Search engines will certainly alter how they index content in the next few years. To create better value propositions and move ahead of the competition, we need to work smarter in today’s market. Different websites use the term “indexing” for various things. However, for E-Commerce businesses, indexing refers to two types of pages: The category page or product listing page (PLP) and the individual product page or product details page (PDP).
Many E-Commerce sites have utilized similar methods in the past – to bulk out the category page with “SEO content” (that mostly resided at the bottom of the page) and an optimized H1. Individual product pages, on the other hand, typically receive less attention. Some of the goods may have product descriptions prepared. The majority of the time, however, the page content will be filled in with the product information management (PIM) tool.
Signals and indexing in E-Commerce are important
First, I’d like to make it clear that when I refer to “indexing signals,” I’m not referring to page-level indexing signals such as canonicals and noindex tags. For the most part, I’d like to think these are correct; related issues should be visible when you first scan through any crawl data.
The “signals” I’m talking about are the indicators we can generate to let Google (and other search engines) know that our website and its contents are good candidates to show up on a search engine results page. The question of quality threshold is what determines whether or not a web page (a collection of HTML documents) is indexed. A quality threshold is required by search engines since indexing the whole internet is impossible. In E-Commerce, the quality threshold bar will vary according to the sector.
A common error is assuming that quality alone will equate to E-A-T even though it’s a combination of multiple factors:
- The content’s source.
- The content’s relevancy to the topic, authority of the source, and how much information is covered.
- E-A-T.
- Historical data and variables.
- Content and value propositions from competitors for the same search queries.
Google also doesn’t present SERPs in a linear way. For example, if you search for solar charger in the U.S., the SERP will show:
- Google Shopping results
- Four E-commerce results
- Five informational results
- A Top Stories carousel
Why does this matter?
Because Google is trying to please everyone by providing what they want.
It also needs to have various thresholds for each result source type, since comparing the Amazon result to a random product comparison website showing is impossible. This is also why I am finding that keyword difficulty scores in third-party tools are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
The connection between your website’s supplementary content and its product detail pages
Internal anchor texts are important, and from what I have seen, they are frequently underoptimized and left as lackluster calls to action. John Mueller of Google has stated that the anchor text used for internal links provides Google context about what the page being linked to is discussing.
When you use descriptive anchor text in your link, you’re providing Google with more information so that it can better understand what the linked page is about
- Where the content piece sits in your domain ecosystem.
- How to determine if one page should be ranked over another for a specific query.
Improving your product detail pages for better indexing
Many E-Commerce websites fail to invest enough in their product pages. In competitive markets, the majority of these PDPs do not provide unique value propositions and fail to meet the indexing quality bar. There are several methods to improve your product pages and promote your business’s unique selling proposition.
Dynamic metadata and product information
If your brand’s unique selling proposition is based on offering quality products at budget-friendly prices, popular search terms will likely revolve around “budget” and “cheap.” If you want to ensure the lower price is visible on the page and encourage people to click through from the search results, you can include dynamic elements in the PDP title tag, H2, and body copy that show the current price.
Content enhancements
It makes sense that many product pages have very similar descriptions since there’s only so much variation possible for any given item. Enrich your product pages with expert reviews or advice sections to create a more robust E-A-T strategy and other content areas on your website.
Championing among variables
Some product lines contain the same goods, only with multiple variants and releases. Some of these endure for years, while others last for months. The primary product name does not frequently change, only the version number or name, but you may still want all versions accessible to customers. If you have near-duplicate pages on your website, a great way to help search engines understand their relationship is by designating one page as the “champion” version. You can make this decision based on factors such as which product is most recent or valuable. Once you’ve selected the champion, add internal links between the versions of the pages. Having the product versions compete for indexing can be inconsistent, so it’s better to have a champion product that is more consistent.
Wrap Up
The methods mentioned earlier shouldn’t be viewed as an exhaustive to-do list.
You will get the best results for your brand by using tactics that fit your website and how much work is needed to improve your numbers. All in all, If you want your E-commerce site to do well in the SERPs, optimizing your product detail pages is crucial.
