection part of my product links?

Also when we search a specific term, the links of product pages include special characters in it like “?/=&”. This is Google’s eyes are poorly formatted URLs, so is there any way to control this as well?

Thanks

4

You can find a good short guide here:

https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/duplicate-content-same-page-with-different-url/td-p/392224

1 Like
5

Shopify should add CANONICAL tags to all your product pages so parameters will also be handled with that. Google do NOT mind parameters.

1 Like
6

Thank you for your response, Demib.

However, do you suggest removing the collection version of product links from our store?

Also, what do you suggest about the special characters issue in url?

Did not get your point about parameters.

7

Yes, only use product links to the products directly in the /products/ folder, without the collection. This way you avoid a great deal of Duplicate Content issues which can be a SEO-nightmare.

The “special characters” you mention are not “special” and Google do not hate them. They are exactly what is, and should be used, to pass parameters to your template. With the limitations given (as mentioned) you are safe with the CANONICAL tag.

8

Hi, @Naishant24 i would like to know if you found a way around this, my website https://angrywinemerchant.com/ actually facing same issue currently and look for solution on how to fix this.