Is rel=prev/next necessary for ecommerce?
-
We are currently not using rel=prev/next for paginated categories. My predecessor instead canonicaled paginated pages back to the parent. This obviously needs to be fixed. The pages should self-canonical.
Is using the parameter handling function of Google Search Console enough, or do we need to have our dev team implement rel=prev/next?
-
Will do. I'm not expecting much. Maybe a slight bump for products.
-
Hi
Honestly? no, I know it's best practice and all but what you have there is a kind of 'workable fudge'. I actually have a client who implemented what you have in place now a couple of years ago and his pages rank brilliantly so we just haven't bothered changing it yet.
For best practice and to make it Google future proof, do it, but don't expect a huge bump.
I'd love to know what the outcome is after you do it,
Regards
Nigel
-
Good answer. Thanks, Nigel. Exactly what I thought.
Do you think fixing this will have any significant positive rankings impact? I've never had to correct this before.
-
Hi Satans Apprentice
Best practice is to add rel/prev to the pages and self-canonicalise as you say. Then go to parameters and tell Google that the parameter (usually 'page') paginates and to crawl every URL.
See attachment for the setting in search console.
If you don't do this and you 'release' all the pages you risk them being indexed and cannibalising the main content.
Best Regards
Nigel
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
-
Menu Structure for Large Ecommerce
Hi We have a large ecommerce site, the menu at the moment is limited by the amount of categories we can display. As our site is so large, the menu at the moment only has the top categories and their immediate subcategories, however we have level 3's which go deeper, as there is such a large range. At the moment, they;re not in the top menu, but I want to put a case forward to say why we should include them - I am however mindful of a menu not being overcrowded with hundreds of links. Has anyone had a similar experience of this? Or a case study on how adding important categories to the menu helped improve things? Becky
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
Product Variations in Ecommerce: Combine or Canonicalize?
Hello, I have an ecommerce site that sells pond pumps. I have every pump separated because each pump has different flow rates, specs, and replacement parts. All of the content is original, and even the content on the pages are (more than) 15% different - so it isn't getting flagged by Moz as duplicate content. Essentially it is set up like this: Acme Pond Pumps Acme Pond Pump 100 Acme Pond Pump 200 Acme Pond Pump 300 I am wondering if it is best to leave all of the products as separate pages, or if I should canonicalize them to the category page? Will each of the pages pass link juice upward anyways? The difference between the products are the specs, parts, and model number. Thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | evan890 -
Should /node/ URLs be 301 redirect to Clean URLs
Hi All! We are in the process of migrating to Drupal and I know that I want to block any instance of /node/ URLs with my robots.txt file to prevent search engines from indexing them. My question is, should we set 301 redirects on the /node/ versions of the URLs to redirect to their corresponding "clean" URL, or should the robots.txt blocking and canonical link element be enough? My gut tells me to ask for the 301 redirects, but I just want to hear additional opinions. Thank you! MS
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MargaritaS0 -
Ecommerce product URLs & flat architecture?
Hey Mozzers, I'm optimizing a small ecommerce site. The site URL directory structure seems all good & logical, BUT should I try for a flatter architecture - so that the individual products are at top level after the domain name in URLs? e.g.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | GregDixson
www.domain.com/first-item/
www.domain.com/second-item/
etc. etc. My current setup (I'm using the Woocommerce plugin in Wordpress): www.domain.com/shop/ (main shop page)
www.domain.com/shop/category-name-1/
www.domain.com/shop/category-name-2/
www.domain.com/shop/category-name-3/ with products appearing as:
www.domain.com/product/first-item/
www.domain.com/product/second-item/
etc. I've researched some big brand ecommerce sites and most seem to be domain.com/amazing-product/ even if the product itself is many categories or sub-categories down. i.e. Homepage > Home & Furniture > Furniture > Living Room Furniture > Coffee Tables As I say the information architecture makes sense from a user point of view, but I'm guessing the individual products would stand more chance of ranking if directly following the domain name? Woocommerce although flexible doesn't seem to do this out-of-the-box, so please some advice before I go on a hacking and URL rewriting mission! Thanks 🙂0 -
301 redirect with /? in URL
For a Wordpress site that has the ending / in the URL with a ? after it... how can you do a 301 redirect to strip off anything after the / For example how to take this URL domain.com/article-name/?utm_source=feedburner and 301 to this URL domain.com/article-name/ Thank you for the help
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | COEDMediaGroup0 -
Wordpress Photography Site + eCommerce Plugin
Anyone know of good photography sites set up on Wordpress with an eCommerce plugin used for selling photos or services? Just looking for ideas. I've found good referrals in the Moz archives for Wordpress eCommerce plugins. Now I'm looking for WP photography sites employing eCommerce. Thanks for sharing.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AWCthreads0 -
Rel Canonical Syntax
My IT department is getting ready to setup the rel canonical tag, finally. I took a look at the code on our test server and see that they are using a single quote in the tag syntax (see code block below). Should I be concerned? Will Google read those lines the same? <link rel='canonical' href='[http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits](view-source:http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits)' />VS. **versus** <link rel="canonical" href="[http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits](view-source:http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits)" />
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | costume0 -
If your analytics show you something like this, what is your next strategy?
What is your thought if your site's analytic is showing you something like that graph? is it "DAMN!!! it is not supposed to be like that, the X are supposed to be greater then Y by at least two or three" And what is your next strategy? is it "okay, i need to put on backburner for my link building kungfu now immidiately...." Please share your thought.. because i dont know if i should be happy or not looking at something like this showing up on my analytics... Please do share your opinion GoodBad.png
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | IKT0