Multiple Categories Duplicate URLs

[atrus]

Hi to all,

One of the biggest problems with VM2 Seo is the duplicate urls when a product is assigned to multiple categories. I don't know how other users are dealing with it (would appreciate your advice) but for us it is simply not working, we are using a 3rd party component.

So, the problem is this: you have a product A, which is assigned to Category1,Category2....,Category10. The urls you get are of the type:

.../Category1/productA
.../Category2/productA
.
.
.
.../Category10/productA

10 unique links for the same product!

The above ofcourse is a failure from SEO perspective. So, the simple thing to do, is to remove the category from the url:

.../productA

1 unique link for the product, no matter from which category you are coming.

Above functionality is basic and is included in all 3rd parties SEO components. We'd really like to see it also in VM2 core, in order to make the functionality more useful.

Rgrds

[balai]

Very interesting post.

A solution could be to omit the category part from the URL and possibly create the product's slug based on the selected categories and the product name.

This way the slug would have also semantic meaning (containing the category names) and would be even more sef url as it would have one level less

[FidelGonzales]

I'm just jumping back into Virtuemart for a project after being away from it for a few years. There have been many changes I'll have to get used to.

I also would be using in a similar manner, where each product would likely exist in multiple categories. I am resurrecting an old VM 1.X site and rather than migrate the products, I am starting fresh and have approximately 750 categories. In adding just one product, I realized the problem you have referenced (.../Category1/productA .../Category2/productA) will be a problem.

Partly for SEO purposes, I create the product name so that it includes the product's basic vehicle application. The application may change, since new model years emerge every year and sometimes an engine part may later be used upon an new model and sometimes even a new make. Therefore, I would prefer to keep the product name generic. Rather than the URL inherit the product name, I would prefer the category and product utilize its unique ID so as to avoid changes in the product application but moreover the evolution of the shop, the category structure of which could change over time due to an increase in productions.

CATEGORY - root.com/shop/category-id
PRODUCT - root.com/shop/product-id

I realize this may affect the use of templates per product and/or category, due to the use of the URL as a determinant in which template is to be used, but I am willing to sacrifice that to keep the URL over the years, as the shop will begin with 1,000 products to start and jump to 10,000 and beyond in the next year.

Balai: Which method do you suggest to use only the ID as suggested?

[jux]

very interesting post, is this feature would be include in VM3?

[Milbo]

You answered to a post which is 2 years old juliengrano. We solved it with canonical Urls. So if a product is in different categories, it will have always the same canonical URL.

[jux]

thank you sorry to sound like an idiot but what is canonical URL? does it mean it resolve duplicate url via multiple cat?

[jjk]

thank you sorry to sound like an idiot but what is canonical URL? does it mean it resolve duplicate url via multiple cat?

See here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/139066?hl=en