Overview & Rationale
A Step-Wise Guide for Fixing Canonical & Redirect Issues for Large-Scale Product URLs in Magento 2 – Adobe Commerce for SEO
Many Magento 2 sites, especially large-scale eCommerce platforms, face URL inconsistencies where category-based product URLs (/brands/…/product.html) and direct product URLs (/product.html) exist simultaneously. When improperly managed, this leads to:
- Google indexing the wrong version (e.g., /product.html instead of /brands/…/product.html).
- SEO dilution, where ranking signals are split between duplicate URLs.
- User confusion & inefficient crawling wasting Google’s crawl budget.
To correct this, we need to:
- Fix Canonical Tags to ensure category-based URLs are preferred.
- Implement Bulk 301 Redirects from /product.html to /brands/…/product.html to consolidate SEO signals.
Let’s now focus on the step-wise guide that is quick and easy to perform.
4 Steps to Fix Magento - Adobe Commerce URLs
Step 1: Global Canonical Tag Update
Ensure Canonical Tags Point to Category-Based URLs (/brands/…/product.html)
Magento is currently generating canonical tags pointing to /product.html, which is why Google is indexing the wrong versions. To fix this site-wide, update the canonical URL logic in Magento 2:
Modify the Canonical Tag Generation
- Go to:
- Magento Admin → Stores → Configuration → Catalog → Catalog → Search Engine Optimization
- Set “Use Canonical Link Meta Tag for Products” to NO (to prevent it from enforcing /product.html).
- Use a Custom Canonical URL for Products:
- Modify catalog_product_view.xml (if necessary) or override Magento’s default logic.
- Ensure the canonical URL dynamically includes the category path.
Custom Code Fix (If Needed)
If Magento is still enforcing /product.html as canonical, override it using default.xml:
<referenceBlock name="head.additional">
<block class="Magento\Framework\View\Element\Template" name="custom.canonical" template="Magento_Theme::custom_canonical.phtml" />
</referenceBlock>
Then, create custom_canonical.phtml to output category-based canonicals dynamically:
<?php
$product = $block->getProduct();
$category = $block->getCurrentCategory();
if ($category) {
$canonicalUrl = $block->getUrl($category->getUrlPath()) . $product->getUrlKey() . ".html";
} else {
$canonicalUrl = $block->getUrl($product->getUrlKey() . ".html");
}
?>
<link rel="canonical" href="<?= $canonicalUrl ?>" />
This forces the canonical tag to include the category path when available.
Step 2: Bulk 301 Redirects from /product.html to /brands/…/product.html
Since Google has already indexed the shorter URLs (/product.html), we need to redirect them to the correct category-based URLs (/brands/…/product.html):
- Preserve SEO value.
- Ensure users always land on the correct version.
- Prevent duplicate content issues.
🚀 Scalable Redirect Implementation
Given the large number of products (400,000+), we must handle redirects efficiently.
Option 1: Server-Side Redirects (Preferred for Large-Scale Sites)
Apache .htaccess Redirect (Efficient for Large Sites)
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)\.html$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/brands/*/%1.html -f
RewriteRule ^([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)\.html$ /brands/dmf-lighting/$1.html [R=301,L]
- This dynamically redirects /product.html to /brands/…/product.html only if the correct file exists.
- No need for 400,000 separate rules—this scales efficiently.
Nginx Redirects (Even Faster)
location ~* ^/([a-zA-Z0-9-]+)\.html$ {
if (-f $document_root/brands/dmf-lighting/$1.html) {
return 301 /brands/dmf-lighting/$1.html;
}
}
- This avoids checking every request against a massive list of URLs.
- Redirects only if the category-based URL exists.
Option 2: Bulk Import Redirects via Magento Admin (Slower, But Alternative)
- Go to: Marketing → SEO & Search → URL Rewrites
- Bulk Upload 301 Redirects Using a CSV:
- Export product URLs from the database.
- Match them with their correct category-based URLs.
- Upload a CSV to create 301 redirects.
Avoid using Magento’s database for all 400,000 redirects—it can slow down performance.
Step 3: Re-Crawl & Re-Index The Correct URLs
After fixing the canonical tags and implementing 301 redirects, we need to prompt Google to reprocess the URLs.
- Bulk Submit Correct URLs in Google Search Console
- Go to Search Console → URL Inspection
- Upload a Sitemap With Only Category-Based URLs (/brands/…/product.html)
- Request Re-indexing for the Main Product Pages
- Remove Old Indexed Short URLs (/product.html)
- Use Google Search Console → Removals Tool
- Temporarily Remove /product.html URLs From Google
- This speeds up the switch to the correct URLs.
Step 4: Monitor SEO Impact & Search Console Reports
Wait 1-2 weeks and check:
- Are /brands/…/product.html URLs getting indexed?
- Are /product.html URLs disappearing?
- Is Google following the 301 redirects?
Check Google Search Console:
- Go to Coverage Report and check “Canonical Chosen by Google.”
- Ensure that Google is now indexing the category-based URLs.
Final Summary
✔ Fix Canonical Tags to point to /brands/…/product.html
✔ 301 Redirect /product.html → /brands/…/product.html via Apache/Nginx rules
✔ Submit the correct URLs in the Google Search Console
✔ Remove old URLs from indexing to speed up reprocessing
✔ Monitor search rankings to confirm Google has switched to the preferred URL structure
This structured approach ensures SEO best practices, improves rankings, and consolidates authority without overloading Magento’s database.
This step-wise guide is a useful reference for URL optimizations. However, for a more structured approach towards on-page SEO, a detailed analysis and audit by experts is needed. Enter Krish, an expert-led Digital Marketing agency specializing in Magento – Adobe Commerce, for all things organic and beyond. Connect with us today!
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As Director - Marketing, Zenul leads the marketing and branding at Krish. He brings with him an in-depth understanding of the evolving digital ecosystem and has a proven expertise and experience in strategic planning, market and competition analysis, creating and implementing client-centered, lead-gen and brand marketing campaigns. He has a heart for technology innovation and has been a keynote speaker on various platforms.
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