Which URL and rel=canonical structure to use for location based product inventory pages?
-
I am working on an automotive retailer site that displays local car inventory in nearby dealerships based on location. Within the site, a zip code is required to search, and the car inventory is displayed in a typical product list that can be filtered and sorted by the searcher to fit the searchers needs.
We would like to structure these product inventory list pages that are based on location to give the best chance at ranking, if not now, further down the road when we have built up more authority to compete with the big dogs in SERP like AutoTrader.com, TrueCar.com, etc. These higher authority sites are able to rank their location based car inventory pages on the first page consistently across all makes and models.
For example, searching the term "new nissan rogue" in the Los Angeles, CA area returns a few location based inventory pages on page 1. The sites in the industry that are able to rank their inventory pages will display a relatively clean looking URL with no redirect that still displays the local inventory like this in the SERP:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/New+Cars/Nissan/Rogue
but almost always use a rel=canonical tag within the page to a page with a location parameter attached to the end of the URL like this one:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/New+Cars/Nissan/Rogue/Los+Angeles+CA-90001"/>
I'm having a hard time figuring out why sites like this example have their URLs and pages structured this way.What would be the best practice for structuring the URL and rel=canonical tags to be able to rank for and display location based inventory pages for cars near the searcher?
-
Everett,
Thank you for your time and responses. They have been most helpful in deciding our strategy direction moving forward.
-
Barrett,
I think the Car Gurus way you laid out above is a great solution. This allows you to scale content as well, since now you can provide content only on the single canonical zip code page for that "area". What are some things that Los Angeles drivers need to know about buying a new or used vehicle? Is there anything specific you can call out, like "The last thing you want in LA is to be stuck in traffic on the 405 with a car that won't start..."? If you can pull in data about the zip code it may be possible to automate some customizations at scale as well, such as the average price of new and used vehicles in that zip code, which vehicles are the most popular in that zip code, etc...
Either way it sounds like you're thinking about the problem in the right way so I'm sure you'll be successful. Good luck!
-
Thank you for your response Everett! The above mentioned strategy is used widely within the large brand equity type companies in the industry so it's great to know that that is not the URL structure and rel=canonical strategy that we want to go for right now. We have been exploring other similar strategies to accomplish the same goal.
One strategy that is very similar within the industry for these types of inventory pages is that of cargurus.com. For terms like "nissan rogue los angeles", they are only ranking 1 inventory page for used and 1 for new for all of Los Angeles:
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-Nissan-Rogue-Los-Angeles-d1047_L2163
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/nl-New-Nissan-Rogue-Los-Angeles-d1047_L2163
These pages default to the 90009 zip code no matter where in Los Angeles you are searching from. Changing the zip code within the site to 90001 for example, resets the inventory list by loading a new page, but always rel=canonicals to the 90009 zip code version of the page. I have tested this in several cities and the same is true for all major cities. For these inventory pages they have chosen one centralized zip code to display nearby inventory to rank for and all other zip codes within that same city rel=canonical back to the chosen centralized zip code.Do you think that this would be the best way to structure our URLs for all cities to rank these types of inventory pages for search terms like "nissan rogue los angeles"?
Side question along these same lines: if we followed a similar strategy to this one, and had one zip code for Los Angeles and one zip code for San Diego, would those two inventory pages be considered duplicate content by Google? Or would they be ok since it is a product page that is simply displaying inventory much like ecommerce sites?
-
That is a very interesting setup by Auto Trader. The Rel = "Canonical" URL changes on the true canonical page depending on your location. So this URL:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/New+Cars/Nissan/Rogue
May canonicalize to either of the URLs below, depending on your location:
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/Nissan/Rogue/Denver+CO-80211
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/New+Cars/Nissan/Rogue/Los+Angeles+CA-90001
Technically speaking, I think it should work the other way around. Their rankings for these geo-specific keywords seem to be pretty good so I can see why it may be tempting to emulate. However, keep in mind that Auto Trader has a TON of brand equity and PageRank so they can get away with things that might harm another site either now, or in the near future.
After speaking with two other colleagues just to verify, my recommendation here would be NOT to do this. At best, these canonical tags on Auto Trader are probably just being ignored by Google.
