#Optimize Category Pages for Ecommerce
Optimize category pages for e-commerce with information copy: -
Learn how to optimize category pages to make the online shopping experience easier for shoppers and improve the e-commerce site's presence in searches.
Category pages primarily serve a practical purpose, dividing an eCommerce store's inventory into manageable subsections so that online shoppers can quickly access specific products.
Website pages, category pages also perform a higher function; they can attract users from the search engine results pages to the website.
Accomplishing this with a category page is easier said than done.
The process may involve creating unique layouts and hybrid copies that combine the functions of business and information pages.
Optimize category pages with informative copy.
Ecommerce category pages can have competing purposes.
Ecommerce retailers use category pages to organize products into logical groups that facilitate the online shopping experience.
Just as many physical stores physically separate merchandise into departments and aisles, e-commerce sites separate products into categories with their own landing pages and sub-filters.
Category pages allow users to intuitively explore a virtual store and focus on the types of products they want to browse.
In terms of visual design, category pages tend to have simple and very structured layouts.
Category pages feature images of individual products that link to their corresponding product pages organized in grids.
Excluding the markdown promotion, navigation links, and search filters, the only text on the page is a brief description of the product category and individual product names with prices.
Online marketers may be looking to increase sales for a specific product category, not just promote the brand as a whole.
Adding keyword-optimized text is the preferred strategy to improve SEO and page rankings on the page.
Too much text can distract users from rich product images and hamper the functional simplicity of the layout.
When it comes to category pages, SEO professionals should adhere to two seemingly opposing SEO and UX strategies:
Include enough text to effectively target the keywords.
Maintain a simple, image-focused design.
Finding a balance between these two goals has proven difficult for many.
Optimizing category pages requires a creative and informed strategy.
Google offers little information on the matter.
The Google resource for webmaster guidelines doesn't include specific category page ranking information, leaving SEO professionals in the dark.
This lack of focus can lead to optimization efforts for stray category pages, devaluing those important pages.
To avoid penalizing thin pages or ranking conflicts between pages, some choose not to index category pages rather than build them for optimization.
To classify category pages:
* Optimize internal links to category pages.
* Avoid keyword stuffing in category pages.
* Create external links to category pages.
As a short-term solution, make it easier for users to navigate to category pages from product pages.
While internal linking, link building, and making page navigation easier are good tips, these tactics aren't specific to category pages.
* Selection of keywords for e-commerce category pages.
Category page optimization begins with identifying the keyword (s) to target.
SEO professionals should go through the standard keyword research process, assess search volume and difficulty to rank, account for stops along the customer journey, and analyze search intent.
Understanding keyword research intent is a top priority for e-commerce category page optimization.
To improve the ranking of a category page, one needs to target search engine users who already know what type of product they want and are ready to buy.
A useful classification of keywords on which to break down keywords into categories:
Commercial / Transactional Keywords: Commercial keywords direct consumers to sites that sell the products they want to buy. Transactional keywords specifically target consumers who want to buy immediately and can be easily converted by adding terms such as "buy", "buy" and "sell".
Informative Keywords: Users who search for educational information on a given topic or product often search for keywords with query words such as "how", "what", "where" and "why".
Navigation Keywords: Search engine users who want to find a specific business's webpage often search for the brand by name.
Select keywords with strong purchase intent, not general terms a user would search for information resources.
Category pages are best suited for consumers who are already familiar with transactional keywords that target consumers at this point in their customer journey, making them ideal for product pages.
Ecommerce Category Page Copy Optimization.
With a keyword target identified, one can start writing a copy for the category page.
Remember, category pages rely on simplicity and organization to provide a seamless user experience.
They should also prioritize rich images that showcase individual products.
Here are some tips for writing a compelling and optimized e-commerce page copy:
Add text in small snippets.
Ranking a keyword with minimal copy requires getting the most out of every text element on a category page.
Fortunately, there are ways to include a substantial amount of text on a category page without writing long paragraphs that are visually disturbing.
Optimize category page copy to incorporate short details of business text by:
Including a category description of the product category creates an opportunity to use the target keyword contextually and share information and details that set your brand apart from its competition.
Use headers and subtitles so that the category title is not the only header on a category page.
Use captions to optimize page copy, add visual organization, and take advantage of product subcategories.
Direct users to information pages.
Category pages can link to internal information pages relevant to the products promoted on the page.
The linked page not only adds to the overall volume of text on the category page but also gives the option to use optimized anchor text.
Make product descriptions count by making sure each product featured on a category page includes a product name, price, and brief description.
By using the strategies, one can add optimized text to a category page without infringing on the product-oriented design of the page.
Depending on the target keyword and the competition within a niche, this limited amount of copies may be enough to get a first-page ranking.
Ecommerce businesses in more saturated markets can struggle to distinguish themselves with so few copies.
To further optimize a page while avoiding keyword stuffing, the natural inclination may be to build the page with useful text and graphics.
This makes it difficult to rank for transactional keywords and compete with other strictly informative pages.
This tussle between the category page feature and optimization raises an important question.
To gauge the performance of category pages with different levels of informative text, compare all of the category pages that rank in the top 10 for a certain term.
The listed companies had a first-page ranking category page that matched the given transactional search term.
Informational content approximate word count includes only content that does not relate to a specific product featured on the page.
To target purely informational copy, these word counts exclude individual product details, sales promotions, the general company and shopping information, other category and subcategory names, filters, products related, recommended products, navigation text, reviews, sidebars, footers, etc.
These few examples are reproducible with all types of products.
Visit category pages and start building them with long passages of text? Not necessarily.
Many category pages list strategies for incorporating larger sections of text:
Strategic placement and organization: To avoid interference with navigation tools and product visuals, SEO professionals often place a brief introductory paragraph of informational copy at the top of the page and save the longer text for the bottom, after all, the product images.
Collapsible Content: Including a collapsible copy with the options “see more” and “see less” allows SEO professionals to add substantial amounts of information without overloading the user or overloading the layout.
Buying Guides: To add relevant content to category pages, editors often write buying guides that explain all of the considerations a buyer should take into account when purchasing a product on the page.
FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions sections contain useful information, contain keyword-rich text, and generally do not require consecutive paragraphs of text, making them perfect for the bottom of category pages.
Quality Statements: A category page is a great place to make a value statement.
The hybrid approach of category pages:
In search engine optimization, there is seldom a one-size-fits-all, correct way to achieve a goal or get to the top of Google search for a target keyword.
Achieving and maintaining high rankings, traffic, and sales conversions requires trial and error and continuous evolution.
Category pages employ both business and informational content strategies, resulting in unique hybrids with a great variance between brands.
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