How to Fix Shopify Duplicate Content for Better SEO? 

Duplicate content is a silent SEO killer for Shopify stores. 

As a Shopify owner, you might not realize that your store has multiple pages with the same or similar content. Unfortunately, this can hurt your rankings in search engine results. 

In this blog, learn about the most common root causes of Shopify duplicate content and find solutions to fix them for better search visibility. 

How to Find Duplicate Content Issues in Shopify?

You can use paid SEO tools like Screaming Frog, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to find duplicate content in your store.

Or, use the free Google Search Console to identify indexing issues. From the Indexing> Pages> Why pages aren’t indexed section in the GSC dashboard, you can find out about duplicate content issues in your store. 

Alternatively, you can check the page titles, meta descriptions, and page URLs manually. 

Shopify Duplicate Content Problems & Fixes

1. Similar Products 

When your Shopify store has a product with multiple variations, there is a chance of having the same product description for each, which the search engines see as duplicate content. 

For example, you have two pages for red and blue shirts but the same description.  

Page Elements	Red Shirt	Blue Shirt
URL	/products/red-shirt	/products/blue-shirt
Product description	Comfortable cotton shirt to wear daily.	Comfortable cotton shirt to wear daily.

Fix:

You need to write a unique product description for each product. You can do it manually by going to Shopify Admin > Products > Edit Product > Update the description field.

Or using Meetanshi AI Content Generator app to generate product descriptions in bulk — no need to manually edit anything; AI takes care of it all. 

2. Tag Pages Replicating Content

Shopify tags help categorize and group similar items, which is great but leads to duplicate content in your store.

If your products are similar to your core category page, your site can create duplicate content.

For example, your core page is /collections/red-shirts displays the same products as /products/red-t-shirt; there is a high chance of them having the same product description. 

Fix:

The simple solution is to remove the tag from the indexing to ensure you can continue using the Shopify tag feature without Google indexing your duplicate URL. 

Here are the steps to do so:

• Head to Online Store > Themes > Edit Code > Templates > collection.liquid
• Add this line to your collection liquid template for noindex: <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>

3. Domain Variations

If you are operating using multiple domain versions, it can confuse the search engine, as they may view the two versions as separate websites with duplicate content.

Fix:

You must choose one domain version (either with or without “www”) and set up a 301 redirect for the other version. This will tell search engines that both versions point to the same content.

For example, Gymshark uses a single domain (www.gymshark.com) and redirects the non-www version, ensuring that Google only indexes one website version.

4. Missing Hreflang Tags

Hreflang Tags are generally used for multilingual stores; these tags help search engines understand which version of the webpage to display based on the user’s location. 

When the Hreflang tags are missing, the search engine treats the local page as duplicates and shows them different regions. 

Example: A US store and a UK store can have similar content, so Google doesn’t know which page to display which user. 

The Fix:

Add hreflang tags to indicate language and region; you can do it manually or use GWA: Hreflang Manager Shopify app. 

In order to add the hreflang tags, manually navigate to Online Store > Themes > Edit Code > Theme.liquid. 

And implement this code: 

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://mystore.com/products/t-shirt" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="https://mystore.com/en-gb/products/t-shirt" />

Note: Make changes as per your URL and domain. 

Common Myths

Let clear some misconceptions about duplicate content issues in Shopify. 

1. Product URLs with /collections/ Duplicate Content Issues

URLs like /collections/shirts/products/t-shirt can create duplicate content for /products/t-shirt.

This is not true; using Shopify canonical tags to tell the search engines about the correct URL will show accordingly. 

2. Shopify Pagination (?page=1) Generates Duplicate Page

Paginated pages like /collections/all?page=1 and /collections/all?page=2 are duplicates.

Here, Shopify adds a canonical tag and rel=next/prev link. This tells the search engines to treat these links as a series but not as duplicate content.

Check for <link rel=”next”> and <link rel=”prev”> in collection.liquid. If they are present in the code, there is no need to make any changes. 

3. Missing Canonical Tags in Shopify

Shopify doesn’t use or add canonical tags.

Shopify automatically adds canonical tags or allows you, as a store owner, to do so. Adding canonical tags in Shopify is easy but there are chances of errors if not done correctly, so we recommend working with an SEO expert here. 

Find the Real Shopify SEO Errors

Duplicate content on Shopify can be a tricky SEO challenge, but with the right fixes, you can improve your store’s search visibility and overall performance. 

By focusing on canonical tags, handling pagination effectively, blocking tag URLs, and ensuring consistent domain usage, you’ll avoid the common pitfalls of duplicate content.

Investing in proper SEO practices not only helps your search rankings but also contributes to a better user experience for your customers, leading to increased sales and brand loyalty.