Store foundations
E-commerce SEO and where to start
E-commerce SEO helps the right shoppers reach your category and product pages. Start by finding out whether the problem is access to those pages, their content or the searches you want them to appear for. Then focus on pages that matter to your business. This guide gives you a practical way to make those decisions.
By the MoraLab team · Updated · 7 min read
Find what is holding your store back
It is tempting to start with every empty meta description. But if an important category is not indexed, or the wrong page answers a shopper’s search, start there. Our recommendation is to investigate the problem before choosing the task.
Open Google Search Console and select an important category or product page. Look at the searches generating impressions and clicks. Use URL Inspection if you are unsure whether Google has indexed the page. A live page test does not itself confirm that the page is in the index.
| What you see | Check first | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| An important page is not indexed | URL Inspection, page access and the selected canonical | Establish the cause before changing the copy. |
| The page is indexed but gets few relevant impressions | Search demand and whether the page type fits | Choose the searches the page should help shoppers with. |
| The page gets relevant impressions but few clicks | Position, title, snippet and competing results | Make the offer clearer without promising more than the page delivers. |
| Visits arrive but few shoppers buy | Searches, assortment, pricing and the shopping experience | Check whether shoppers find what they expected and can move forward. |
Choose the right page for each search
Put your important searches in a spreadsheet beside the page that should answer each one. Then inspect search results in your target market. Are they mainly categories, individual products or advice? That helps you understand what a shopper expects.
Here is a hypothetical lighting store. These searches illustrate different needs; they are not search-volume measurements or claims about the pages Google currently ranks.
| Example search | Shopper’s need | Relevant page |
|---|---|---|
| pendant lights for dining table | Browse and compare a selection | A category with suitable pendant lights and help choosing. |
| oak pendant light 40 cm | Find a particular type and size | A product page if it describes that item accurately, otherwise a suitable selection. |
| how high to hang a pendant light | Get help with placement | A guide with practical advice and links to suitable products. |
Spend time on pages worth improving
A store with a large catalog cannot treat every page as a major project. Choose a small group you can review properly. Include categories and products, considering demand, stock, profitability and what you can add for the shopper.
Imagine two items. One has almost no description but will soon be discontinued. The other already sells and is missing an answer customers regularly ask for. We would usually start with the latter if it remains in stock and earns a healthy margin. This is a prioritization example, not a rule that bestsellers always come first.
For each page, record the problem, the change you plan and what you expect to see afterwards. A technical block on an important category may take precedence over copy. A new niche category may come before an established product if you have a suitable assortment and a clear reason to create it.
Make categories useful to shoppers choosing a product
A category should help shoppers navigate a selection. For dining-table pendant lights, differences in light direction, size and material are more useful than a long passage repeating the word pendant. Write a short introduction, show the products and place more advice where shoppers need it.
Google uses links to understand relationships between pages. Make sure shoppers can follow links from categories to products; the store’s search box should not be the only route. Link to relevant subcategories and advice using words that explain what the reader will find.
A guide to dining-table lighting can explain light and placement. The category shows the selection. They can share a subject while answering different questions. Avoid reproducing the same lengthy advice on both pages.
Give product pages the information shoppers need
On a product page, shoppers need to assess the particular item. Use facts you have about dimensions, material, use and limitations. Add your own images or experience where other retailers cannot offer the same information. Do not invent details to make the copy sound better.
Consider a fictional pendant light with confirmed facts of oak, a 40 cm diameter and an E27 fitting. “Beautiful high-quality light” could become “Oak pendant light with E27 fitting, 40 cm”. The description can explain those facts and state whether a bulb is included if you know the answer. The wording gives a clearer picture without adding promises.
Give the page a concise, descriptive meta title and a meta description that helps shoppers choose the result. Google can use other parts of the page for the title and snippet, so the copy, heading and product information should agree.
Our product descriptions guide covers the writing task in detail. The aim here is to choose which pages and which missing information deserve that work first.
Check the technical setup before rolling out changes
A template issue can affect many pages. Ask your developer to examine representative categories, products and variants before rolling a fix out across the store. These points help you ask the right questions; they are not configuration instructions for your platform.
Filters and indexing
Decide which filter combinations should appear in Google. Robots.txt controls crawling; noindex prevents indexing when Google can read the rule. Blocking the page in robots.txt prevents Google from seeing its noindex. A canonical tag is not a reliable way to stop filter crawling either.
More pages of products
If shoppers have to press “Load more”, Google still needs links to discover the remaining products. With pagination, each page should have its own URL and canonical instead of all pointing to page one.
Prices, availability and product data
Check that structured data matches the visible product. Product markup can make a page eligible for rich results but does not guarantee their appearance. Use the Rich Results Test to inspect the markup, and verify the facts yourself.
The mobile experience
Open a category, select a variant and add an item to the cart on your phone. Look for slow loading, shifting content and elements covering the page. Core Web Vitals are part of the assessment, not a promise of a particular ranking.
Distinguish out-of-stock from discontinued products
An item that will return to stock is different from one you will never sell again. We generally recommend keeping temporarily unavailable product pages and showing accurate availability. A discontinued product can also retain a useful page if customers still need its information.
If you remove a page, a permanent redirect is appropriate when a genuinely equivalent replacement exists. Without a suitable destination, 404 or 410 can be the right response. Do not automatically send all old products to the homepage. Google’s guidance distinguishes moved content from removed content.
Follow progress on the pages you change
Save a baseline and record when you make changes. In Search Console, follow impressions, clicks and click-through rate for the selected pages and searches. Compare similar periods and check whether seasonality, stock, prices or campaigns have also changed.
Use web analytics and order data to investigate what organic search visits lead to. Distinguish more visits from more relevant purchases. An increase in overall sales after a copy change does not on its own show that the change caused it.
Choose your next task from what you learn. If a page receives more relevant visits but shoppers still do not buy, another rewrite is not necessarily the answer. Examine the assortment, offer and shopping experience. Use the SEO checklist for a quick review and the related guides below for detailed work.
Frequently asked questions
Should I start with categories or products?
Start where a specific problem blocks an important part of your business. A category suits someone seeking a selection; a product suits a specific product need. Check search results and your own data before deciding.
Can a guide and a sales page cover the same subject?
Yes. A guide can help someone choose while a category or product page shows what they can buy. Give the pages clearly different jobs and link them together. If two pages give the same answer, investigate whether to combine them or give each a different focus.
Can I use AI for this work?
AI can help organize information and write drafts. You still need to check facts, assess whether the copy helps shoppers and add your own product knowledge. Publishing more generic descriptions will not fix an unclear purpose or a technical issue.
Is the approach different on Shopify and WooCommerce?
The tasks are the same, but settings, themes and extensions differ. First decide which pages should be found and what is missing. Then have the implementation checked on your platform before changing filters, canonicals or templates.