Ecommerce SEO audit: a checklist for online stores
By ElixRank Team · Updated
Short answer
An ecommerce SEO audit checks the problems that are specific to stores: faceted navigation and filters creating thousands of near-duplicate URLs, thin or copied product descriptions, out-of-stock and discontinued product handling, Product structured data, category page content, and the speed of product pages. Start with crawl and index waste, because it hides every other problem.
Why stores need a different audit
A 200-product store can expose hundreds of thousands of URLs once filters, sort orders, variants and tracking parameters combine. Search engines then spend their crawl effort on useless combinations, and the pages you want to rank (categories and best-selling products) get crawled less and compete with their own duplicates.
Run the general technical SEO audit checklist as well. The checks below are the store-specific layer on top.
1. Crawl and index waste
| Check | What good looks like | Fix if it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Faceted navigation | Only filter combinations with real search demand (e.g. 'black running shoes') are indexable | Canonical or noindex low-value combinations; block pure sort/view parameters in robots.txt |
| Sort and view parameters | ?sort=, ?view=, ?page_size= not indexable | Disallow in robots.txt or canonical to the clean URL |
| Internal site search pages | Not indexed | noindex search result pages |
| Indexed vs submitted | Indexed product and category count close to what you sell | Search Console → Pages; compare with the sitemap URL extractor count |
| Tracking parameters | UTM and session parameters never linked internally | Remove from internal links; canonical to the clean URL |
2. Product pages
| Check | What good looks like | Fix if it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Unique descriptions | Your own copy, not the manufacturer's text shared by every reseller | Rewrite descriptions for top sellers first; add specs, use cases and FAQs |
| Variants | Colour/size variants consolidated, or separately indexable only when people search for them | Canonical variants to the main product, or give searched variants unique content |
| Out of stock (temporary) | Page stays live, shows availability and alternatives | Keep 200 status; update availability in schema |
| Discontinued | 301 to the closest replacement or category, or 410 if nothing fits | Avoid redirecting everything to the homepage |
| Product schema | Product with offers (price, currency, availability), plus reviews where genuine | Validate with the schema markup validator |
| Images | Descriptive file names and alt text; compressed; multiple angles | Fix templates, not image by image |
3. Category pages
Category pages usually target the highest-volume, most commercial keywords ("women's trail running shoes"), so they deserve more attention than individual products.
- A short, useful intro and buying guidance above or below the grid, not a keyword-stuffed paragraph.
- A unique title and H1 per category, checked with the meta tags analyzer.
- Pagination that links pages with plain crawlable links; each page canonical to itself, not to page 1.
- No two categories competing for the same query. See keyword cannibalization.
4. Speed and mobile
- Core Web Vitals for product and category templates specifically, from field data in Search Console. Store homepages are often fast while product pages aren't.
- Apps and plugins: each review widget, chat bubble and upsell app adds script weight. Remove the ones that don't earn their cost.
- Product images served in modern formats at the displayed size.
5. What Search Console tells you about a store
- Pages → Why pages aren't indexed: large 'Duplicate without user-selected canonical' or 'Crawled – currently not indexed' groups usually point to facets or thin products.
- Performance → Pages, filtered to /products/ and /collections/ (or your paths): which templates earn clicks.
- Queries at positions 4–15 for category terms: the striking distance keywords that move revenue fastest.
- Shopping tab and Merchant listings reports, if you use Merchant Center: product data errors that also affect free listings.
What to fix first
- Index waste from facets and parameters, because it dilutes everything.
- Category pages for your highest-revenue terms.
- Product schema errors, because they cost rich results and Merchant listings.
- Unique descriptions for the top 10–20% of products by revenue.
- Discontinued product handling, as it accumulates over time.
ElixRank can read your store's Search Console data and point to the categories and products with the most to gain. For a deep crawl of a large catalogue, pair it with a desktop crawler. For tool options, see AI SEO tools for ecommerce.
Frequently asked questions
What is an ecommerce SEO audit?
A review of an online store's search performance and technical setup, focused on store-specific issues: faceted navigation, product and category pages, duplicate content, out-of-stock handling, Product schema and page speed.
How often should an online store be audited?
A full audit once a year and after any platform migration or theme change, plus a monthly Search Console check of index coverage and category rankings.
Should out-of-stock products be removed?
Not if they're coming back. Keep the page live with a 200 status, show availability and alternatives, and update the schema. Redirect or remove only discontinued products.
How do I handle faceted navigation for SEO?
Decide which filter combinations have real search demand and make only those indexable with unique titles and content. Canonical or noindex the rest, and block pure sort or view parameters from crawling.
Is manufacturer product copy bad for SEO?
It's not penalised, but it's duplicated across every store selling the product, so Google has little reason to rank yours. Rewrite descriptions for your best sellers first.
Find the store pages with the most to gain
Connect Search Console and ElixRank ranks your categories and products by opportunity.
Try ElixRank free →