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
-
Leveraging the authority of a blog to boost pages on a root domain.
Hi! Looking for some link building advice. For some background, I work for a company that has over 100 locations across the US. So we are deeply involved with local SEO. We also do a ton of evergreen/ national SEO as well and the spectrums are widely different for the most part. We also have a very successful blog in our industry. It really is an SEO’s dream. I do not even need to worry about a link strategy for this because it just naturally snatches them up. I’m trying to find some unique ways to utilize the blog to boost pages on my main root domain, more specifically, at the local level. It is really hard, besides the standard methods for local link building, to get outside sources to link to our local office pages. These pages are our bread and butter, and the pages we need to be as successful as possible. In every market we are in, we are at a disadvantage because we have one page to establish our local footprint and rank, compared to domains that have their entire site pointed at that local area we are trying to rank in. I’ve tried linking to local office pages from successful blog posts to attempt to pass link juice to the local pages, but I haven’t seen much in terms of moving the needle doing this. Are there any crafty ideas on how I can shuffle some internal linking around to capitalize on the blog’s authority to make my local pages rank higher in their markets? Thank you! -Ben
Local Website Optimization | | Davey_Tree0 -
Local SEO: thoughts on driving users to a homepage or to a local landing page?
I work with a client who is about to launch a local landing page for one of their locations. They're worried that the new local landing page will cannibalize some of the keyword rankings for the homepage. Any advice on how to have a local presence but still drive people to the more valuable homepage?
Local Website Optimization | | jrridley0 -
How to direct the right countries to different URLS.
Hello, I have one site that has 3 different "sites" sitting within. .com/us/shop - Serves the US and Mexico How do i point US and Mexico to .com/us/shop .com/eu/shop - Serves all countries in Europe excluding the UK How do I point Spain, France, Italy, Germany to the .com/eu/shop .com/shop - Serves the UK and all other ROW countries. How do i point UK, China, Russia, Hong Kong to .com/shop Thanks
Local Website Optimization | | MarniFP0 -
Is it ok to redirect users to a market-specific home page based on their previous selection?
I'm working with a real estate client currently that asks users to identify the market they are in prior to showing them properties. The markets are far enough apart that no user would conceivably be browsing within two separate markets. When the user selects their market choice, they are redirected to a market-specific home page whenever they login after the original home page loads. These market-specific pages are ranking currently (page 2-4) for market-related phrases, but before embarking on further optimization I wanted to get a second opinion on whether or not keeping this redirect process is even a good idea or not. Thoughts?
Local Website Optimization | | jluke.fusion0 -
Local Service pages guide?
There are a lots of Local landing pages guide on the internet. Is there any guide for Local service pages? How to create them, what to include?
Local Website Optimization | | Michael.Leonard0 -
Local Area SEO - Directions Page and Multiple Use of Direction pages
Hello, We are looking to focus on multiple local areas and it has been suggested one way to mention lots of different locations on pages without doing lists or using grey SEO practices is to create directions pages. We are trying this with a client who has 2 business at the same address. The layout is:- Introduction - 2-3 sentences Directions by Car Park Parking info Directions by Public Transports Closing - 3-4 sentences - using clients keywords The hope is the having locations/areas and the clients keywords on the same page will capture some of the local areas with the clients keywords. I have some questions:- 1. If we use the same directions text and just change the opening and closing paragraphs on the different website will this be enough to not have a duplicate content issue. 2. Are the directions pages the best way to capture keywords and local area/locations on the same page. 3. Is there anything I am missing or could do instead? Looking forward to everyone's input....
Local Website Optimization | | JohnW-UK0 -
URL structure for local SEO
Hi fokes, question; which url structure is best for local rankings. For example: when I want to rank on the keyword: "Plumber Londen". And I dont have plumber in my brand. What is the best url structure: example.com/plumber/londen example.com/plumber-londen
Local Website Optimization | | remkoallertz1 -
How do I fix duplicate content issues if the pages are really just localized versions?
Does this still hurt our SEO? Should we place different countries on their own respective domains (.co.uk, etc)?
Local Website Optimization | | fdmgroup0