Introduction to Category Page Optimization
If your product pages are ranking well but your category pages are struggling to appear in search engine results, it’s likely due to the greater competition for broader, middle-of-the-funnel keywords. While product pages can capture long-tail, bottom-of-the-funnel queries, category pages often struggle with more competitive, high-traffic terms.
Understanding the Challenges
There are several reasons why your product pages might be outshining your category pages. These include technical accessibility issues, site architecture and internal linking problems, issues with faceted navigation, insufficient or low-quality content on category pages, lack of on-page optimization, low-quality or missing schema markup, and content freshness signals.
Technical Accessibility
To ensure your category pages are fully crawlable and indexable by search engines, check the following aspects:
- On-page directives: Ensure noindex tags aren’t blocking your category pages from appearing in search results.
- Robots.txt file: Double-check that your robots.txt file isn’t unintentionally blocking important category pages.
- Canonical tags: Confirm that canonical tags are correctly set to point to the preferred version of each page.
Site Architecture and Internal Linking
It’s possible that your site architecture is designed to give more link equity to product pages rather than category pages. To improve category page visibility, focus on linking more frequently to those category pages, especially the ones that have the ability to drive the highest amount of revenue. Conducting an opportunity analysis early in your SEO strategy is crucial to identify the category pages that should receive the most internal linking support.
Issues with Faceted Navigation
Faceted navigation is an essential feature for large ecommerce websites, allowing users to filter product searches. However, if not properly managed, it can pose significant SEO challenges. One of the primary concerns is “index bloat” – the creation of multiple, often duplicate URLs for each possible filter combination. To avoid this, limit the number of indexed filter combinations at any given time – ideally no more than two.
Insufficient or Low-Quality Content on Category Pages
Over the years, it’s become clear how impactful on-page copy can be for category pages. It helps to provide extra context that helps search engines better understand the focus of your pages. Many category pages are nothing more than long lists of products and icons, which is a real missed opportunity. To boost their chances, include:
Short Introductions at the Top
A short block of intro copy at the top of the page, explaining what the category is and the broad range of products or brands you sell.
Guidance Lower Down
Additional content modules to help the customer make an informed decision, such as FAQs, feature comparisons, and more information about your brand.
Lack of On-Page Optimization
Your on-page optimization for category pages might not be fully aligned with search intent, so it’s worth reviewing and refining it to better match what users are searching for. This includes:
Page Titles
Review current SERPS to see what’s working for competitors, keep titles unique for each category, and aim for 50-60 characters to prevent truncation in search results.
Meta Descriptions
Craft a compelling meta description that gives users a reason to click, showcasing its offering and value, and keep it within 150-160 characters to avoid truncation.
Header Tags
Use a clear, keyword-rich H1 that tells users exactly what the page is about, and H2 tags to break things down further with subcategories or popular filters.
Low-Quality or Missing Schema Markup
It might be that your schema markup is better for PDPs than your PLPs, or your PLPs just need some more tweaks or additions. Consider adding the BreadcrumbList schema to your category pages, collection-level structured data if applicable, and review if category pages have any missing structured data.
Content Freshness Signals
Regularly updating your category pages will show that the page is actively maintained, increasing your chances of appearing in SERPs. Keep category pages dynamic by highlighting trending products, top-rated items, or seasonal goods, and include recent reviews to demonstrate social proof.
Conclusion
By addressing these common issues and implementing the strategies outlined above, you can improve the visibility of your category pages and drive more traffic to your ecommerce site. Remember to regularly review and refine your category pages to ensure they remain relevant and effective in attracting and engaging your target audience.