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I have dealt with this and I think there are a few questions to ask.

1. Do the different color variations provide keyword opportunities. for example, are people searching for nice-shirt-blue and nice-shirt-red, or are they just searching for nice-shirt?

2. If it does not provide any sort of search benefit to separate the shirts, then you may consider combining them into one product page. You may consider providing an image with an array of the products on your overview page to show that there are multiple colors within the product page. This will ensure that any links built to this product are not spread over multiple product pages. Also, from a usability standpoint, is it likely easier for a customer to click through images on one page to decide the color that they want rather than to click the back button to find the new product.

3. Finally, if you decide that it is better for your customer's experience to keep the products on two separate pages, but the color don't provide any keyword or search benefits, you may consider choosing one color (say blue) and setting a rel=canonical on the other colour variations to the blue shirt page.

Ultimately, it boils down to "what is the best for your customer". Search engines ultimately care about user experience, so if you are able to create the best experience first, then decide whether unique descriptions, rel=canonical, or configured pages are best for you.

Hope this helps!

Hey Samuel,

I feel like this confirms some of the thoughts that I had. The different terms are, searched, so I think it will be best to leave them as individuals.

Thanks for your contribution!

Hello,

I have an ecommerce site that sells pond pumps. I have every pump separated because each pump has different flow rates, specs, and replacement parts. All of the content is original, and even the content on the pages are (more than) 15% different - so it isn't getting flagged by Moz as duplicate content. Essentially it is set up like this:

Acme Pond Pumps

• Acme Pond Pump 100
• Acme Pond Pump 200
• Acme Pond Pump 300

I am wondering if it is best to leave all of the products as separate pages, or if I should canonicalize them to the category page? Will each of the pages pass link juice upward anyways? The difference between the products are the specs, parts, and model number.

Thoughts?

Hey James,

Thanks for the feedback. Testing was the conclusion that I came to as well. I will try to remember to follow up with the results.

Cheers,

Evan

I posted a similar question a while go, so I will attempt to articulate my question a little better....

I am the owner of an E-Commerce site that operates in Canada. I have been brainstorming ways to find opportunities and niches for Canadian online shoppers in an industry that is dominated by corporate American E-commerce sites.

I saw  another Canadian e-commerce site try to combat this issue, and I wanted to get some advice on whether this strategy is sound. Here is an example.

Well.ca is a large e-commerce site in Canada. They take a competitive product like a "Tide Lundry Detergent"  and include local and intent terms in their page titles. For example "Buy TideLaundry Detergent from Canada at Well.ca - Free Shipping".

If a Canadian shopper searches for "Tide Laundry Detergent", they are going to find results for amazon.com, ebay.com, Tide's website, etc.. I would imagine that Canadian shoppers would start to add terms such as Canada, Buy, or online to try to find Canadian sellers. If that is the case, then Well.ca ranks and arguably serves the customer with those intentions much better.

I guess my question is, if the dominant search terms in my industry are polluted with irrelevant or American companies (even in Canada), is this form of localization a good idea? The terms don't seem to be searched much according to any keyword research tool I've used, but I know that I add "canada" to my search terms in order to find Canadian results?

Thoughts?

Hey,

I have an interesting question. I am the owner of a Canadian E-Commerce site, and I have been brainstorming ways to find opportunities and niches for Canadian online shoppers in an industry that is dominated by American E-commerce sites.

I looked around at another Canadian e-commerce site, and I wanted to get some advice on whether this strategy is sound. Here is an example.

Well.ca is a large e-commerce site in Canada. They take a competitive product like a "KONG Goodie Bone" (a dog toy) and include local and intent terms in their title. For example "Buy KONG Goodie Bone from Canada at Well.ca - Free Shipping".

If a Canadian shopper searches for "Kong Goodie Bone", they are going to find results for amazon.com, ebay.com, the Kong company website, Petco (which is not in Canada) etc. I would imagine that Canadian shoppers would start to add terms such as Canada, Buy, or online to try to find Canadian sellers. If that is the case, then Well.ca ranks.

I guess my question is, if the dominant search terms in my industry are polluted with irrelevant or American companies (even in Canada), is this form of localization a good idea? The terms don't seem to be searched much according to any keyword research tool I've used, but I know that I add "canada" to my search terms in order to find Canadian results?

I will also note that our website recently launched, we are using 100% original product page content, we are using videos, and we are really putting a lot of energy into quality content. I am just wondering if patience is the name of the game when you are dealing with sites with incredible domain authority, or if we are better off trying to find niche opportunities.

Thoughts?