The Ecommerce SEO Basics Everyone Skips

You’re paying for Google Ads. You’re paying for Facebook ads. You’re spending money on email marketing.

Meanwhile, you’re ignoring the cheapest traffic source: organic search.

SEO for ecommerce doesn’t have to be complicated. Most stores don’t need a fancy strategy. They just need to do the obvious things right.

The problem is, most don’t.

The basics that seem simple—meta titles, product descriptions, image alt text, sitemaps—are where most ecommerce stores leave money on the table.

Here’s what to actually fix.

Issue #1: Your Meta Titles Are Broken

A meta title is the text that shows up in Google search results. It’s also the text in your browser tab.

Most ecommerce stores have meta titles that are either empty or bad.

You’ll see things like:

• “Product | My Store”
• “Home | My Store”
• No title at all

Google sees these and treats your pages as low-priority.

Here’s what a good meta title looks like:

“Charcoal Merino Wool Hoodie for Women | Luna Activewear”

It includes:

• The product name (what people search for)
• The key benefit or category (what makes it different)
• Your brand (builds recognition)

Word count: 50-60 characters max. Anything longer gets cut off in search results.

How to fix it:

Go to your Shopify product pages. In the product editor, scroll to the bottom and find “Search Engine Listing.” There’s a field for “Title Tag.”

Write a new title using the formula above.

Do this for your top 20 selling products first. Then work your way through the rest.

Pro tip: Include at least one keyword that people actually search for. Not your internal category name. What someone would type into Google.

Issue #2: Your Product Descriptions Are Useless

I see product descriptions that are:

• Copied directly from the manufacturer (and appear on 100 other sites)
• Just a list of specs
• So vague they could apply to any product
• So long nobody reads them

Google sees these and doesn’t rank your pages. People see these and don’t buy.

Here’s what a good ecommerce description does:

1. Leads with benefit, not spec:

Bad: “100% merino wool, machine washable, available in 5 colors”

Good: “This is the hoodie you’ll actually wear outside the gym. Breathable enough for movement, polished enough to wear to brunch.”

2. Answers the question your customer has:

“Is this right for me?” – “Designed for people who want activewear that doesn’t look like activewear.”

“Will it hold up?” – “Machine washable. We’ve tested it 50+ times. Still feels like new.”

3. Includes specs but doesn’t lead with them:

Once you’ve sold them on the benefit, then list the specs. But as supporting evidence, not the main story.

4. Is skimmable:

Shorter paragraphs. Maybe a bullet point or two. People scan descriptions, they don’t read novels.

How to fix it:

Go to your top 5 selling products. Rewrite the description using the formula above.

Test it for 2 weeks. If conversion rate goes up, it’s working. Then roll it out to your other products.

Pro tip: Include a keyword naturally. If people search for “breathable activewear hoodie,” work that phrase into your description naturally. Don’t stuff it in unnaturally.

Issue #3: Your Images Don’t Have Alt Text

Alt text is the description of an image (for accessibility, and for Google).

Most ecommerce stores skip it. They upload images and leave the alt text blank.

Google has no idea what your images are about. Customers using screen readers can’t see your products.

Here’s what good alt text looks like:

“Charcoal merino wool hoodie laid flat showing oversized fit”

Not: “image1” or “hoodie” or “product photo”

Descriptive but concise. 10-15 words.

How to fix it:

Go into each product. In the product image editor, there’s an “Alt text” field for each image.

Fill it in. Include the product name, color, and what the image shows.

Do this for your top 50 products first. It takes 5 minutes per product.

Issue #4: Your Sitemap Is Either Missing or Broken

A sitemap is a file that tells Google about every page on your site. It makes crawling and indexing easier.

Most ecommerce stores have a sitemap but they don’t know if it’s actually working.

How to check:

Go to yoursite.com/sitemap.xml in your browser.

If you get an XML file with a list of URLs, good. If you get an error or a 404, your sitemap is broken.

Shopify generates a sitemap automatically. But sometimes it gets messed up.

How to fix it:

If your sitemap is broken, go to Shopify Settings > Apps and sales channels > Google. There’s a section for sitemaps. Reset it.

Then go to Google Search Console > Sitemaps and resubmit.

Issue #5: Your URL Structure Is Bad

Your product URLs should be:

• Descriptive (yoursite.com/charcoal-hoodie-women, not yoursite.com/product/1234)
• Include a keyword if possible
• Lowercase
• Use hyphens to separate words

Most Shopify stores do this automatically. But if you’re using a different platform or you customized your URLs, check them.

How to check:

Look at a few product URLs. Are they readable? Could someone guess what the product is from the URL?

If not, consider changing your URL structure. In Shopify, go to Product > URL and slug. You can manually edit it.

For existing products, set up 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones so you don’t lose search rank.

Issue #6: You’re Not Using Internal Links

Internal links are links from one page on your site to another page on your site.

They help Google understand your site structure. They also help customers navigate.

Most ecommerce stores link poorly.

Here’s what good internal linking looks like:

On your “Charcoal Merino Hoodie” page, you might link to:

• “Shop other colors in our hoodie collection”
• “See how to care for merino wool”
• “Check out matching items from this collection”

These are contextual, helpful links that also tell Google about other pages.

How to fix it:

Go into your top 5 products. Find places where you can naturally link to other products or category pages.

Add 2-3 internal links per product page.

The DIY Audit

Spend one hour doing this audit:

1. Pick 10 random products.

2. Check their meta titles. Are they descriptive or generic?

3. Check their descriptions. Would you buy from that description?

4. Check their image alt text. Is it filled in?

5. Check their URLs. Are they readable?

Count how many fail each test.

If more than 50% fail on any of these, you’ve found your low-hanging fruit.

The Priority Order

1. Fix meta titles first. This is the quickest win. One hour of work can move 5-10 products into search results.

2. Then rewrite descriptions. This takes longer but also impacts both SEO and conversion rate.

3. Then add alt text. This is easy once you start.

4. Then check internal links. This is ongoing as you add content.

SEO is free traffic. It just takes a little time to set up right. Most stores skip the basics and wonder why Google isn’t sending them traffic. If you fix these five things, you’ll start seeing organic traffic growth within 4-8 weeks. If you want someone to do this audit and implementation for you, let’s talk.