Duplicate content issues with file download links (diff. versions of a downloadable application)
-
I'm a little unsure how canonicalisation works with this case.
We have very regular updates to the application which is available as a download on our site. Obviously, with every update the version number of the file being downloaded changes; and along with it, the URL parameter included when people click the 'Download' button on our site.
e.g.
mysite.com/download/download.php?f=myapp.1.0.1.exe
mysite.com/download/download.php?f=myapp.1.0.2.exe
mysite.com/download/download.php?f=myapp.1.0.3.exe, etc
In the Moz Site Crawl report all of these links are registering as Duplicate Content. There's no content per se on these pages, all they do is trigger a download of the specified file from our servers.
Two questions:
- Are these links actually hurting our ranking/authority/etc?
- Would adding a canonical tag to the head of mysite.com/download/download.php solve the crawl issues? Would this catch all of the download.php URLs? i.e.
Thanks!
Jon
(not super up on php, btw. So if I'm saying something completely bogus here...be kind ) -
Jon,
If there is no content and these pages are just the download link then instead of putting a canonical link on them, set them as noindex. I assume you have a landing page that directs people to your downloads, this is where you should optimize your content to get organic traffic, the direct download pages (with 0 content) will have no real value from a search perspective.
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
-
2 canonical links on 1 page, 1 for print version
Our developer has added a 2nd canonoical link for the "print" version of our page. I read on another post that this appears to be not be the correct way to do this. Is there a better way ? Here is an example of the code:
Moz Pro | | foodsleuth0 -
Inbound links not found on OSE
I have live inbound links for the site htp://vpnexpress.net, but OSE reports nothing found. How long does it usually take for them to index high PR site links? Thanks.
Moz Pro | | xvpn9020 -
Problems with duplicate contents...
Hi folks, how's going? I started using Seo Moz and from the first crawling appears that I have 11 pages with duplicate contents... but this is not true, are different pages with different url, contents, tags... any idea to solve he problem? Alessandro, MusicaNueva.es
Moz Pro | | musicanueva0 -
How can I submit my sitemap file to SEOmoz? (I mean the same file I send to google and bing, not the sitemap page)
I'm new to SEOmoz. As far as I understand, SEOmoz goes out to my site and crawls it to find all the pages. Is there anyway I can submit my sitemap page to SEOmoz just like I submit it to Google or Bing? Thanks for your help! Fernando
Moz Pro | | fsantospt0 -
How Old is OSE link data?
I ran an anchor text report for my client today, which shows that their site has some incoming comment spam links using totally unrelated phrases (pharma products). However, when looking for the live link, the linking page no longer contains the link to them. Maybe the webmasters removed these, but I can't track down a single one... how old is this data? thanks
Moz Pro | | JMagary0 -
Competitive Link Analysis Tool?
Hi, I ran a competitive link analysis report today and back came quite a few domains that 2 or more of my 5 main competitors link from. Is it worth me submitting links to these sites? And would i be best served submitting my homepage URL or submitting a brand page such as Creative Recreation Trainers? I want to target that brand but don't want to do it if my main URL is better? Any ideas? See below my report. | Subdomain | Subdomain mR | Subdomain mT | # Competitors | # Linking Pages | Link Acquired |
Moz Pro | | YNWA
| t.co/ | 8.05 | 8.04 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| ww2.cox.com/ | 5.99 | 6.50 | 2 | <a>3</a> | |
| www.littlewebdirectory.com/ | 5.90 | 5.59 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| www.amazines.com/ | 5.69 | 5.66 | 2 | <a>3</a> | |
| svpply.com/ | 5.66 | 5.53 | 3 | <a>20</a> | |
| www.jayde.com/ | 5.64 | 5.68 | 3 | <a>4</a> | |
| www.pearltrees.com/ | 5.58 | 5.81 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| www.businessseek.biz/ | 5.52 | 5.51 | 2 | <a>3</a> | |
| www.a1articles.com/ | 5.50 | 5.22 | 3 | <a>9</a> | |
| www.linksilo.de/ | 5.48 | 5.23 | 2 | <a>15</a> | |
| www.alistsites.com/ | 5.46 | 5.24 | 2 | <a>38</a> | |
| www.the-free-directory.co.uk/ | 5.37 | 5.07 | 2 | <a>20</a> | |
| www.walhello.com/ | 5.30 | 4.97 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| www.quarkbase.com/ | 5.14 | 5.12 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| snipsly.com/ | 5.13 | 5.20 | 2 | <a>21</a> | |
| www.counterdeal.com/ | 5.12 | 5.07 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| www.01webdirectory.com/ | 5.03 | 5.03 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| www.2addlink.info/ | 4.92 | 4.58 | 3 | <a>4</a> | |
| www.fuk.co.uk/ | 4.64 | 5.00 | 3 | <a>20</a> | |
| www.final-fantasy.us/ | 4.63 | 4.77 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| oyax.com/ | 4.42 | 4.61 | 2 | <a>4</a> | |
| www.touchretail.co.uk/ | 4.33 | 4.21 | 2 | <a>4</a> | |
| tptbtv.cold10.com/ | 4.27 | 4.86 | 3 | <a>1</a> | |
| www.mastbusiness.com/ | 4.23 | 4.34 | 2 | <a>2</a> | |
| www.competitionhunter.com/ | 4.16 | 4.21 | 2 | <a>6</a> | |0 -
Duplicate content & canonicals
Hi, Working on a website for a company that works in different european countries. The setup is like this: www.website.eu/nl
Moz Pro | | nvs.nim
www.website.eu/be
www.website.eu/fr
... You see that every country has it's own subdir, but NL & BE share the same language, dutch... The copywriter wrote some unique content for NL and for BE, but it isn't possible to write unique for every product detail page because it's pretty technical stuff that goes into those pages. Now we want to add canonical tags to those identical product pages. Do we point the canonical on the /be products to /nl products or visa versa? Other question regarding SEOmoz: If we add canonical tags to x-pages, do they still appear in the Crawl Errors "duplicate page content", or do we have to do our own math and just do "duplicate page content" minus "Rel canonical" ?0 -
Opensite explorer issues still there
Hi I asked a question a few weeks ago regarding the linkings being shown in opensite explorer showing crazy stuff like psds and odd file formats as being the source of the links. I was told it was being repaired , the results were almost useless and I stopped using , I have just logged back in to check again and see even more random odd results with sites that would have no reason to link to us. Is this tool ever going to be repaired ? Is there a ETA for the fix ? How come you are launching new tools when the existing ones dont work ? Kind Regards
Moz Pro | | jbloggs0