​Product Variations: Does Each Feature Need Its Own Page?

Skip to 9:21 in the video to hear John’s take on product variations.

eCommerce is continuing to grow at a phenomenal pace as more people decide to buy online rather than in stores. That naturally means eCommerce websites are heavily invested in SEO and use a number of strategies to improve the ranking of their product pages.

Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller was recently asked a very interesting question about eCommerce product pages. During a Google Webmaster Central hang-out chat a participant asked if it was a good idea to create multiple pages for a single product in order to highlight each specific feature. The end goal was to improve the search results for a particular product on the website.

In most cases a product feature or option (such as a specific color or size) doesn’t warrant a separate product page. Those are the types of details you want to include in the content, but it doesn’t typically necessitate a unique page. In fact, creating multiple pages for a single product could have the opposite effect on your SEO.

Why Multiple Pages for a Single Product Probably Won’t Help You Rank

On the surface, creating a unique page for each product feature may seem like a good SEO strategy. More pages mean more opportunities to rank, right?

The problem with parsing out information across multiple pages is it could dilute the SEO strength. Most of the time having one strong product page that lists all of the variations will rank higher than a page that focuses only on a single attribute of the product. The reason being, Google ranks every page separately based on how useful the content is for the user. A product page with all the details is going to be given more weight than a page with a single, snippet of information.

If you’ve built a good product page with solid technical SEO, keyword optimized title tags and high quality on-page content there’s a good chance your product page will rank for a specific feature or variation if it’s highlighted.

The Exception – A Unique Feature That Users Are Searching For

There’s an exception to the rule. In this scenario that exception is a unique product feature that people are actually searching for online.

If there’s something about a certain product that makes it stand out and you want to show up in the search results for the feature, make a separate product page. Consider why people are looking for that specific feature and use the information to build your content. Provide details on what makes the feature unique, benefits of the feature, why it’s important to the consumer, etc.

If you’re able to create a detailed sub-page that provides the reader with useful information about the feature you’ll improve your odds of ranking for related searches. It’s then all a matter of properly link between the pages and creating a funnel that leads to a conversion.

Blog Posts Are Another Way to Highlight a Special Product Feature

John also threw out another suggestion that could be more effective than creating a second product page. He suggested creating a blog post about a specific feature and then linking to the product page within the post. This gives you another indexed page on your site that can go into detail about the feature.

At SearchRPM we help eCommerce sites optimize their product pages on a daily basis. We can use our innovative three-pronged approach to build technically sound web pages with high quality content that gets the attention of search engines and buyers. Give us a call today to discuss your SEO needs or visit us online to request a FREE SEO Report.

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By Michael Ramirez
SearchRPM Founder

Michael Ramirez is the Founder of SearchRPM, an Austin, TX based search marketing company that’s well-versed in Search Engine Optimization best practices. You can follow Michael Ramirez on Twitter @openmic0323 or on Google+ to see what he’s up to next.