Duplicate Multi-site Content, Duplicate URLs

[AMHC]

We have 2 ecommerce sites that are 95% identical. Both sites carry the same 2000 products, and for the most part, have the identical product descriptions. They both have a lot of branded search, and a considerable amount of domain authority. We are in the process of changing out product descriptions so that they are unique. Certain categories of products rank better on one site than another. When we've deployed unique product descriptions on both sites, we've been able to get some double listings on Page 1 of the SERPs.

The categories on the sites have different names, and our URL structure is www.domain.com/category-name/sub-category-name/product-name.cfm. So even though the product names are the same, the URLs are different including the category names.

We are in the process of flattening our URL structures, eliminating the category and subcategory names from the product URLs: www.domain.com/product-name.cfm.

The upshot is that the product URLs will be the same. Is that going to cause us any ranking issues?

[MonicaOConnor]

My first thought is that rewriting your product descriptions will not be as effective as getting user generated content, like product reviews, on your site. Even if you rewrite the content, it will still be the same context and it won't offer anything uniquely valuable to the searchers. You need uniquely valuable content, not just uniquely written content.

My second though is that flattening the URLs is not the best way to do that. Your category and subcategory names should be structured to help you get as much information into your URL as possible. You don't want to stuff them with keywords, but you want them to be progressively descriptive.

For example,

Category = Women's Pants / Subcategory = Boot Cut Denim / Product Name = Riders by Lee Women's Dark Wash Boot Cut Jeans

URL - www.mystore.com/womens-pants/bootcut-denim/riders-by-lee-womens-dark-wash-boot-cut-jeans.cfm

as opposed to

www.,mystore.com/riders-by-lee-womens-dark-wash-boot-cut-jeans.cfm

The first example would be the best possible URL format. Taking out the categories would only reduce your ability to target keywords effectively.