How to Optimize eCommerce Category Pages for SEO

Editor’s note: This nonfiction was primitively published successful 2017. It has been updated for accuracy and to bespeak modern practices.

While class pages aren’t arsenic flashy arsenic their merchandise leafage counterparts, they’re arsenic important for your hunt motor optimization efforts — and for converting your customers to purchase.

When shoppers get astatine your class pages, they’re inactive reviewing their options. It’s your occupation to determination them to the adjacent step, whether that’s viewing subcategories oregon peculiar merchandise pages.

But, however bash you get those shoppers to your class pages successful the archetypal place?

Today, we’ll stock the six eCommerce class leafage SEO practices that our squad uses to thrust integrated postulation to our clients’ sites — and, subsequently, to propulsion those visitors to the adjacent signifier successful the buying journey. 

eCommerce Category Page Best Practices for SEO

Category pages are notoriously tricky for inexperienced selling teams. With a ample merchandise grid, adding SEO contented (written for shoppers, not crawl bots) is simply a delicate balance, particularly erstwhile you privation to amended your conversion rates.

Get started with these six strategies, which we’ve deployed with occurrence crossed dozens of eCommerce websites.

1. Create a keyword probe strategy.
2. Create effectual SEO content.
3. Use the close schema markup.
4. Improve your interior navigation.
5. Focus connected your method performance.
6. Add interior linking.

We urge combining these with our product leafage SEO tips for the champion results.

1. Conduct your keyword probe and make a strategy.

The archetypal measurement successful your class optimization: creating a people keyword strategy.

As mentioned above, users who onshore connected class pages are successful the mediate of their buying journey. Therefore, you request to people some abbreviated and mid-tail keyword phrases (such arsenic “women’s gloves,” “black women’s gloves,” “discount women’s gloves,” etc.) connected these pages. 

Save much specific, long-tail presumption (particular brands, sizes, etc.) for your merchandise pages to debar keyword cannibalization.

You tin usage a instrumentality similar Ahrefs oregon Semrush to place those keywords, and past deploy them accordingly:

• Meta rubric (title tag): Target superior and 2nd keywords, but don’t hide to accurately picture the class title, too.
• Meta description: Target each keywords, including variations.
• Descriptions: Target each keywords, including aggregate keywords with 1 usage (for example, if a superior keyword is portion of a secondary keyword phrase).

Not definite wherever to start? Check retired our precocious keyword probe guide for tips connected selecting phrases with applicable hunt intent.

2. Create SEO contented that doesn’t suck.

When it’s clip to enactment your keyword probe to usage successful SEO content, it’s tempting to overdo it. But your class pages aren’t simply a vas for keyword-stuffed content. 

Instead, you request to beryllium much strategical with your approach.

What Not to Do:

Category leafage contented requires much than conscionable merchandise names and descriptions to beryllium successful.

However, putting too overmuch content supra the merchandise grid lowers conversion rates, partially owed to pushing merchandise listings further down the page. Sometimes, it goes arsenic acold arsenic pushing them beneath the fold.

Many SEOs person responded to this situation by putting the contented astatine the bottom, beneath the merchandise grid. However, it’s uncommon that anyone volition really spot oregon work that content. 

Too often, it’s besides useless “SEO content,” arsenic seen successful this illustration from eBags aged luggage section page.

No idiosyncratic who scrolls down this acold volition beryllium convinced to acquisition by speechmaking the content. It’s evidently written for hunt engines and hunt engines alone.

Compare that to the “Advice and Inspiration” contented that appears astatine the bottommost of the Headphones category connected Currys’ website (shown below), intelligibly written with the idiosyncratic acquisition successful mind.

What to Do Instead:

The archetypal regularisation of eCommerce copywriting: Don’t constitute for hunt engines.

Instead, make invaluable contented for your shoppers that answers their questions, educates them astir your products, and convinces them to instrumentality the adjacent measurement (either proceed speechmaking oregon clicking connected your merchandise pages).

Well-planned, engaging contented selling tin reap rewards for your business. Take it from us: Even abbreviated and elemental class descriptions tin amended your integrated sessions by 46%, as it did for 1 of our clients.

Keep these guidelines successful mind:

• Content supra the merchandise grid (top of the page): 
  • Copy Length: 75–100 words, minimum
  • Goals: Use this to assistance a shopper filter oregon constrictive their selection; to telephone retired sales, peculiar items, and apical brands; and to supply different important accusation successful 2 to 3 sentences.
• Content beneath the merchandise grid (bottom of the page): 
  • Copy Length: No minimum magnitude (but support it invaluable for your readers!)
  • Goals: Use this to assistance your shoppers bash much probe without leaving your tract oregon disengaging with your brand. Give them links to acquisition oregon interactive contented that volition propulsion them guardant successful the income funnel. 

Remember to debar keyword-stuffing successful your content, and see adding much visuals (like high-quality images and videos) to supply other worth for your shoppers.

3. Use the close schema markup.

Schema markup communicates much accusation astir your class pages to Google and different hunt engines. It besides increases the accidental that your contented volition amusement up successful the featured snippets, which are invaluable existent property successful the hunt motor results leafage (SERP) rankings.

For class pages, we urge 2 schema markups:

Breadcrumb Schema

Breadcrumb schema relates to your leafage navigation and shows searchers wherever precisely connected your website a definite class leafage lives. That way, shoppers tin amended recognize the narration betwixt your pages and cognize what they’re clicking connected earlier they onshore connected your website.

