Last week I had the good fortune to speak on Pagination and SEO at SMX East in New York. The panel speakers consisted of Vanessa Fox from Nine By Blue, Maile Onye from Google and myself. The core focus of the panel was Pagination and SEO. Individual topics ranged from managing duplicate content from pagination, new rel=”next” / rel=”prev” meta tags and paginated categorical merchandising. The title of my presentation was “Paginated Categorical Merchandising & SEO.” The primary focus was tips to avoid product URL duplicate content when merchandising products in multiple categories. The answer to the question of “should I merchandise my products in multiple categories” is “yes.” When looking at the Consumer Decision Process or sales funnel (slide 6), the opportunity to increase a retailer’s customer reach (e.g. search demand) by creating more categories in lower tiers of the funnel can be very high. The ability to promote products by season, sales, new arrivals, and the like enable a retailer to create new entry points and better align their brand with the consumer decision process in each stage. The example in the presentation illustrates this opportunity by an increase of 4x based on monthly search volume. While the benefit of merchandising in multiple is very strong, there are two primary and serious technical challenges (slides 8-9): 1. In many instances, the product URL changes when accessed from different categories (domain.com/primary-category/product-name, domain.com/sale/product-name, domain.com/seasonal/product-name, etc.). This can create product URL duplicate content at a very large scale. 2. The other concern is that the pagination at each category instance (category pages 2-n) also create duplicate content. The above technical challenges can result in a loss in natural search visibility and/or page removal from search engine indexes. From a solution standpoint, I presented two very viable options. 1. Build it right the first time (slide 11) by storing all products in a single database that assigns one unique URL to each product no matter where the product is called. The navigation paths from categories (primary category, needs-based, new arrivals, sale, etc.) do not append to URLs. The ranking results from this option proved to provide the best visibility. 2. When working with an existing infrastructure (slide 14) it is recommended to deploy rel=”canonical” tags to product URLs at the primary category-level. This directs the search bot to crawl the product URL at the primary category / canonical version when the product URL is duplicate when accessed from multiple categories (domain.com/sub-category1/product-name, domain.com/sub-category2/product-name, etc.). While this alleviates duplicate content, the data examples do show that this method performs better with BingHoo than Google. a. Another important note for this method is to only include the canonical / primary versions of the product URLs in a XML sitemap feed.

1. Paginated
Categorical
Merchandising &
SEO
SMX East, 9/18/2011
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2. Agenda
• About PM Digital
• Why Merchandise in Multiple Categories?
• Technical Challenges
• Solutions
– Overall Best Practices
• Build It Right The First Time
• Working With Existing Infrastructure
• Key Takeaways
• Appendix
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2

3. About PM Digital
• Digital Agency servicing clients in
retail, financial services, non-profit,
CPG and more
• Primary service offerings: SEO,
SEM, Email Marketing, Social Media
and Creative
• Clients include The North Face, The
Sportsman’s Guide, dELiA’s, Paul
Fredrick and many more
• 20 clients in the Internet Retailer Top
500
• Based in New York with offices in
Minneapolis, Columbia, SC and
Scottsdale, AZ
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3

4. Why
Merchandise in
Multiple
Categories?
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5. Why Merchandise in Multiple Categories?
• Merchandising products in multiple
categories enables a retailer to provide
solutions for a variety of consumer
needs (e.g. search queries) based on
the products they carry
• This enables a retailer to create valuable
entry points to capture new customers
from a variety of searches in multiple
stages of the consumer decision
process.
• It is also necessary to merchandise
products in a manner that is compelling
and doesn’t overwhelm consumers and
maintains optimal page-load speed,
hence the need for category pagination.
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5

6. Proof is in the Data
Consumer Decision Process
Eye Care General Interest
4,400
(SV*)
Goal: Gain visibility for
Eye Cream Investigation Phase each level of the
3,600 Consumer Decision
(SV*) Process
• Capture more visits at
Anti-Aging
Narrowing all stages
Cream Phase • Create greater brand
2,900
(SV*) awareness
Dark
Circles Conversion sea results • Increase overall
3,600 deep sleep competitive share of
(SV*) Phase recovery voice
serum, 0
(SV*)
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* Source: Google Adwords data average monthly search demand, exact-match, local 6

