If you saw the article entitled ‘Retailers: Google is becoming your new category page’ published on Search Engine Land at the start of October, you’ll know that optimising your product pages has become even more important. If you didn’t see the article, don’t worry because we’ve summarised the juiciest parts with a few additions, below.
What’s more, we’ve created a simple checklist of all the things you can do to optimise your product pages, so they’re not only ranking high up in Google, they’re being displayed in all the right places in Google’s very own category-page style listings, too.
Is Google stealing your category-page traffic?
Chris Long’s article is brilliant, eye-opening and perhaps a little bit scary. It highlights how Google has been creating its own ecommerce experience over time and is now displaying search results where its users don’t even need to click through to a retailers’ site to see a whole array of super-relevant options, just like retailers’ own category pages. And to be clear – we’re not talking about ads at all here – this is all organic search results.
Google has been creating its own ecommerce experience…displaying search results where its users don’t even need to click through to a retailers’ site.
Is this new?
Yes and no. Some elements are – their product grids and faceted-navigation style filtering systems are definitely new but Google’s been playing around with a paid-search style ‘shopping’ experience for years now. It just feels like it’s all suddenly snuck up on us when you Google something like ‘pink slippers’ and see that Google’s taken your products and displayed them next to your competitors’ like it’s Google’s own store. Go ahead, give it a go!
Why is Google creating category pages?
It’s all about offering the best experience and keeping its users on Google. The article mentions that 74% of product searches now start on Amazon, which sounds like a pretty good reason for Google to step up its game and give its users an Amazon-style experience as soon as someone types in, for example, ‘grey toaster’.Before a user has even clicked on a single result, Google’s organic search results include elements such as:
- Product images
- Prices
- Dimensions
- Reviews
- Delivery costs
- Product descriptions
Did we mention that for some results you can even filter by variables such as brand and price directly on that same page? And that the big players aren’t always at the top, middle or bottom-left of the grid? Little players are there too. So these grids present a good opportunity to level up if your brand isn’t well-known and a good reason to make sure you don’t get complacent if your brand is.
How can you ensure your products are being displayed in Google’s category-page style search results?
The below checklist combines everything we’ve ever done to optimise a product page as well as some suggestions from various senior SEOs we’ve spoken to about this over the last week. You might wonder ‘Do I need to do all of these things?’ and to be honest, the answer is: ideally, yes. However, even if you can do half of them, as long as it’s more than your competitors, you’ve got a good chance of some visibility. Whatever you do, now is the time to do it.
Checklist: optimising product pages
| What | Why |
| Google Merchant Centre | Do you remember when Google’s ‘Shopping’ tab began displaying organic listings as well as paid ones? And thinking ‘There are so few organic results, it’s not worth doing for now’? Well it’s worth doing now – imperative even. Enlist the help of your paid-search-pro and get all of your products into the product feeds – even if you don’t advertise for some of them right now. |
| H1s | Been meaning to optimise your product titles (H1s)? Now’s the time to do it. And if your merchandisers say your forest green armchair has to be called ‘Betty Basil Bum Rest’ now’s the time to put your foot down and start using long-tailed keywords here. |
| Meta titles and descriptions | Seems obvious but again, if you’ve been overlooking this, now’s the time to prioritise it. Yes, it can be tedious to make sure your meta data has the right keywords, syntax and tone of voice but it’s worth getting an SEO expert to spend the time to do this. If you just copy your H1s here or even worse – have nothing – you risk Google ignoring what you’ve got and re-writing it for you (which never ends well). |
| Schema markup/structured data | Do you want to let Google know that your product page is indeed a product page and what you have on that page? If you didn’t already know – this is actually possible! Structured data is the key and with a bit of a developer’s time, it’s usually pretty simple to roll out onto all product pages at the same time. For more information about what to include here, feel free to send us an email and we’ll indulge you with another checklist. |
| Image alt text | If we had a pound for every time we’ve seen image alt text copied from a product’s H1, we’d be on holiday in the Bahamas right now. If this is you, please stop! ‘Betty Basil Bum Rest’ doesn’t tell someone who can’t see your images that you have a beautiful ‘emerald green armchair with high back and dark wooden legs’. Google couldn’t give a biscuit either. However, tell it what’s actually in the photo and it’s far more likely to display the image of your product for searches using those words. |
| Image sizing | Did you know Google’s more likely to display your images in its organic search results and featured snippets if it can make your image the right size to be displayed? Here’s what Google says is best practice: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/google-images |
