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Ranking an ecommerce store starts with searching your target keyword and looking at what Google actually returns. Category pages in the results means you optimize a category page, and product pages means you optimize a product page.
Getting that match wrong is why most store SEO efforts produce nothing.
In this episode I spoke with Jeff Oxford of 180 Marketing, an agency that does nothing except ecommerce SEO. He built and sold his own dropshipping stores on SEO traffic before moving into consulting full time.
Below is the whole playbook: how to structure category page content, why blogs usually lose money for stores, the technical issues that cost rankings, and how to actually get links to product pages.
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Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- Check what Google returns first. The result type tells you which page to optimize.
- Put a little copy above products and the bulk below so you do not push products off the screen.
- Blogs drive negative ROI for most stores, typically producing 2% to 5% of revenue.
- Best, reviews, and versus keywords convert far better than definitional queries.
- Hidden text is discounted. Google parses CSS and JavaScript and knows what is visible.
- Meta descriptions are the most overlooked opportunity, and click-through rate feeds rankings.
- Faceted navigation creates duplicate category pages unless canonical tags are correct.
- Check what a page already ranks for before you optimize it for something new.
How to know which page type to optimize
Search your target keyword and look at what Google is already returning.
If the results are dominated by category pages, that keyword belongs on a category page. If they are product pages, it belongs on a product page. If they are articles, it needs content.
That single check determines where the keyword goes in the title tag, header, and body content.
Getting it wrong is why plenty of stores optimize the wrong page type and see nothing move.
How to write category page content
Jeff recommends at least 150 to 200 words on a category page, and preferably far more.
The placement problem is real. A large block of text at the top pushes products down the page, damaging user experience and conversion rate.
The structure that solves it is a hybrid. Roughly 100 to 200 words of sales copy above the products, and the substantial content below them.
Below-product content can run 500 to 2,000 words, and Jeff notes a strong correlation between word count and rankings.
The content itself should answer real questions. Which product is right for whom, what to look for, and what distinguishes the options.
The easiest source for those questions is Google itself. The People Also Ask boxes on your target keyword are literal customer questions you can answer directly on the page.
Why hiding content behind a click hurts you
Google parses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and knows what is actually visible.
Content collapsed behind a toggle gets weighted lower than content displayed on the page.
That makes visible text below your products more valuable for SEO than the same text hidden above them.
Why blogs usually lose money for ecommerce stores
Jeff has reviewed analytics for many ecommerce sites and rarely sees blogs drive more than 2% to 5% of revenue.
His estimate is that in 80% to 90% of cases, what clients spend on blogging produces a negative return.
The reason is funnel position. Blog content often draws real traffic that does not convert, because someone searching a definitional question is nowhere near a purchase.
His caveat matters though. Content works when you genuinely commit to it, and most store owners treat it as an afterthought between operations, support, and paid search.
My own view differs here. Content aimed precisely at your target customer builds an audience you can point at any product, which is how my own businesses work.
Jeff’s response is that we agree on the mechanism and differ on how often stores actually execute it well enough for it to pay off.
His guidance on volume is quality over quantity. One genuinely good post a month beats a weekly post produced to hit a cadence.
Which keywords actually convert for stores
Three keyword patterns indicate someone close to buying.
Best, as in best women’s handkerchiefs, means the person is comparing options with intent.
Reviews means they are close to pulling out a credit card.
Versus means they are comparing two specific brands and about to decide.
Those patterns work well for content when you do write it, precisely because they sit far lower in the funnel than definitional queries.
How to write title tags that rank and get clicked
Click-through rate is now a ranking factor, which changes how title tags should be written.
The old approach was pure keyword. Just the category name and nothing else.
The current approach Jeff uses is hybrid. The keyword plus something that earns the click, like free shipping or a starting price.
A caution from my own testing: replacing keyword variations in a title with promotional language can cost you rankings for those variations.
Jeff’s resolution is to check first. Look at everything the page already ranks for using a rank tracking tool before changing anything.
If one keyword carries all the volume, focus on it. If two or three have real volume, find phrasing that combines them.
Why meta descriptions matter even though they do not rank
Jeff calls meta descriptions the most overlooked opportunity on ecommerce sites.
He regularly finds product pages with no meta description and category pages pulling arbitrary text.
The keyword placement genuinely does not matter for ranking, which is why people ignore them.
What matters is that a meta description functions exactly like ad copy. Well-written copy raises click-through rate, and click-through rate feeds back into rankings.
What rich snippets do for click-through rate
Structured data controls how your listing appears in search results.
The ecommerce version most people recognize is product markup, which produces the star rating and price displayed under a listing.
Jeff sees substantial click-through improvements from it, because the orange stars catch attention in a page of plain results.
FAQ schema is newer and can display related questions beneath your listing. It works reliably on content pages, and whether Google will pull it for category pages was still being tested.
The technical issues that cost ecommerce sites rankings
Faceted navigation is the most common problem Jeff encounters.
The mechanism is straightforward. Sorting by price or changing how many products display per page alters the URL, and each variation can get indexed as a separate page.
The result is many versions of the same category page competing against each other and creating duplicate content.
