Unlimited Product Pages
-
While browsing through my Moz campaign, I noticed that my site is pulling up unlimited numbers of product pages even though no products appear on them. i.e.
http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-trek-memorabilia?page=16
http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-trek-memorabilia?page=100
http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-trek-memorabilia?page=200
I have no ideal how to resolve this issue. I can't possible 301 an unlimited number of pages, and I can see this being a big SEO problem. Any thoughts?
-
Everett, you've been incredibly helpful - thank you!
-
This is a deeper issue that will probably require the help of a developer, though it shouldn't take them long to fix. Basically, paginated category pages that have ZERO products should return a 404 status code because they really shouldn't exist. The fact that any content appears on those URLs is a bug that needs to be fixed, because they should show "Page Not Found". Also, as you mentioned, the very last page in the set should NOT have a Rel "Next" tag, and there should be no links, (whether href or javascript) to subsequent pages beyond the last one with products on it.
-
Oh I understand now, thank you!
_**Re #1: **_Would putting Rel Prev on the last page in the set resolve the issue? Or is this a deeper issue within my website code which needs to be resolved by not allowing pages to be created beyond the end of the paginated set?
-
#1. The way you're handing paginated URLs with products on them is fine, but the problem is when you get to the end of the paginated set and the system continues to make pages even though there are no more products to show. That is the issue I was trying to help you resolve, which is not the same as paginated pages that show products.
#2 Yes, the canonical for the brand pages should be the URL listed above as "Category". Thus both the "Category" URL and the "Brand" URL in your example should list the Category URL as Canonical.
I agree that this is likely the cause of your duplicate title issues.
-
Thank you for the link, but I'm still unsure about these two specific issues.
Issue One:
So I have say the two below links, which are the same category but just page 1 and 2.
Page 1: http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-wars-memorabilia
Page 2: http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-wars-memorabilia/page/2/
Should Page 1 be the Canonical for all subsequent pages, or by their own rights is Page 2 and onward considered their own page? From what I understand of the former this would cause a Duplicate Title problem. The latter however would surely cause problems for Google as it would ignore all of the products on Pages 2 and onward?
Currently I have Rel Canonical and Rel Prev/Next in place, am I correct in thinking this is the correct way to do this?
Issue Two:
One of the below links is the main category (Canonical) while the other is indirect from the Brand option available on our site.
Category: http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-wars-memorabilia
Brand: http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-wars-memorabilia?page=2%2F
Am I correct in thinking that the Canonical URL displayed on the Brand page should in fact be the Category URL above?
I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to make heads to tails of the issue. Currently there are over 20,000 Duplicate Title issues and I'm thinking this may be the cause.
-
It means the page has a Rel="Canonical" tag that tells search engines it is the right page to show in search results -- as opposed to one that says another page should show up instead. You can learn more here.
-
What do you mean by ''self-referencing Rel ="canonical" tags''?
-
Google may have figured out that they don't want those pages in their index, but the problem still exists and needs to be fixed. The pages show a 200 status code, do not have a robots Noindex tag, and have self-referencing Rel ="canonical" tags. All of these things are problems, but if you just have the system return a 404 status code on those pages that don't list any products you should be fine.
-
Hello Everett, according to Oleg these pages aren't being indexed, so the resulting soft 404's aren't a problem, correct?
-
Hello Oleg. I noticed by accident. Instead of entering page 2, I entered page 20 and then noticed the problem. I then entered 200, 1000 and so on and found no matter what number I entered a page with no products always showed up.
Thanks for letting me know about Google not picking up on them, that makes me feel a whole lot better!
-
Hello Spacecollective,
Your shopping cart is throwing Soft 404 errors on paginated URLs that don't exist. These pages need to return a 404 status code in order to be removed from the index and to address this issue. And yes, it can be a big problem.
I did a quick search for "OpenCart soft 404 errors" and here's a forum post that might help you out:
http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=102748
Good luck!
-
I can see the links working in reverse (page=200 links to page=199 via rel="prev" code) but what is the largest number and where did that link come from?
Good news is that Google isn't picking up on those urls so you should be find rankings wise (its a Moz crawler issue) - https://www.google.com/search?q=site:http://www.interstellarstore.com/star-trek-memorabilia%3Fpage%3D&start=0
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
-
What are best page titles for sub-domain pages?