| Video | We’d put money on video being the next thing that shows up in Google’s category pages. Get ahead of the game and get videos in your image carousel (Amazon-style) if you haven’t already. And tell Google they’re there in your structured data too. |
| Product descriptions | If Google is displaying these as part of its own category pages, we think it’s safe to say they’ve become more important than ever before. And if it’s because they’re competing with Amazon, whose listings never skimp on detail, then we think we can kiss goodbye to seeing retailers rank when all they say is ‘The perfect chair for chilling’ on their Betty Basil Bum Rest pages. |
| Reviews | If your mum says your hair looks nice, do you believe her Or the total stranger who comments on what a lovely colour it is whilst standing in the queue of your local bakery? Maybe both, but independent opinions really mean a lot to people and it’s probably not news to you that they really help with conversions. |
| USPs | Don’t leave it to your customers to work out ‘why you’ and ‘why this product’. Take mattresses for example – they can be soft, firm and everything in-between but what does that actually mean to someone who doesn’t know? Think: how many springs, how many layers and why is that actually a good thing for people whose backs are screaming at the end of the day? |
| Delivery details | Oh you have this on a separate page, unlinked-to and practically buried in the depths of your site, like the scarf your Granny gave you 7 Christmases ago? Not cool. Google wants to see that you’re trustworthy enough to actually deliver products to its users who it has kindly sent your way. And those users want to know how long they’re going to have to wait without clicking through your ‘about us’ ‘policies’ and ‘buried like ugly scarves’ pages, to find out. |
| Contact details | All SEOs love to talk about EEAT. Many probably try to prioritise these letters in their kids’ names (Etta, Ethan and Eleanor are a few for free) – because it’s such a BIG deal. Google won’t rank you if your site isn’t trustworthy – it’s as simple as that. So if your customers can’t contact someone about their order, forget doing any of the above, because it’ll all be pointless. |
| Q&A or FAQs | FAQs are such a great way to optimise your product page for the things people are searching on Google for. They’re also a great way of showing Google you really know what you’re talking about and are happy to share those helpful answers with its beloved users. Top tip: use FAQ schema to tell Google you have FAQs on your product page and you’re even more likely to see your product pages rank better. |
| ‘Customers also like’ | We’ve included this because it’s a handy way to keep Google users on your site once they’ve clicked through from Google’s category page. If you’ve included similar products below yours, there’s a good chance those users will stick around on your site instead of clicking back to Google’s category page/search results. |
| Product comparisons | Another super effective way of keeping people on site once they’ve clicked through is to compare your products and their key features. Instead of clicking back to Google, if you’ve put all the information they need in front of them, they’re more likely to stay put, add to basket and checkout. |
| Internal links to other products or product variations | If you sell different colours or quantities of a product, link to those variations on each of those product pages. So if someone’s looking for 1 protein bar or a box of 12, they can check out the price difference and what offers are applicable on your site, with just one click. A nice experience for users, but also having both options shows Google you’re probably going to have exactly what its users are looking for. |
| Dimensions/ingredients | If you think people don’t care – they do. And Google knows it. Add those dimensions and ingredients to your product page and whatever you do don’t make your users have to hunt for this information. It’s annoying and they’re probably going to just go back to Google if you do. |
| Size/style guides | Will a size small fit me or should I go for a medium? We know a small at Next is different to a small at Burberry, so help us out and say what that size actually means. Linking to a size guide is absolutely perfect, just make sure it’s above or below the size options so we don’t wishfully add ‘small’ jeans to our baskets and then curse you when they arrive and we can’t get them up over our knees. |
| Links to relevant articles/guides | This can be further down the page for sure, but especially for high-ticket-price purchases, the more information you can give people the better. £600 cat flap? (Yes, this is a real thing). Can I control it from my bed once I hear my errant cat return after a night of partying with number 2’s kitten and tormenting the chihuahuas at number 17? Does it play the theme tune to Star Wars as they take their first steps into the kitchen? How does it all work and can I change that to ‘What’s new pussycat’ if they haven’t been home in more than 24 hours? – Obviously you can’t include all of this in the product description, so linking to an article or guide would be perfect. |
For more information about any of the above, you’re always welcome to reach out and ask – even if it’s for catchy product name titles (Fester Fuschia Footrest, anyone?).
