How do I get rid of duplicate page titles when using a php site?

[curtisgibbsiii]

Hi. I have an e-commerce site that sells a list of products. The list is divided into categories and then those categories for the various pages on the site. An example of a page title. would be given root/products.php?c=40   another page would be given root/products.php?c=41

Is there a way to structure the site with SEO in mind?

[MikeTek]

The variable C probably calls the product up from the database. It's going to pull the product details (include the name of the product) into several variables, then post those variables into the HTML where necessary.

If you can get into the PHP file where the product page HTML is generated, look for the same HTML element the product name is populated into in the source. Hopefully it's as simple as an H1 tag.

There you should find the variable that will contain the product name - something like the following:

If you find the above, you can simply grab that PHP code (everything inside the H1 tags) and paste it right into your <title>tag. </p> <p>Often it's that simple. </p> <p>But if you're using an eCommerce platform, as Don noted - Oscommerce or similar - you want to be careful about making custom tweaks to the PHP files, as this will create issues when you attempt to upgrade to a later version or otherwise patch your installation. In this case, you really want to find a plug-in or other modification that will be upgrade-friendly. </p></title>

[donford]

I know many e-commerce platforms have modifications for this. If by chance you're using Oscommerce or OscMax then you shouldn't have an issue finding an appropriate add-on.

From my personal experience, while this is certainly an SEO related issue, the answers are best provided by the software or platform you're running. For example Oscommerce uses a URL re-write to deal with this and provides you the ability to modify the specific title and meta data.

Hope this helps,

Don