Breadcrumbs for ecommerce site
-
We are doing a major overhaul on our site, and we have some questions about URLs, breadcrumbs and ecommerce.
Currently, a product can reside in multiple categories, and can have multiple URLs based on how a user navigates to the page. We handle this via canonicals, but it's awful for SEO on many levels. O-U-C-H.
The main issue is that a product can reside in multiple categories.
At this point, Plan A for our overhaul is that a product URL is always going to be www.domain.com/product-name-sku.html/. Neat and clean, and avoids end-user confusion if they navigate to the product through a category that doesn't match the URL.
Plan B: We can anchor a product to a category or subcategory, (www.domain.com/category-name/subcategory-name/product-name-sku.html) but we think that this cuts down on usability as users can navigate to a product through different categories, and the URL may not match the user's navigation.
Based on how Google has devalued URLs for ranking purposes, I don't think that there is much of an SEO advantage to Plan B. Am I wrong?
A product can show up in multiple categories - for example:
www.domain.com/womens-clothing/
www.domain.com/womens-clothing/dresses/
www,domain.com/womens-clothing/dresses/maxidresses/
Category breadcrumbs take care of themselves. What is the best practice to handle the breadcrumb on the product page considering that there are multiple paths a user can take to a product? Options:
1. The breadcrumb on the product page dynamically changes based on how the user navigates to the page. The URL is always fixed as per above, but we change the breadcrumb based on the session.
ex: Product: Black Ruffled MuuMuu
Home > Womens Clothing > Black Ruffled MuuMuu
Home > Womens Clothing > Dresses > Black Ruffled MuuMuu
We would be showing Google different breadcrumbs based on how the bot navigates to the page. Are there any issues with this from an SEO perspective as it would seem to provide the better user experience?
2. The breadcrumb on a product page is always fixed. We anchor a product to a category or subcategory and the breadcrumb is always the same no matter how a user navigates to the product. This is simpler from a development perspective, and we are always showing the same breadcrumb to Google. IMHO, this is not as good for usability.
ex: Breadcrumb is always: Home > Womens Clothing > Dresses > Black Ruffled MuuMuu regardless of how a user navigates to it.
Which way would our ecommerce experts recommend?
-
I typically handle this following:
- URL: "Plan A" - for our overhaul is that a product URL is always going to be www.domain.com/product-name-sku.html/. Neat and clean, and avoids end-user confusion if they navigate to the product through a category that doesn't match the URL.
- Breadcrumbs: Option 1 - dynamically changes based on how the user navigates to the page.
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
-
How can I track the lead to its referring site in my Google Analytics?
Hi, is there a way to track a lead (through funnel setup or similar) so I can see who the referring site is? I want to be able to be able to calculate ROI from display ads, social media initiatives and other partner integrations. Thanks.
Conversion Rate Optimization | | Majsan0 -
How complicated would it be to optimize our current site for the Safari browser?
Hi all! Okay, here's the scoop. 33% of our site visitors use Safari. 18% of our visitors are on either an iPad or iPhone. According to Google Analytics, our average page load time for visitors using Safari is 411% higher than our site average of 3.8 second. So yes, average page load time pages loading in Safari is over 20 seconds...totally unacceptable, especially considering the large percentage of traffic using it. While I understand that there are some parameters beyond our control, it is in our own best interest to try to optimize our site for Safari. We've got to do better than 20 seconds. As you might have guessed, it's also killing conversation rates on visits from that browser. While every other browser posted double-digit improvements in conversion rates over the last several months, the conversion rate for Safari visitors is down 36%...translating into 10's of thousands in lost revenue. Question for anyone out there gifted in Web design and particular Web Dev....Do you think that it's possible/reasonable to attempt to "fix" our current site, which sits on an ancient platform with ancient code, or is this just not realistic? Would a complete redesign/replatform be the more realistic (and financially sound) way to go? Any insights, experiences and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. If you're someone interested in spec'-ing out the project and giving us a cost estimate please private message me. Thanks so much!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | danatanseo1 -
How to find average organic traffic growth rate for ecommerce startup?
Happy Friday Everyone, I have a quick question: I am in the process of crunching some numbers to try and figure out an organic traffic forecast for a client. One of the crucial metrics I can't seem to figure out is traffic rate of growth over the next year or so. The reason this is complicated for me is that I have only ever done this sort of thing for an established business before, and had plenty of past organic traffic data to work with. What I am looking for is a source that could give me a reasonable idea of what kind of growth rates I might expect for a startup with practically no data; I would be perfectly happy with a national average for online retail startups. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | G2W0 -
Site Redesign - 2 Target Audiences?
Hey everyone, we are planning a redesign on our website (we have been planning it since Fall last year, but got very busy in the Winter), and some new content / design questions have arisen. Right now, we are a "digital media" agency, and we offer video, design, and marketing services. So we do web videos, motion graphics, websites, seo, really a little bit of everything except for 3d modeling. What we are really trying to sell is the combination of these services (we may create a web video and redesign a groups website, then manage their adwords and marketing campaigns) and become our audiences "Go To" digital media agency. We were toying with the idea of giving visitors the option of picking from one target audience or another when they arrived at the home page, and their experience would be customized to best fit the needs of that particular audience from there on out. For example, on our homepage we were thinking of display our overview and value proposition (which would be the same, no matter which target audience group you were a member of), then asking if the visitor was a "Small Business Owner looking for guidance" or a "Marketing Director looking for outsourcing partners", then based on what option they chose, they'd be directed to a corresponding landing page optimized for converting this audience. We were worrying this may drop our domain or page authority for our home page, since these aren't really keywords that we'd normally be trying to rank for. We understand that it is ideal to have 1 "niche" target audience, but we found that we heavily service both audiences. Any help or suggestions are appreciated, thanks!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | RenderPerfect0 -
Conversion Rate - site feedback
Hi We gave a website a bit of a facelift last nov with the aim of increasing its position within Search Engines and getting it to begin making sales. The site: www.funkyfootstools.com is now moving in the right direction for its keyphrases, footstools and ottomans although it still needs some work. The issue I have is that from the visitors that come to the site, the stats prove they have a look around, they are just not purchasing - I am not sure if this is because of the layout, ie. usability or if there is something else. Any ideas & feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Carl
Conversion Rate Optimization | | keane-1145170 -
How to you determine what a good CPA is on an ecommerce site?
Do you calculate shipping, warehouse cost, cost of goods into your CPA? Lets say my current CPA is $20 and average order is $100. Its 20% of each order cost goes to lets say ppc, seo, email or affiliate. Do I include cost of shipping lets say its $7.00 and cost of goods are $40.00 I end up with a profit of $33 and that doesn't include taxes, salary, warehouse cost ect. *this is all hypothetical, Im trying to see if my real CPA is inline or I should work on decreasing it. Any thoughts? Thanks
Conversion Rate Optimization | | perytestusr0 -
Improving Bounce rate, Time on Site & Pageviews per visit
Based on what seems like a general agreement that the Panda update has modified Google's algorithm and on page metrics such as Bounce rate, Time on Site & Page views per visit are now vital to a websites rankings. What methods are you using to improve these metrics? Have they worked?
Conversion Rate Optimization | | donthe0 -
Lookiing for examples of local "small biz" sites with phone or contact form conversion points
Hi Guys, I'm looking for any good examples of small business sites that you've come across that do a good job at converting potential visitors to clients. I'm primarily thinking about service oriented business such as Doctors, Dentists, Salons, Clothing stores, small restuarants, car detailing services, local photographers, etc. I'm just trying to digest other examples and look for new inspirations.
Conversion Rate Optimization | | DotCar0