Summary
- E-commerce sites can become a mess if product pages aren't categorized properly, affecting SEO.
- If Google can't crawl and understand your site, visitors likely can't either.
- Create a clear site structure with natural interlinking to improve site crawlability and user experience.
- Your site's crawl depth should be shallow, allowing users to reach any page from the homepage in no more than four clicks.
- Split products into relevant categories and subcategories for better organization.
- For products that fit into multiple categories, use "Rel=canonical" to point to the most relevant category URL.
- Each level in your site structure should link back to the level above it for easy navigation.
- Arrange your pages in a way that reflects how users would logically visit your site.
Video
How To Take Action
I would suggest implementing a few important strategies to organize your e-commerce site better. These steps will help with SEO and make browsing easier for your visitors.
Categorize Your Products
A good way of doing this is by splitting your products into relevant categories and subcategories. For example, if you sell shoes, you could have categories like "Casual" and "Athletic." This helps people find what they're looking for faster.
Shallow Site Structure
Make sure no page is more than four clicks away from the homepage. This keeps your site’s crawl depth shallow. Visitors and search engines like Google can then explore your site easily and quickly find relevant products.
Rel=Canonical Tags
If a product fits into more than one category, like a shoe that is both "Casual" and "Athletic," use the "Rel=canonical" tag to point to the primary category. This avoids confusion for both Google and your visitors.
Interlink Your Pages
I recommend linking each product page back to its subcategory, and each subcategory back to its parent category. For example, your "Red Sneakers" page should link back to "Athletic Shoes," which then links back to "Shoes."
Logical Structure
Finally, arrange your pages to reflect how people would logically visit your site. Make the navigation clear and simple. Think about what categories are most important for your visitors and highlight those on your homepage.
These small but significant steps will make a big difference in how effective your e-commerce site is, improving SEO and enhancing user experience.
Full Transcript
this is the absolute bane of seos that are getting into Ecom e-commerce sites can easily spiral into a hot mess when product pages aren't categorized properly but it's not only that if Google can't crawl and understand your website then you can assume that your visitors can't either but if you create a clear site structure with natural interlinking Google make out with your Ecom site have a shallow crawl depth users should be able to reach each page on your site from the homepage in no more than four clicks split products into relevant categories and subcategories if you have products that fit into more than one category page for example you might have a shoe that's both casual and athletic I recommend using Rel equals canonical to point to the most relevant category URL for the product ensure each level in the structure links back to the level above it products should link up to subcategories subcategories should link to parent categories and so forth lastly be clear and simple structure your pages to reflect how users would visit your site in a logical and clear fashion
