{"id":5494,"date":"2022-08-10T10:19:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T10:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/"},"modified":"2022-08-10T10:19:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T10:19:56","slug":"how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/","title":{"rendered":"How to optimize your ecommerce site for better indexing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the next couple of years, how search engines index content will likely change.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve covered this viewpoint in <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/100-percent-indexing-impossible-385773\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why 100% indexing isn\u2019t possible, and why that\u2019s OK<\/a>. Still, this ultimately means that we need to work smarter in competitive markets to create better value propositions and uniqueness to move above the ranking quality threshold.<\/p>\n<p>For different websites, indexing key pages can mean different things. But for ecommerce stores, it boils down to two types of pages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The category page or product listing page (PLP).<\/li>\n<li>The individual product page or product details page (PDP).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Historically, many ecommerce websites have implemented similar strategies \u2013 to bulk out the category page with some form of \u201cSEO content\u201d (that mostly fell to the bottom of the page) and an optimized H1.<\/p>\n<p>Individual product pages, on the other hand, often receive less attention. A few key products might have product descriptions written. But most of the time, the page content is left to the product information management (PIM) solution to populate.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#Why_indexing_signals_matter_in_ecommerce\" >Why indexing signals matter in ecommerce<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#The_internal_link_between_supporting_content_and_your_PDPs\" >The internal link between supporting content and your PDPs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#Improving_your_product_detail_pages_for_better_indexing\" >Improving your product detail pages for better indexing<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#Dynamic_metadata_and_product_information\" >Dynamic metadata and product information<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#Content_enrichments\" >Content enrichments<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#Championing_among_variables\" >Championing among variables<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/10\/how-to-optimize-your-ecommerce-site-for-better-indexing\/#Wrapping_up\" >Wrapping up<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_indexing_signals_matter_in_ecommerce\"><\/span>Why indexing signals matter in ecommerce<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>First, I want to clarify that when I\u2019m talking about \u201cindexing signals,\u201d I\u2019m not talking about the page-level indexing signals we can control, such as canonicals and noindex tags.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, I\u2019d like to think these are correct, as related issues should be found in the first five minutes of looking through any crawl data.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m referring to the signals we can generate when Google (and other search engines) are processing your website and the content on individual product pages to ascertain whether it would be a \u201cgood\u201d document to rank within search results pages and for which queries.<\/p>\n<p>The decision on whether the page (the individual HTML document) is good enough to index comes down to the notion of a quality threshold. Search engines need to have a quality threshold, as indexing the entire web is impossible.<\/p>\n<p>In ecommerce, the quality threshold bar will differ between industries (e.g., the threshold will be lower for fast fashion than for home medical equipment).<\/p>\n<p>A mistake I often see is that the quality threshold is mistaken for <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/e-a-t-audit-386611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">E-A-T<\/a>, when it\u2019s a wider combination of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The source of the content (e.g., brand, entity).<\/li>\n<li>The topical relevancy, authority, and breadth of the content.<\/li>\n<li>E-A-T (as we know and understand it).<\/li>\n<li>Historical data and factors.<\/li>\n<li>Competitor content and value propositions for the same search queries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Google also isn\u2019t linear in how it presents SERPs. For example, the current SERP in the U.S. for the 12,000 monthly search volume query [solar charger] has a SERP containing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Shopping results.<\/li>\n<li>A Top Stories carousel.<\/li>\n<li>Four ecommerce results, including Amazon and BestBuy.<\/li>\n<li>Five informational results (a couple of them look affiliate).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This matters because Google is clearly catering to multiple common interpretations and intents for the query. <\/p>\n<p>By providing mixed results, it also needs to have different thresholds per result source type \u2013 as it\u2019s impossible to compare the Amazon result to a random product comparison website result. <\/p>\n<p>This is also why keyword difficulty scores in third-party tools are becoming increasingly redundant for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_internal_link_between_supporting_content_and_your_PDPs\"><\/span>The internal link between supporting content and your PDPs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Internal anchor texts are important and, from my experience, are often underoptimized and left as generic calls to action (CTA).