With over 28 million eCommerce stores vying for attention, standing out is essential.  You need to ensure your store is visible and easily discoverable by potential customers. That’s where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in. It is about optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results, driving more organic traffic to your store.

While good content and social media play a role, a crucial aspect of eCommerce success lies in technical SEO. Technical SEO for eCommerce websites isn’t about flashy content or viral campaigns; it’s about ensuring your website is easily crawlable, understandable, and favored by search algorithms. 

This article covers everything from the basics of technical SEO to advanced strategies that will help your eCommerce site stand out from the crowd. Let’s continue reading and learn more!

What is Technical SEO for Ecommerce?

Technical SEO refers to the optimizations made on the backend of your website to improve its performance in search engine rankings. For eCommerce sites, where competition is fierce and user patience thin, these optimizations aren’t just helpful; they’re crucial. 

Technical SEO consists of a range of tactics aimed at enhancing the search engines’ ability to crawl, index, and render your site effectively. This, in turn, helps boost your visibility in search results.

Benefits of Technical SEO for Ecommerce Websites

Here are some benefits of having an optimized ecommerce website:

• Improved Site Usability and User Experience: Site navigation and speed enhancement boost user satisfaction and positively influence search rankings.

• Increased Organic Traffic: Optimizing your site makes it easier for search engines to index and rank. This leads to higher visibility and more organic traffic.

• Enhanced Conversion Rates: Faster load times and a mobile-friendly design contribute to lower bounce rates and higher conversion rates.

• Cost-Effective: The improvements from technical SEO for eCommerce websites are long-lasting. This provides enduring benefits without the ongoing costs associated with paid advertising.

• Better Competitive Edge: Proper technical SEO helps your site outperform competitors. It gives you an advantage in the crowded online marketplace.

Best Practices of Technical SEO for Ecommerce Websites

Effective technical SEO is crucial for eCommerce success. Here are some of the best practices that can boost your site’s search engine visibility and enhance user experience.

1) Finding and Fixing Broken Links

Maintaining a clean site architecture is pivotal, starting with addressing broken links. Broken links create a poor user experience and prevent search engines from effectively crawling your site. 

Regularly auditing your site to find and fix broken links ensures that users and search engine bots can navigate your site without encountering dead ends. This is essential for maintaining site health and SEO efficiency.

Steps to Find Broken Links

1. Install the Extension: Begin by installing the ‘Check My Links’ extension from the Chrome Web Store onto your Google Chrome browser.

2. Navigate to Your Website: Open the Chrome browser and go to your eCommerce website where you want to check for broken links.

3. Activate the Extension: Click on the ‘Check My Links’ icon in the browser’s toolbar to activate the extension.

4. Run the Check: The extension will automatically start scanning all the links on the current page, highlighting broken links in red.

5. Review the Results: Review the broken links displayed by the extension and make a list of URLs that need correction.

6. Fix Broken Links: Address each broken link by either updating the link to point to the correct URL or removing the link if it’s no longer relevant.

2) Sitemap Optimization

There are two types of sitemaps: XML and HTML sitemaps.

XML Sitemaps

An XML sitemap is a roadmap of your website that guides search engines through all the significant pages. This is crucial for eCommerce sites as it ensures that search engines can find and index all your products, categories, and important pages, even if internal linking isn’t perfect. 

To implement an XML sitemap:

1. Generate the Sitemap: Use a tool or plugin specific to your website platform that automatically generates an XML sitemap.
2. Submit to Search Engines: Upload your sitemap to Google Search Console and any other search engines you target, ensuring it’s always updated as you add new pages.

HTML Sitemaps

Unlike XML sitemaps, HTML sitemaps are designed for human visitors, helping them navigate your website more effectively. They provide a clear, straightforward layout of your website’s pages in a user-friendly format.

To create an HTML sitemap:

1. Design for Usability: Ensure the HTML sitemap is easily accessible, typically linked in the footer of your website, and organized in a clear, hierarchical structure.
2. Update Regularly: Keep your HTML sitemap updated with new pages and sections to enhance user experience and assist in on-site navigation.

Both XML and HTML sitemaps play distinct but complementary roles in improving site discoverability for search engines and usability for visitors.