Canonical tags solve it. A canonical tag in the page head tells Google which version to index regardless of which URL variation a crawler lands on.
Platform support varies. Shopify is the most SEO-friendly out of the box, Magento becomes comparable with the right extension, and plenty of platforms ship with canonical problems.
Why site speed matters for rankings and conversions
Site speed has moved from a penalty for very slow sites to a genuine ranking factor, particularly on mobile.
Jeff’s target is under two seconds, with under three as the minimum acceptable.
The conversion benefit is separate and well documented, with Amazon’s own research showing measurable conversion improvements from each fraction of a second removed.
His fastest recommendation is a CDN and optimization service that compresses files, minifies JavaScript and CSS, and serves from fast infrastructure.
He frequently sees load times roughly halved from that alone, with a free tier available and no developer required.
For measurement he uses three tools together: a general performance grader, Google’s own PageSpeed Insights for the metrics Google actually uses, and a waterfall tool that enumerates every file and load order.
The reason for using several is that PageSpeed Insights grades harshly enough that a genuinely fast site can score poorly, so the others provide actionable detail.
Where to put content if you skip the blog
Static pages work fine for occasional content.
On most platforms that means a page in the same directory as your about or contact pages.
A blog only becomes worthwhile for organization once you publish regularly, roughly monthly or more.
The optimization checklist for a static content page is the same as any other. Keyword in the title tag, header, URL, and body, plus a well-written meta description.
Keyword density is a loose guideline of roughly once per 50 to 100 words.
Related keywords matter as much as the primary one. Jeff’s shortcut for finding them is Google Image Search, which displays related terms across the top that you can work into the content.
Internal links from your most-linked pages to the new page are what push it up.
How to get links to ecommerce pages
Product and category pages almost never attract links naturally.
Two methods actually work. Guest posting on relevant sites with a link back, and product reviews where you send free product to a blogger.
The vetting criteria Jeff uses are domain authority of at least 25 to 30, genuine topical relevance, and how many keywords the site ranks for.
That last check catches a specific trap. Sites can carry high domain authority from spammy link building while being penalized and ranking for nothing.
The deeper check is the traffic history graph. A site trending down, or showing an obvious penalty drop, is one to avoid.
How to find guest post opportunities
Search operators find sites that already want contributors.
Combine your keyword with an inurl search for write-for-us to surface blogs with a contributor page.
Swapping that for guest-post finds a different set of the same thing.
The reason this beats contacting random blogs is that these sites have already decided they accept outside contributions.
For product reviews the equivalent is an inurl search for review, or searching your competitor’s brand name with that operator to find who reviews products in your category.
How to write outreach that gets a response
Personalization, credibility, and examples are the three components.
Reference something specific from their site to demonstrate you have actually read it rather than sending a template.
State your relevant experience concisely.
Include links to articles you have published elsewhere, so they can evaluate your writing without asking.
The reason this matters is volume. Site owners receive many of these daily, and anything that reads as a bulk send gets deleted.
Why most SEO agencies disappoint clients
Jeff is candid about the industry despite running an agency himself.
The pattern he describes is being pitched by senior people and handed to someone recent out of college, or in some cases to interns.
The worse outcome is penalization from an agency building spammy links and taking shortcuts.
The most common complaint is polished branded reports with nothing happening underneath. No links built, no optimizations made, and thousands a month spent on the report itself.
The argument for an agency is breadth. SEO requires technical skill, writing, development, and relationship building, which is difficult to hire in one person.
His own differentiation is specialization and revenue focus. Choosing keywords by average order value and conversion potential rather than search volume, which is why some low-volume keywords are worth far more than high-volume ones.
Frequently asked questions
How do you know which page to optimize for a keyword?
Search the keyword and look at what Google returns. Category pages in the results means optimize a category page, product pages means optimize a product page, and articles mean the keyword needs content instead.
How much content should a category page have?
At least 150 to 200 words and preferably more. Put roughly 100 to 200 words above the products so you do not push them off screen, and 500 to 2,000 words below them.
Should an ecommerce store have a blog?
Often not. Jeff Oxford finds blogs drive only 2% to 5% of revenue for most stores and produce negative ROI in 80% to 90% of cases, largely because the traffic sits too high in the funnel to convert.
Which keywords convert best for ecommerce?
Anything containing best, reviews, or versus. Someone searching product reviews is close to buying, while someone searching what a product is may be nowhere near a purchase.
Can you hide category page content behind a toggle?
You can, and it costs you. Google parses CSS and JavaScript and knows what is visible, so collapsed content is weighted lower than the same text displayed below your products.
Do meta descriptions affect rankings?
Not directly, and they affect rankings indirectly. Keyword placement in a meta description does nothing, and well-written copy raises click-through rate, which Google now uses as a ranking signal.
What causes duplicate content on category pages?
Faceted navigation. Sorting by price or changing products per page alters the URL, and each variation can get indexed separately. Canonical tags tell Google which single version to index.
How fast should an ecommerce site load?
Under two seconds ideally and under three at minimum. Site speed is now a genuine ranking factor, particularly on mobile, and separately produces measurable conversion rate improvements.
