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Here's a specific question about title tags for ecommerce website...

We've got lists of products (category list pages) that stretch for many pages... is there any benefit to added a something to make the title tag unique.

For example:

Page 1: <title></span><span class="html-tag" data-mce-mark="1">Category List Page Example</span><span class="html-tag" data-mce-mark="1"></title>

Page 2: <title></span><span class="html-tag" data-mce-mark="1">Category List Page Example - Page 2</span><span class="html-tag" data-mce-mark="1"></title>

Page 3: <title></span><span class="html-tag" data-mce-mark="1">Category List Page Example - Page 3</span><span class="html-tag" data-mce-mark="1"></title>

FWIW, we've got the pagination and canonicalization nailed down tight. Moz crawl actual brought a dupe content issue based on title tags.

This auto-linking tool has some nice customization options.  I went through and created keyword/link pairs - no automation there.  And, I also limited the link insertion to specific areas of the site.

I'll add something two items...

#1. We had solid success with sorting out the right formula for canonicalization and pagination. It was tricky for us because we have faceted navigation + sorting parameters (like, sort by price) + multiple pages of products.

#2. Auto internal linking, we found an off-the-shelf extension to our CMS (Magento) that allowed us to auto-insert links across our site.

Thanks again to Ryan and Cyrus for chiming in. I'm going with:

• noindex,nofollow all HTTPs pages (they're not in the index anyway)
• Pull canonical tags from all HTTPs pages
• 301 redirect affiliate id links to HTTPs version of the page

Now, I just need to remember all of this when we finally get to transferring the site fully to HTTPs.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Thanks for the time.

RE: HTTPs the entire site.  Varnish doesn't play too nice with HTTPs. Plus, my understand is that one's site may take a performance hit...The whole reason we went to Varnish was due to perforance.  BTW...the site is now pretty fast.

RE: 302. Just wondering if there are any down side...

Our Magento based affiliate extension is not working, due to a conflict with the Varnish caching system. Varnish has a known bug which does not allow multiple cookies to be set.

Our workaround involves redirecting any request with the affiliate tracking parameter to the HTTPS version of the site. Varnish does not run on HTTPs and therefore our affiliate cookie will be set. Note: the main content of our site runs on HTTP.

My SEO concern is how to handle this for the search engines. We have a few things to consider:

1. Redirect: Should we use a 301 or 302?
2. Canonical: It seems to make sense to include a canonical on the HTTP version of the site without the affiliate tracking parameter - right?
3. Robots Meta Tags: "noindex, follow" or "index, follow"
4. Am I missing something?

Thanks for your time and consideration!

Hello...

We recently re-launched website with a new CMS (Magento). We kept the same domain name, however most of the structure changed. We were diligent about inputting the 301 redirects.  The domain is over 15 years old and has tons of link equity and history.

Today marks 27 days since launch...And Google Webmaster Tools showed me a recently detected (dated two days ago) URL from the old structure.

Our natural search traffic has take a slow dive since launch...Any thoughts?

Some background info: The old site did not have a sitemap.xml.  The relaunched site does.

Thanks!

Don't forget to do some link building of your own - on your own site. Wedding photographers have a great content ready to go; not to mention a willing audience of bloggers/websites to post it. Find some recent pictures and submit them to the wedding blogs. Have your client do an 'engagement shot' for new couple. Those photos will make it up on the couple's wedding websites - ask for a link back. Do some PR around your local media to get on the 'Best of' lists.

Why not leave the product up (200). Make it clear these items are no longer for sale. For example, pull the 'add to cart' button and use language to cross-sell another product.

I'll add something two items...

#1. We had solid success with sorting out the right formula for canonicalization and pagination. It was tricky for us because we have faceted navigation + sorting parameters (like, sort by price) + multiple pages of products.

#2. Auto internal linking, we found an off-the-shelf extension to our CMS (Magento) that allowed us to auto-insert links across our site.