Duplicate content - category pages

[j_dk]

Hi all.

I just ran into a problem with duplicate content! I got some categories with more pages, but i see that Google are indexing all of them, for example: /category-name and /category-name?p=2. This will affect my rankings negatively,

I can fix it by adding this to my robots.txt (for every category):

Disallow: /category-link1?n=200
Disallow: /category-link1?n=10
Disallow: /category-link1?n=20
Disallow: /category-link1?n=50
Disallow: /category-link1?n=10&p=2
Disallow: /category-link1?n=20&p=2
Disallow: /category-link1?n=50&p=2
Disallow: /category-link1?n=10&p=3
Disallow: /category-link1?n=20&p=3
Disallow: /category-link1?n=50&p=3
Disallow: /category-link1?n=10&p=4
Disallow: /category-link1?n=20&p=4
Disallow: /category-link1?n=50&p=4
Disallow: /category-link1?n=10&p=5
Disallow: /category-link1?n=20&p=5
Disallow: /category-link1?n=50&p=5
Disallow: /category-link1?p=2
Disallow: /category-link1?p=3
Disallow: /category-link1?p=4
Disallow: /category-link1?p=5
Disallow: /category-link1?p=6
Disallow: /category-link1?n=10&id_category=7
Disallow: /category-link1?n=20&id_category=7
Disallow: /category-link1?n=50&id_category=7 

But is there a better og easier solution??

[Timpet]

take a look at this topic

http://www.prestashop.com/forums/viewthread/52665/seo_search_engine_optimization/howto__prevent_meta_tag_duplication

[j_dk]

.

[Timpet]

read this topic : http://www.prestashop.com/forums/viewthread/53186/seo_search_engine_optimization/how_to_cut_down_on_some_dublicate_content_at_categories

By look the forum you can get a lot of usefull info

If you get the issue info from google webmaster tool, then you should notice that it will first update when it has index your pages again!

[Martin Velikov]

Depending on the way how you would like to handle this you can create unique meta tags for the pages. A nice solution is proposed in the thread specified above and it works.

An alternative in case the content on the pages is not unique but mostly equivalent I would suggest using rel canonical for the main page. Checkout this article for detailed explanation:

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139394

[adibranch]

hang on a minute.. you do NOT want to block these pages in robots.txt, and you will NOT get penalised for dupe content either.

For one, there is no 'duplicate penalty' or 'duplicate content' , there is a duplicate FILTER . You will not get penalised for having two slightly similar pages(or even ten exactly copied pages) indexed by the search engines, all that will happen is that they will choose whichever one they think has more authority than the other one, and list that. Got that? good.. its very important. No dupe penalty exists , okay? You will not lose search positions or authority by having several pages of identical content. This is a basic fact.
(As an additional these ?p=2 pages arent duplicate, yes they have similar content but they have a full page of different products than the one before it. Chances are these will be indexed fine along with your other pages, no problems).

Secondly, if you block the page, you block a nice page full of your target products.. why would you want to do that? it makes no sense whatsover. Dont do that.


However, if you really want to tidy thisd up properly... what you do is pretty simple. You dont create categories that create masses of pages of products. Its bad for your visitors (who hate seeing 'page 1 of 5' by the way), its bad for SEO, its bad for your conversion rate, its bad. Instead, tidy up your category hierarchy into an easy tu understand structure which DOESNT have fifty products under on category.

[Timpet]

I would'nt like google to deside what pages of my webpage to show, thats basicly way i work in this area, and you never know if they change the guidelines

[adibranch]

you're missing the point... if you insist on setting up a site which uses this type of category and product structure (pagination), then you DO want google to index these pages, as they contain your target products ! Its a content rich page that lists, displays, and links to your product pages, so use it !! . It wont be classed as dupe (even if it was it doesnt matter) , and it goes a long way to getting your site category and product pages fully indexed. To block it may seem like a good idea, but i'm afraid its completely the wrong thing to do.

However, as explained above. these types of split pages are bad for visitors.. they will rarely click past the second page, you then lose the visit, you lose the sale.
Instead You should list as many products on one category page as possible , even if it means creating a longer page. You then reduce clickthroughs and you reduce likelihood of losing the visit. You also create a richer page for search engines !!
If you've got 50 products in one category and its making the page too long, then you're doing something wrong. Split them up into further sub categories based around popular relevant keyterms.

[Timpet]

I dont use the above in my robots.txt, but i use other methods. An lots of people go through all the pages.

[adibranch]

regardless of the method you use, you shouldnt be blocking these pages.

Regarding pagination, yes, some people will click through, but many more wont. If you force pagination on them you risk losing them.
This is common sense stuff, make your site as simple and quick as possible, assume everyones an idiot, and assume they don't have time to sift through YOUR site looking for something you've hidden away. Ignore that simple rule and you risk your sales.

Check your stats.. you'll see a lot of people view the first page in the category, but how many go on to check page 2, page 3, or even page 4, and how many check page eight compared to page 1? The figures give away whats happening.

Its up to you though of course.

[Jon_King]

While I agree with all said here I will add a bit more.

If all these duplicate pages have the same (or very similar) link text you will dilute your link juice for that particular link text. This, in my mind is the best reason for insuring that a particular link text all go to the same page and not different URLs.