Optimizing Ecommerce Category Pages for SEO: 8 Tips for Increased Attention

Whether you’re in the business of fashion ecommerce, selling travel suitcases, or peddling camera lenses, getting your customers’ eyeballs on your product should be at the top of your list of priorities.

One of the most effective ways to capture that attention is through well-optimized category pages, also known as Product Listing Pages (PLPs).

Think of these pages like the digital aisles of your online store, guiding potential customers to the products they’re looking for.

However, you’re missing out on significant traffic and sales opportunities if you don’t optimize these pages correctly.

To plug this hole, I’ll show you how to optimize your ecommerce category pages for SEO so they’re both discoverable and user-friendly.

Let’s jump in!

The Importance of Ecommerce Category Pages for SEO

Category pages, or PLPs, are critical components of an ecommerce website’s structure. They are the main traffic-generating pages for ecommerce sites, often ranking for high-volume terms that help potential customers discover your brand.

While a page for a specific product can rank well, PLPs will typically rank for higher volume terms. For example, while a well-optimized Product Description Page (PDP) might rank for a type of jeans, a PLP could rank for the broader and more competitive term “Men’s Jeans.”

On top of that, here are a few more reasons why PLPs are essential for SEO:

• Traffic Generation: PLPs can capture long-tail keywords related to transactional queries, helping your site rank for a broad range of search terms.
• Brand Visibility: These pages can introduce your brand to users who are ready to buy but may still need to learn about your specific brand or product.
• Navigational Aid: PLPs are vital pages that help users find products efficiently, allowing them to narrow their search quickly.
• Internal Linking: They facilitate internal linking, which improves site structure and search engine crawlability.
• Unique Content Opportunities: PLPs provide a platform for unique content, such as descriptive text, FAQs, and customer reviews – enhancing user experience and SEO.

Ecommerce Category Pages SEO Best Practices

Now that you know why PLPs are essential for your ecommerce business’ success, how can you make these category pages more discoverable?

Here are a few best practices you can use to optimize your ecommerce category pages effectively:

1. Conduct Keyword Research to Expand the Number of PLPs/Categories/Collections

The first step to optimizing your category pages is conducting thorough keyword research. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using Shopify or WooCommerce; understanding your customers’ search intent will help you better structure your PLPs.

Many businesses create PLPs based on their product catalog without considering search intent. By identifying competitor gaps, product attributes, and PDP intent, you can expand your PLP collection to cover your entire catalog while aligning with search intent and volume.

Targeting long-tail keywords allows you to match user intent more specifically and compete for less competitive terms.

For example, a PLP targeting “eco-friendly women’s shoes” is more likely to attract a niche audience ready to purchase than a generic “women’s shoes” category.

You can do this yourself using free or paid-for online tools, but you’re likely to get better results if you hire an external company with the expertise to identify the best keywords for your particular business. It’s part and parcel of ecommerce product SEO that will help the customers you want to find your products.

2. Organize Categories Properly

Organizing your categories logically and hierarchically is essential for SEO and user experience. 

One way to effectively achieve this is by utilizing content hubs to build your site architecture.

While there are many different ways to structure and organize content, one that’s particularly useful for ecommerce businesses is the silo structure. It involves grouping related pages under broad categories, making it easier for search engines to understand your site’s structure.

Each silo consists of a main silo page and related content, all of which are interlinked. However—and this is a crucial point—the content in one silo does not link to the content in another silo.

For example, if you’re selling men’s wear, “Pants” might be the silo page, and linking and interlinking to that page would be “Jeans,” “Chinos,” and “Dress pants.” 

Another silo might be “Shirts,” but because pants and shirts are distinct categories, the subpages in each silo would only link to their relevant parent pages, and not across categories.

3. Add Useful Content

A successful PLP isn’t just a collection of product thumbnails. It should provide valuable information that guides the user through their buying journey. 

Each of your category pages could benefit from the following:

• Descriptive Text: Include a brief overview of what the category offers, highlighting key benefits and features.
• FAQs: Address common questions and concerns related to the products in the category.
• Customer Reviews: Showcase testimonials and reviews to build trust and credibility.

For instance, Proper Cloth’s category pages include detailed content that enhances users’ understanding of their product offerings.

4. Have Proper Navigation

Proper navigation is critical for guiding users through your site and ensuring they can find what they need quickly. 

Here are some elements of effective navigation:

• Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs help users understand their location within the site hierarchy and easily navigate back to previous pages. For example: “Home” > “Shop” > “Suits.”
• Navigation Menus: Clear and concise menus enable users to find relevant categories and products quickly.
• Relevant Category Recommendations: Suggest related categories to keep users engaged and encourage further exploration. For example, if a user is browsing “Pants,” recommendations might include “Belts” and “Socks” to promote further discovery.
• Internal Links: Use internal links to connect related content and guide users toward conversion paths. For example, a PLP relating to “Pants” might include internal links to related articles on “Jeans” and “Dress pants.”

5. Follow Best UX Practices for Usability

Usability is a critical factor in the success of ecommerce websites. It ensures users can navigate the site easily, find what they’re looking for, and complete their purchase with as little frustration as possible.

