Should I change our main category pages to product listing pages?
-
With the thought of improving user experience, as well as rankings in Google, I'm considering changing our main category pages to product listing pages (with sub-categories remaining, still). These main category pages are very standard and don't link to any informational content, such as buyers guides, etc.
What's driven this is the latest Google core update. I've noticed our main competitor (who we were out-ranking before... but not now) now uses this approach.
I can see the benefit from a user perspective, i.e. less clicks to reach products.
What's the pros/cons from an SEO point of view, please? Could the potential duplication of content be an issue?
For context, we have about 2,000 products and website is on Magento 2.
-
if a visitor is already browsing through your product listing pages, it means that they’re interested in your online store. So this is where you lead them to product pages and persuade them to buy.
With minor improvements, you can start driving more visitors to your product pages and increase your conversions.
Here are the seven best strategies you can use to optimize your product listing pages, and why they’re so effective.
-
Hi There Hope you are doing well. I Started My site and Working on this Site's best laptop buyer's Guide. and with Google update, this is going down. Then I Just publish Quality Content and it ranked Again. With No backlinks.
Thanks
Raisaleem.
-
Sure can you tell me a bit more about what you want to do?
all the best,
Tom
-
I agree with the Silo Structure for blogs & e-commerce it works well when done the right way.
I like Patrick Stox & agree with a lot of what he said about blogs but for the most part the deeper the page the less chance to rank th is why he is saying interlinking is so important for this to work. Look at your site depth & you will see what I am talking about.
he is right about the home page n being the main start for everything but you must interlink
- https://searchengineland.com/everything-not-blog-post-start-using-silos-242508
- https://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo/
a silo might require you almost remake your website.
- https://www.brightedge.com/blog/content-silo-seo
- https://backlinko.com/ecommerce-seo
- https://ahrefs.com/blog/ecommerce-seo/
- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/technical-seo/url-structure/
- https://moz.com/blog/15-seo-best-practices-for-structuring-urls
Hope this helps,
Tom
-
Well in this case, you should use silo structure, Silo will not only helps users but also help search engine to better understand your website structure. and using silo your website will get a huge boost in rankings. This website TenRater is using Silo Structure. They're Ranking on some high volume Keywords without links.
-
Hi,
I didn't get your question, If you want to see an example of micro niche sites to decide you can check the boxing gloves related blog of me in which i cover some keywords but only in one category
-
The link that you had created goes to a gateway page? I can see you at the bottom you show that there is the ability to purchase the shoe however there’s no way for me to actually purchase it. I don’t know if you want that or not?
without seeing the entire site I can only give you advice on the side that you have shared with me. It would not affect your site to add categories based on the website where it says you can see my store by “click“
What you have already created could be used as categories if you were going to sell the product generally a category page in e-commerce is not a comparison but your content is very thorough & useful I would incorporate it into the main e-commerce site
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/technical-seo/url-structure/
https://yoast.com/video/ask-yoast-order-of-categories-and-subcategories-in-urls/
(this video might seem like it’s not very helpful but it does bring one very important thing into account. Don’t make redirects if you don’t have to. and if you have to make sure you do them page to page
so if you have a list of URLs and in this example: D is the final URL the one that you want every page to go to. (The other letters represent any other relevant pages that need to be redirected to The final URL D)
never link URLs like this A to B to C to D
all 301s Should be lined up like spreadsheet columns (but the spreadsheet should have a maximum of two columns) were the last URL/final URL is pointed to directly like below
- A to D
- then
- B to D
- then
- C to D
The final URL again is D
then line them up like a spreadsheet but never more than one redirect. Unless you can’t help it.
https://moz.com/blog/15-seo-best-practices-for-structuring-urls
bigger photographs below (and the links are examples of awful URLs.)