3) Using Robots.txt When Needed

Robots.txt is a crucial file on your server that tells search engine bots which pages or sections of your site they should or should not crawl. For eCommerce sites, managing a crawl budget efficiently is important because you want search engines to focus on your most valuable pages, such as product pages, and not waste resources on less important areas.

Creating and Optimizing Your Robots.txt File

• Locate or Create the File: Check the root directory of your website for an existing robots.txt file. If it doesn’t exist, create a new text file named robots.txt.

• Specify Allowed and Disallowed Paths: Use Disallow: to specify which directories or pages bots should not access and Allow: for those you want to be crawled. For example, disallow paths to user accounts or private areas and allow product categories and listings.

• Add Sitemap Location: Include the URL of your sitemap in the robots.txt file to help search engines find and crawl your XML sitemap more efficiently. This is done by adding a line like Sitemap: http://www.yoursite.com/sitemap.xml.

• Test Your Robots.txt: Use the robots.txt Tester tool in Google Search Console to ensure that your file is blocking and allowing access as intended. This helps prevent inadvertently blocking important pages from search engine crawlers.

4) Faceted Navigation

Faceted navigation is an advanced feature on eCommerce sites that allows users to refine product listings based on various attributes like size, color, brand, or price. While it enhances user experience by making product searches more specific and quicker, it can present challenges for SEO if not implemented correctly.

Optimizing Faceted Navigation for SEO

• Use of robots.txt: Properly configure your robots.txt file to prevent search engines from crawling irrelevant URL combinations that could dilute your SEO efforts.

• Canonical Tags: Implement canonical tags to point search engines toward the primary version of a page, helping avoid duplicate content issues.

• AJAX for User Interactions: Consider using AJAX for filtering operations so that the URL remains constant even when users apply different filters. This prevents the creation of numerous crawlable links.

• Provide Clear User Pathways: Ensure that your navigation design is intuitive. Users should find it easy to add or remove filters without confusion or excessive page reloads.

• Limit Indexed Pages: Strategically limit the number of faceted pages you allow to be indexed. Focus on indexing those that drive the most traffic and conversions, which often represent popular user selections

5) Use Canonical Tags for Duplicate Content

Canonical tags are an essential tool for handling duplicate content issues. Such issues are common in eCommerce websites due to product listings, categories, and faceted navigation choices. They help search engines identify which version of a similar page should be considered the “master” or primary version to index and rank.

Implementing Canonical Tags Effectively

• Identify Duplicate Content: First, pinpoint pages with similar content. This could be multiple product pages accessible through different navigational paths.

• Select the Preferred URL: Choose the URL you want search engines to index and display in search results. This URL will act as the canonical URL.

• Implement the Tag: Add the <link rel=”canonical” href=”your-preferred-url”> tag in the <head> section of the HTML of the duplicate pages, pointing them back to the chosen canonical URL.

• Ensure Consistency: The canonical tag should be consistent across all versions of the page. Also, ensure that the URL specified in the canonical tag is accessible and not redirected.

• Monitor and Update: Regularly review the effectiveness of your canonical tags, especially when adding new products or categories, to ensure they continue to direct search engines correctly.

6) Implementing Cross-Domain Canonicalization

Cross-domain canonicalization addresses duplicate content across different domains. It directs search engines to recognize one domain as the source of original content.

Steps to Implement Cross-Domain Canonicalization

• Identify Duplicate Content Across Domains: Find identical content on multiple domains. This often includes product descriptions or blog posts.

• Choose the Authoritative Domain: Select the domain you want search engines to index. This will be your canonical source.

• Implement Cross-Domain Canonical Tags: Add the canonical tag to the duplicate pages. Use <link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.preferred-domain.com/page-url”> in the <head> section. Point it to the URL on the authoritative domain.

• Verify Tag Accuracy: Check that the URLs in the canonical tags are correct. Ensure they lead to the right pages on the authoritative domain. Confirm that these pages are accessible.

• Monitor Performance: Regularly check how the tags affect search performance and indexing. Ensure search engines respect the canonicalization.

7) Optimizing the Pagination Technique

Pagination is a technique used to divide content across multiple pages on your website, commonly seen in product listings. Properly managing pagination is vital for SEO as it helps search engines and users navigate large sets of data efficiently.