According to Baymard’s extensive research on homepage and category navigation UX, several best practices can significantly enhance the user experience on category pages:

• Intuitive Design: Use a clean, simple design that prioritizes essential elements and minimizes distractions. By prioritizing key elements such as product listings and navigation options while at the same time reducing distractions such as banner ads, you can make it much easier for users to navigate your site and find the product they’re looking for.
• Consistent Layout: Maintain consistency in layout and design elements across all category pages. This includes filters and sorting options. Doing so will help users become more familiar with your site and allow them to understand the navigation intuitively.
• Easy Filtering and Sorting: Provide users with options to filter and sort products based on their preferences. This includes attributes like size, color, and price and sorting options like popularity, price, or newest.

6. Ensure Your Design Is Accessible

Accessibility isn’t just a legal requirement for many sites, it’s also a crucial aspect of user experience. But what does accessibility mean from an ecommerce perspective?

Simply put, it’s ensuring that your site is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities such as low vision or blindness, hearing difficulties, or limited mobility. 

Luckily, you don’t have to guess how to make your site more accessible.

Just follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) by incorporating features such as:

• Alt Texts: Use descriptive alt texts for images to assist visually impaired users.
• Keyboard Navigation: Ensure that all interactive elements can be navigated using a keyboard.
• Contrast and Readability: Use high-contrast colors and legible fonts to enhance readability for all users.

7. Link to Internal Useful Guides and Tools

Linking to internal guides and tools from a product page enhances user experience, provides valuable information, and improves SEO. Proper Cloth, for example, links to its Tuxedo Shirt Guide from its formalwear category page, offering users additional insights and increasing the time spent on the site.

Here’s how it helps:

• Provides Context: When users browse a site, they’ll likely have questions about using a certain product. Linking to a guide from a product page puts the relevant information direction in their lap without the user searching elsewhere. This makes the whole browsing experience that much more seamless. On top of that, it also reduces friction by providing the user with detailed information about whatever queries they might have about the product specifics.
• Educates Users: Since guides contain a lot of in-depth information about a specific product, they can make users feel more confident about their purchase. Imagine you’re buying a tuxedo shirt and are unfamiliar with the differences between pleated and pique fronts. Proper Cloth’s guide clarifies these options, helping you select the best product for your needs.
• Builds Trust and Authority: With a detailed enough guide, you can position yourself as an expert in your field. If we look at Proper Cloth’s detailed guides, they clearly demonstrate that they know more than a thing or two about formalwear, which can increase customer trust and loyalty. Shoppers appreciate brands that provide more than just products—they value those that help them make informed choices.
• Improved SEO: Linking internally to helpful content, such as guides, strengthens your site’s internal linking structure. It also increases the amount of time users spend on your site, signaling to search engines that the content is valuable, and boosting the site’s ranking. Finally, it allows you to target specific, long-tail keywords. For example, Proper Cloth’s guide might rank for search terms like “how to choose a tuxedo shirt” or “best tuxedo shirt for black-tie events.” This brings additional traffic to the site from people looking for detailed advice, not just products.

8. Follow Best On-Page Practices

On-page SEO optimization is one of the most important things you can do for your ecommerce category page. It improves the visibility and relevance of your ecommerce website and enhances its usability. 

When optimizing the on-page on your site, here are a few things to consider:

• Unique and Targeted Titles: Title tags are crucial for SEO as they signal to search engines and users what the page is about. Craft unique and targeted titles that include primary keywords relevant to each page. Keep them concise (50-60 characters) and ensure they reflect the content accurately to improve click-through rates.
• Clean and Informative H1: The H1 tag is essential for communicating the page’s main topic to both users and search engines. Use a single, well-optimized H1 tag that includes your target keywords. Ensure the H1 is descriptive and aligns with user search intent (e.g., using product names or categories).
• Optimized Meta Descriptions: While meta descriptions don’t directly impact rankings, they influence click-through rates by summarizing the page. Write compelling meta descriptions (150-160 characters) that accurately describe the page content and include primary keywords. Highlight unique selling points and encourage users to click.
• SEO-Friendly URLs: Clean, readable URLs help users and search engines understand the page’s content. Keep URLs short, descriptive, and keyword-rich. Avoid complex structures with unnecessary parameters.
• Schema Markup: Adding schema markup can enhance your product listings in search results, leading to rich snippets that attract more clicks. Use product, review, and pricing schema to provide search engines with structured data, enhancing your listings’ visibility.

Category Pages Will Get Your Sales. Let Us Optimize Them For You.

Optimizing ecommerce category pages for SEO is a multifaceted process that involves strategic planning, content creation, and technical optimization. 

By following the tips outlined in this article, you can enhance your PLPs’ performance, improve user experience, and ultimately drive more traffic and sales to your site.

If you want to take your ecommerce SEO strategy to the next level, the team at DCP is here to help. 

We specialize in tailored content marketing solutions that unlock your business’s full potential. 

Contact us to get started.