Ecommerce SEO checklist: 30 checks for category and product pages
Thirty practical checks for an online store, grouped by technical setup, category pages, product pages, content, links and measurement. Work through it before your next sale.
- Category
- SEO
- Published
- 29 Oct 2026
- Reading time
- 10 min
- Author
- Techsion team
Short answer: ecommerce SEO comes down to three jobs — make sure search engines can crawl and index the right pages (and not thousands of filter combinations), make category pages the strongest pages on the site, and give every product page unique, structured information. The 30 checks below cover all three. Work through them in order; the technical ones unlock everything after them.
Technical setup
- Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools are verified, and your XML sitemap is submitted.
- The sitemap lists only canonical, indexable URLs — no filters, no internal search results.
- Faceted navigation (colour, size, price filters) does not create indexable duplicates. Index only the filter pages people actually search for, such as “black sneakers”.
- Every page has one canonical URL; tracking parameters and sort orders point back to it.
- Products in several categories have a single canonical product URL.
- Pagination uses plain, crawlable links.
- Pages pass Core Web Vitals on mobile — see why speed costs stores sales.
- HTTPS everywhere, with one preferred domain and redirects from the others.
- Old and deleted URLs return a 301 to the closest equivalent, not to the homepage.
Category pages
- Each category targets one clear search phrase in its title, H1 and URL.
- A short, useful introduction sits above the products; longer buying advice sits below.
- Categories link to their most important subcategories and related categories.
- Breadcrumbs are on every page, with BreadcrumbList structured data.
- Thin or empty categories are merged or set to noindex until stocked.
Product pages
- Every product has a unique description — not the manufacturer's text that a hundred other stores also use.
- Titles include the brand, product type and the attribute people search by (size, model, material).
- Product structured data includes price, currency, availability and, where genuine, reviews.
- Images have descriptive file names and alt text, and are compressed.
- Variants (sizes, colours) live on one URL unless each variant is searched for separately.
- Out-of-stock products stay live with an availability message and alternatives; discontinued ones redirect. For KLIMT, a streetwear store, “Sold Out” is part of the brand, so the pages had to survive it.
- Answer real questions on the page: sizing, delivery times, returns, compatibility.
Content
- Buying guides target the questions people ask before choosing, and link to the categories that answer them.
- Comparison content (“X vs Y”) exists for the decisions your customers actually struggle with.
- Large catalogues get tools, not just pages: when we built STILE's site, a visualiser and a calculator sat alongside the catalogue.
Links and authority
- Your homepage and main navigation link to the categories that earn the most.
- Brand, supplier and press mentions link to the right page, not just the homepage.
- Google Business Profile is complete if you have a physical store (see local SEO with Google Business Profile).
Measurement
- Analytics tracks add-to-cart, checkout and purchase with revenue.
- Search Console is reviewed monthly for queries with impressions but few clicks — those are your quickest wins.
- Every platform change or redesign gets an SEO check before launch (our guide to redesigning without losing rankings explains how).
Platform notes
Shopify and WooCommerce both handle the basics, but differ on URL structure, faceted navigation and how much control you get — see Shopify or WooCommerce.
Want the checklist done for you? That is our SEO work, often alongside e-commerce development. Send us your store and we will tell you the first five fixes.
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