Steps to Optimize Pagination for SEO

1. Use ‘rel=prev’ and ‘rel=next’ Tags: Implement these tags to indicate the relationship between paginated pages. This helps search engines understand the sequence of pages and view them as a continuous series.
2. Maintain Content Quality Across Pages: Ensure that each paginated page has unique and valuable content. Avoid thin content on subsequent pages.
3. Implement Consistent Navigation: Provide clear navigation for users to move between pages. Use stable, easy-to-follow links for previous and next pages.
4. Avoid Deep Pagination: Minimize the number of clicks needed to reach important pages. Try to keep users within three clicks from your homepage to any product.
5. Include a View All Page Option: If possible, provide a ‘View All’ page for users who prefer to see all products at once. Ensure this page is also optimized for speed and indexing.

8) A Good URL Structure

A well-organized URL structure enhances the user experience. This aids search engines in understanding the hierarchy and relevance of your website’s content. For eCommerce sites, where the number of pages can be extensive, a logical URL structure is essential.

Optimizing URL Structure for SEO

1. Keep URLs Simple and Descriptive: Use clear and concise URLs that describe the content of the page. This helps users and search engines understand the page topic at a glance.
2. Use Keywords Strategically: Include relevant keywords in URLs to improve search relevance. However, avoid keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact SEO.
3. Employ a Hierarchical Layout: Structure URLs to reflect the organization of your site. For example, https://www.yoursite.com/category/product-name indicates a clear path from a general category to a specific product.
4. Use Hyphens to Separate Words: Opt for hyphens rather than underscores to separate words in URLs, as search engines prefer this format for readability.
5. Avoid Unnecessary Parameters: Minimize the use of URL parameters, as they can complicate crawling and indexing. If parameters are necessary, use them sparingly and ensure they are clearly defined in Google Search Console.
6. Ensure Consistency: Apply a consistent URL structure across your website to prevent confusion and help reinforce the navigational hierarchy to search engines and users alike.

9) Improving Your Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are essential for eCommerce websites as they significantly influence both user satisfaction and search rankings. These metrics are pivotal in assessing three key areas of user experience: loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability.

10) Optimizing Core Web Vitals for SEO

1. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Ensure the main content of your page loads within 2.5 seconds. To improve LCP, optimize image sizes, utilize browser caching, and enhance server response times.
2. Interaction to Next Paint (INP): INP measures the responsiveness of a page when a user first interacts with it. Aim for an INP of less than 200 milliseconds. Optimize this by minimizing the impact of third-party scripts and optimizing your JavaScript and CSS loading strategies to prevent blocking the main thread.
3. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Aim to keep your CLS score under 0.1. To achieve this, define dimensions for images and embedded content and avoid inserting new content above existing content unless it’s in response to user interactions.

Monitoring and Improving Core Web Vitals

• Use Field Data: Track real-user data with tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or the Chrome User Experience Report to gauge how your site performs in real-world conditions.

• Implement Targeted Fixes: Apply specific improvements based on the insights gathered to address issues impacting these vitals. Testing changes in a controlled environment before deployment ensures positive impacts on performance.
• Continual Review: Keep an eye on your website’s performance regularly, especially after updates or changes, to ensure that Core Web Vitals remain optimized.

11) Mobile Optimization for Better Indexing

Google’s shift to mobile-first indexing underscores the importance of having a website that performs well on mobile devices. For eCommerce sites, where a significant portion of traffic comes from mobile users, optimizing for mobile is not just a recommendation—it’s essential.

Enhancing Mobile Optimization for SEO

1. Responsive Design: Ensure your website uses a responsive design that automatically adjusts to fit the screen size of any device, from desktops to smartphones.
2. Fast Loading Times: Mobile users expect quick loading times. Optimize images, leverage browser caching, and minimize redirects to enhance mobile site speed.
3. Simplify Navigation: Mobile screens are smaller, so it’s crucial to have a simple, intuitive navigation structure. Ensure that menus are accessible and easy to use on mobile devices.
4. Touch-friendly Interfaces: Design elements such as buttons and form fields should be easy to interact with on a touch screen. Make sure they are adequately sized and spaced to prevent user frustration.
5. Test Mobile Usability: Use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to analyze your site and fix any usability issues that could affect mobile users.
6. Prioritize Above-the-Fold Content: Optimize content that appears above the fold to load first and be immediately visible to mobile users. This improves user engagement and reduces bounce rates.

