SEO for e-commerce websites has a number of important peculiarities to keep in mind: this is because elements and criticalities for such websites are different, for example, compared to information and editorial portals. If you are about to put your new e-commerce online – or if you want to improve your existing one – try to avoid the following mistakes and consider the solutions we suggest.
E-commerce: what is important before the go-live
- Avoid duplicate content
It is increasingly common to come across websites (especially those who sell known branded products, but not exclusively) that propose product pages copied and pasted by other portals. In addition to the importance of providing the user and crawlers with new and original information, it’s also vital to avoid that search engines think that our e-commerce is simply a copy of bigger and more authoritative sites. While it is true that for some products, for example in the healthcare sector, it is essential that the user has some basic information, it is equally true that between two websites with identical content parts search engines will tend to prefer the more authoritative or “elder” websites.
Solution – How should we behave if we need to include some user-specific features in our product page that are repeated in other websites? The duplicate text portion should be reduced to the minimum possible and the copy department should focus on creating new content or on text technical reprocessing where possible.
In cases in which there is on-site duplication (within the same website between two or more similar products), you should consider using canonical or noindex links with rel=next/prev, redirect pagination.
- Not be able to manage a multi-language website correctly
Having a multi-language website is an opportunity that should be underestimated. This is especially true for e-commerce, where having a multi-language website dedicated to foreign users can be a double-edged blade. Beside website localization, which should always be entrusted to mother tongue professionals, you should be well-prepared to assist and support users from all parts of the world: from price conversion to the local currency, to shipping fees that, if too high, could negate possible price competitiveness, the website should be equipped to offer complete service to everyone.
Solution – even though it is not a strictly SEO requirement, building a website in several languages is something you should carefully analyze based the competitive context and the markets of reference.
- Manage the indexing of filter pages
Allowing indexing of filter pages could be a mistake with quite serious consequences. For e-commerce with many filter and sort options in category pages (color, price, size, etc.), you must block crawling and potential indexing of such URLs to avoid crawl budget dispersion. In most cases, filters are nothing else but a link within the page. If combined, the different filters lead to the creation of almost infinite “new” pages.
Solution – Regardless of the status of an e-commerce site (whether it is online or not), it is necessary to evaluate how the CMS manages filters and, where necessary, intervene by preventing the indexing of specific filter pages.
How to optimize the e-commerce after its go-live
- Manage unavailable products with a 404 page
For many online shops, the normal procedure when dealing with unavailable products is to make the previous product page into a 404 page. The status code 404 indicates that the resource is no longer available, and does not provide the crawler (or user) further information about the availability of the same resource in the future. A page that retains its 404 code for a long period of time can still be crawled, but will lose acquired ranking and links (inbound or internal) that point to it will not keep their same value over time. It is therefore important to plan from the beginning how unavailable products will be managed on your website.
The most common cases are:
- Limited edition products (season collections);
- Momentarily unavailable product.
Solution – it is impossible to define the best solution: each website is different and requires ah-hoc strategies. Among the solutions there are 301 redirects on similar product pages, or the maintenance of the product page without price or buy options, with links to similar products. For products that will be available soon, it is always advisable to keep the page active with a message for the user. Other options include creating a non-purchasable catalog of old collections or using the unavailable_after meta tag that tells Google to remove a page from search results after a defined date.
- Modify the website’s structure without a redirect strategy
Changing category or subcategory names, switching to a new platform, https, or to a new domain necessarily involves URLs that will cease to exist if not properly managed, resulting in ranking, traffic, and sales loss.
Solution – All website structural modifications must be accompanied by a proper redirect management based on your needs.
- Not considering an off-site activity
Acting on-site only will often not be enough to consolidate the authoritativeness and online presence of an e-commerce. While on-site SEO can help in improving ranking, increase CTR and optimize search engine website crawlability, it is also necessary to act on other off-site channels.
In addition, the average user is more and more used to do branded researches to find reviews and opinions on the web on new or less-known brands, especially if it is about e-commerce and online payment.
Solution – a good off-site strategy represents a true competitive advantage, both to consolidate the e-commerce ranking for relevant keywords and also to exploit branded SERP and build a “digital identity” with web reputation.
In conclusion, it is enough to apply the “basic” SEO rules to an e-commerce and expect it to suddenly be successful: it is necessary to study the peculiar elements of this website type to optimize them to the best. Or you could ask for SEO consultancy from a firm like ours!