Ranking of page 2, page 3 etc. due to sort=20a parameter (SEO)

Hi,
Following on from this thread https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?227157-Canonical-link-now-keeps-the-page-parameter-%28zc156-too%29

I have noticed that a sort parameter is applied to certain pages. Please see the below examples/explanation:

Example 1
Click to view category ‘Test Examples’. The browser URL is as follows:
example-website-com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=23
You will see that there is no sort parameter required at this stage.

Example 2
Click on page 2. The browser URL is as follows:
example-website-com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=23**&sort=20a**&page=2
In this example the parameter sort=20a is being applied automatically.

Example 3
Now click [Prev] to return to page 1. The browser URL is as follows:
example-website-com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=23**&sort=20a**
The sort parameter has been applied again – I’m unsure if this parameter is necessary (it is not always generated as shown in example 1).

Issue
Search engines appear to see page 2, page 3 etc. as ‘insignificant’ because they have zero direct links to them. When following a link to page2 with the sort parameter (shown in example 2) the search engine is effectively redirected to the canonical.

To put this another way ‘if the canonical is the most important page it should have some links directly to it.’

Summary of issue
If all links to page 2 include the sort parameter the canonical may be treated as ‘insignificant’ by search engines.

e.g. Search engine can follow links that include the sort parameter, however the search engine cannot find any direct links to the canonical (search engine could then treat canonical as incorrect/insignificant because it has no direct links).

Conclusion
I’m unsure if the sort parameter is necessary in most cases. If you take example 2 and manually remove &sort=20a it doesn’t seem to make any difference.

If possible &sort=20a should be removed from all links (unless this causes other issues?).

I believe page2, page3 etc would rank well on search engines if they had direct links to the original page (the canonical or preferred page).

If anyone can help with this issue it would be much appreciated. I would be happy to make a donation to help cover costs.

Many thanks
Richard

First hi, and second yes you are right but dont expect getting rid of this isue to boost your rankings.

I worked with an SEO agency recently on my roject, and they tend to find every litle so called "problems", and point them as cause of poor SERP rankings.

It is indeed a problem which can cause google to think you have duplicate content and in most cases your categories and subcategories where paggination is present wont rank as high as you wish.

First your bigest problem is that there is exactly the same DESCRIPTION and CATEGORY TITLE one every page (1,2,3,4...) of the category and after that comes the next problem that you are speeking of.

please check this link https://magprom.net/blenderi?page=2

and this also https://magprom.net/blenderi?page=2&sort=20a

You can see the source code for both pages and if you need exactly the same you can tell me, and I think I can help you.

See the Title, Description and meta robots on both pages as well the canonicals, and you should probably understand what I mean right away.

I am very bussy right now so I may not be around very often, bye for now.