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Hi All --

I'm working with a publishing client who is launching a new site. They have a large product catalogue offered in a number of format types (print, ebook, online learning, packages) with each one possessing a unique ISBN code. From past experience, I know that ISBN codes can be a really important ranking factor.

We are currently trying to sort out product page guidelines. The proposed methods are:

1. A single product page for all formats. The user then has the option to select which format they wish to purchase. The page would contain all key descriptors for each format, including: individual ISBN, format, title, price, author, etc. We would then use schema mark-up just to assist search engines with understanding and crawling. BUT we worry that the single page won't rank as well as say an invidual product page with a unique ISBN in the URL (for example: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470573325.html)

Which leads to the next option...

2. Individual URLs for each format. We understand that most e-commerce guidelines state you shouldn't dilute link equity amongst multiple pages with very similar products and descriptions. BUT we want searchers to be able to search by individual ISBN and still find that specific format within the SERPs. This seems to rule out canonicalizing, because we don't prefer one format over the other and still want say the ebook to show up as much as the print version.

If anyone has any other options or considerations that we haven't thought about, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

U

Thanks for the suggestions, Darren - we did discuss this as a possible reason and we plan on testing this theory out.

Hi SEOMOZers,

We have a fairly large retail client with both .COM and .CA domains.  Each of the sites are almost identical in design and, in most cases, content (these would be product pages).  The .US site has been live for nearly 2.5 years while the Canadian probably over a year younger or so.  Both sites are hosted in the US.

What we're starting to see as of the last few months are searches that used to rank .COM product pages now rank the Canadian page above the US page on Google.com.  We've checked Webmaster Tools for each site and they target the appropriate country.  With nearly all examples we've seen, we haven't noticed any more links pointing to the Canadian page, and where this is becoming a widespread occurence we're not convinced it's a linking issue.

My question is why Google might see both versions but rank the Canadian page above the US page on Google.com for a search being performed in the US?  Does anyone have any ideas on why this may be happening?