When it comes to ranking well in search engines, Shopify is one of the most popular and powerful eCommerce platforms around – but it’s not without its SEO quirks. One of the most common issues online store owners face is dealing with duplicate content and messy URL structures. If you’re aiming to enhance your Shopify store’s visibility, understanding how to optimise your URLs while eliminating duplicate content is a critical step in the right direction.
This guide breaks down the basics of Shopify’s URL structure, the most common pitfalls, and actionable strategies to ensure your store is streamlined, search-engine friendly, and ready to convert browsers into buyers. Whether you’re a DIY marketer or working with a Shopify SEO agency, optimising your URLs and content can significantly impact your search performance.
Understanding Shopify’s URL Structure
By default, Shopify generates URLs in a specific format for various content types. For example:
- Product pages: /products/sample-product
- Collection pages: /collections/sample-collection
- Blog posts: /blogs/news/sample-article
- Pages: /pages/about-us
While these URL structures are clean and readable, issues often arise with duplicate versions of URLs due to Shopify’s built-in navigation system. This is particularly common with product pages appearing under multiple paths. For instance:
- yourstore.com/products/sample-product
- yourstore.com/collections/sample-collection/products/sample-product
These URLs both lead to the same product page, but Google sees them as different pages – this is where duplicate content concerns begin to surface.
Why Duplicate Content Matters for SEO
Duplicate content can dilute your SEO efforts in several ways:
- Splits ranking signals between multiple URLs instead of consolidating authority on one.
- Reduces crawl efficiency, wasting search engine bots’ resources.
- Confuses search engines about which page to rank or index, potentially lowering your overall visibility.
Although Shopify uses canonical tags to help manage this, relying solely on them isn’t enough. Canonical tags suggest to Google which version of a page is preferred, but they don’t guarantee that Google will follow that suggestion. To make your site as SEO-friendly as possible, you need a hands-on approach.
Follow These Key Steps to Optimise Your Shopify URLs
Use Clean, Descriptive URLs
The foundation of good Shopify SEO starts with clean, keyword-rich URLs that reflect the content of each page. Avoid unnecessary words, numbers, or characters. For example:
- This is clean: /products/leather-tote-bag
- This is messy: /products/product123?ref=homepage
When creating products, pages, or collections, ensure that the title is simple and descriptive. Shopify uses your product name to create the URL, but you can manually edit it before publishing.
- Tip: Don’t include stop words like “and”, “the”, or “with” unless necessary for readability.
Set Canonical Tags Properly
Shopify automatically adds canonical tags to product pages pointing to the main /products/ URL. While that’s helpful, it’s a good idea to double-check how these are implemented using tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. If you use custom themes or apps, make sure they haven’t accidentally altered or removed canonical tags. Maintaining accurate canonicalisation ensures that Google knows which version of your page to index.
Avoid Linking to Duplicate URLs
Internal linking structure matters just as much as canonical tags. Many store owners (or themes) inadvertently link to the collection-based product URL instead of the cleaner /products/ version. Example:
- Avoid linking to: /collections/shoes/products/leather-boot
- Instead, link to: /products/leather-boot
This keeps your internal linking consistent and supports your canonicalisation efforts. If you’re using Liquid code in your theme to build navigation or collections, adjust your templates to link directly to the canonical product URL – this small tweak can go a long way in strengthening your site’s SEO.
Set Up URL Redirects Thoughtfully
When renaming a product, page, or collection, Shopify prompts you to create a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one – do it! This ensures that any SEO authority from the previous page is passed along to the new version. To avoid clutter, regularly review your redirects via the Shopify admin. Too many redirect chains can hurt performance and confuse search engines.
Limit Tag and Filter URLs from Indexing
Shopify allows you to create tag-based navigation, which often generates dozens (or hundreds) of extra URLs like:
- /collections/shirts/red
- /collections/shirts/blue
These can cause duplicate or thin content issues if not handled correctly – to address this:
- Use your robots.txt file (Shopify now allows edits via robots.txt.liquid) to disallow crawling of filtered/tag URLs.
- Consider using meta noindex tags for these pages if they’re accessible but not valuable for SEO.
This keeps your crawl budget focused on valuable pages like products and collections.
Remove or Consolidate Thin Content Pages
A byproduct of duplicate URLs is often thin content (as in pages with little to no original or valuable information). You can audit your site using tools like Google Search Console or Screaming Frog to identify low-value pages. Consider consolidating similar products or using canonical tags for variants – this not only helps with SEO but also improves user experience by reducing decision fatigue
Generate an Updated Sitemap
Shopify automatically generates a sitemap at yourstore.com/sitemap.xml, which is submitted to Google Search Console. After making significant URL changes, ensure your sitemap reflects your current structure. If you’ve disallowed or removed pages, check the sitemap to make sure they’re no longer included. Keeping it clean and accurate helps Google understand your site’s hierarchy.
Ready to get started?
Shopify offers an intuitive and powerful platform for eCommerce, but out of the box, it doesn’t always deliver the most SEO-optimised experience – especially when it comes to URLs and duplicate content. By proactively managing your URL structures, using canonical tags effectively, and maintaining clean internal links, you can significantly reduce duplicate content issues and boost your search rankings. Remember, SEO is a long game… but with the right technical foundations, you set your Shopify store up for lasting success.