Canonical URL for Variants - Shopware 6 Plugin

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A Shopware 6 plugin that automatically sets a canonical tag on product variants pointing to the main product or a custom URL - for better SEO performance and avoiding duplicate content.

📋 Features

✅ Automatic canonical URL to main product for all variants
✅ Custom canonical URL per product possible
✅ Flexible control via CustomFields directly in the product editor
✅ SEO-optimized for better search engine rankings
✅ Priority logic for maximum flexibility
✅ Easy to use without programming knowledge

🎯 Why this Plugin?

The Problem

Product variants (e.g., T-shirt in different colors/sizes) each have their own URLs:

https://shop.com/tshirt-blue-m
https://shop.com/tshirt-blue-l
https://shop.com/tshirt-red-m
...

This leads to duplicate content and can negatively affect SEO performance.

The Solution

This plugin sets a canonical tag on all variants pointing to the main product:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://shop.com/tshirt">

This way, search engines recognize that all variants belong to the same product.

📦 Installation

Requirements

Shopware Version: 6.5.x, 6.6.x or 6.7.x
PHP Version: 8.4 or higher
Server: Apache or Nginx with mod_rewrite

Via Composer (recommended)

composer require wsc/plugin-sw-canonical-url-variant
bin/console plugin:refresh
bin/console plugin:install --activate WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant
bin/console cache:clear
bin/console theme:compile

Manual Installation

Unzip plugin archive
Upload folder to custom/plugins/WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant/
In Shopware Backend go to Extensions → My Extensions and install
Activate plugin
Clear cache: bin/console cache:clear
Compile theme: bin/console theme:compile

🚀 Configuration & Usage

Step 1: Find CustomFields

After installation, new CustomFields are automatically available in the product editor:

CustomField Set: P. SEO

Available Fields:

Set canonical tag to main product (Boolean/Switch)
New URL (Text field for custom URLs)

Step 2: Configure Product

⚠️ Important: The CustomFields must always be set on the main product (parent), not on individual variants!

Navigate to Catalogues → Products in Shopware Backend
Open a main product with variants
Scroll to "Specifications" or "Custom Fields" tab
Find CustomField Set "P. SEO"

Option A: Automatic Parent URL (Recommended)

Usage:

✅ Activate "Set canonical tag to main product"
⬜ Leave "New URL" field empty
Save product

Result: All variants automatically reference the main product via canonical tag.

Example:

Main Product:    https://shop.com/tshirt
Variant Blue/M:  https://shop.com/tshirt-blue-m
                 → <link rel="canonical" href="https://shop.com/tshirt">

Variant Red/L:   https://shop.com/tshirt-red-l
                 → <link rel="canonical" href="https://shop.com/tshirt">

Option B: Custom URL

Usage:

✅ Optional: Activate "Set canonical tag to main product"
✏️ Enter complete URL in "New URL" field
- e.g., https://shop.com/special-category/product
Save product

Result: All variants reference the entered custom URL.

Example:

New URL:         https://shop.com/bestsellers/premium-tshirt
All variants  → <link rel="canonical" href="https://shop.com/bestsellers/premium-tshirt">

Priority Logic

The plugin works with the following priority order:

1. HIGHEST PRIORITY: New URL
   ├─ Field filled? → YES → Use this URL ✓
   └─ Field filled? → NO ↓

2. MEDIUM PRIORITY: Boolean Field
   ├─ Activated? → YES → Auto-generate parent URL ✓
   └─ Activated? → NO ↓

3. LOWEST PRIORITY: Standard Shopware
   └─ Variant references itself (default behavior)

🔧 Technical Details

Architecture

WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant/
├── src/
│   ├── Installer/
│   │   └── CustomFieldInstaller.php       # CustomFields installation
│   ├── Resources/
│   │   ├── config/
│   │   │   ├── services.xml               # Symfony Service Container
│   │   │   └── custom_fields/
│   │   │       ├── custom_field_sets.php  # CustomField set definition
│   │   │       └── products/
│   │   │           └── products_canonical.php
│   │   └── views/
│   │       └── storefront/
│   │           └── page/product-detail/
│   │               └── meta.html.twig     # Template override
│   ├── Subscriber/
│   │   └── CanonicalSubscriber.php        # Event logic
│   └── WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant.php # Main plugin class
├── tests/
│   └── Unit/                              # PHPUnit tests
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── ci.yml                         # CI/CD pipeline
├── composer.json
├── build.sh                               # Build script for ZIP
└── README.md

CustomFields

Field Name	Type	Description
`custom_produkte_wsc_seo_canonical_variant_aktiv`	Boolean	Activates/Deactivates automatic parent URL
`custom_produkte_wsc_seo_canonical_variant_newurl`	Text	Custom canonical URL

