Which product format is better?

widget with options or small red shiny widget that sings "O Canada"

[rojomojo]

From your point of view, is it better to have lots of products with long tail names and pages or fewer products with greater customization as it is chosen by the customer and pushed to the cart?

Format 1***
Product Name: Widget
Option 1: Size
Option 2: Color
Option 3: Song

Format 2***
Product Name: small red shiny widget that sings "O Canada"

Thanks for your input. I know your time is important.

[JoGonRu]

Well, the answer truly depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I am partial to the first format because you can represent more than one combination of product options on one page and eliminate the need to enter 1 product ID for each and every combination.

In addition, it is much easier for the shopper to navigate your site, as they are not presented with several pages that are essentially the exact same item.

If you are concerned with the SEO impact of the formats, namely having someone search for the "small red shiny widget that sings O Canada", Format 2 is a bit better, but hopefully you can accomplish this with well written meta tags and product descriptions.

[dentalfloss]

You need to have an SKU number/code for each variation. That's the same in any manufacturing/distribution/retail business, online or offline. Otherwise chaos will ensue. So you have to create a new product for each variation, although most e-commerce platforms let you duplicate products and edit them to make new products, so it's not hard to do.

If you use an e-commerce package like Magento you can group products that are the same except for certain attributes into "configurable products" that can be configured with popup menus for each varying attribute. At that point you can choose to only show the customer the configurable product page, or you can only show the individual products, or you can show both, and you can do this differently for search results and category navigation.

If you only show the single configurable product page, it would be good to let Google find the individual product pages via a site map of some sort.

[dentalfloss]

An exception to the single product/SKU per variation would be customizable products made to order, such as products with personalized engraving. For these you'd need an SKU for the product with engraving, but the actual letters/words of the engraving would be custom and the product with those words would not have a separate SKU.

[rojomojo]

Thanks for the replies. We have had a live store for a couple of years. Our current system has the capability of both. We are doing a rework of our site and I was wondering which direction to go. I like the cleaner navigation of being able to customize products without wading through 20 different variations but I also like the variations appearing in the search engines for long tail searches.

Thank you for the mention of keeping both available. It is an issue of usability vs. seo and I think that one is probably the best option.

[rocknbil]

So you have to create a new product for each variation ...

Another view below . . .

I like the cleaner navigation of being able to customize products without wading through 20 different variations but I also like the variations appearing in the search engines for long tail searches.

When forced to answer, always go with what would be easier for the customer, and never make such a decision from an "SEO" standpoint. I would stay away from

product 1 red widget
product 2 green widget
product 3 blue widget

and instead, product 1: red, green, blue options.

- The first option bloats your inventory. We don't care about the bloat and it may provide an opportunity to game the search engines, but visitors will see this, "hey, these are all the same, the only thing that's different is color, they're trying to make it look like they have more products" . . . so the gains you get in traffic may get lost in conversion due to trust.

- Your pages will be more compact and concise, and of course, load faster. So more products will be accessible at a glance.

- in terms of maintenance, it is easier to locate one product with three options, each option having up to 5 choices, than it's equivalent, 25 items.

[Digmen1]

Most inventory control systems I have seen (computerised) have alwsy been best with a stock code for each item. (ie no ptopions)

Ie Product 1 Red widget
Product 2 Green widget

These are two separate stock items.
That way you will be able to see what stock you have and what colour widgets are selling.

[rocknbil]

Well, the same is true of optioned items:

Widget W-1234 total in stock 20
- green large W-1234-GL 1 in stock $12.00
- red large W-1234-RL 2 in stock $12.00
- blue large W-1234-BL 4 in stock $12.00
- green medium W-1234-GM 0 in stock $9.00
- red medium W-1234-RM 5 in stock $9.00
- blue medium W-1234-BM 2 in stock $9.00
- green small W-1234-GS 0 in stock $7.00
- red small W-1234-RS 3 in stock $7.00
- blue small W-1234-BS 3 in stock $7.00

So you can search by Widget, code 1234, or specific option code. It just depends on how robust your cart/admin programming is.

[rampzoid]

my vote - format 1*** - compact & logical

[rachel123]

I like format 1, both as an admin and as a shopper.

As an admin, it makes price changes and content updates easy. It prevents db bloat and streamlines operations in general. As rocknbil said, if you have robust coding you can have inventory on all the diff options.

As a shopper, I detest scrolling through 3 pages of the same product, just to find the one that sings O Canada. I'm liable to give up. Yes, you get me if I have a ridiculously long-tail search, but in general, I don't type more than 2 or 3 words into Google, ever. I assume most people are like me ;-)