Ecommerce SEO

An e-commerce SEO audit is a quick identification of the technical and structural problems that affect indexing, crawling, the visibility of categories and products, and content quality. In the course of it I identify the barriers that limit crawlers’ access to important pages and the elements that create a risk of duplication and diluted signals. The audit is the basis for the later mapping of keywords to the right page types and for pointing out gaps in the landing page structure. The scope of work in the audit may vary depending on the scale of the store and the complexity of the catalogue (the number of categories, products, variants and language versions, and how dynamic the product range is).

In the audit I check, above all, indexing and the use of crawl budget, the architecture and internal linking, as well as templates and metadata. The analysis covers, among other things, which page types are indexed, whether there are duplicates, incorrect canonicals, filter pages in the index or 404/5xx errors, and whether the crawler is wasting budget on unimportant URLs. I also assess the category structure, click depth, navigation, breadcrumbs, URL consistency and linking to categories and products. In addition, I verify the title/description templates, headings, category content, pagination and repeated elements that may generate duplication.

A key element of the audit is also the verification of structured data and performance, including aspects related to Core Web Vitals. I check the implementation of structured data for products, offers, breadcrumbs and the organisation, as well as the correctness of the fields that can affect presentation in the search results. In parallel, I identify the elements that slow the store down, such as images, scripts and templates, and the mobile usability problems that can limit SEO effectiveness. The conclusions from these areas are later used to set out the implementation work and the priorities in the next stages.

• Indexing and crawl budget analysis: duplicates, canonicals, filter pages in the index, 404/5xx errors, use of the crawler’s budget.
• Architecture and linking analysis: category structure, click depth, navigation, breadcrumbs, links to categories and products, URL consistency.
• Template and metadata analysis: title/description, headings, category content, pagination, repeated elements generating duplication.
• Structured data analysis: products, offers, breadcrumbs, organisation and the correctness of the fields that affect how results look.
• Performance and Core Web Vitals analysis: elements that slow the store down and mobile usability problems.

Architecture and linking analysis covers assessing whether the structure of the store allows crawlers and users to reach the key categories and products efficiently. I check how the categories and subcategories are built and whether their layout supports moving logically through the product range. I assess click depth — how far from the home page the important landing pages are. As part of this analysis I also verify whether the navigation and breadcrumbs help with orientation and with passing internal signals.

In the part concerning internal linking, I analyse whether the store lacks consistency in linking to the priority categories and products. I look at where the links appear (e.g. in the navigation, breadcrumbs and other structural elements) and whether inconsistencies arise in the URLs. URL consistency is assessed in terms of uniform rules across the store, because discrepancies can make both crawling and keeping the structure in order more difficult. The conclusions from this analysis are used later when setting out the implementation tasks concerning linking and architecture.

• Assessing the structure of categories and subcategories and the click depth to key pages.
• Verifying the navigation and breadcrumbs in terms of leading to categories and products.
• Checking the internal links to categories and products and the consistency of URLs across the store.

The action plan and SEO implementation backlog is the stage at which I turn the conclusions from the audit and the keyword mapping into a list of specific work to be done in the store. I arrange the tasks in order of their impact on indexing and sales and break them down into implementation items with a clearly described scope. In the plan I specify who carries out a given task, what exactly is to be changed, how it should be implemented and what the dependencies between the pieces of work are. As a result, the work can be followed through regardless of whether you carry out the implementations in-house or with the support of a technical person.

The key outcome is the “SEO task backlog”: a list with priorities, an implementation description, the risk and the acceptance criteria — the conditions for considering a task correctly implemented. The backlog is the basis for execution and for accounting for progress, and it also makes decision-making easier in the places that require agreement on the business or technology side. The scale of the store and the complexity of the catalogue (e.g. the number of categories, products, variants or language versions) affect the number of tasks and the need for automation in the templates. The limitations of the platform and the template may, in turn, determine which recommendations can be implemented straight away and which will require development work.

• Arranging tasks by priority (impact on indexing and sales) and by the dependencies between implementations.
• An implementation description for each task: scope, responsibility (who), method of delivery (how) and risks.
• Acceptance criteria that define what we consider correctly implemented and ready for verification.