An online store creates far more web addresses than it has products. This guide lists the problems that follow, how to spot each one and what to fix first.
An ecommerce SEO audit checks whether search engines can find, read and index your product and category pages without getting lost among near-identical addresses. Check page templates first, then filter and sort addresses, out-of-stock products, duplicate descriptions, thin categories and product markup. Fix what blocks or wastes indexing before anything that only polishes a page.
What an ecommerce SEO audit looks at
An ecommerce SEO audit is a check of how search engines reach, read and index the pages of an online store. It covers the ground of any site audit and then adds the problems that only stores have. Most come from one fact: a store with a few hundred products can produce many thousands of web addresses through filters, sort orders, product variants, internal search and tracking parameters.
The general checks are in the guide to running a basic SEO audit yourself, and this page does not repeat them. It covers what is specific to stores. If you are still deciding what to work on, ecommerce SEO for beginners sets out where to begin.
Audit templates, not single pages. A store has a small number of page types: the home page, category pages, product pages, filtered lists, search results, the cart and account pages, and content pages such as a blog. A fault in a template repeats on every page that uses it, so one fix can clear hundreds of pages at once. Open one example of each template before you study any individual product.
The most common ecommerce SEO problems at a glance
The table lists the problems online stores most often have, with a way to spot each one and the usual fix. The sections after it explain the ones that cause the most confusion.
| Problem | How to spot it | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| Filter and sort addresses crawled or indexed without limit | A crawl finds many times more addresses than you have products | Block or noindex combinations nobody searches for; keep a few as real landing pages |
| Out-of-stock products handled badly | Empty product pages, or removed products that still return a normal page | Keep short-term stock-outs useful; redirect or retire discontinued products |
| Duplicate product descriptions | The same text as the supplier or as sibling variants | Rewrite best sellers first; merge or canonicalise variants |
| Thin or empty category pages | A grid of products with no heading text, or categories with nothing in them | Add useful introductory text; noindex or remove empty categories |
| Products that need a button click to appear | Items load only after pressing Load more | Use real links to numbered pages |
| Product markup that disagrees with the page | Warnings in the Rich Results Test; price or stock differs from the page | Generate markup from the same data the page shows |
Why filter and sort pages are a problem
Filters let shoppers narrow a category by size, colour, price, brand and more. Each combination can create its own address, usually with parameters after a question mark. Google's documentation on faceted navigation says this can generate an endless set of addresses, which leads to over-crawling and slower discovery of the new pages you do care about. Crawlers spend their time on lists nobody searches for while a new product waits.
The same list can also appear under many addresses: sorted by price, sorted by newest, carrying a tracking tag, or with the filters picked in a different order. The product text is not copied, yet the effect is duplication.
Decide, for each type of filter address, whether it is meant to be found in search. For the ones that are not, there are three common options.
- Use robots.txt to stop crawling of address patterns that people never search for, such as price sliders and sort orders. Google's guidance says there is often no good reason to let crawlers fetch filtered lists, so allow the category and product pages and leave the rest.
- Use a noindex robots tag on filter pages that may be crawled but should stay out of results. A crawler must fetch a page to see the tag, so do not block the same addresses in robots.txt too.
- Point filtered addresses to the plain category page with a canonical tag. Google says this can reduce crawling of the other versions over time, but calls it less effective than blocking.
Some filtered lists match what people type into Google, such as one type of product in a certain colour or material. Treat those as real pages: a clean address, its own title and heading, a line of introductory text and a link from the parent category. Check demand first in Search Console, because most combinations have none.
Two more rules from Google's documentation. A filter combination with no results should return a real 404 status, not an empty page with a normal one. And internal links should not carry session IDs or tracking codes, because each variation looks like a new page.
Pagination and Load more buttons
Long categories are split across pages or loaded in stages. Each page of a numbered list needs its own address and its own canonical tag. Do not point page two and beyond at page one, because later products would then look like copies of the first page. Google no longer uses the old next and previous tags. A Load more button is a problem for another reason: Google's crawlers generally follow links and do not press buttons, so products that appear only after a click may never be found. Offer real links to numbered pages, or put every product in your sitemap.
How to handle out-of-stock and discontinued product pages
The right treatment depends on whether the product is coming back. Write the rule down so everyone who manages the catalogue applies it the same way.
- Temporarily out of stock: keep the page live. Say clearly that the item is unavailable, offer a way to be told when it returns and link to close alternatives. Keep the availability in your product markup in line with what the page shows. Removing and recreating pages at every stock change only produces errors.
- Back on a known date and you accept orders: show back-order or pre-order honestly. Product markup has separate availability values for both, and you should use them only if shoppers can really order.
- Discontinued, with a close replacement: redirect the old address once, permanently, to the replacement product. If no product is close enough, redirect to the most relevant category. Redirecting everything to the home page sends shoppers somewhere they did not ask to go.
- Gone for good, no replacement: let the address return a 404 or 410 status, and make that error page useful with a search box and links to categories. Google treats both statuses as meaning the content does not exist.
Avoid the soft 404. That is a page which says the product cannot be found but still returns a normal status. Search Console reports these as soft 404 errors. The same applies to empty categories: Google's ecommerce guidance suggests a noindex tag on a category with no items, or a 404 if your site removes empty categories automatically.