- https://9c93f9579e3f41fd4e9c-0310e6d68b80e24ea2ff21e1b495e94b.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/6ED12A91-BF22-4D6E-B21F-ED423E7626A5.png
- https://9c93f9579e3f41fd4e9c-0310e6d68b80e24ea2ff21e1b495e94b.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/F50795AA-FF5F-42B1-B3D2-72F19432D9B9.gif
- Hope this helps,
Tom
-
I will be happy to help in 1 hour
-
I'm also looking for the same answer. I'm working on one niche store. And now want to go for macro website. You can see my store by click.
-
I would definitely take a handful and make them the main category pages that you suggested, in the beginning, we really don't have anything to lose if you keep the subcategories however I would like to map out the site it would make it a lot clearer
-
Hi
Yes, I see what you're saying now. I like those subcategories here. You are saying that you might fill this the text which would definitely give Google some more information on the products.
I don't know how you would make the products any closer to the homepage that way?
I would simply add an additional product overview page that is mostly text and links to the subcategory page.
These types of things are never easy because you have a very nice site I would to know a lot more about what's going on with it if I can try to help you with the algorithm update how much traffic have you lost?
I would keep the age that you currently have because it does showcase the current products very well and add an additional main category page with content.
I don't see the harm in doing it to a handful of categories as an experiment. Please keep in mind the closer to the homepage the cliques are the better. And your content should be informational and transactional meaning you're trying to sell on the product pages and product category pages and maybe use a blog for informational content which would allow people who are engaged like myself & planning a wedding the opportunity to learn everything I need to know about the big event. I would also partner with churches and other venues to make sure that the backlinks profile is relevant to your industry.
I will say this part is very confusing because it bears the same name
this is appropriately named https://bseo.dev/RjS2Hq
this is a duplicate and does not work properly.
I can give you an audit of your website if you'd like me to?
My information is right here
https://moz.com/users/view/383525
respectfully,
Tom
-
Hi Tom
This is my domain (I’ve shortened using bitly):
This is one of the main category pages: https://bit.ly/2RSWmZL
I’m planning to keep URL structure the same, and keep the sub-categories still. The only change would be that you see a list of products (which you can filter) rather than the current main category page.
I appreciate any thoughts that you might have! I can email you my email address if you like?
Thanks so much
-
Can you show me what you're being category pages look like now? Or describe them are they just products?
fewer clicks to reach products/ or any page From the homepage has a very strong correlation with ranking.
"with sub-categories remaining" you mean you're going to keep the category pages anyway?
the new algorithm update if it hurt your website could have done so for many reasons that have nothing to do with what you're discussing. If you wouldn't mind could you share the domain with us?
If you feel uncomfortable doing that will give you an email you can send it to.
Sincerely,
Tom
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
If Product Pages Perform Well In Google then Is It Possible That Category Page Can perform Well In Google?
Hi All, For my ecommerce site I have optimized my product pages very nicely like good images, detailed information about products, good reviews, implemented schema for my product and reviews and very perfect onpage. Now my query is if my products pages performing well in google then there are chances that my category page rank well in google too? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | wright3350 -
Will changing my home page cause rankings to drop?
We are looking at doing a major change with our website. Upper management is wanting to have our home page be our store page, instead of just a landing page. So basically we would be eliminating our current home page, and replacing it with our store page. This is a very large site and our current home page gets a lot of traffic. Issues to deal with will be ranking of the current page content; Internal links to both pages; external links (backlinks) pointing to the two pages, and of course, a potential drop in rankings and traffic. Any ideas on how to best do this? Or not do it at all. 301 redirect? Thanks, Brad
On-Page Optimization | | tdawson090 -
Category page canonical tag
I know this question has been asked a few times on here but I'm looking for very specific advice. Currently when you go to a category, say http://www.bronterose.co.uk/range.html, a canonical tag is added to the head of the page. There are plenty of "variant" pages which carry the same tag, for example: /range.html?p=2
On-Page Optimization | | crichardson9
/range.html?p=3
/range.html?dir=asc&order=price
/range.html?dir=asc&limit=all&order=price Is it wise to push the "link juice" for each of these variant pages to the top level page? Or should each variant page have its own unique canonical tag? After reading many blog posts, guides and papers I'm truly confused! Any general guidance or recommendations would be much appreciated. Chris.1 -
In-page Optimization check list....
