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
-
Google-selected canonical: the homepage?
Hi guys,
Local Website Optimization | | Andreea-M
I checked the product pages on our website with Google Search Console (URL Inspection), and the majority appear as
"URL is not on Google"
Coverage: "Duplicate, submitted URL not selected as canonical", and
Google-selected canonical: the homepage of the website (for all product pages) Our product pages are not identical to the homepage (content-wise), besides the top menu, header and footer, so how could I use the canonical tag in this case? I wouldn't want that the product pages to be seen as duplicates of the homepage. Thanks!0 -
Seeking advise about my new landing pages for different cites
I have just created 6 new location landing pages for my Dallas insurance agency. Each one is for a different city, but I have a feeling I did it wrong 😞 Because my site is rather large, I put two different lines of insurance on each page. Homeowners insurance and business insurance. Now I'm wondering if I should of done 12 different pages? i.e **1 city + 1 product = 1 page ** Here's one of the new pages: http://thumannagency.com/personal-insurance/frisco-insurance I'm having a guess here, but would it be better if the Navigation was; thumannagency.com/personal-insurance/frisco thumannagency.com/business-insurance/frisco ??? Thank you so much in advance!!
Local Website Optimization | | MissThumann0 -
Search result page
I need an answer how google sees this page. if somebody searches in carhub.com , normally goes to http://www.carhub.com/Results.aspx?CarState=Used&MakeName=BMW&MakeId=ENKWD0M8TR7W&Location=Los_Angeles but pushes the webpage http://www.carhub.com/Results.aspx , User sees the webpage like these.. but not seen any title, description and h1
Local Website Optimization | | carhub0 -
URL and title strategy for multiple location pages in the same city
Hi, I have a customer which opens additional branches in cities where he had until now only one branch. My question is: Once we open new store pages, what is the best strategy for the local store pages in terms of URL and title?
Local Website Optimization | | OrendaLtd
So far I've seen some different strategies for URL structure:
Some use [URL]/locations/cityname-1/2/3 etc.
while others use [URL]/locations/cityname-zip code/
I've even seen [URL]/locations/street address-cityname (that's what Starbucks do) There are also different strategies for the title of the branch page.
Some use [city name] [state] [zip code] | [Company name]
Other use [Full address] | [Company name]
Or [City name] [US state] [1/2/3] | [Company name]
Or [City name] [District / Neighborhood] [Zip Code] | [Company name] What is the preferred strategy for getting the best results? On the one hand, I wish differentiate the store pages from one another and gain as much local coverage as possible; on the other hand, I wish to create consistency and establish a long term strategy, taking into consideration that many more branches will be opened in the near future.1 -
Local SEO - Multiple stores on same URL
Hello guys, I'm working on a plan of local SEO for a client that is managing over 50 local stores. At the moment all the stores are sharing the same URL address and wanted to ask if it s better to build unique pages for each of the stores or if it's fine to go with all of them on the same URL. What do you think? What's the best way and why? Thank you in advance.
Local Website Optimization | | Noriel0 -
Can you recommend any widgets or additions for a local landing page?
Our company has locations in several different cities, and we're in the process of creating landing pages for each city that feature relevant information. We use Drupal, fwiw. In the past, we've talked about trying to include a local weather widget, a news widget, or something similar as a way to help improve our local rankings for each area. Have you used anything like that? What did you find to be effective? Can you recommend anything similar? Thanks!
Local Website Optimization | | ScottImageWorks0 -
Problem ranking page with a double name and an "&"
I have a client with a double name and a & like: Jones & Jones. I and using all in one SEO on a Wordpress site. Their home page is not ranking even though I have Jones, Jones & Jones and Jones and Jones listed in the keywords. Interestingly enough other pages where I did not list the home page rank when you do a serach for "Jones & Jones" I have not had this issue with other sites but have never had a name repeated and and & in between... any advice woild be appreciate.. I just signed up for a trial of MOZ...
Local Website Optimization | | ajgar0 -
Listing bundle info on site and on local SEO page.
We just finished a new telecom site, and like all telecom sites (think AT&T, Verizon, Suddenlink, etc.), we allow people to put their location in and find internet and phone service packages (what we call bundles) unique to their area. This page also has contact information for the local sales team and some unique content. However, we're about to start putting up smaller, satellite pages for our local SEO initiative. Of course, these pages will have unique content as well, but it will have some of the same content as what's on the individual bundle page, such as package offerings, NAP, etc. Currently this is the URL structure for the bundles: domain.com/bundles/town-name/ This is what I'm planning for the local SEO pages: domain.com/location/town-name-state/ All local FB pages, Google listings, etc. will like to these location pages, rather than the bundle pages. Is this okay or should I consolidate them into one?
Local Website Optimization | | AMATechTel0