SEO for e-Commerce – 3 Common Problems and Their Solutions

Few e-commerce businesses haven’t realized how important SEO is for moving forward. Often, they struggle with problems that are relatively similar to what other e-commerce retailers have encountered. Here are some common issues with online stores and how we would solve them.

Search engine optimization makes a difference for all e-commerce. For most, organic traffic from search engines is the largest source of customers. It’s often also the most profitable. That’s why SEO is especially important for anyone running an online store, and that’s why we’re dedicating extra time to addressing common problems that arise in e-commerce.

1. Same Product in Multiple Categories – Duplicate Content

If your store has a URL structure (how your paths are organized) that includes categories and possibly subcategories in the URL, it might look something like this:

• butiken.se/bilar/snabba/produkten.html

Now, if you have the same product in more than one category, which is often desirable, there’s a risk of creating duplicate content (copies of the same content on multiple URLs). For example:

• butiken.se/motorfordon/båtar/amfibiebussen.html

• butiken.se/motorfordon/bilar/amfibiebussen.html

Since you want to sell your amphibious bus to visitors interested in both boats and cars, you list it in both categories. Unfortunately, to Google, it will look like two different products with the same content copied across.

The Solution

This can be solved in two ways. One way is to ensure it never happens, and the other is to let Google know it wasn’t intentional. The first method is generally seen as the clearest approach, which is simply to place the products directly under the main site rather than in a category (in the URL, not in the store itself). Regardless of which category or categories the product is listed under, the URL path would look like this:

• butiken.se/amfibiebussen.html

The second solution is to somehow tell Google that only one of the product pages is the actual original. The easiest way to do this is with a canonical tag. By adding a canonical tag to the page, you can tell Google that another page is the original. This isn’t quite as foolproof as having only one URL for each product, but it’s pretty close.

2. Filtering, Sorting, and Pagination

Often, you want to be able to filter categories on your site. Maybe you only want to show the red socks, or perhaps you want to sort by price. This, just like in the previous problem, creates different versions of the same content. Sometimes, it ends up on different paths, which can lead to a bigger issue. Pagination (you know, when there are more pages, 1, 2, 3…) can cause similar problems.

In the past, retailers could use filtering and sorting to easily capture lots of keywords. Imagine creating a page on the store simply by making a search. You sell garden products and realize you need a category for rusty items to capture those searching for it. You perform a search on the site, link to it, and voila, you’ve created a landing page. The problem was that this could be automated, and automatic SEO is something Google has always frowned upon.

Even if you don’t always get caught in the Panda filter, this will still create issues. It’s crucial that you don’t create too many pages with the same content, even though Google itself has claimed that it’s good at sorting out duplicate pages (which it isn’t).

The Solution

The solution here is also twofold. The first and most straightforward approach is to ensure that filtering and sorting do not create unique URL paths. Simply prevent search engines from perceiving them as separate pages. The second solution is just like the one for problem number one: solve it with a canonical tag. (For pagination, “prev” and “next” tags, you can find more information here.)

The issue with not creating unique URL paths for specific search results is that your customers can’t link to their unique filter settings. This is good for SEO, but you might want to allow the customer to share their sorted view with a friend. I’ve seen some elegant solutions using “#” in the URL, but that’s a bit more advanced. By using “#” in the URL path, everything that creates the sorting can be appended after it. Google ignores that part of the URL since it’s meant to reference a specific part of the page you’re already on, meaning it’s not a duplicate.

3. Product Descriptions

Product descriptions are one of the major struggles that all stores face, especially once you start getting a certain number of products. The problem is, of course, that you don’t want to have the same descriptions as anyone else or ones that are too similar. This means you often can’t use the supplier’s text and must write it yourself. People have come up with all sorts of creative solutions to swap words here and there or try to automatically solve the issue in other ways.

This is not a good solution. You need unique content, and while it can seem overwhelming, it’s worth it. If you’re a small business and need to dedicate time to solving this yourself, it’s still worth it in my opinion. It will make such a big difference. If you’re a bit larger, you can outsource the service, and in that case, it’s definitely worth it.

Solution

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix for this; you need unique product descriptions. It doesn’t all have to be done at once, and you can buy help if needed.