Canonical VS Rel=Next & Rel=Prev for Paginated Pages

[mj775]

I run an ecommerce site that paginates product pages within Categories/Sub-Categories. Currently, products are not displayed in multiple categories but this will most likely happen as time goes on (in Clearance and Manufacturer Categories). I am unclear as to the proper implementation of Canonical tags and Rel=Next & Rel=Prev tags on paginated pages. I do not have a View All page to use as the Canonical URL so that is not an option.

I want to avoid duplicate content issues down the road when products are displayed in multiple categories of the site and have Search Engines index paginated pages. My question is, should I use the Rel=Next & Rel=Prev tags on paginated pages as well as using Page One as the Canonical URL?

Also, should I implement the Canonical tag on pages that are not yet paginated (only one page)?

[mj775]

Thanks Anthony. I have read Adam's article and after further research this was the direction I was leaning in. You have definitely helped me choose a direction.

[anthonydnelson]

Pagination is a huge topic and a bit too much to get into here on the Q&A. Here are my brief answers and I hope they help.

1. Don't worry about duplicate content if your category/subcategory pages only show snippets for the products they contain and you don't have two identical category/subcategories. Similar category/subcategories will have a certain level of overlap and that is fine.

I recommend adding a bit of unique content to each one. Make it useful to the visitor. Help them find what they are looking for and teach them a bit about this particular category. This unique content will help you make each page unique and also hopefully help you rank for long-tail kws and convert better.

2. Don't worry about implementing the canonical tag unless you see that you are having problems with multiple versions of the same page being indexed. URLs with Tracking codes for example.

3. Make each paginated page have a unique page title (Category - Page 2 - Brand) and then implement rel=next/prev.

Read everything you can on this subject from Adam Audette. He has some very good posts and slides on e-comm pagination.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&rlz=&q=audette+pagination