7. Technical
Challenges
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8. Technical Challenges
1. While multiple category options do create
good solutions from a merchandising
standpoint, there are many instances where
the product URL path changes from each
category creating duplicate content for
the product URLs
– Example: Dresses
• /new-arrivals/product-name
• /seasonal/product-name
• /sale/product-name
• /products/product-name
2. To compound this even further, pagination
for each merchandising option can Dresses on Sale
multiply duplicate content by each
category resulting in loss of visibility and in
some instances page removal (e.g. Panda)
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9. Technical Challenges In-Action
Manufacturer/retailer selling their
products on their own site and
several other online retailers
Challenge:
URLs for the same product change
when accessed from different
categories
Keywords reviewed:
10 product keywords,
merchandised in multiple
categories:
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Loose Leaf Tea (primary), Sale,
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Gifts, Top sellers, High caffeine 9
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10. Solutions
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11. Build It Right The First Time
1. The ideal scenario is to store all products in a single database that assigns one
unique URL to each product no matter where the product is called
2. The navigation paths from categories (primary category, needs-based, new arrivals,
sale, etc.) should not append to URLs
3. Pagination at the category-level: point all category canonical directives to the start
page (pg. 1) for pages 2-n
4. Include product URLs in XML sitemap feed
5. Internal Link Optimization: include breadcrumb links
eCommerce Platforms:
Eye Care (Category) MarketLive, GSI (latest SEO
Best Uses: http://www.h2oplus.com/cat
Sight builds / rebuilds egory/skin+care/eye+care.do extension), Websphere (with
slight modifications)
Dark Circles (Sub Category) Sensitive Skin (Sub Category)
Anti-Aging (Sub Category)
http://www.h2oplus.com/cat http://www.h2oplus.com/cat
http://www.h2oplus.com/cat
egory/skin+care/dark+circles. egory/skin+care/sensitive+ski
egory/skin+care/anti-aging.do
do n.do
Sea Results Eye Defense
Fortifying Serum (Product)
http://www.h2oplus.com/pro
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duct/sea+results+eye+defens
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp. e+fortifying+serum.do 11
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12. Single Database In-Action
Cosmetic / skincare retailer /
manufacturer selling their
products on their own site and
several other online retailers
Challenge:
Products are merchandised in
multiple categories, with one
unique URL for each product
Keywords reviewed:
12 product
keywords, merchandised in
multiple categories:
Eye care, Anti-aging, Dark
Copyright 2011 PM Digital®. All rights reserved. circles, Sensitive skin
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12

13. Single Database In-Action
Women’s clothing retailer / manufacturer
selling their products on their own site
and several other online retailers
Challenge:
Products are merchandised in multiple
categories, with one unique URL for each
product
Keywords reviewed:
10 product keywords, merchandised in
multiple categories:
Copyright 2011 PM Digital®. All rights reserved.
Dresses, New Arrival Dresses, Dresses on
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
Sale, Casual Dresses 13
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14. Working With Existing Infrastructure
Category names append to URL when accessed from different categories
1. Rel=“canonical”: Assign the canonical directive to an assigned primary product
category (canonical) for all product URLs (products, primary category)
2. XML Sitemap Feeds: only add product URLs assigned to primary / canonical
folder
3. Pagination at the category-level: point all category canonical directives to the
start page of the category (pg. 1) for pages 2-n
4. Internal Link Optimization: include breadcrumb links
Dark Circles (Sub Category) Sensitive Skin (Sub Category)
Anti-Aging (Sub Category) Eye Care (Category)
http://www.h2oplus.com/cat http://www.h2oplus.com/cat
http://www.h2oplus.com/cat http://www.h2oplus.com/cat
egory/skin+care/dark+circles. egory/skin+care/sensitive+ski
egory/skin+care/anti-aging.do egory/skin+care/eye+care.do
do n.do
Anti-Aging (Appended Dark Circles (Appended Eye Care (Appended Product Sensitive Skin (Appended
Product URL) Product URL) URL) Product URL)
http://www.h2oplus.com/cat http://www.h2oplus.com/cat http://www.h2oplus.com/cat http://www.h2oplus.com/cat
egory/skin+care/anti- egory/skin+care/dark+circles/ egory/skin+care/eye+care/se egory/skin+care/sensitive+ski
aging/sea+results+eye+defens sea+results+eye+defense+fort a+results+eye+defense+fortif n/sea+results+eye+defense+f
e+fortifying+serum.do ifying+serum.do ying+serum.do ortifying+serum.do
Rel=“canonical” to Sea Results Eye Defense Rel=“canonical” to
Fortifying Serum (Canonical
Canonical Product Product URL)
Canonical Product
URL http://www.h2oplus.com/produc URL
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t/sea+results+eye+defense+fortif
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
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14

