Same collection page with two different URLs set up both as canonical - Duplication

Shopify Discussion
1

Hi guys,

Collection URL A was configured as a redirect to Collection URL B.

I just optimised the URL for a redirect to the same page (I did it manually on the collection page under the SEO section).

URL A continues to exist on top of URL B, and they are both set to be canonical.

This tells Google that they are both priority URLs, and as a result, I have a duplication and ranking issue.

To sum up, I’m having

Collection URL A Page 1 = Canonical

Collection URL B Page 1 = Canonical

Can someone please help me with that?

Thank you

1 Like
2

Hi,

When I optimised the old one to the new URL, I did it manually on the collection page under the SEO section.

I even tried to do it a second time under: ‘‘online store’’ → ‘‘Navigation’’ → ‘‘View URL redirect’’ → ‘‘create new redirects’’

My problem is that I can’t get to the old URL (it has been redirected).

And, according to the Shopify help centre, the redirect isn’t working because it only works for 404 URLs. So the page isn’t there on my admin section, but it still has a 200 and canonical URL.

3

Hello @Yass2011 ,

I am Gina from flareAI app helping Shopify merchants get $5Million+ in sales from Google Search, on autopilot. Hope you are having a good day.

If you’re experiencing duplicate content and ranking issues due to multiple canonical URLs for the same page, here are some steps you can take to resolve the issue:

  1. Remove the redirect from URL A
    If you no longer need URL A to redirect to URL B, remove the redirect and allow URL A to be its own unique URL.

  2. Choose a single canonical URL
    Choose a single canonical URL for the page and ensure that all other URLs are set to non-canonical. In this case, it seems like Collection URL B should be the primary canonical URL since it is the updated and optimized URL.

  3. Update your sitemap
    Make sure your sitemap only includes the primary canonical URL for the page.

  4. Check for internal linking
    Check all internal links within your site to ensure that they are pointing to the primary canonical URL for the page.

  5. Reach out to Google
    If the issue persists, you can submit a request to Google through Google Search Console to have them re-crawl and re-index your site with the correct canonical URL.

By implementing these steps, you should be able to resolve the duplicate content issue and ensure that the correct URL is being indexed and ranked by search engines.

Gina

4

Hi Gina,

Thanks for your reply.

  1. URL A is the old (unoptimised collection URL) so I still need to redirect URL A to URL B

  2. I can’t set up canonicals, shopify set this up automatically (can’t modify, add or remove)

  3. There is no URL A on my sitemap

  4. All links are pointing to URL B

  5. Google will crawl my website again, but it will still see URL A and B as canonical because the tag is still present.

I even prevent bots from crawling URL A via robot txt, but it will still be something like - Canonical URL blocked by robot txt - or Google will still index it as this will be seen and set up as canonical.

Is it possible to force a 404 for URL A? I can’t access this URL in my admin section anymore, so I’m trapped.

Can I remove the automatic canonical tag shopify set up on collection pages only?

Thank you

5

Hi there,

It is impossible to set up redirects on Shopify if the URL being redirected
is not a 404. I can’t even get rid of this URL A.

I can’t remove the canonical tag from Collection URL A because Shopify has
it set up automatically.

Every internal link already points to Collection URL B.

Thank you.