FAQ Schema

As the sanction suggests, the FAQ schema highlights definite questions connected your class pages for imaginable placement successful the SERPs.

Question-and-answer sections are large for class pages. They assistance reply your customers’ questions astir antithetic merchandise offerings and tin constituent them to the adjacent subcategory leafage (or circumstantial merchandise page) that meets their needs.

And, erstwhile that contented is featured successful the SERPs, it gives your tract much visibility and (potentially) a higher click-through complaint (CTR).

4. Improve your interior navigation.

eCommerce merchandise pages are often overwhelming for customers astatine archetypal view. Fortunately, you tin usage faceted navigation and filters to assistance them constrictive down their enactment and amended prosecute with your merchandise offerings.

Faceted navigation and filters let your customers to benignant done idiosyncratic products utilizing whichever characteristics you choose, including:

• Size
• Brand
• Color
• Cut/style
• Availability
• And more

However, if you don’t decently acceptable up these faceted navigation pages, the URLs created from these filters tin interaction your SEO efforts.

Leaving these URLs indexed tin pb to duplicate content, scale bloat, and wasted crawl budget. Because the contented connected these pages is fundamentally the same, your squad volition request to decently codification these pages to support Google’s eyes disconnected of them — and to debar bloating your tract with unnecessary URLs.

A fewer options we recommend:

• Canonical your parameter URLs (those created by filters/facets) to the main class page.
• Noindex the parameter URLs completely.
• Use robots.txt and a disallow rule.

5. Focus connected your method leafage performance.

As portion of your technical SEO checks, marque definite that your eCommerce class pages are performing good from a idiosyncratic standpoint. 

Typically, this means reviewing your Core Web Vitals scores and mobile usability.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google’s metrics for measuring the Page Load Performance of a webpage. Designed to amended idiosyncratic experience, determination are 3 aspects:

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): loading show of a webpage
2. First Input Delay (FID): interactivity of a webpage
3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): ocular stableness of a webpage

You tin usage Google’s PageSpeed Insights instrumentality to way your CWV scores. When you’re acceptable to marque improvements, start with our 5 recommendations, specified arsenic scaling down your images/videos and utilizing a contented transportation web (CDN).

Mobile Usability

Similarly, you should look to amended your user’s acquisition connected your mobile site. After all, successful precocious 2021, 71% of eCommerce tract visits took spot connected mobile devices, arsenic did 58% of purchases. 

To amended your mobile usability, marque definite that:

• Your tract has an attractive, workable mobile design.
• Your contented is the aforesaid from mobile to desktop (especially important for mobile-only indexing).
• Your tract plugins are supported by mobile browsers.
• Your clickable elements person “breathing room.”

You tin place and reappraisal errors connected your tract with Google’s Mobile Usability Report.

6. Add interior linking.

Nobody wants to nexus to a merchandise grid page. In the uncommon lawsuit that an outer marque does privation to nexus to eCommerce pages, they’ll either nexus to the location leafage oregon a merchandise item page. 

So, erstwhile it comes to link-building for eCommerce class pages, the onus falls to interior efforts instead.

Where it makes consciousness to, physique interior links from your supporting contented (like blog posts and your homepage) to due class pages. We’re not conscionable talking links successful breadcrumbs for navigation; we’re talking astir in-copy links, arsenic well.

Here’s an example: 

Say you’re penning an acquisition blog station astir choosing the champion upland biking gloves for your needs. Along the way, you tin nexus to your URLs for “women’s biking gloves,” “outdoor biking gloves,” and different applicable merchandise categories. 

And, the much fashionable your blog post, the amended link equity you’ll dispersed to your class pages — a win-win.

We besides urge utilizing #namedanchors to nonstop visitors straight to premium oregon expanded contented connected a merchandise class leafage — truthful they tin skip past the merchandise grid to the contented that volition amended oregon reply their questions.

Using Strategic Internal Links to Gather Emails

Did you cognize you tin besides usage interior links to stitchery lawsuit data, similar email addresses?

Capturing idiosyncratic information anterior to the checkout leafage is hard (and often lowers conversion rates). But information acquisition strategies are a cardinal portion of keeping your customers engaged and coming backmost to your tract aft browsing.

Premium contented is simply a large mode to bash this. Not lone is it worthy of links, traffic, and shares, but it tin besides present an email acquisition opportunity. 

By gating premium contented (see the hypothetical illustration below), you tin determination customers further successful the acquisition funnel, alternatively of losing uninterested shoppers astatine the bottommost of your class page.

Create Your Category Page SEO Strategy Now

Category pages don’t person to play 2nd fiddle to your merchandise pages. Instead, with the close strategy, you tin usage them to gully much shoppers to your tract and funnel them to those high-purchase pages.

Because each eCommerce tract is different, we urge reviewing your existent class pages for betterment opportunities anterior to implementing immoderate champion practices. Prioritize those pages that person the champion imaginable (either due to the fact that of speedy wins oregon high-search-volume keywords), and make a strategy that you’ll yet deploy crossed each of them.

Don’t forget: SEO is lone 1 facet of your class leafage performance. You should besides see conversion complaint optimization, particularly arsenic it relates to your purchaser journey. We urge reviewing gallery leafage examples from apical brands to find ideas that you tin incorporated into your larger class leafage strategy.

In our opinion, a personalized attack volition present the champion results. By moving with Inflow’s SEO team, you’ll get a broad audit afloat of customized leafage improvements — and, adjacent better, our squad volition assistance instrumentality them arsenic portion of your integer selling strategy.

Learn much astir our eCommerce SEO services by requesting a escaped connection today.