Some platforms hide products at zero stock unless you change a setting. Read the current documentation for the platform you use.
How to avoid duplicate product descriptions
Duplicate descriptions come from three places. The first is supplier text pasted onto your page, which then appears on every other store that sells the item. The second is the same paragraph repeated across variants, one per colour or size. The third is templated text where only the product name changes. Search engines pick one version to show, and it may not be yours.
Start with the products that matter most: best sellers, high-margin items and anything that already gets searches. Write what a buyer needs to decide. Give real measurements, materials, care instructions, fit, what is in the box and what the product is not suited to. Keep the supplier's specification as a table if you need it, with your own text around it. The ecommerce product page checklist lists what a product page needs.
For variants, choose one of two designs on purpose. The simpler is a single page with a size and colour selector. The other gives each variant its own address, and Google's guidance then is to name one canonical product address, using the address without the optional parameter when variants are set by parameters. Pick the single page unless people genuinely search for the variant by name, and check Google's current variant documentation before setting up markup.
Thin category pages, titles and internal links
Category pages usually match the broader searches that bring new shoppers, yet many are just a grid. Add a short introduction that helps someone choose, such as the main differences between options or what to check before buying. Write for the shopper, not to repeat a keyword.
Titles and headings should name the product and its main attribute. A product code as the title, or one pattern repeated on every page, gives nobody a reason to choose the result. Check each template's title formula, because one fix changes them all.
Google's ecommerce guidance says that a crawler finds products by following links from menus to categories, from categories to subcategories and then to products. Products reachable only through the site's search box may never be found, since Googlebot generally does not use search boxes. Link every product you want indexed from at least one category, use plain links rather than scripted navigation, and add a sitemap to help.
Product markup and structured data
Product markup can let search results show details such as price and availability, and it must agree with the page. If the markup says a product is in stock and the page says sold out, the markup is wrong. Test sample products from each template in the Rich Results Test and read the product reports in Search Console.
A theme and an app can each add markup, and two sets on one page can disagree. If your store also feeds products to Google Merchant Center, draw the feed and the page from the same data.
A sensible order for the audit
- List your templates and pick one example page for each.
- Compare the products you sell with the addresses in your sitemap and the addresses a crawler finds. Large gaps point to filter, sort or parameter problems.
- Open the Page indexing report in Search Console and read the reasons given for product and category addresses that are not indexed.
- Run a crawl and sort by status code, title, canonical tag and the number of links pointing to each page.
- Inspect one address from each template with the URL Inspection tool and compare the canonical you declared with the one Google chose.
- Test product markup on sample pages.
- Write the findings by template and by the number of pages each one affects.
What to fix first
Fix problems that block or waste indexing first: key pages that return errors or carry a noindex tag, filter addresses that flood the crawl, and redirects that lead nowhere useful. Fix duplication across templates next, then weak titles and categories. Single-page polish comes last.
Template changes touch many addresses, so test them on a copy of the store first and note the date, the change and the Search Console numbers before and after. Search engines need time to recrawl, so judge results after a few weeks, not days. If a change goes with a platform move or redesign, read the website redesign SEO checklist first.
How often to audit an online store
Run a full store audit once or twice a year, and a targeted one after any event that changes the structure: a move to a new platform or theme, a new filter feature, a bulk product import or a new category tree. In between, look at the Page indexing report whenever you add a batch of products. A sudden jump upwards can be a sign that a new filter feature is leaking addresses.
When to ask for help
A first audit is realistic to do yourself for a small catalogue. Help makes sense when the store is large, relies on scripted navigation, runs several languages or regions, or has lost visitors after a migration for no clear reason. Ask any provider to rank findings by effect, to show evidence from Search Console and to say which fixes they will make and which are yours. The SEO service page describes Liftup's SEO work, and the ecommerce solutions page covers building and improving online stores.
Questions and answers
What are the most common ecommerce SEO problems?
The usual ones are filter and sort addresses that flood the crawl, mishandled out-of-stock products, supplier text copied onto product pages, thin category pages, repeated titles and product markup that disagrees with the page. Most come from page templates, so one fix often clears many pages.
How do I handle out-of-stock product pages?
Keep the page live if the product is returning, say plainly that it is unavailable and link to alternatives. If it is discontinued, redirect it to a close replacement or the nearest category. If there is no replacement, let the address return a 404 or 410 status with a helpful error page.
Why are filter pages a problem for SEO?
Each combination of filters can create a new web address, so a small catalogue can generate a huge number of near-duplicate lists. Crawlers waste time on them and may find new products more slowly. Block or noindex the combinations nobody searches for, and keep only those with real search demand.
How do I avoid duplicate product descriptions?
Write your own text for the products that matter most, starting with best sellers. Use real measurements, materials and advice instead of the supplier's wording. For colour and size variants, use one page with a selector, or give each variant an address and name a canonical product page.
How often should an online store be audited?
Once or twice a year for a full check, plus a targeted check after a platform move, a theme change, a new filter feature or a bulk product import. Those events change how many addresses the store creates and how they link together.
What do I check first in an ecommerce SEO audit?
Compare the number of products you sell with the number of addresses in your sitemap and the number a crawler finds. A big gap usually points to filter or parameter problems. Then read the reasons in Search Console's Page indexing report for your product and category addresses.