How to fix duplicate content on Shopify

Most duplicate content on Shopify is either handled for you or harmless. Shopify adds canonical tags automatically, and Google says duplicate content is not a spam violation. What you do need to fix is repeated text: supplier descriptions, near-identical product pages and pages that say the same thing twice.

What does duplicate content mean here?

It covers two different problems. The same page can open at several addresses, which is a technical matter. Or different pages can carry the same text, which is a content matter. Google calls the preferred version of a set of duplicate pages the canonical URL, and it uses that URL in Search. If you do not name one, it picks one itself.

What is each source, and who deals with it?

The technical part: check, do not rebuild

Products inside collections

A product can open at its normal URL or inside a collection. Shopify’s theme documentation notes that these two pages have the same content on separate URLs. Shopify says it adds canonical tags automatically to deal with this kind of duplicate, and its themes output one in the page head.

To check your own store:

1. Open a product from a collection and view the page source.
2. Find <link rel="canonical">. It should point to the address you want in search results.
3. In Search Console, run that URL through the URL Inspection tool. It shows the page Google treats as canonical.

If the tag is missing or wrong, a theme edit or an app is a likely cause. Ask the theme or app developer to fix it. Also keep your own links consistent, since Google advises linking to the canonical URL rather than to a duplicate.

Filtered and sorted collections

Shopify’s default robots.txt blocks crawlers from filtered and sorted collection pages, such as /collections/*+* and /collections/*sort_by*. You do not need to do anything, and you should not edit this file without someone skilled in code and SEO.

Your myshopify.com address

Once you set a custom domain as primary, Shopify redirects traffic to it. Check by opening your myshopify.com address: it should land on your domain.

The content part: where your effort belongs

Rewrite supplier descriptions

Shopify advises against copying manufacturer text, since other sites may use the same words. Write your own, from what you know of the product and what buyers ask. Our guide to writing a Shopify product page can help, and it matters for shoppers as much as for Google.

Merge near-identical products

If you created a separate product for each color or size, with the same text, consider making them variants of one product. Then redirect the old pages to it. Our guide to Shopify URLs and redirects explains how, and why the old pages must be hidden first.

Give each page its own job

Two collections with the same products and a different name add nothing. Keep one, or make them really different. Google notes that clear, significant differences help pages leave a duplicate cluster. A keyword table with one search per page shows these overlaps quickly.

When should you hide a page instead?

Hide a page only when it should not be in Search at all, such as a landing page for one campaign. Shopify offers three methods: a noindex tag in theme.liquid, the seo.hidden metafield, or Unlisted status for products. For two versions of the same page, use a canonical or a redirect instead.

Forgefont gives each product its own template, and writes the description from what you tell us about your brand and products. That is a starting point against supplier text, and the SEO-optimized site option goes further, with all the copy on your site optimized following Google’s official documentation. Add it when you configure your store.