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How do I rank ecommerce product pages on Google?
Ecommerce SEO is different. Most sites have hundreds of product pages, and most of them get no traffic. The pages that do rank do five things...
Ecommerce SEO is different. Most sites have hundreds of product pages, and most of them get no traffic. The pages that do rank do five things consistently: product schema, unique content, internal linking, reviews, and category structure that makes sense.
If your store has 500 products and you’ve only optimised the homepage, you’re leaving 95% of potential traffic on the table.
Product page essentials
Unique product descriptions
Don’t copy-paste manufacturer descriptions. Every other store selling that product has identical content. Write your own: even 100 unique words per product beats verbatim manufacturer copy.
Schema markup
Product schema with name, image, brand, price, availability, aggregate rating. Lets Google show rich results (price, stars) in search.
High-quality images
Multiple angles, zoom, lifestyle shots, scale references. Optimised filenames and alt text. WebP format for size.
Customer reviews
On the product page itself, not just on a separate review page. Review schema markup so Google can pull star ratings into search results.
Internal links
Related products, “customers also bought”, breadcrumbs, parent category. Most ecommerce stores under-link products.
Category page strategy
Category pages often outrank individual products because they target broader queries. “Mens running shoes” ranks for tens of thousands of searches; “Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41 Mens Size 11” ranks for almost none.
What good category pages have: a substantive heading paragraph (200-400 words explaining the category), product filters (size, brand, price), pagination with proper canonical tags, breadcrumbs, related categories.
What kills them: infinite scroll without proper crawl signals, faceted navigation that creates millions of duplicate URLs, thin pages with just product grids and no context.
Out-of-stock products
Don’t delete the page. Backlinks die. Rankings die. Use schema availability:OutOfStock and let the page stay.
Offer alternatives. “This product is currently unavailable. Similar products: [related links].” Captures the search demand even when stock is gone.
For permanently discontinued products: 301 redirect to the closest active alternative. Don’t 404 them.
Common ecommerce SEO mistakes
Manufacturer descriptions only. Identical content across hundreds of competitor sites. Google has nothing to differentiate.
Faceted nav explosion. /shoes?size=10&color=red&brand=nike creating millions of indexed pages. Use canonical tags or robots directives to control.
No structured data. Product schema is free implementation, big visibility win.
Product page per variant. 50 colour variants of one shirt as 50 separate pages. Use one product page with variant selectors.
Australian-specific notes
Currency in AUD, GST inclusive on listed prices (legal requirement for B2C). Schema price field uses AUD.
Australia Post integration for live shipping rates by postcode. Visible at the cart, not surprise-priced at checkout.
Standard Australian payment options (Stripe, PayPal, Afterpay, Zip). Each has its own customer base.
Want this done, not just explained?
That's the same advice we give in a scoping call. When you want it executed, we run Local and Growth SEO programs for Australian businesses.