Which product URL to include in Sitemaps?

[Frankie-BTDublin]

Hi

Does the product URL's in Sitemaps affect the sub-categories authority too?

For example, if I have a product with 2 URL's and which have a canonical tag:

• **/brands/michael-kors/bags/**jet-set-double-zip-wallet/
• **/women/accessories/wallets/**jet-set-double-zip-wallet/

If I make the main URL "/women/accessories/wallets/jet-set-double-zip-wallet/" and set that as the Canonical URL & list that URL in the XML Sitemap, will it also mean the "/women/accessories/wallets/" category will get more authority and increase it's power to rank?

Thanks

Frankie

[effectdigital]

As far as most of us know in SEO, canonical tags don't consolidate SEO authority (like 301 redirects do). They merely alleviate duplicate content risk. Usually having a divided structure is the issue, not the usage of canonical tags (or not)

[Frankie-BTDublin]

But in the sitemap??? Canonical tags aside, will "/women/accessories/wallets/" get an increased authority if I include "**/women/accessories/wallets/jet-set-double-zip-wallet/" rather than "/brands/michael-kors/bags/**jet-set-double-zip-wallet/" in the Sitemap?

[effectdigital]

Nope, Sitemap.XML is just for indexation. It doesn't ever boost any page's authority in any way

[Frankie-BTDublin]

Great, thanks! Was really hoping I'd be suddenly selling loads of wallets

[effectdigital]

It could happen, but it's unlikely to happen. If Google hasn't discovered that URL at all and then you make it easier for Google to discover, they may then apply internal authority to the page through your internal link structure. That could cause the page to rank higher. But the SEO authority wouldn't come 'from' the XML sitemap, only the 'discovery' of the URL would be impacted by your XML feed. If Google has already known of the page for a while (as is probably the case), then XML tweaks likely won't make any difference