15. Canonical Directives In-Action
Shoe retailer / manufacturer selling their
products on their own site and several
other online retailers
Challenge:
Products are merchandised in multiple
categories, canonicals direct to product
URL in primary category
Keywords reviewed:
10 product keywords, merchandised in
multiple categories:
Sale, Special selections, New
styles, Primary category
(pumps, sandals, boots)
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15

16. Working With Existing Infrastructure
AJAX Pagination
1. Assign the canonical directive to an assigned primary product category
(canonical) for all product URLs (products, primary category)
2. Add all product URLs to XML sitemap feed
– Ensure product URLs are the canonical versions only
3. Modify AJAX with Google Web Tool Kit to enable crawling of category pages 2-n
4. Pagination at the category-level: point all category canonical directives to the
start page of the category (pg. 1) for pages 2-n
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
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17. AJAX Pagination In-Action
Clothing retailer / manufacturer selling
their products on their own site and
several other online retailers
Challenge:
Products are merchandised in categories
with pagination accessible via AJAX
Keywords reviewed:
10 product keywords, merchandised via
AJAX pagination on pages 2-n in multiple
categories
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
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17

18. Key Takeaways
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
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19. Key Takeaways
• While there are indeed challenges from merchandising in multiple
categories, the benefits are many. The ability to promote products by
season, sales, new arrivals, and the like enable a retailer to create new
entry points and better align their brand with the consumer decision
process.
• The ideal scenario is to store all products in a single database that assigns
one unique URL to each product no matter where the product is called
typically yields the best results
– Build it right the first time!
• With existing infrastructure it is recommended to direct canonical to product
URLs assigned to a primary / canonical folders (products, primary category)
• Pagination at the category-level: point all category canonical directives to
the start page (pg. 1) for pages 2-n
– Alleviates compounding of duplicate content
• Only include product URLs assigned to the canonical version in XML
sitemap feeds
• Test, Test, Test – Measure, Measure, Measure
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
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19

20. Appendix
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21. Product Canonical Auto-Deployment (How To)
1. Examine your product pages URL and extract the base URL from it, the part
from the ‘http’ to the last part that remains constant for all products (i.e.
http://www.domain.com/storefront/”).
2. Determine how and where you get the URL-friendly category name and
product name. This might be the database, the request URL or as a global or
local variable.
3. Determine which page/class in your code is responsible for rendering the
headers for all products pages.
4. Modify the code to fetch the category name and product name.
5. Recompile and test the automatic canonical META tags functionality.
See appendix for code sample
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21

22. Product Canonical Auto-Deployment (.NET sample)
The method discussed here assumes site uses a .NET-
based shopping cart, the URL for any given product
consists of a base URL, which is the domain name and any
static folder structure, such as ‘/shop/’ or ‘/cart/’, a primary
category name and a product name.
The latter two are assumed to be properly URL encoded,
(e.g. do not contain any spaces or special characters). A
fully rendered canonical product URL would appear as:
http://www.domain.com/category-name/product-name
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22

23. Product Canonical Auto-Deployment (.NET sample)
The code sample below would be used on the product page (or product specific header or master
page. A URL-friendly category name and product name are then being pulled from the database,
concatenated with the base URL and then rendered as the href attribute of the canonical META tag.
using System;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
public partial class Products : Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string strCategoryString, strProductString, strCanonicalUrl,
strBaseUrl;
[insert code here to retrieve category and product name strings from DB]
strBaseUrl = "http://www.domain.com/";
strCanonicalUrl = strBaseUrl + strCategoryString + "/" +
strProductString
HtmlLink canonicalTag = new HtmlLink();
canonicalTag.Href = strCanonicalUrl;
canonicalTag.Attributes["rel"] = "canonical";
Page.Header.Controls.Add(canonicalTag);
}
}
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23

24. Thank You
Richard Chavez
Sr. Director, SEO
PM Digital
rchavez@PMDigital.com
http://www.PMDigital.com
Blog: http://blog.PMDigital.com/
Twitter: @PMDigital, @richardachavez
Copyright 2011 PM Digital®. All rights reserved.
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and confidential by 2011 PM Digital Corp.
Unauthorized use or disclosure is prohibited.