Ecommerce SEO for stores that aren't marketplaces
A small store can't outrank the marketplaces for every search, but it can win the searches where it's the better answer: a specific product, a niche category, a material, a style or a place. I build the category and product pages to win those, and make sure Google can read every one of them.
Category pages do the heavy lifting
Most shoppers search for a type of product, not a single item: handmade wool shawls, organic almonds, boys' winter jackets. Those searches usually land on a category page, so each important category gets a clear name that matches how people search, a short introduction written for the shopper, and products that load quickly.
Product pages win the more specific searches, such as a brand and model, a size or a material. Each one needs its own title, its own description in your words and its own photos, with alt text that says what the photo shows.
The technical work behind a store
Product structured data
Price, availability, brand and reviews you collected yourself, marked up so Google can show them in results.
Merchant Center
A product feed for Google's free shopping listings, kept in step with your prices and stock.
Duplicates and filters
Canonical tags and filter rules so variants and sort orders don't compete with each other.
Redirects
Discontinued products redirected sensibly, and every old address kept working after a redesign.
Speed
Image-heavy category pages that still load fast on a phone, with photos resized for each screen.
Measurement
Search Console and GA4 set up to show which searches and pages lead to sales. See analytics setup.
Content that earns its place
A store doesn't need a blog for the sake of it. It benefits from a few pages that answer what shoppers ask before they buy: a size guide, how a product is made, how to choose between two types, how to care for something. Those pages match real searches and lead naturally to the products.
For the store's design and checkout, see ecommerce website design. If you also have a shop or pickup point, read about Google Business Profile for online stores.
Questions about ecommerce SEO
Should I copy the manufacturer's product description?
Better not to, at least for your important products. The same text appears on every store selling that product, so Google has no reason to prefer yours. A description in your own words, with details only you know, gives it one.
What happens to SEO when a product sells out?
If it's coming back, keep the page and mark it out of stock. If it's gone for good, redirect the page to the closest product or its category, so visitors and any links it earned go somewhere useful instead of an error page.
Do filters cause SEO problems?
They can. Every combination of colour, size and price can create a new address with almost the same content, and Google may waste time crawling thousands of them. I set filters up so the useful ones can be found and the rest are kept out of the index.
Want your products found on Google?
Send me your store address and your best-selling categories. I'll check how they show up in search and tell you what I'd fix first.