Use this 47-point e-commerce SEO checklist to decide what to fix first

Audit product pages as individual commercial URLs. For every check, save the page evidence, mark pass or fail, assign severity and an owner, record the corrective action, and verify the deployed change before closing the item.

Title tag: Evidence required: rendered title plus the page's target intent. Pass when the title identifies the product clearly, uses the primary query where natural, differentiates close variants, and stays under 60 characters. Fail duplicated, template-only, or misleading titles. Owner: SEO or merchandising. Correct the title and validate the rendered output. A useful source-style contrast is "Organic Cotton T-Shirt | Men's | Brand Name" rather than "Product 123."

Meta description: Evidence required: current meta description and visible product proposition. Pass when the 150-155 characters accurately summarize the product and avoid unsupported promises. Fail missing, duplicated, stuffed, or inconsistent descriptions. Owner: SEO or content. Rewrite and verify the final HTML.

Unique product description: Evidence required: live copy and any supplier source copy. Avoid passing a page just because text exists. Use the existing 200-400 word range as a review reference, not a ranking guarantee. Pass when the description is specific to the item and answers relevant buyer questions such as material, fit, care, and use. Fail copied, thin, or interchangeable copy. Owner: merchandising or content. Correct and compare the final page with nearby products.

Keyword placement: Evidence required: main heading, opening copy, subheadings, and image alternatives. Confirm that the primary topic appears in the H1 and that the first 100 words establish the product naturally. Secondary terms should appear only where accurate. Fail forced repetition or unclear topic ownership. Owner: SEO or content. Correct and validate in the rendered page and crawl export.

Images and alt text: Evidence required: product media plus alt attributes. Pass when informative images use concise descriptions such as "Blue organic cotton men's crew neck t-shirt on white background" and decorative media are handled appropriately. Fail generic labels such as "image123.jpg" where meaningful alternatives are needed. Owner: content or front-end. Correct and inspect the rendered HTML.

Price and availability markup: Evidence required: visible price and stock state, structured data output, and Rich Results Test results. Shopify and WooCommerce can output Product and Offer data, but the active theme and plugin stack must be checked. Pass when the markup reflects visible information and validates. Fail mismatched, duplicate, or broken output. Structured data can support eligible search features, but the checklist should not promise a display outcome.

Record the remaining evidence in the same way: confirm a unique title, useful meta description, a 200+ word description where that source threshold remains appropriate, one H1, 3+ relevant product images with suitable alt text, price markup, current availability, and crawlable internal links to related products and categories. Every failure needs severity, owner, corrective action, and a final validation result.

Audit category pages as search landing pages with their own target intent. Evidence should include the rendered category, crawl data, indexation status, internal links, and any filter URLs generated from that category. Do not pass a category simply because its product grid works.

Category description: Evidence required: visible introductory or supporting copy and neighboring category copy. Use the existing 150-200 word range as a review reference where it helps buyers, not as a universal requirement. Pass when the text is original, explains what belongs in the category, helps selection, and distinguishes the page from adjacent categories. Fail manufacturer defaults, duplicated templates, or text written only for keywords. Owner: merchandising or content. Revise and compare against the intended query set.

Faceted navigation: Evidence required: filter behavior, generated URLs, crawl results, canonicals, link attributes, and indexation. Do not assume one technical treatment fits every store. Pass when filter combinations that add no standalone search value are prevented from becoming uncontrolled indexable duplicates while useful landing pages remain intentional. Fail when size, color, or price filters generate large sets of near-duplicate pages without a defined indexation policy. Owner: technical SEO or development. Correct the implementation and recrawl.

Keyword ownership: Evidence required: target-query map and Search Console URL/query data. If "Organic Cotton T-Shirts" and "Sustainable T-Shirts" overlap heavily, identify the intended owner instead of letting both compete by default. Pass when each category has a distinct purpose or a deliberate consolidation path. Fail overlapping intent without differentiation. Owner: SEO and merchandising. Merge, retarget, or relink as appropriate, then validate query-to-URL behavior.

Breadcrumbs: Evidence required: visible breadcrumbs and BreadcrumbList output where implemented. Pass when the hierarchy matches the actual site structure, links are crawlable, and markup matches the visible path. Fail broken hierarchy, missing links, or contradictory markup. Owner: development. Correct and validate.

