The 47-point e-commerce SEO checklist you can implement this week

Product pages are the revenue engine of your e-commerce SEO strategy. They must satisfy three audiences: search engines, customers, and conversion funnels.

Title tag optimization: Include primary keyword, brand, and unique value in under 60 characters. Example: "Organic Cotton T-Shirt | Men's | Brand Name" rather than "Product 123."

Meta description: Write 150-155 characters that include keyword, unique selling point, and a micro-benefit. This is your ad copy in search results.

Unique product descriptions: Avoid manufacturer copy; write 200-400 words that answer common buyer questions. Address material, fit, care instructions, and use cases. Search engines and customers both reward depth.

Strategic keyword placement: Place primary keyword in H1 (title), first 100 words, and naturally throughout body. Secondary keywords belong in subheadings and alt text, not forced into body copy.

High-quality images with alt text: Every product image needs descriptive alt text: "Blue organic cotton men's crew neck t-shirt on white background" rather than "image123.jpg." This helps image search and accessibility.

Price and availability schema: Shopify adds this automatically; WooCommerce requires plugin setup. Structured data enables pricing in search results.

Checklist items: unique title, meta description, 200+ word description, H1 optimization, 3+ product images with alt text, price schema, availability status, internal links to related products and categories.

Category pages are often the weakest link in e-commerce SEO. They frequently suffer from auto-generated descriptions, duplicate content across filters, and internal link cannibalization.

Write original category descriptions: Many stores rely on manufacturer or platform defaults. Write 150-200 words per category that explain what's inside, help buyers navigate, and target secondary keywords. Example: "Men's T-Shirts" category should mention material options, color range, and care tips.

Faceted navigation best practices: If you use filters (size, color, price), implement them carefully. Use URL parameters (not separate URLs) for each filter combination. Block filter combinations from indexing in robots.txt or use rel="nofollow" on filter links to prevent crawl waste.

Prevent keyword cannibalization: If you have a "Organic Cotton T-Shirts" category and a "Sustainable T-Shirts" category, they compete for the same search terms. Choose one primary owner and link the secondary category to it with clear hierarchy. Consider merging thin categories.

Breadcrumb schema: Implement BreadcrumbList schema so search engines understand your site hierarchy. This improves crawlability and can enable breadcrumb display in results.

Category-level schema: Add collection or category schema markup where supported. Shopify handles this natively; WooCommerce needs a schema plugin.

Checklist items: original category description, no duplicate filter-generated pages, faceted navigation set to nofollow, breadcrumb schema, category schema markup, 3-5 internal links to top products, clear sorting options (popularity, price, newest).

Technical SEO is where many e-commerce stores fail. Poor site speed, lazy-loaded images, and crawl inefficiency directly suppress rankings and conversion rates.

Site structure clarity: Your URL structure should reflect category hierarchy: example.com/category/product-name, not example.com/shop/item-12345/product-name. Use hyphens (not underscores) in URLs. Avoid query parameters for organizational structure.

Core Web Vitals optimization: Google ranks e-commerce pages heavily on user experience signals. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) target: under 2.5 seconds. First Input Delay (FID): under 100ms. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): under 0.1. Use PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse to diagnose issues.

Image optimization: E-commerce pages carry heavy image loads. Compress product images to under 100KB (use WebP format). Implement lazy loading for below-fold images. Don't let hero images exceed 150KB.

Mobile-first indexing: Google crawls and ranks mobile versions first. Test your store on Mobile-Friendly Test. Ensure touch buttons are 48px minimum, font sizes are readable, and checkout is mobile-optimized.

Duplicate content management: E-commerce platforms generate duplicates: ?sort=price, ?filter=color, HTTP vs HTTPS, www vs non-www, and alternate product URLs. Use canonical tags (self-referential on main URLs). Consolidate domains. Set preferred domain in Search Console.

Checklist items: clean URL structure, LCP under 2.5s, FID under 100ms, CLS under 0.1, images under 100KB (WebP), mobile responsiveness, canonical tags on all product pages, 301 redirects for removed products, XML sitemap submitted to Search Console.

Schema markup enables rich snippets (star ratings, price, availability) in search results, which increase click-through rates by 20-30% in our experience. For e-commerce, this is not optional—it's expected.

Product schema: Mark up name, description, image (300x300px minimum), brand, SKU, and identifier. Most e-commerce platforms do this automatically, but verify in Search Console Rich Results report.

