Should product variations be visible individually?

[Jseddon92]

I can't find any information on this anywhere. We have hundreds of configurable products, all with coloured variations. For example, one of our popular selling chairs comes in 8 different colours. Now, should all these coloured variations be visible individually (and have their own url) or only visible when selected from the dropdown?

The problem is, when they have their own url it's going to cause duplicate content issues. It's merely impossible to write a different brief for the same product in 8 different colours. The second issue is, if they are visible individually, one colour is going to be shown TWICE to users, one being the simple product and one being the main configurable.

I hope you kind people can help!

[CMcMullen]

You can look into the use of the Canonical Tags as well and tag the pages you don't want to rank and then make 1 main page with all the color variations.

[jlane9]

Hello Georgina,

1. You could have all the other colored products available for search if that's a great user experience and just no-follow those categories/ extra colors pages.

2. How about you just make a new product picture and include on the side or bottom a small color palette of the available colors. This way it only takes one glance to see the black chair also comes in 8 other colors.

Do what's best first for your customers, then modify the website/code ect to satisfy search engine best practices as well.

If your customers need to see 8 color variations, i would just add a color swatch to the bottom of the original picture. I would also go through your records and ( pick a main picture color )  of the most popular colors sold for each item, this way you appeal to the most buyers on first glance as well. Every little detail makes a difference.

Hope that helps,

Joe

[Jseddon92]

Hi Joe, that's great advice. I guess as long as we mention the colours in the product description Google will pick up on that for searches.

Although there are a couple of downsides to having the alternate colours hidden. We have a colour filter on our website, so if someone is looking for an orange chair for example, the products wont appear.

The second issue is, say for example another customer is looking through our product catalogue for a grey chair, and they see the configurable product with a picture of a black chair... they won't know to click on the product to check out the grey variation. Unless we have further development done and have 'also available in more colours' etc.

Thanks

[jlane9]

I would keep a separate page/url for the main product and discuss the color options on the same page as more descriptions / options for the specific product. You could optimize the page for your product such as widgets, avialble also as blue widgets, green widgets ect. I would just make a more complete main page and have the option to choose a color during the purchase process.

I think the color options should be contained with the main product page to eliminate the issuers you mentioned as well as provide your visitor with more options and content about that product on 1 page without having to click anywhere else. You may even consider putting a small gallery on the page the client can view of the color options.

Hope that helps,

Joe