Handling long URLs and overly-dynamic URLs on eCommerce site
-
Hello Forum,
I've been optimizing an eCommerce site and our SEOmoz crawls are favorable for the most part, except for long URLs and overly-dynamic URLs. These issues stem from two URL types: Layered navigation (faceted search) and non-Google internal search results. I outline the issues for each below.
We use an SEO-friendly URL structure for our product category pages, but once bots start "clicking" our layered navigation options, all the parameters are appended to our SEO-friendly urls, causing the SEOmoz crawl warnings.
Layered Navigation :
SEO-Friendly Category Page: oursite.com/shop/meditation-cushions.htmlEffects of layered navigation: oursite.com/shop/meditation-cushions.html?bolster_material_quality=414&bolsters_appearance=206&color=12&dir=asc&height=291&order=name
As you can see the parameters include product attributes and page sorts. I should note that all pages generated by these parameters use the element to point back to the SEO-friendly URL We have also set up Google's Webmaster Tools to handle these parameters.
Internal Search Function:
Our URLs start off simple: oursite.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=brown. Then the bot clicks all the layered navigation options, yielding oursite.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?appearance=54&cat=67&clothing_material=83&color=12&product_color=559&q=brown. Also, all search results are set to noindex,follow.My question is: Should we worry about these overly-dynamic and long ULR warnings? We have set up canonical elements, "noindex,follow" solutions, and configured Webmaster Tools to handle our parameters. If these are a concern, how would you resolve these issues?
-
I see this thread was from last year, so I am hoping between then and now you have determined an answer and would be able to advise. I am having the same issue with our consumer sight.
-
If you make them friendly it will shorten them
x=y can become y
But having done that and they are still too long i would ignore them as they are no-index.
-
There another company handling the server side of things. All I know is that we're using PHP and MySQL for Magento.
Even if we did a friendly URL rewrite, wouldn't we still get long URLs? We would just have each parameter become words separated by slashed. i.e .
/shop/meditation-cushions.html/high quaily/patterened/green/10inches/sortedbyname/
I suppose these URLs shorter. Is something like this better?
-
Marc
The crawl warnings are those found in SEOmoz's crawl diagnostics: "Overly-Dynamic URL" and "Long URL." These are not duplicate content issues and the URLs resolve properly.
I just want to make sure we're not getting dinged for having URLs that are too long. If we are, what are some way to go about shortening them?
-Aaron
-
What kind of "crawl warnings" are we talking about here? Duplicate content? Do the URL's resolve properly when the additional parameters are appending to the SEO-friendly URL's?
"I should note that all pages generated by these parameters use the element to point back to the SEO-friendly URL We have also set up Google's Webmaster Tools to handle these parameters."
Keep in mind, using canonical tags is like setting up 301 redirects on all those pages. Some people don't now that, so I thought I'd just throw it out there. So, if any of those additional pages with the host of parameters contain unique/different content than the seo-friendly versions, using canonical tags is not a good move as they will get no attention from search engines that respect the canonical tag.
For example, do not use a canonical tag on a 'Page 2' to point back to page 1. Each page will contain different information/products/whatever, and you want search engines (SE) to see and index those pages, regardless of what the URL looks like (as long as it works and your Title/META/H1-H6 tags are all in order to reflect the different content on each page.
I'm not sure I'm following your concern 100% percent, so I hope I was on the right path with what I said. Can you please be more specific as to what you concern is with the "overly-dynamic and long ULR warnings" please, and I'll be happy to help you out some more.
- Marc
-
The easy fix is the canonical, yet Bing suggest not using the canonical on the true page, only the duplicates. Best if you can handle that in code, but not a big worry of you cant.
Facet naviagtion is a big problem, with no easy answers.
What sort of server are you using, on a windows server it is very easy to set up friendly urls for your dynamic urls.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Organic Traffic Drops to Zero After Site Migration
I know this question is terribly general . . . but I don't even know where to start in terms of sharing info, which I would be glad to post on request. My site was recently re-designed and migrated to a new server. I certainly expected SOME drop in traffic as google gets the snew site all figured out, but as you can see this drop has been dramatic. It's a simple wordpress site, I have yoast ptimized on it, I don't have many obvious errors that have not already been fixed that I can see.
Moz Pro | | damon1212
I just . ..what the heck is going on and how can I fix it? Is it normal and takes a month or two to sort out? Help! Screen%20Shot%2012-04-15%20at%2011.32%20AM_zpsczdmzcjt.png0 -
Major Drop in URLs that Received Organic Search Visits
Hi there! I can't figure out this issue. We had a major drop in URLS receiving organic search visits (according to Koz) yet our traffic hasn't seemed to drop in correlation. Our site had a major issue at the end of may (*hence the drop in search traffic) but it seems to have recovered, yet URLs that Received Organic Search Visits has dropped dramatically. I've looked at Google updates but can't seem to find anything, what am I missing? NVun4Wq
Moz Pro | | DotP0 -
No more than one canonical url Tag.
I just got the "no more than one canonical url TAG" for this page http://www.vacuumadvisers.com/1/electrolux-ultra-active-deep-clean-bagless-canister-vacuum-cleaner-review. I have no idea how to Fix that. Tried google it but none for Tag in particular. PS. I have changed the Theme recently therefore so did the URL Anyone?
Moz Pro | | bishop230 -
I am trying to find inbound links for one of my site urls. My question is does SEOMoz able to track all internal links as the Open Site Explorer shows 0 internal links?
It shows 0 internal links when I am pretty sure we have multiple internal links.Should we use absolute urls or relative urls for internal links?
Moz Pro | | SulekhaUSLLC0 -
In Open Site Explorer is it possible to use wildcards?
If I have a section on my website called lists with articles in there can I use wildcards in Open Site Explorer to find how many backlinks all articles in that section have - and ideally which pages are most linked to? Something like www.example.com/lists/* to give number of backlinks to all articles in that website section and which are the most highly linked to. Would be a great feature to have! Cheers Siimon
Moz Pro | | SimonCh0 -
Why is there such a difference between Open Site Explorer and Domain Analysis?
When I look at my links in the Competitive Domain Analysis and I see I have 113,018 Ext followed links but Open Site Explorer shows 3,148. Why is there such a difference? In addition, is there a way to view the External Followed links? I want to see where these 113,018 links are coming from. Thanks, Josh
Moz Pro | | kdieruf0 -
CSV export of Open Site Explorer is incomplete.
I exported my back links report from the Open Site Explorer toolbar as a CSV but the file it showed was only about 400 urls. The tool bar is listing over 1,200 links, so at first I thought maybe it was only exporting one link for each unique domain, but it only lists 200 or so unique domains linking to my site. I know it will only export 10,000 urls, but obviously I'm significantly below this level. Here is a link to a competitors site which is having the same issue.
Moz Pro | | bbelgard
http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?site=www.zoobooks.comListing about 900 links and only generating about 500 in the CSV report. Any help would be much appreciated.0 -
How long does it take a full SERP report to finish?
I am just wondering if anyone has had a full SERP Report in the keyword difficulty tool finish for them or if they know how long these take to populate?
Moz Pro | | MarloSchneider0