How can you optimize your products URLs to make the most out of them from a search and conversion perspective while avoiding the most common lifecycle issues of your inventory? Take a look!

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