Duplicate content when using single product per page.

[domino1]

I'm considering using a 'single product per page' layout but I'm concerned that some pages will be penalised by the search engines for having duplicate content. This would occur if a product exists in more than one category or section. I would effectively end up with a page in one section that is identical to the same product page in the other section.

For example: If I have a MENS section and a WOMENS section in my catalog and I have a product that belongs in both sections, I'll end up with two identical pages apart from the breadcrumb trail.

Could the search engines frown upon this and decide not to index one of the pages or worse could the site penalised for duplicate content?

Would appreciate any comments.

Many Thanks

Dave

[RuralWeb]

If I have a MENS section and a WOMENS section in my catalog and I have a product that belongs in both sections

use cut down duplicates to avoid duplicate content

[Duncan Rounding]

Shouldn't need to duplicate single product pages - if you did I expect G would likely just index one of them.

What you can do is just use a cut down description on the duplicate and then link through to the one product page.

[RuralWeb]

snap......

[domino1]

Thanks fellas. To clarify, do you mean use the full product listing on say the MENS section and then use a duplicate of this product with a cut down description on the WOMENS section with a [LINK] in the description that takes you through to the MENS section for full product details?

[Duncan Rounding]

I would create a single page per product, then add a simplified duplicate with minimum details in each section you want with a link to the product's page. You only have one page with all the product details then.

(The pages you gave links to are not single product per page)

[domino1]

Dunc. Sorry picked a bad example to link to. These do indeed have multiple products but they are identical in both MENS and WOMENS section. Am thinking about how I can restructure things in line with your suggestion.

Thanks for your help.

[domino1]

...then add a simplified duplicate with minimum details in each section you want with a link to the product's page.

Duncan: I notice from your fancystuff site that your cut-down duplicates link through to the main product using an absolute link and not a 'search by PRODREF' link. Can this be done automatically or does each link need to be hard-coded?

[RuralWeb]

http://www.cheapmowers.com/acatalog/...awnmowers.html shows a different layout but using relative links with product names in the link for increased internal backlinks

[Duncan Rounding]

There's 404's on the red mowers on that page Mal.

[RuralWeb]

Yep - the site owner is doing lots of work on it at the moment so we know of several problems that affect the site. thanks for the heads up though

[domino1]

Mal.
Thanks. This is the type of link that I'm trying to achieve but can only do this so far by hard-coding the URLs. If I use actinics [LINK] mechanism the links are generated using 'search by prodref'. Is there a way to do this without hard-coding the urls?

[Duncan Rounding]

Look at this:
http://community.actinic.com/showpos...42&postcount=2
and this:
http://community.actinic.com/showthr...t=26482&page=4

There's a lot of reading there, but I have made my links non cgi by the above method.

[domino1]

Duncan. Have followed your previous threads and implemented your cut-down duplicates solution and the PHP code to auto-generate the non-cgi links on one of my sections. (Nice bit of lateral thinking by the way.) I'm now a lot happier with the product structure and in the process of applying it to all sections.

Thanks for your help!