<\/p>\n<p>Examples of generic CTAs include \u201cclick here\u201d and \u201cfind out more.\u201d Google calls this out in <a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/blog\/2008\/10\/importance-of-link-architecture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a 2008 Search Central article<\/a> as a \u201cnot-very-optimal way of linking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s John Mueller has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/google-context-around-links-30173.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> on record that the anchor text used for internal links gives Google context around what the page being linked to is about. <\/p>\n<p>Descriptive anchor text relevant to the content they\u2019re placed in and relevant to the page you\u2019re linking to can help Google better understand:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Where the content piece sits in your domain ecosystem.<\/li>\n<li>Whether it should be ranked for a certain query over another page. (As much as we target keywords with specific pages, pages will rank for multiple keywords intended or otherwise.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\">\n<div class=\"row g-0\">\n<div class=\"form-group col-12 col-lg-8 mb-0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-4 col-xl-4 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"d-none\">\n<p>Processing&#8230;Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-dark inlineButton w-100 rounded-0 font-weight-bold\" type=\"submit\" name=\"submit_button\">SUBSCRIBE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/termsofuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Improving_your_product_detail_pages_for_better_indexing\"><\/span>Improving your product detail pages for better indexing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A lot of ecommerce websites don\u2019t invest enough in their product pages. <\/p>\n<p>In competitive markets, most of these PDPs don\u2019t offer unique value propositions and fall below the quality threshold for indexing.<\/p>\n<p>There are several ways to enhance your product pages and leverage the business and brand\u2019s unique selling proposition (USP).<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dynamic_metadata_and_product_information\"><\/span>Dynamic metadata and product information<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Let\u2019s say your brand\u2019s USP focuses on offering quality products at lower prices, and search terms gravitate around \u201cbudget\u201d and \u201ccheap.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To enforce the lower price in the page content and boost click-through from the SERPs, you can include dynamic elements in the PDP title tag, H2, and body copy to pull through the current price.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Content_enrichments\"><\/span>Content enrichments<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Many product pages tend to follow templated product descriptions, which is understandable as there\u2019s only so much you can write about specific products.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, you can enrich product pages through expert reviews or advice sections and tie them in with your website\u2019s E-A-T strategy and other content areas.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Championing_among_variables\"><\/span>Championing among variables<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Some product lines have the same product but with multiple iterations and releases. Some of these come over several years (e.g., the iPhone) and others over the course of months (e.g., Pokemon cards).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The core product name doesn\u2019t often change, only the version number or name, but you might still want all versions available to users.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One tactic I\u2019ve used here is to create a \u201cchampion\u201d version among the near duplicates \u2013 typically the most recent or most valuable product. I then add <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/3-easy-internal-linking-strategies-for-keywords-with-different-search-volumes-311890\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internal links<\/a> between the versions so search engines can better understand the relationship between each one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rather than having the product versions randomly compete for indexing, you\u2019re signaling a champion for more consistency.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Wrapping_up\"><\/span>Wrapping up<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The methods listed above shouldn\u2019t be read as a \u201cdo everything checklist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, you should leverage the tactics according to what works for your brand, your website (stack), and how much needs to be done to tip the needle in your favor.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, optimizing your product detail pages for indexing sets your ecommerce site for success in the SERPs.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/optimize-ecommerce-site-better-indexing-387037\" target=\"_blank\">How to optimize your ecommerce site for better indexing<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the next couple of years, how search engines index content will likely change. I\u2019ve covered this viewpoint in Why 100% indexing isn\u2019t possible, and why that\u2019s OK. Still, this ultimately means that we need to work smarter in competitive markets to create better value propositions and uniqueness to move above the ranking quality threshold. For different websites, indexing key pages can mean different things. But for ecommerce stores, it boils down to two types of pages: The category page or product listing page (PLP). The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}