The category section of any online store or eCommerce website is often overlooked when considering search engine optimisation. There are many simple ways you can improve both the user experience but also your SEO rankings. We explore some of your options below.
If you are looking for help with your SEO strategy then consider reaching out to an SEO Agency in London.
Include Internal Links
An internal link is any link that takes you from one page on your website to another page on your website. The concept is pretty simple but it can be very useful to improve search engine rankings and customer experience.
Internal links on category pages can be used in a number of ways, such as linking to subcategories. Subcategories give Google more context on the contents on the page, whilst allowing users to navigate the website more easily.
This example from the Made website below shows all the subcategories of the storage category. Note that links can also be images as well as text.
Another great internal linking method is linking your blog to your category page or vice versa. Providing relevant buying advice on your blog would be an ideal opportunity to push potential customers toward a conversion. In addition, linking from blog to category will increase the authority of the category page because the blog post will have external links.
Add Helpful Content
Google needs some content, so it knows the context of the page, and your users who don’t know your brand need something to help them decide if you’re the right choice.
Adding content to the category page provides great opportunities to rank for keywords, target the pain points, and showcase your USPs (e.g. free shipping, money-back guarantees).
The example below shows how IKEA adds content to its sofa-bed category. It gives some benefits of having a sofa-bed over a regular bed.
We recommend limiting this content to between 60-80 words; otherwise, you risk making the user experience worse and doing more harm than good. If your product is likely to generate many questions, consider adding an FAQ section to the category page. We explore this in more detail below.
Structured Data
Structured data helps Google understand the page’s content and provides rich results in their search engine. The main two types of structured data to focus on would be breadcrumbs & FAQs.
Breadcrumbs are a trail of how the user managed to navigate to that page. They provide excellent value for Google because they show the structure of the entire website, the categories and products within the categories. They also offer an improved user experience (a Google ranking factor), allowing them to navigate to the previous page quickly.
The example below shows how Adidas uses breadcrumbs. You can see the ‘Trousers’ is a subcategory of ‘Men’.
FAQs or frequently asked questions help answer common questions about your brand or product. They provide value to the user and help them along the conversion process, and they can also be shown in Google SERPs.
See this example from Omio. They have included these questions on their sales page and are now showing up on Google.
Optimising for Google or other search engines can be a long, confusing process. It is extremely rewarding if done correctly; however, it can damage your business if done incorrectly. If you want help with your eCommerce marketing, consider using an SEO Agency in London.
