For savvy Shopify store owners, attracting more traffic and increasing conversions are top priorities, and optimizing their e-commerce website for search engines plays a crucial role in achieving these goals.
However, there’s a common issue that many store owners overlook, and it can significantly impact rankings – duplicate product pages.
Let’s dive into the details of how duplicate product pages affect your store’s performance!
The Duplicate Product Page Dilemma
If you own a Shopify store, you might not be aware that your category pages could be unintentionally linking to duplicate versions of every product.
When your site visitors navigate to an individual collection and click on a specific product, they might see a URL structure like this:
URL: yourstore.com/collections/category_name/products/product_name
However, the issue lies in the canonical tag of that page, which points to a different URL:
URL: yourstore.com/products/product_name
Basically, Shopify creates two versions of every single product page:
URL: yourstore.com/collections/category_name/products/product_name
and
URL: yourstore.com/products/product_name
What Are the Consequences of Duplicate Product Pages?
The duplicate product page problem creates confusion for search engines like Google, and can impact the accurate indexation of your content.
By default, Shopify sets up the internal linking structure around the non-canonical pages, signaling search engines to index the duplicate version, rather than the preferred canonical version.
When multiple versions of the same content exist, Google struggles to identify the original source and determine which page should rank higher in search results.
Consequently, your store’s SEO performance suffers, leading to lower rankings and reduced organic traffic.
What’s the Solution? Adjusting the product-grid-item.liquid File
Luckily, there’s an easy fix for the duplicate product page issue!
By adjusting the product-grid-item.liquid file, you can ensure that your Shopify store links to the correct, canonical versions of your content, thereby eliminating internal links to duplicate pages.
Change the product-grid-item.liquid file:
FROM: <a href=”{{ product.url | within: current_collection }}” class=”product-grid-item”>
TO: <a href=”{{ product.url }}” class=”product-grid-item”>
How Does Eliminating Duplicate Product Pages Help Your Shopify Store?
Boosts to your site’s overall SEO can include:
- Enhanced Search Engine Indexing: By directing search engines to the canonical version of a product page, your preferred product page is likelier to be indexed, and helps search engines to better understand your content structure.
- Higher Ranking Potential: A single, authoritative product page can lead to improved rankings for its relevant keywords, due to better-focused onpage SEO.
- Elimination of Duplicate Content Penalties: By addressing the duplicate content issue, you avoid potential penalties from search engines, safeguarding your store’s online health.
- Improved User Experience: Streamlined canonical URLs enhance user experience, making navigation more straightforward for visitors and potential customers.
In the hyper-competitive world of e-commerce, search engine optimization plays a pivotal role in driving success. By tackling easily solved issues like duplicate product pages, you can make significant gains towards improving your Shopify store’s search engine rankings and organic visibility.
If you’d like expert assistance with fine-tuning your Shopify store’s search optimization strategy or optimizing your product descriptions to boost sales, Corwin Media is here to help. Get in touch today!
Remember, a well-optimized Shopify store is the key to outshining your competitors and making your store profitable. Happy selling!
