The document discusses SEO strategies for handling changes in product inventory, emphasizing the importance of optimizing product pages for organic search traffic and conversions. It outlines best practices for creating, maintaining, and redirecting URLs for products that are released, sold, or out of stock to avoid negative impacts on SEO and user experience. It also highlights the need for continuous monitoring and adjustment of SEO tactics to align with the product lifecycle.

1. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
When Your
Inventory
Changes: SEO
Tips For
Changing
Product Pages
#productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti

2. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
All paths of your site lead to your products
pages, which can make or break conversions

3. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Your products pages are valuable
to attract bottom of the funnel searches
Semrush

4. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
… that can be
highly profitable to
target at an
aggregated basis
Semrush

5. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Attractive
product pages
tend to be also
highly shared
and a magnet
for backlinks
Moz

6. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
… which can end up making them some
of your top ones traffic wise too
Semrush

7. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
As happens with Target
Semrush

8. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
However, due to their high number and
dynamic inventory is easy to generate errors
sistrix

9. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Caused by a
lack of
consistency
when handling
their http
status

10. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Internal linking
issues, by
pointing to
non-canonical
products URLs
versions

11. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Entirely
leaving them
out of the
crawlable Web
structure

12. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Or letting them eat your crawl budget while
being excluded from the search index

13. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Negatively affecting the number of crawled
pages that bring organic search traffic value
Indexable URLs that don’tIndexable URLs that attract organic search traffic

14. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
And ultimately, making you to lose money

15. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Let’s see a few ways to handle products
inventory changes to minimize
SEO issues while maximizing benefits

16. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti#productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
When a
product is
released…

17. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Before creating
a new URL,
establish rules
to validate if
the product
existed in the
past to leverage
its old URL
instead

18. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
If the product is just a variation of an existing one,
that is or can become a non-indexable attribute

19. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Or if it can target specific queries w/ enough
search volume, worthy to index and rank for

20. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
If so, differentiate them to be specifically relevant
to target and rank for these characteristics

21. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Enable them to be listed and linked from relevant
indexable category/sub-category & brand pages

22. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Making sure to that they fit from a topic and
hierarchy perspective, w/ clear navigation path

23. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
These categories/facets should be linked through
their canonical URLs, avoiding URLs parameters
Don’t link to
canonicalized
Category URLs

24. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Linking and including in the XML sitemaps
the original products URLs too
Don’t link to
canonicalized
Product URLs

25. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Highlighting further as a latest release, besides
making them easily findable via internal search

26. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
For popular items, launch the product page with a
"coming soon” before the release to promote it
Use the
final product
URL to promote
it previous
launch

27. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti#productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
When the
product is
sold…

28. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Monitor if the products pages rank for too
broad queries, causing cannibalization issues

29. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
They can
negatively affect
not only their
own rankings
but also give a
sub-optimal
experience with
a too specific
page

30. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
This can help identify relevance & differentiation
issues between products & categories
vs

31. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Or also
linking
mismatch
between the
relevant
category vs.
the product
pages

32. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
As well as to detect a lack of indexable
categories/facets that should target these queries

33. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Like in this case, since they’re targeted by
indexable internal search results instead

34. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Facets should become indexable if there are
enough products to feature and search potential

35. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
It should be
about their
supply and
demand

36. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti#productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
When the
product goes
out of
stock…

37. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
All internal
links going to
any out of
stock product
pages, as well
as internal
search and
XML sitemap
inclusion should
be eliminated

38. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
If it’s a temporary
status or you’re
unsure, the
product page
should remain
indexable,
allowing users to
be notified when
it comes back,
recommending
related products

39. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
The product page structured data should always
include the latest status, including “out of stock”

40. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
If it’s permanent & the page has backlinks, traffic
or conversions, 301-redirect to parent category
Add a
notification when
redirecting
explaining the out
of stock status
to the user

41. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Another option is 301-redirecting to a similar
product but can cause chain redirects in long run

42. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Avoid 302
redirects to
make sure you
pass the old
product page
value while
making sure the
destination
actually works
and is relevant
Don’t do
this

43. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t show 404s for out of stock products
w/ backlinks, you miss value & is bad experience

44. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
You can use 410 http status for permanent out of
stock pages with no backlinks nor rankings/traffic
Personalize
your error page
to be usable
and relevant

45. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
All internal links, internal search or xml sitemap
inclusion of these URLs should be eliminated

46. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Set rules to
tackle these
scenarios
systemically
within your
platform

47. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Schedule continuous crawls to run & be delivered
automatically to identify remaining issues
Ryte

48. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
Set real time
SEO monitoring
and alerts, to
be warned if
your product
pages change
their status
Little warden & content king

49. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @oraintiLittle warden & content king
Integrate Web
traffic and rankings
data to alerts
validations,
prioritizing the
ones of those
product pages with
certain minimum
value

50. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @oraintiZapier, Integromat
Set the alerts to
be directly
delivered to your
communication or
PM system to
facilitate their
validation

51. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
It's about aligning your products
pages optimization to their life cycle

52. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti#productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
To miminize crawlability, indexability, rankings
and user search experience issues…

53. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti#productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
… while
maximizing their
impact and value
from an organic
traffic and
conversion
perspective

54. #productseo at #smxwest by @aleyda from @orainti
* SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti
* SEO Speaker at +100 Events in +20 countries
* Author “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales.”
* Blogger in Search Engine Land & Search Engine Journal
* Crawling Mondays YouTube Channel Host
* #SEOFOMO Newsletter Wrapper
* European Search Personality of the Year in 2018
I’m Aleyda Solis, SEO Consultant
& Founder at Orainti
www.orainti.com