Ecommerce Tabs
-
This isn't a unique problem but an e-commerce client has product information on a page, with separate tabs that have been historically loaded with a new page, which have been indexed.
- Product (/product): 8,450 Results
- Content1 (/product?tab=content1): 966 results
- Content2 (/product?tab=content2): 683 Results
- Content3 (/product?tab=content3): 1,750 Results
- Content4 (/product?tab=content4): 1,500 Results
All of the content shares a common product top section (summary of information) but has unique canonical url definitions, meta information, etc. The individual content tabs are all part of a larger grouping, which is why their index level is considerably less than the actual product page. As the client grows and updates this historical practice, one of the implementation options is making the content available on the page via an Ajax load.
The desire would be to maintain the ability to search for content1, content2, etc at that level and not spread the juice throughout all the main product pages. My question is what would the best setup be to maintain the historical ability to target the content individually via Search, while updating the UI/UX for a better customer experience? If the ajax route is the way to go, what are all the tasks necessary to properly handle without creating a separate duplicate pathing? Some of the tasks that I've outlined would be
-
Using pushState to update the url when the tab is changed
-
Is there an ability to also update canonicals & meta information?
what else am I missing? Any guidance would be great as Id love to get some thoguhts on the matter.
Thanks!
-
If they want to keep those "tab content" pages as their own indexable URLs to capitalize on long-tail traffic and provide a more targeted page then I would advise making them separate landing pages instead of "tabbed" content URLs. If they want that content on the product page then I would advise embedding the content on the product page without the use of these external URLs. It sounds like they want to have their cake and eat it too?
-
It's a very good question and definetly an option although at this time it isn't a viable option since the company isn't interested in a change to the overall legacy architecture which has all the content separated as I stated above. There is the desire to keep the tabs as specific targetable content as they are all specific deeper dives into the product and not necessarily the types of content that you pointed out above (specs, shipping, etc). It's more of a travel product where there is an itinerary, property, room type options (all of which are chosen later in a booking).
Though the index numbers aren't all that impressive, the sites had a number of previous architectural and duplication issues that are finally beginning to clear up and normalize. There is a belief that the cleaning of ur parameters, canonicalizations, etc that has happened will improve those index numbers.
Thano you for the suggestion, it's definitely appreciated and something I've considered although as I mentioned I'm not sure if it is a direction I'll be able to convince them on.
-
Hello Scott,
I am confident you will find the answers you're looking for here. However, I have a foundation question first. Why don't you just use hidden divs (display none) and simple javascript to allow the user to select which tab they're viewing without loading a new page or URL? Lots of eCommerce sites do this on product pages.
Google may give less "weight" to the content that isn't displayed by default, which is typically everything but the main product description tab (e.g. specs, additional features, shipping...). In most cases that's fine. But if you're worried about it you could always set the default to display all divs, and then IF they have javascript THEN collapse all but the main product description div, at least UNTIL the user executes javascript to display a div by clicking on a new tab. Make sense? It's the same end result, but done sort of backwards so all users with javascript turned off will by default see all of the content in-line instead of tabbed.
We can get into things like AJAX or Angular.js and other javascript frameworks, but that would definitely not be the optimal way to handle things in most situations.
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
-
Do you recommend using tabs on desktop in 2017
Hi, I know google is moving toward mobile first world but I am wondering if tabs on desktop are still ignored by google those days and what you recommend ? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Duplicate ecommerce sites, SEO implications & others?
