How can I avoid negative SEO consequences in Webflow due to duplicate content on paginated collection pages?
TL;DR
- Manually set canonical tags via custom code to point paginated pages to the main collection URL.
- Optionally add noindex tags to deeper paginated pages using conditional JavaScript, but use with caution.
- Add unique value to each page with varied content or intros, avoid deep pagination links in navigation, and prioritize internal linking to individual posts.
Duplicate content on paginated collection pages in Webflow can harm SEO if not properly managed, especially when multiple paginated URLs display similar content. Here's how to handle it effectively.
1. Use Canonical Tags Strategically
- Webflow automatically includes canonical tags, but they point to the current page by default (e.g.,
/blog?page=2points to itself). - To avoid duplicate content concerns, manually set the canonical URL of paginated pages to the main collection page (e.g.,
/blog) using custom code in the page<head>via the Page Settings. - Example: add
<link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/blog">.
2. Avoid Indexing Paginated Pages (Optional, With Caution)
- You can add a meta noindex tag to pagination pages beyond the first, using custom code in the page
<head>. - Use a conditional check using
window.location.hrefin custom code to applynoindexonly when the URL includes?page=2,?page=3, etc. - Caution: Don’t noindex all pagination if users may not find deeper articles via main search pages.
3. Consolidate Content or Increase Uniqueness
- Ensure each paginated page provides distinct value by:
- Including different featured content or summaries per page.
- Adding introductory paragraphs that change per page.
4. Avoid Linking to All Paginated Pages Internally
- Refrain from linking heavily to deeper paginated pages (e.g., page 8, page 9) from the homepage or nav.
- This reduces the crawl budget spent on near-duplicate content and signals to Google which pages are most important.
5. Use Rel="Prev" and Rel="Next" Sparingly
- Webflow doesn't support
rel="prev"orrel="next"natively. - Google deprecated these links as indexing signals in 2019, so adding them is no longer necessary for SEO.
6. Improve Internal Linking to Individual Posts
- Link directly to individual collection item pages (e.g., blog posts) from internal pages, rather than relying solely on paginated lists.
- This ensures important content is better indexed and ranked.
Summary
To prevent negative SEO from duplicate content on paginated pages in Webflow, use custom canonical tags pointing to the main collection page, optionally noindex deeper pages, and ensure each page adds value. Avoid excessive pagination depth and focus on strong internal linking to individual posts.