URL Parameter for Limiting Results

[dkeipper]

We have a category page that lists products. We have parameters and the default value is to limit the page to display 9 products. If the user wishes, they can view 15 products or 30 products on the same page. The parameter is ?limit=9 or ?limit=15 and so on. Google is recognizing this as duplicate meta tags and meta descriptions via HTML Suggestions. I have a couple questions.

1. What should be my goal? Is my goal to have Google crawl the page with 9 items or crawl the page with all items in the category?

In Search Console, the first part of setting up a URL parameter says "Does this parameter change page content seen by the user?". In my opinion, I think the answer is Yes.

Then, when I select how the parameter affects page content, I assume I'd choose Narrows because it's either narrowing or expanding the number of items displayed on the page.

2. When setting up my URL Parameters in Search Console, do I want to select Every URL or just let Googlebot decide? I'm torn because when I read about Every URL, it says this setting could result in Googlebot unnecessarily crawling duplicate content on your site (it's already doing that). When reading further, I begin to second guess the Narrowing option. Now I'm at a loss on what to do.

Any advice or suggestions will be helpful! Thanks.

[dkeipper]

Thanks for your help David - I apologize for my delayed response.

[davebuts]

Hi Dustin,

Looks like the problem is that you have two canonical tags on your parameter pages.

eg. on lines 24 and 25 of the source code for this page https://www.stickylife.com/custom/vinyl-decals?limit=30 you'll see:

With more than one canonical tag on a page, Google will ignore both canonical tags - which is why you are getting duplicate issues.

You'll need to remove the second canonical tag to overcome your issues.

Cheers,

David