Tag-URLs in Magento

[SmartyMarty81]

Hello,

I have got a problem concerning Tag-URLs in Magento (the URLs mentioned are just fictitious 

At the moment, they look something like this:

(1) http://store.com/tag/product/list/tagId/1/ ... so these URLs are not search engine friendly at all.

Using a Magento extension you could transform them in speaking URLs:

(2) http://store.com/tag/digital-cameras

What would you do if you sold, say, digital cameras and your online shop ranked high for the keyword "digital camera" with URL No. 1 (not search engine friendly). Would you transform (1) in (2) and 301 all non speaking URLs? But would you keep the high ranking for "digital camera" when 301 to URL No. (2).

But, what I'm most concerned of is : There is actually a landing page (category page) for the keyword "digital camera" : http://store.com/digital-cameras.

Shouldn't the last URL rank high for "digital camera"? (instead of the tag URLs). But given the situation above, does it make sense now to 301 the tag URL to the category page? I would perhaps lose my good ranking, wouldn't I?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Martin

[CMC-SD]

I think rel=canonical is a better solution than a 301.

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

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Martin,

Great question. There is always a risk when you move a URL. And if the URL in question is already ranking well for your keyword, you may consider the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

There have been studies over the years that show that a 301 transfers about 80% of it's link equity to the new URL. Anecdotal evidence suggest this number may be slightly higher when using the canonical tag for the same purpose.

Sounds like you'd really rather have your category page rank instead of the tag page. If this is the case I'd make sure the category page contains truly unique content (and not just a listing of product excerpts). I'd also make sure all my top products linked back to the category page in a prominent fashion. So at the top of my high-ranking tag page, I might insert a keyword rich link pointing to the category landing page.

Of course, if you are already ranking well, you might also consider doing nothing. In this case ask yourself what's best for the customer? Especially the ones landing on the tag page. How can you help them find what they are looking for?

Hope this helps! Best of luck with your SEO.

[SmartyMarty81]

Hi Cyrus,

I'm also a fan of the phrase you mentioned ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it"). But in this case, I'd rather have category pages rank.

The tag page doesn't offer any content. It's just a product listing page (all pages tagged with the label "digital camera" for instance). So when a potential client arrives on the page, I'm not sure he'll find what he's looking for whereas the category pages offers good content, faceted navigation and so on.

Your suggestion, in short, is to make the category page look more relevant to Google for the keyword "digital camera" than the tag-Page?? So I should leave the tag-Page as it is (no 301 to category page??) and link back to the category page in order to strengthen it (several internal links pointing to the category page).. What about altering the meta tags of the tag-Page so that they look less lrelevant for the targeted keyword?

Thanks for your help Cyrus, I really appreciated your answer!!

Bye Martin

[Cyrus-Shepard]

If you're willing to do a little experimentation, all of these are good ideas. Best of luck.