We have an established eCom site built out with custom php, dedicated SERPs, traffic, etc.. The question has arisen on how to extend commerce on social and we have found a solution with Shopify. In order to take advantage of this, we'd need to build out a completely new site in Shopify and would have to have the site live in order to have storefronts on Pinterest and Twitter. Aside from the obvious problem with having two databases, merchant processing, etc, does anyone know whether there are SEO implications to having two live sites with duplicate products? Could we just disavow a Shopify store in Webmaster Tools? Any other thoughts or suggestions? TIA!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PAC31350 -
Best practices for structuring an ecommerce site
I'm revamping my wife's ecommerce site. It is currently a very low traffic website that is not indexed very well in Google. So, my plan is to restructure it based upon the best practices that helps me avoid duplicate content penalties, and easier to index strategies. The store has about 7 types of products. Each product has approximately 30 different size variations that are sometimes specifically searched for. For example: 20x10x1 air filters, 20x10x2 air filters, 20x10x1 allergy reducing air filters, etc So, is it best for me to create 7 different products with 30 different size variations (size selector at the product level that changes the price) or is it better to create 210 different product pages, one for each style/size?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | pherbio0 -
Ecommerce product URLs & flat architecture?
Hey Mozzers, I'm optimizing a small ecommerce site. The site URL directory structure seems all good & logical, BUT should I try for a flatter architecture - so that the individual products are at top level after the domain name in URLs? e.g.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | GregDixson
www.domain.com/first-item/
www.domain.com/second-item/
etc. etc. My current setup (I'm using the Woocommerce plugin in Wordpress): www.domain.com/shop/ (main shop page)
www.domain.com/shop/category-name-1/
www.domain.com/shop/category-name-2/
www.domain.com/shop/category-name-3/ with products appearing as:
www.domain.com/product/first-item/
www.domain.com/product/second-item/
etc. I've researched some big brand ecommerce sites and most seem to be domain.com/amazing-product/ even if the product itself is many categories or sub-categories down. i.e. Homepage > Home & Furniture > Furniture > Living Room Furniture > Coffee Tables As I say the information architecture makes sense from a user point of view, but I'm guessing the individual products would stand more chance of ranking if directly following the domain name? Woocommerce although flexible doesn't seem to do this out-of-the-box, so please some advice before I go on a hacking and URL rewriting mission! Thanks 🙂0 -
Best-of-the-web content in steep competition, ecommerce site
Hello, I'm helping my client write a long, comprehensive, best-of-the-web piece of content. It's a boring ecommerce niche, but on the informational side the top 10 competitors for the most linked to topic are all big players with huge domain authority. There's not a lot of links in the industry, should I try to top all the big industries through better content (somehow), pictures, illustrations, slideshows with audio, and by being more thorough than these very good competitors? Or should I go for something that's less linked to (maybe 1/5 as much people linking to it) but easier? or both? We're on a short timeline of 3 and 1/2 months until we need traffic and our budget is not huge
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW1 -
SEO for eCommerce?
I'm working on a game plan for the on-page optimization for a growing e-commerce site (https://www.boutine.com) and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with similar projects. Specifically, how to get the most SEO value out of product and category pages. Thanks in advance! -Adam
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | boutine0 -
Panda/Penguin & Ecommerce Sites in similar niches
Hello, We have a few online stores that are in similar niches. How do we make sure that we don't get penalized for this (Panda/Penguin) We have the sites interlinked, but our newest one is not going to be linked to the others. Also, will rewriting descriptions help if the product is on more than one site? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
An Infrastructure Change for a Large eCommerce Site - Any advice?
Hello Mozers, We're currently under going quite a large infrastructure change to our website and I wouldn't to hear your thoughts on the type of things we should be careful of. We currently have close to 4,000 individual products each with their own page. The seo work is then driven behind certain pages which house a catalog display of groups of products. The groups are done by style. An example is we have a page called "Style A" which displays 8 different colours of style A. We then seo the style A page and the individual items received minimal seo work. The change would involve having one individual product page for each style but on that page the user would have the ability to purchase the different colours/variations via menus. This will result in approximately a %70 reduction in the size of our site (as several products will no longer be published) The things we are currently concerned with are: 1. The lose of equity to those unwanted 'style A' pages - I think a series of careful planned 301s will be the solution. 2. Possible loss of long tail traffic to the individual products which might not be caught by one individual page per style. 3. Internal link structure will need to be monitored to make sure that we're still highlight the most important pages as well, important. Sorry for the long post, it's a difficult change to explain without revealing the clients name - any other things we should be thinking about would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Nigel
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NigelJ0