Hello there!I am currently working on an e-commerce website. The category pages on our site have over 100 products, with 10 products displayed per page. Each page has a unique URL that ends with “page=xx.” Although each page has a self-referencing canonical tag, Google Search Console is showing them as “Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user.” What are your thoughts on this? Should I set the first page as the canonical for all pages within a category?
Additionally, we have a sort function (such as “sort=price”) which I do not include in the canonical URL. This is working well as GSC tags these as “Alternate page with proper canonical tag.”
It seems like you’re facing a common issue with pagination and canonicalization on e-commerce category pages.
Google’s preference for a single canonical URL for each category makes sense in this context. While each page within a category is unique, they all represent the same overall category content.
Here’s a breakdown of the situation:
- The issue: Google Search Console is flagging your “page=xx” URLs as duplicate because you’re telling Google that each page is the canonical, but Google is choosing a different page (likely the first one). This indicates Google is seeing those pages as duplicates and favoring the first page as the authoritative source.
- Solution: It’s generally recommended to set the first page of the category as the canonical for all pages within that category. This ensures that Google views all those pages as variations of the same content, ultimately directing users and crawlers to the main category landing page.
- Sort parameters: Your approach to excluding sort parameters from the canonical URL is correct. Since those parameters only affect the display order, not the underlying content, Google understands them as variations of the same page.
Important Considerations:
- User experience: Ensure that users can easily navigate through the category pages. Clear pagination, sort options, and filters will help users find what they need.
- Internal linking: Link to the first page (canonical page) from all other category pages. This helps reinforce the hierarchy and signals to Google which page is the primary one.
- Review Search Console data: Continuously monitor your Google Search Console data to see if this change improves your overall performance.
By focusing on providing a seamless user experience, implementing proper canonicalization, and monitoring your data, you can optimize your category pages for better visibility and performance in Google search.