How to Fix Shopify Duplicate Product Page Issue?

This issue is quite common, and it’s just one of many tech problems that come up when you're running a Shopify website. If you lack coding or troubleshooting skills, fixing some of those bugs can be quite difficult. That's why nearly 68% of businesses use monthly Shopify support services to fix all the upcoming tech issues.

Luckily, this expert guide shows how to fix it yourself. But first, let's see why having duplicate content can be awful for your business’ performance.

What Happens If There Are Two Or More Product Links?

First off, think about search engines like Google. They're smart, but they can get confused when they see the same stuff in different places. When there's duplicate content, they don't know which version to show in search results. This can mess with your website's SEO rankings.

And here's how it works. When search engines find multiple pages with the same content, they check them out and decide which one is the most worthy to display. But sometimes, what they think is best might not match what you want.

Now, let’s talk about e-commerce sites. They often have lots of products, and sometimes the same product can end up on different pages. If search engines miss some of these duplicates, it’s a big trouble. See, when all the duplicates aren’t spotted, the ranking of the main page suffers, because it doesn’t get all the signals it should.

Why Shopify Duplicate Product Pages?

As you already know, you’re not alone with this issue. It happens because products can be found in different collections on the website, which creates multiple ways to get to the same product.

Let’s say you own a clothing shop, and you're selling hoodies. You might put these hoodies in different collections like "Hoodies," "Merch," and "Top Picks.”

It means this hoodie can be reached through different web addresses:

• yourclothingshop.com/collections/hoodies/products/hoodie-one
• yourclothingshop.com/collections/merch/products/hoodie-one
• yourclothingshop.com/collections/top-picks/products/hoodie-one

And these are just a few examples. The web address can also change because of things like the product's size or color, or the way it is sorted or filtered.

Canonical Tags: A Way to Fix the Duplicate Product Page Issue

Canonical tags are tiny little pieces of code in HTML. But they do a very important job: helping search engines understand if your website has multiple URLs with the same or very similar content.

If you have different web addresses that lead to pretty much the same page, you can use a canonical tag to tell search engines which one is the main one. This avoids confusion and helps them figure out which version to show in search results.

The cool thing is, these tags also bring together signals from links and rankings across those duplicate pages. This tidies up your website for search engines and can even boost how well your pages show up in search results.

Now, remember, you don't have to use canonical tags for SEO. Google will still try to pick out the main version of your pages without them. But using them makes sure Google picks the exact page you want, not just any old version.

There are two types of canonical tags:

• Self-referencing. These tags point back to the page they're on, saying, "Hey Google, this is the original one!"
• Referencing another page. Those point to a different URL, saying, "This page is kind of like the original, but not quite."

One more thing to clear up: a canonical URL isn't the same as a canonical tag. The URL is just the web address of the main version of the page. You need the tag to tell search engines which URL is the main one.

So, by using canonical tags, you're basically helping search engines keep your website neat and tidy, making sure they know which pages to pay attention to.

But how to do it?

To set it up, you need to tweak some code in your Shopify website files. So, open ‘product-grid-item.liquid’ file, and replace this line:

• a href=”{{ product.url | within: current_collection }}” class=”product-grid-item”

With this one:

• a href=”{{ product.url }}” class=”product-grid-item”"

Now, save changes and you’re done!

Bottom Line

Hopefully, this guide helped you fix the duplicate product page issue. And if not, it’s not your fault! You may not know how to handle technical stuff on your Shopify website, and it’s completely normal. That’s why so many Shopify retainers exist: it’s like having a web developer on call to fix your store.

But where to find these tech experts? DigitalSuits agency is a great choice for all your Shopify maintenance needs. We'll handle all the tech stuff, so you can focus on managing your business. Visit our site to learn more!

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