Offer schema: Include price, currency, availability (InStock, OutOfStock, PreOrder), and seller details. Update availability dynamically if inventory changes. Out-of-stock items should explicitly show availability status.

AggregateRating schema: If you display star ratings, include schema: average rating, best rating (5), worst rating (1), and review count. Only markup ratings that are from verified buyers to avoid spam flags.

Review schema: Individual product reviews need author, date published, rating, and review text. Ensure reviews are on the product page (not separate URLs) so schema associates correctly.

BreadcrumbList schema: Implement on all product pages to show path: Home > Category > Subcategory > Product. Helps search engines understand hierarchy.

LocalBusiness schema (if applicable): If you have a physical location or local delivery, add LocalBusiness to your homepage with address, phone, and business hours.

Validation: Test all schema in Google's Rich Results Test. Look for errors and warnings. Schema mistakes can suppress rich snippets and hurt rankings.

Checklist items: Product schema on all products, Offer schema with dynamic availability, AggregateRating schema if 5+ reviews, Review schema on individual reviews, BreadcrumbList on all product pages, LocalBusiness schema on homepage (if applicable), no markup warnings in Rich Results Test.

Shopify and WooCommerce handle SEO differently. Shopify ships with strong default setup (structured data, sitemap, robots.txt); WooCommerce requires manual configuration and plugins.

Shopify-specific setup: Verify that automatic sitemaps are generated (Settings > SEO). Use Shopify's built-in schema markup—check Search Console Rich Results Test to confirm it renders. Enable HTTP/2 Push (automatic). Shopify handles Core Web Vitals better than average, but review Lighthouse scores in Search Console. Use Shopify's app ecosystem cautiously: extra apps increase page weight. Focus on SEO apps with minimal bloat (e.g., Plug in SEO). Configure robots.txt under Settings > Online Store > Robots.txt if you need to block staging environments.

WooCommerce-specific setup: Install a core SEO plugin (Yoast SEO, RankMath, or All in One SEO). Configure primary category to avoid product/post confusion. Set permalinks to /%postname%/ to create clean product URLs. Install an SEO sitemap plugin (included in most SEO plugins). Ensure your theme is lightweight and mobile-responsive (Astra, GeneratePress, or Store). Lazy-load product images to improve page speed. Test WooCommerce's default structured data output—plugins often add redundant schema. Use Google Shopping feed plugin to sync WooCommerce products to Google Merchant Center.

Common platform issues: Both platforms struggle with filter-based duplicate pages. Implement faceted navigation correctly. Both need image optimization: WooCommerce more critical than Shopify. WooCommerce requires additional tweaking for Core Web Vitals; Shopify is closer to compliant by default.

Checklist items (Shopify): verify automatic sitemaps active, check schema in Rich Results Test, review Core Web Vitals in Search Console, limit third-party apps, configure robots.txt. Checklist items (WooCommerce): install SEO plugin, set clean permalink structure, verify unique schema output, optimize images, test Core Web Vitals, configure product feeds for Google Shopping.

Internal links distribute authority from high-authority pages (homepage, top categories) to individual products. This is how newer products rank faster.

Linking hierarchy: Homepage → Top categories (60+ authority) → Subcategories (40+ authority) → Products (inherit downstream authority). Use consistent anchor text linking (e.g., all product links use product name, not "click here"). 3-5 internal links per product page is ideal; more looks over-optimized.

Recent and related products: Link from product pages to similar products ("Customers also viewed"). This clarifies topical clusters and keeps crawlers engaged longer on your site.

Category breadcrumbs: Breadcrumb navigation serves as internal links. Make sure they're clickable, not just visual.

Four quick wins that move the needle in 4-6 weeks:

• Fix duplicate content: Audit your site for ?sort=, ?filter=, and alternate URLs. Use canonical tags or robots.txt rules to consolidate crawl.
• Add review schema: If you show star ratings, implement schema. This enables star display in results and improves CTR 20-30%.
• Optimize 10 top product images: Compress images and add descriptive alt text to your 10 best-selling products. Test page speed improvements with Lighthouse.
• Write original category descriptions: Replace auto-generated text on your 5 largest categories. Aim for 150-200 unique words per category. This content also helps conversion.

Checklist items: category → product internal links in place, breadcrumb navigation active, "related products" section implemented, duplicate content audit completed, top 10 product images optimized, 5 category descriptions rewritten, review schema installed and validated.