Getting a shop found on Google: product pages, categories and duplicates

In a shop, Google reads hundreds of nearly identical pages: the same product in three colours, the same lists sorted five ways. SEO for a shop is less about keywords and more about tidying this up: one strong page per product, categories with text and nothing duplicated. Nobody can guarantee a position or a timescale; this only puts the shop in a fit state to be read well.

The product pages

1 A unique title for every product. The concrete name, with the feature people look for (“brown leather sandal”, not “Product 14”). The SEO plugin lets you change the title Google sees without changing the page's.
2 A description you wrote yourself. If you copy the supplier's text, Google sees the same text on dozens of shops. At least write the opening with what you know about the product.
3 Images with a file name and alt text. brown-leather-sandal.jpg says more than IMG_4821.jpg. See product images for a fast shop.
4 Keep structured data in order. WooCommerce already writes the product data (name, price, availability). Do not add a second identical block: see structured data.
5 Let reviews in, moderated. They add fresh text to the page and trust for the buyer.

Categories and what repeats

Situation What to do
A category with only the product list Add a short paragraph at the top saying what is there and who it is for.
Addresses ending in sorting and filters (parameters) Each combination is a new page to Google. The SEO plugin should mark the main address (the canonical). Check that it does.
Variants of one product One page per product, with the variations inside it: see product variations.
A sold-out product If it comes back, keep the page and say when. If never, redirect to the category with a 301: see 301 redirects.
Cart, checkout and account pages They should not appear in search. WooCommerce already marks them; the SEO plugin must not contradict it.

What to check once a quarter

1 Open Search Console and see how many pages are indexed and how many excluded. If the shop has a thousand products and Google knows a hundred, there is work to do (Search Console step by step).
2 Confirm the sitemap and robots.txt (robots.txt and sitemap.xml).
3 Measure product-page speed on a phone: Core Web Vitals weigh on a shop (Core Web Vitals in plain words).
Do not delete a page that has visits without thinking. An old product page may have been bringing people for years. Before deleting it, redirect it to the closest one.
Write for the person asking, not for the robot. Category texts that answer “which one to choose” and “how to measure” bring more visits than repeating the keyword ten times. And none of this promises page one: nobody can.

Want to know why Google does not see your shop pages? Tell us the address and two products that do not appear, and we will see what the server answers.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Why your site does not show on Google

Structured data and rich results

A shop that holds up: before you open

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