10 SEO Tips for Optimizing Product Pages of Your Ecommerce Store

Of all things in your online store, products are the most important. That said, many SEOs don't pay enough attention to optimizing product pages. They tend to focus on category sections and either forget about product pages or simply copy and paste product descriptions provided by the manufacturer.

Big mistake.

If you’re doing the same, you may be losing the chance to appear among organic search results and drive traffic to your store for free.

In this article, we have collected 10 easy product page optimization tricks to help you get to the top of Google search results and increase sales.

Do you always need to perform product page optimization?

The short answer is yes.

A product page is the main conversion element of any online store. Correct optimization of this page solves several strategic tasks at once:

1. Attracting targeted traffic to your site from search engines
2. Increasing conversions (number of orders)
3. Reducing bounce rate

And because your primary goal is to increase sales, it’s equally important to optimize both categories and product pages for search engines.

10 tips to optimize ecommerce product pages

The common mistake sellers make is simply copying and pasting product descriptions provided by their suppliers. Sometimes they top it off with thin content. Neither is helpful for product page SEO optimization.

If you’re trying to get organic traffic to your online store, consider using the following strategies.

1. Incorporate long-tail keywords to product page description

Keywords are the first thing to think about when starting to work on your SEO plan. To choose the right keywords, however, you should know a few nuances.

For example, although you may be primarily interested in short commercial keywords, you should consider using long-tail queries as well.

Although long-tail keywords have lower search volumes, they are more specific and tend to have higher click-through rates.

But more importantly, long-tail search queries content higher purchase intent. For instance, if someone is searching for “iPhone 12 256 GB Rose Gold” instead of just “iPhone”, they are most likely ready to purchase.

For keyword research, you can use professional tools like Semrush, Moz, Ahrefs, or SE Ranking.

These tools are designed to provide keyword suggestions and help you select the right queries. Once you type your main keyword into the keyword explorer, you’ll see related long-tail queries with lower search volumes.

Incorporate those queries into your product page description to ensure your website shows up for them among the search engine results.

If you’re new to search engine optimization, make sure to read this beginner-friendly guide to keyword research by Ahrefs.

2. Create understandable URL slugs

As a rule of thumb, you should always use so-called human-readable URL slugs – for your product pages and your entire website as well.

There are at least two reasons why human-readable URLs are better than a random set of symbols.

First, they help your ecommerce product page SEO because you can actually include your target keywords in the slug. Second, they improve usability and make it easier for you and your visitors to navigate the site.

In addition to that, understandable URL slugs look more natural signalizing to the customers that your store is a well-established trustworthy business.

Here are some tips for writing great slugs:

1. Use lowercase letters only
2. Connect words with hyphens
3. Include the brand name of the item or some technical characteristics in the slug

Keep in mind that URLs should not exceed 2,083 characters.

3. Use the common product page structure

Most online consumers have clear expectations of how product pages should look because most popular stores use the same product page.

This is what a typical product page looks like:

From the top left corner to the bottom right corner, you’ll find the following elements:

• Product images, videos, or a carousel
• Product name, price, availability information
• Purchase button and buying options
• Product full description, reviews, and certificates
• Shipping information, delivery options
• Cross-sell items and recommendations

Having a proper structure is crucial for ecommerce product page SEO. When customers land on a page and don’t see these familiar elements, there is a high chance they will bounce for the lack of trust or information.

Uncommon product page structure may turn customers away from your store and have a negative effect on your SEO.

But it’s not just a lost sale we’re talking about. Since bounce rate is a ranking factor, the more people abandon your website without clicking through, the worse it looks in Google’s eyes.

Bottom line? By optimizing your product page structure to meet customers’ expectations, you help it rank higher as well.

4. Pay extra attention to meta titles

Meta titles are the first thing customers see when they start looking for a product on Google. Whether they will click on your result or not, often heavily depends on that small piece of text 👇

Now, some products will have nearly identical meta titles – even though they are sold by different stores. This means you should think of a way to drive attention to your title while using the same scope of information.

Here are a few tips for writing an efficient product page meta title:

• Use a unique expanded name for each product
• Use your target keyword in the title
• Keep titles under 60 characters
• Avoid abbreviations
• Add commercial LSI-words – buy, cheap, delivery – if appropriate

Another good practice when writing product page titles is to adhere to the common title logic. First comes the product identifier – for example, “Men's shoes”. Next come the identification elements – brand, model, color. By sticking to this sequence, you have higher chances to match long-tail queries.

5. Optimize product page meta description

A meta description is a piece of text right under the meta title. Although it doesn’t directly affect your product page rankings, it has a direct influence on your click-through rate. Click-through rate in its turn does happen to be a huge ranking factor, so you always want to keep it up.

Customers may choose to click – or not to click – on your result based on the information in the meta description.

Now, Google can just pull your regular product description and use it for meta, but these few sentences taken out of context may not always look compelling. That’s why it’s always better to write a new meta description.

The recommended length for a meta description is 160 characters, but you may want to check the Google guidelines for any updates. Make sure to include your target keywords in the description as well – they will be highlighted in bold and make your description more eye-catching. You can also use compelling words, such as “sale”, “discounts”, “same-day delivery”, etc.

6. Write a short and full description of your product

When you’re writing a product description, it’s a good practice to write two versions.

A short description will be visible immediately after a visitor lands on the product page. Plus, it can be used in categories as a product description.

Most customers aren’t ready to read a full description of a product upon landing on a page. That’s why it’s a good practice to display a short description first.

The full description is usually placed under the short version and opens upon button click after a visitor gets familiar with the key characteristics of a product. Remember to keep your description unique and include your target keywords – both short and long-tail. The recommended length for the full description is between 305 and 400 words.

7. Optimize images and use product videos

For most customers, product photos are an important selection criterion. That’s why you want to use only high-quality images showing your product from different angles.

To help your product page SEO, make sure your images load quickly (it's one of the main SEO performance metrics) and add alt-text containing your target keywords.

Consider adding product videos, too. Not only do videos often convey the message more effectively, but they also nudge people into staying longer on the page. Given that both the engagement and the session duration are important ranking factors, you may even want to put videos first in the carousel.

8. Let customers leave reviews about your product

Customer reviews are a crucial factor of ecommerce product page optimization. They have the power to increase your rankings and your sales alike.

Besides being a social proof, reviews are also an additional source of text that often contains keywords and gets picked up by Google.

Plus, customer feedback is considered user-generated content (UGC) which is one of the Google ranking factors as well.

To collect and publish reviews, you can use dedicated plugins. For instance, if you’re selling on Shopify, you can use Yotpo. Alternatively, you can create a quick post-purchase survey using Getform and send it to your customers some time after the purchase.