Hey, Mozzers I have a question about optimizing a web-page. I was just having a conversation with our web developer about optimizing our website and which changes would make the most difference in affecting the SERPs as far as on-page optimization goes. I was explaining to her we wanted to optimize our pages in the following levels (ranked most important to least important): <title>: key word laden </p> <p>2) <H1> : key word in <strong>bold</strong></p> <p>3) page content: keyword laden as well</p> <p>The idea was to have three or four layers of keywords on the page. I work for a real estate brokerage and the context was the actual page of the property listing. So in this case, the keywords would be the address of the property. She explained to me that the the H1 tag is more important than the title tag.</p> <p>Does this ring true with you guys?</p></title>
On-Page Optimization | | AubbiefromAubenRealty0 -
Page architecture
We have some good content on our site, particularly relating to UK employment law. One section on unfair dismissal is split into 9 pages - there is a fair amount of legal detail. The question is whether we should combine it all into one "mother of all unfair dismissal" page just to satisfy the Google monster or keep in as it is. Some of the individual pages rank on page 1 already. If we change the architecture are 301 redirects the best way to handle the changing urls? The other more important issue is whether it is easier to read it all on one page or split it. Keeping G happy may not actually keep our users happy. As the content is quite dense we want to ensure we don't overload people. Any thoughts appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | dexm100 -
Issues with Product Pages Getting Index In Google
I just started working here the other week and one of the big issue is that a lot of the product pages are not getting index in google. We have an xml.gz site map they submitted a long time ago. My guess is it might be something with not enough content on the pages? Here are a few example of pages that are not getting index in google. http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/43/-/439/716/-/33097/Alpinestars-Dual-Motorcycle-Gloves http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/47/-/201/803/-/28948/Camelbak-Blowfish-2013 http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/46/-/203/836/-/6996/MSR-Head-Case http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/44/54/208/764/80/1220/Galfer-Brake-Pad-Sintered-Metal There are 100's that are not indexed just trying to figure out what we need to do! We are working on new content to them all but we have over 5000 products so it will take a long time. We also have the reviews on the pages and are looking at starting a Q&A on page to help get more unique content.
On-Page Optimization | | DoRM0 -
Jquery in top of page vs text on bottom page
Is it the best way to use jquery sliders on the top of your page to still get all your text above the fold and score in search engines? for example: http://www.wolf-howl.com/wp-conte... is much better to score high ranks in search engines than http://www.wolf-howl.com/wp-conte... ?? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | HMK-NL0 -
301 redirects from several sub-pages to one sub-page
Hi! I have 14 sub-pages i deleted earlier today. But ofcourse Google can still find them, and gives everyone that gives them a go a 404 error. I have come to the understading that this wil hurt the rest of my site, at least as long as Google have them indexed. These sub-pages lies in 3 different folders, and i want to redirect them to a sub-page in a folder number 4. I have already an htaccess file, but i just simply cant get it to work! It is the same file as i use for redirecting trafic from mydomain.no to www.mydomain.no, and i have tried every kind of variation i can think of with the sub-pages. Has anyone perhaps had the same problem before, or for any other reason has the solution, and can help me with how to compose the htaccess file? 🙂 You have to excuse me if i'm using the wrong terms, missing something i should have seen under water while wearing a blindfold, or i am misspelling anything. I am neither very experienced with anything surrounding seo or anything else that has with internet to do, nor am i from an englishspeaking country. Hope someone here can light up my path 🙂 Thats at least something you can say in norwegian...
On-Page Optimization | | MarieA1