Seo ecommerce

E-Commerce SEO Guidelines

Follow these rules when working on product pages, category pages, and shopping features.

For detailed e-commerce SEO patterns, see reference.md.

Product Pages

Every product page should have:

1. Unique, Descriptive Title

{Model} {Product Name} | {Brand}

Include model number — B2B buyers search by model.

2. Complete Product Schema (JSON-LD)

A common gap in e-commerce sites is missing price and availability in Product schema, which prevents rich results (price, stock status, ratings) from appearing in Google.

Required for rich results (per Google): name, image[], offers.price, offers.priceCurrency, offers.availability. Strongly recommended: sku, brand, description. Provide gtin if available; if not, provide brand + mpn for product identification. Also consider shippingDetails and hasMerchantReturnPolicy for merchant listing eligibility. See the seo-structured-data skill for full details.

3. Technical Specifications

Display specs prominently and include them in structured data via additionalProperty. Example spec fields:

• Power / wattage
• Capacity / volume
• Dimensions
• Weight
• Key performance metrics relevant to the product category

4. Breadcrumb Navigation

Visible breadcrumb trail reflecting the site hierarchy (e.g. Home > Category > Subcategory > Product Name) with matching BreadcrumbList schema (see seo-structured-data skill).

5. Unique Description

• Never duplicate descriptions across products — even similar models need unique text
• Min 150 words for product descriptions
• Include model number, product category, and brand name naturally

Category Pages

Category Page SEO Checklist

• Unique title per category: {Category Name} - Buy Online | {Brand}
• Unique description — don't use the same description for all categories
• H1 heading matching the category name
• CollectionPage or ItemList schema — list the products on the page

const categorySchema = {
  "@type": "CollectionPage",
  name: category.name,
  description: category.description,
  url: `${siteConfig.url}/${locale}/categories/${category.slug}`, // adapt path to your project
  mainEntity: {
    "@type": "ItemList",
    itemListElement: products.map((product, index) => ({
      "@type": "ListItem",
      position: index + 1,
      url: `${siteConfig.url}/${locale}/products/${product.id}/${product.slug}`,
      name: product.name,
    })),
  },
};

Category Page Content

• Introductory text above the product grid — 100-300 words explaining the category
• Don't rely on product cards alone — pages with only product cards and no unique text are "thin content"
• Internal links to related categories and subcategories

Faceted Navigation (Filters)

Faceted navigation (filters by price, specs, features) can create duplicate or thin content if not handled correctly. Google's guidance is selective, not blanket — useful filter combinations that match real search intent should remain indexable.

Rules

1. Keep useful filter pages indexable — if a filter combination represents a genuine product category that users search for (e.g. /categories/headphones?type=wireless), let it be indexed. These pages have unique value.

2. Noindex granular multi-filter combinations — ?power=500w&color=red&weight=5kg creates thousands of thin pages with little search value. Use noindex, follow so crawlers can still discover products through these pages.

3. Set the canonical to the base category for granular filters — all low-value filter combinations should have their canonical pointing to the base:

   /en-GB/categories/widgets?power=500w&color=red&weight=5kg
   → canonical: /en-GB/categories/widgets
   

4. Use noindex, follow (not noindex, nofollow) on filtered pages — allows crawlers to discover products through filtered pages without indexing the filter combination itself

// App Router example — in Pages Router, set robots via next/head
export async function generateMetadata({ searchParams }: Props): Promise<Metadata> {
  // Determine if this is a useful, searchable filter (e.g. single broad category)
  // vs a granular multi-filter combo with little search value
  const filterKeys = Object.keys(searchParams).filter(k => k !== 'sort');
  const isGranularFilter = filterKeys.length > 1;

  return {
    robots: isGranularFilter
      ? { index: false, follow: true }  // noindex granular filter combos
      : { index: true, follow: true },  // index useful single-filter views
  };
}

B2B Pricing Considerations

For B2B e-commerce sites, pricing requires special handling:

1. If prices are visible: Always include offers.price and offers.priceCurrency in Product schema
2. If prices require login: Omit price entirely from schema rather than showing 0 or a placeholder. Still include availability.
3. If showing "Request a Quote": Use offers.priceSpecification with no price, or omit offers block
4. Business customer type: Consider adding offers.eligibleCustomerType: "https://schema.org/Business"

const offers = product.priceVisible
  ? {
      "@type": "Offer",
      price: product.price,
      priceCurrency: getCurrencyForLocale(locale),
      availability: `https://schema.org/${product.inStock ? 'InStock' : 'OutOfStock'}`,
      seller: { "@type": "Organization", name: siteConfig.brandName },
    }
  : {
      "@type": "Offer",
      availability: `https://schema.org/${product.inStock ? 'InStock' : 'OutOfStock'}`,
      seller: { "@type": "Organization", name: siteConfig.brandName },
      eligibleCustomerType: "https://schema.org/Business",
    };

Product Variants

For products with variants (same product line in different sizes, power ratings, colors):

• Each variant should have its own URL and page if it has a unique SKU
• Use isVariantOf to link variants to a parent product group
• Use isSimilarTo for related products in the same category

const variantSchema = {
  "@type": "Product",
  name: "Widget Pro 500W",
  isVariantOf: {
    "@type": "ProductGroup",
    name: "Widget Pro Series",
    url: `${siteConfig.url}/${locale}/categories/widgets`,
  },
};

Product Bundles

If the site offers product bundles, these need special SEO treatment:

• Own product page with unique title and description
• Product schema with all included items listed
• Highlight savings in meta description
• Cross-link between individual products and the bundle page

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Missing price in Product schema — the #1 gap preventing rich results
2. Same description across similar products — every product needs unique text
3. No introductory content on category pages — thin content signal
4. Indexable filter combinations — creates thousands of duplicate pages
5. Price as 0 when login-required — omit price rather than fake it
6. Missing breadcrumbs on product pages — hurts both UX and SEO
7. Product images without descriptive alt text — see seo-images skill