Hi Moz communtity, Let's say a website has multiple sub-domains with hundreds and thousands of pages. Generally we will be mentioning "primary keyword & "brand name" on every page of website. Can we do same on all pages of sub-domains to increase the authority of website for this primary keyword in Google? Or it gonna end up as negative impact if Google consider as duplicate content being mentioned same keyword and brand name on every page even on website and all pages of sub domains? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
HELP! How do I get Google to value one page over another (older) page that is ranking?
So I have a tactical question and I need mozzers. I'll use widgets as an example: 1- My company used to sell widgets exclusively and we built thousands of useful, branded unique pages that sell widgets. We have thousands of pages that are ranking for widgets.com/brand-widgets-for-sale. (These pages have been live for almost 2 years) 2- We've shifted our focus to now renting widgets. We have about 100 pages focused on renting the same branded widgets. These pages have unique content and photos and can be found at widgets.com/brand-widgets-for-rent. (These pages have been live for about 2-3 months) The problem is that when someone searches just for the brand name, the "for sale" pages dramatically outrank the "for rent" pages. Instead, I want them to find the "for rent" page. I don't want to redirect traffic from the "for sale" pages because someone might still be interested in buying (although as a company, we are super focused on renting). Solutions? "nofollow" the "for sale" pages with the idea that Google will stop indexing "for sale" and start valuing "for rent" over it? Remove "for sale" from sitemap. Help!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Vacatia_SEO0 -
Why is page still indexing?
Hi all, I have a few pages that - despite having a robots meta tag and no follow, no index, they are showing up in Google SERPs. In troubleshooting this with my team, it was brought up that another page could be linking to these pages and causing this. Is that plausible? How could I confirm that? Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SSFCU
Sarah0 -
SEO for interior page
Is it possible to be penalized on an interior page but not the whole website? Here's why I ask, I have a page: www.thesandiegocriminallawyer.com/domestic-violence.html that is not ranking well (p. 21 of Google) while the rest of the site ranks well (b/w p.1 to p.3). I checked the link profile in opensiteexplorer, ahrefs, and majesticseo but can't find any problems. I have also checked the HTML code, CSS, keyword optimization, but can't find any problems there either. Can anyone give me insight into why this might be happening? Of course, I'm working under the assumption that this page SHOULD be ranked higher for "San Diego Domestic Violence Attorney" - at least higher than page 21.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mrodriguez14400 -
Does Google still don't index Hashtag Links ? No chance to get a Search Result that leads directly to a section of a page? or to one of numeras Hashtag Pages in a single HTML page?
Does Google still don't index Hashtag Links ? No chance to get a Search Result that leads directly to a section of a page? or to one of numeras Hashtag Pages in a single HTML page? If I have 4 or 5 different hashtag link section pages , consolidated into one HTML Page, no chance to get one of the Hashtag Pages to appear as a search result? like, if under one Single Page Travel Guide I have two essential sections: #Attractions #Visa no chance to direct search queries for Visa directly to the Hashtag Link Section of #Visa? Thanks for any help
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Muhammad_Jabali0 -
"No index" page still shows in search results and paginated pages shows page 2 in results
I have "no index, follow" on some pages, which I set 2 weeks ago. Today I see one of these pages showing in Google Search Results. I am using rel=next prev on pages, yet Page 2 of a string of pages showed up in results before Page 1. What could be the issue?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | khi50 -
YouTube Page
Hi All, I am new here but already I can see that SEOmoz is a great place for SEO 🙂 I need advice... We have one client that have 100.000 views per day on their YouTube channel! Now they have about 15.000 per day and ask us what we can do with SEO for their YouTube channel. Thanks for help! All The Best, Sanel
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | FighterSpirit0 -
URL for New Product
Hi, We run an established website (mindflash.com) selling online training software. We are getting ready to launch a new section of the site where our users can sell their own online training programs. This will be branded as the 'marketplace'. This section will have a main page, category pages, tag pages, search and individual course pages. In our URL structure, I'd love to target the word 'training courses' but I don't want to neglect the product brand either. Is it better to use /training-courses in the marketplace urls or to use /marketplace? Or is it better to use both like /marketplace-training-courses or /marketplace/training-courses? Option 1: Example main section page: mindflash.com/training-courses Example category page: mindflash.com/training-courses/software-training Option 2: Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training Option 3: Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses/software-training Option 4: Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses/software-training Which option is better and why?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mindflash0