Events & Hooks

Event: ProductPageLoadedEvent
Event Priority: -100 (executed as one of the last)
Template Priority: 100 (high weight)

Workflow

Product page loads → ProductPageLoadedEvent is triggered
Plugin checks: Is the current product a variant?
If YES: Load parent product from database
Check CustomFields:
- Custom URL set? → Use it
- Otherwise: Boolean active? → Generate parent URL
Set meta information: page.metaInformation.canonical
Template renders: Canonical tag in <head>

🧪 Development & Testing

Local Development

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/your-repo/WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant.git
cd WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant

# Install dependencies
composer install

# Run tests
composer test

# Check code style
composer cs-check

Run Tests

# PHPUnit tests
vendor/bin/phpunit

# With coverage
vendor/bin/phpunit --coverage-html coverage/

Create Production ZIP

# With version number
./build.sh 1.0.0

# Creates: WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant-1.0.0.zip

🔄 Update

composer update wsc/plugin-sw-canonical-url-variant
bin/console plugin:update WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant
bin/console cache:clear
bin/console theme:compile

🗑️ Uninstallation

bin/console plugin:deactivate WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant
bin/console plugin:uninstall WSCPluginSWCanonicalURLVariant
bin/console cache:clear

⚠️ Note: The CustomFields are not automatically deleted during uninstallation to prevent data loss. If desired, they can be manually removed in the backend under Settings → System → Custom Fields.

🐛 Debugging & Troubleshooting

Enable Debug Logs

Debug logs are present in the code and write to:

var/log/canonical_debug.log

Monitor log file:

tail -f var/log/canonical_debug.log

Common Issues

Problem: Canonical tag is not set

Solutions:

Clear cache: bin/console cache:clear
Recompile theme: bin/console theme:compile
CustomField activated on main product? (not on variant!)
Plugin activated? bin/console plugin:list
Check debug logs

Problem: Template not loaded

Solutions:

Check template priority (should be 100)
Reinstall plugin after theme update
Clear browser cache

📊 Performance

⚡ Minimal overhead: Only one additional event subscriber
🎯 Efficient caching: Uses Shopware's entity cache
🚀 No JavaScript: Pure server-side solution
💾 Lightweight: < 50 KB plugin size

🔒 Security

✅ No external dependencies
✅ Input validation for custom URLs
✅ SQL injection safe through EntityRepository
✅ XSS protection through Twig auto-escaping
✅ No sensitive data in code

🤝 Support & Contact

Email: Christian.Saeum@Web-SEO-Consulting.eu
Website: Web-SEO-Consulting.eu
Support: Support Page

📝 Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for details on all changes.

📄 License

GPL-3.0-or-later - see LICENSE file for details.

This plugin is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation.

👥 Author

Christian Säum Web SEO Consulting Web-SEO-Consulting.eu

💖 Support

Made with ❤️ by WSC - Web SEO Consulting

This plugin is free and Open Source (GPL-3.0-or-later). If it helped you, I appreciate your support:

⭐ If this plugin helps you, give us a star on GitHub!

Provide feedback

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Canonical URL for Variants - Shopware 6 Plugin

📋 Features

🎯 Why this Plugin?

The Problem

The Solution

📦 Installation

Requirements

Via Composer (recommended)

Manual Installation

🚀 Configuration & Usage

Step 1: Find CustomFields

Step 2: Configure Product

Option A: Automatic Parent URL (Recommended)

Option B: Custom URL

Priority Logic

🔧 Technical Details

Architecture

CustomFields

Events & Hooks

Workflow

🧪 Development & Testing

Local Development

Run Tests

Create Production ZIP

🔄 Update

🗑️ Uninstallation

🐛 Debugging & Troubleshooting

Enable Debug Logs

Common Issues

📊 Performance

🔒 Security

🤝 Support & Contact

📝 Changelog

📄 License

👥 Author

💖 Support

FilesExpand file tree

README.en.md

Latest commit

History

README.en.md

File metadata and controls

Canonical URL for Variants - Shopware 6 Plugin

📋 Features

🎯 Why this Plugin?

The Problem

The Solution

📦 Installation

Requirements

Via Composer (recommended)

Manual Installation

🚀 Configuration & Usage

Step 1: Find CustomFields

Step 2: Configure Product

Option A: Automatic Parent URL (Recommended)

Option B: Custom URL

Priority Logic

🔧 Technical Details

Architecture

CustomFields

Events & Hooks

Workflow

🧪 Development & Testing

Local Development

Run Tests

Create Production ZIP

🔄 Update

🗑️ Uninstallation

🐛 Debugging & Troubleshooting

Enable Debug Logs

Common Issues

📊 Performance

🔒 Security

🤝 Support & Contact

📝 Changelog

📄 License

👥 Author

💖 Support