Fixing Common Technical SEO Issues On ECommerce Websites

In 2020, eCommerce sales worldwide amounted to US$ 4.28 trillion. By 2022, this revenue figure is projected to reach US$ 5.4 trillion. As the number of visitors to eCommerce sites rise, so will the revenues. In this scenario, an under-performing eCommerce website means loss in sales.

eCommerce websites are characterised by their size and complexity. Optimizing these sites require credible technical SEO experience. The issues faced by eCommerce can be damaging for sustained business growth. If you want to prevent the loss of customers, you have to identify and fix common technical SEO issues.

How to Fix Technical SEO Issues on eCommerce Sites?

eCommerce websites have challenges unique to them. Identifying and fixing these technical SEO problems is crucial for improving searchability.

1. Identify multiple URL routes or duplicate content

To prevent cannibalisation. You do not want multiple pages from your own site competing for the same keywords. Duplicate pages also impact the site’s crawl efficiency, and confuse both search engine bots and users.

Fix this with canonical tags Pointing to the preferred format, and use that within sitemaps, and in internal links. Remember, setting a 301 redirect from the duplicate URL to the preferred page will solve page cannibalisation but it will not solve crawlability issues.

2. Identify thin content

In product description pages. eCommerce sites face the challenge of providing unique descriptions for every product. However, it risks losing visibility and ranking.

Fix this through audit tools that flag pages with low text to HTML ratio. Then create detailed product descriptions for all such pages.

3. Identify slow page load speed

With Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool that details site performance and recommendations for improvement.

Fix this with on-page SEO optimization like image compression, code minifying, or using a CDN.

4. Identify broken internal links

They are important for crawlers to understand your site’s structure, and for users to find products.

Fix this with Google Search Console that will crawl your whole site or individual pages to show you broken links. It can also tell you about various 4xx errors like 400, 401, 403, and 404.

5. Identify keyword cannibalisation to avoid wrong page rankings.

This happens when two product pages are optimized for the exact same keyword. Confused search engine crawlers rank the wrong page, for instance, a category page instead of a product page.

Fix this with content review, rel=”noindex” tags, or canonical tags. Retain keywords for pages with better visibility and traffic metrics. The other pages can be either removed or have further metadata optimization as listed.

6. Identify an indexation issue

If a Google search of “site:yoursitename.com” doesn’t pop results of your site, it has indexation problems.

Fix this with Search Console to add your URL to Google.

Pro tip: If results show up, then check the number of indexed pages for your site. If there are more results of indexed pages than you expected, it could mean old versions are indexed instead of redirects. If there are fewer results, audit the indexed content to compare with non-ranking pages. Check configuration of robots.txt file or ‘noindex’ meta tags as possible blockers of pages.

Regular monitoring and technical SEO audits

Common technical SEO issues affect eCommerce websites particularly in the traffic level, product competition, website accessibility, and good user experience. These tips are a starting point to fix some of them. In order to achieve success in search results and provide a clear journey for users, addressing technical SEO issues through periodic performance audits is critical for eCommerce websites.