12) Balanced Internal Redirects

Internal redirects play a key role in website maintenance. This is especially in an eCommerce context where products might be moved or removed over time. Managing these redirects properly ensures that users and search engines are guided to the correct pages. It prevents errors and the loss of SEO value.

Optimizing Internal Redirects for SEO

1. Limit Use of Redirects: Ideally, use redirects sparingly. Excessive internal redirects can slow down your site and create a poor user experience.
2. Update Internal Links: Whenever possible, update internal links directly to point to the new URLs instead of relying on redirects. This helps maintain link equity and reduces load times.
3. Use 301 Redirects for Permanent Changes: When a product page is permanently moved or deleted, use a 301 redirect to transfer the SEO value from the old URL to the new URL or a relevant alternative page.
4. Monitor and Audit Redirects: Regularly check your website for unnecessary or broken redirects. Tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider can help identify and manage these issues.
5. Document Redirects: Maintain a clear record of all redirects implemented on your site. This documentation helps manage redirects over time and simplifies troubleshooting and updates.

13) Keep Your Data Structured 

Structured data involves marking up your website’s content so that search engines can understand it better. It’s particularly crucial for eCommerce sites, as it enables rich snippets like product pricing, availability, and review ratings to appear directly in search results.

Implementing Structured Data for Enhanced SEO

1. Choose Relevant Schemas: Use schema.org vocabulary to select relevant schemas for your products, such as Product, Offer, and Review. This helps search engines display detailed product information directly in search results.
2. Use JSON-LD Format: Implement structured data in the JSON-LD format, which is recommended by Google. Place it within a <script> tag in the page’s <head>.
3. Markup Product Details: Include details such as name, price, availability, and reviews on your product page’s structured data. This information can greatly enhance your visibility and click-through rates from search results.
4. Validate Your Implementation: Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to validate your structured data. Ensure it is error-free and correctly implemented to take full advantage of SEO benefits.
5. Monitor Performance: Keep an eye on how your structured data impacts your site’s performance in Google Search Console. Check for errors and make adjustments as needed.
6. Stay Updated: Search engine guidelines and supported formats can change. Regularly review updates from Google and other search engines to ensure your structured data remains compliant and effective.

Most ecommerce platforms have tools to help you add these labels, or you can work with a web developer for a more customized setup.

Common Mistakes You Should Avoid

The complexities of technical SEO for eCommerce websites can be hard to understand. It’s easy to find common pitfalls that may affect your site’s performance and rankings. Here are some frequent mistakes you should be aware of:

• Inadequate Security Measures: Security is a top priority for eCommerce sites. An insecure site (not using HTTPS) can lead to trust issues and lower rankings. Ensure your site is secure and uses HTTPS.

• Not Utilizing Analytics: Not monitoring your site’s performance with tools like Google Analytics can leave you blind to areas that need improvement. Regularly review analytics to understand user behavior and refine your SEO strategies.

• Forgetting About User Experience: SEO isn’t just about pleasing search engines. A site that’s hard to navigate, confusing, or slow will drive users away, negatively impacting your rankings. Focus on providing a seamless, enjoyable user experience.

• Ignoring Image Optimization: Large, unoptimized images can significantly slow down your website, affecting load times and user experience. Compress images, use appropriate file formats, and ensure that all images have alt tags that describe the content, which also helps with SEO.

• Overusing Keywords: While keywords are crucial for SEO, stuffing them into your content or meta tags can harm your site’s ranking and readability. Use keywords naturally and focus on creating quality content that provides value to your users.

Conclusion

Technical SEO is pivotal for enhancing the visibility and operability of your eCommerce website. By addressing the nuances of site architecture, mobile optimization, and user experience, you set a foundation for sustained organic growth. 

Remember, the digital era is constantly changing, and staying ahead requires continuous learning and adaptation. Invest in these technical SEO practices to not only meet but also exceed user expectations and follow search engine guidelines. 

Frequently Asked Questions