How to mark canonical tags for multiple versions of the same product?

Question

We have an automobile research website where we have product pages. Also, few products have some different variants with subtle differences. The case is similar to amazon iphone

If you click on different size - 64, 128 and 256 - they have three different URLs with different canonicals. The content on these 3 pages is very much identical - isn't it duplicate content? Why are they not being penalized for this duplicacy by google?

Also, if i type iphone XR - 64 gb page ranks, if i type iphone xr 64 gb - again 64 gb page ranks, if i type iphone xr 128 gb - 128 gb page ranks. How does it identify that 64 gb is to be given priority?

Also, I don't see anything defined as such in the structured data.

Can someone tell me how is this happening? Also, What should be URL & canonical for such products?

Answer 1

In my humble opinion, the following option may help.

Create a webpage with content that has a basic product description.

For each version of this product create a web page. In the content of this web page, set the details of this particular version. And in the same place, install a buttons/links with an inscription approximately the same as the “Basic description of the product ZZZ”.

For all web pages of this product, install canonical meta links that link to themselves.

On the basic product information web page, install buttons/links to all versions of this product.

E.g. url:

• Basic webpage = nameOfproduct.com
• Version webpage = nameOfproductUniqueFeature.com

This way you will link your product with all versions and all web pages for this product will have unique content. This will help search engines determine which web page to return to the SERP for the relevant response to a search query.