Sumit Dhiman

Do not worry; you are not alone. Many online stores face this issue. But with the right strategy, you can optimize your store, rank higher, and get more traffic. Let’s go through this eCommerce SEO checklist step by step.

Problem:

Your store has great products, but if it’s not SEO-optimized, you’re leaving money on the table. Poor search engine visibility means potential customers can’t find you. Whether it’s technical issues like canonical tags or basic mistakes like orphan pages, these problems will kill your SEO efforts.

Agitation:

Your website is full of great products, but you get zero traffic. You’ve invested time and money in design and stock, but when someone Googles your products, your competitors show up instead. Worse, your site may appear, but it’s not user-friendly enough for Google to rank well, so customers leave before buying.

Solution:

Here’s a comprehensive eCommerce SEO checklist to fix these problems and get your site ranking higher in search engines:

1. Get the Basics Right

• Robots.txt File: Make sure your robots.txt file is clean. A misconfigured file can block important pages from being crawled by Google.
• HTML and XML Sitemaps: Always have both. HTML sitemaps help users navigate, while XML sitemaps help Google crawl and index your site properly.
• Google Search Console: Set up or audit Google Search Console to see how well Google is crawling your site. Fix issues like “Crawled but not indexed” or “Discovered but not indexed.”

Fact: 80% of SEO issues on eCommerce sites are due to basic setup problems. Fix these first to lay a strong foundation.

2. Crawl Issues

• Orphan Pages: These pages aren’t linked anywhere on your site, so Google can’t find them. Use tools like Screaming Frog to identify and link to them.
• Broken Links: Broken product links lead to 404 pages, which Google dislikes. Regularly check for broken links, especially for discontinued products.
• Redirects: Ensure redirects point to live pages. Misconfigured redirects waste crawl budget and frustrate customers.

Fact: Orphan pages and broken links can drop your site’s SEO score by 20%, and organic traffic by 20%.

3. Canonical Tags

• Product Variants: For multiple product variants (e.g., color options), use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content.
• Avoid Duplicate Content: Google penalizes duplicate content, so use canonical tags to avoid ranking dilution.

Pro Tip: A well-placed canonical tag can prevent ranking drops by consolidating content signals from multiple variants.

4. Zero Impression Pages

• No Click or Impression Pages: Identify pages that aren’t receiving clicks or impressions using Google Search Console. If underperforming, consider no-indexing them.
• Low-Quality Pages: Pages that fail to attract traffic can negatively impact SEO performance. No-index these to direct Google’s focus on high-quality content.

Fact: 30% of pages on a typical eCommerce site receive no traffic. Cleaning these up helps Google prioritize valuable content.

5. Heading Tags Done Right

• One H1 Per Page: Use a single H1 tag that accurately describes your product or category. Avoid using H1 tags for buttons or menus.
• Subheadings: Use H2 and H3 tags to structure your content. A clear structure helps Google comprehend the key elements of your page.

Fact: Websites with well-organized heading tags can see a 200% increase in crawl efficiency and ranking potential.

6. Menu and Footer Links

• Important Categories: Main categories should be easily accessible from both header and footer menus. Link to key products directly to enhance link equity.
• Internal Product Links: Ensure category pages link to individual products. Weak internal linking can diminish your SEO effectiveness.

Fact: Pages with strong internal linking see a 20% boost in search rankings compared to those with weak internal links.

7. Subcategories & Blog Links

• Link to Subcategories: Divide broad categories (e.g., “Clothing”) into more specific subcategories (e.g., “Men’s T-shirts”) for better SEO and user experience.
• Internal Blog Links: Blog posts should link back to relevant product pages or categories using keyword-rich anchor text to drive traffic.

Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

Let’s explore some common SEO mistakes and how to avoid them:

1. Not Optimizing for Mobile

More than half of all searches happen on mobile devices. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing out on potential visitors.

• Your Mistake: Ignoring how your site looks and functions on mobile.
• How to Fix It: Use a responsive design that adapts to all screen sizes and test your website’s mobile loading speed.

Fact: Google uses mobile-first indexing, so unless your site is optimized for mobile, your rankings will suffer.

2. Targeting the Wrong Keywords

SEO isn’t just about filling content with keywords. It would be best if you targeted keywords your customers are searching for.

• Your Mistake: Targeting broad, highly competitive keywords like “shoes” instead of focused phrases like “affordable women’s running shoes.”
• How to Fix It: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner to find long-tail keywords that match what your audience is searching for.

Fact: Long-tail keywords account for 70% of searches and are easier to rank for.

3. Duplicate Content

Duplicate content confuses search engines, and they don’t know which version to rank.

• Your Mistake: Copy-pasting product descriptions from suppliers or having similar pages with overlapping content.
• How to Fix It: Create unique content for each page and use canonical tags to avoid ranking issues with similar pages.

Trivia: Duplicate content dilutes your SEO efforts and hurts rankings. Keep it fresh.

4. Neglecting Technical SEO

Technical SEO may seem daunting, but it’s crucial to your site’s performance.

• Your Mistake: Letting your site build up with technical issues like slow loading times or broken links.
• How to Fix It: Use tools like Google Search Console to identify and fix broken links, and make sure your site loads quickly.

Fact: A 1-second delay in page load time can decrease conversions by 7%.

The best tool to check the page speed of the website – pagespeedwebdev

5. Weak Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Your title tag and meta description are often the first things people see in search results.

• Your Mistake: Writing vague or overly long titles, or leaving meta descriptions blank.
• How to Fix It: Keep titles concise and relevant, and write meta descriptions encouraging clicks.

Fact: Strong titles and meta descriptions can boost click-through rates by 6%.

6. Forgetting Internal Links

Internal links help Google understand your website’s structure and keep users on your site longer.

• Your Mistake: Not linking to relevant pages within your site.
• How to Fix It: Link to important pages from your homepage, blog posts, and other places.

Fact: Internal links improve SEO by making it easier for search engines to find and rank key pages.

7. Not Updating Content Regularly

The web changes fast. What made sense a year ago probably isn’t useful today. Search engines and humans prefer current, freshly written content.

What You’re Doing. You’re publishing and forgetting. Keep your content updated, especially those blog posts or pages you once enjoyed big traffic but now are lagging. Keep things fresh and useful so people (and Google) keep coming back.

Fact: Updating your content can increase organic traffic by a whopping 30%