Category markup: Evidence required: current output and platform documentation for the markup actually used. Pass when any collection or category markup is valid, relevant, and consistent with visible content. Fail unsupported, duplicated, or misleading markup. Shopify and WooCommerce implementations vary by theme and plugin, so validation matters more than assuming a default.

Close this section only after documenting an original category description, no unintended duplicate filter-generated pages, the chosen treatment for faceted links, valid breadcrumb markup where present, any category markup actually supported, 3-5 useful internal links to priority products, and clear sorting options such as popularity, price, and newest. Every failed item needs severity, owner, corrective action, and a post-fix validation.

Technical checks should be evidence-led because a store can look normal to shoppers while crawlers encounter duplicate URLs, slow templates, or conflicting canonical signals. Assign failures to development, technical SEO, or the platform owner and retest after release.

URL architecture: Evidence required: crawl export and representative product/category URLs. A structure such as example.com/category/product-name is easier to interpret than example.com/shop/item-12345/product-name. The pass condition is consistency and stable hierarchy rather than one mandatory pattern. Use hyphens rather than underscores in new descriptive URLs and avoid unnecessary organizational query parameters. Fail duplicate or unstable patterns. Correct with a controlled migration plan and validate redirects and canonicals.

Core Web Vitals: Evidence required: PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and available Search Console data. Review the existing thresholds of LCP under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200ms, and CLS under 0.1 as test criteria. Pass when representative templates meet the accepted thresholds in the evidence used. Fail product or category templates that do not. Use diagnose as the related audit reference, assign the owner based on the failing resource, correct the bottleneck, and retest the same templates.

Image payload: Evidence required: network requests and media dimensions. The existing under 100KB reference for product images and 150KB ceiling for hero images can be used as operational review targets where image quality remains adequate. Pass when responsive delivery, compression, WebP where appropriate, and below-fold lazy loading are implemented sensibly. Fail oversized or incorrectly sized media. Owner: front-end or content operations. Optimize and retest page weight and rendering.

Mobile rendering: Evidence required: real-device review plus Lighthouse. Confirm controls remain usable on mobile and review the existing 48px minimum touch-target reference where applicable. Pass when product selection, navigation, and checkout remain readable and operable. Fail clipped content, unusable controls, or desktop-only functionality. Owner: UX or front-end. Fix and retest representative flows.

Duplicate URL and canonical handling: Evidence required: canonical tags, redirects, sitemap membership, and crawl/indexation data for ?sort=price, ?filter=color, HTTP versus HTTPS, www versus non-www, and alternate product URLs. Pass when each important page has a coherent preferred URL and duplicate routes are handled deliberately. Fail conflicting canonicals, indexable duplicate paths, or inconsistent domain versions. Owner: technical SEO or development. Correct and recrawl.

Document the technical result for clean URL structure, LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1, images under 100KB in WebP where appropriate, mobile responsiveness, canonicals on product pages, 301 redirects for removed products where redirection is the correct action, and an XML sitemap submitted to Search Console. Each item needs evidence, pass/fail status, severity, owner, corrective action, and validation.

Audit structured data for accuracy and eligibility, not as a guaranteed source of richer search presentation. The previously published 20-30% click-through figure is an internal observation that requires source reconciliation. Every markup check should compare the structured output with what shoppers can actually see.

Product markup: Evidence required: rendered product information and structured data output. Review name, description, image with the existing 300x300px minimum reference, brand, SKU, and identifier. Pass when properties used by the implementation are accurate and consistent with the page. Fail missing, contradictory, or duplicate product entities. Owner: development or platform configuration. Correct and rerun validation.

Offer markup: Evidence required: visible price, currency, stock state, seller information, and markup. Pass when values such as InStock, OutOfStock, or PreOrder match the live product state. Fail stale availability or mismatched price. Owner: development or merchandising systems. Fix the feed or template and retest after an inventory change.

AggregateRating markup: Evidence required: visible rating data and its source. Where aggregate ratings are genuinely displayed, the existing best rating of 5 and worst rating of 1 must reflect the site's actual scale, and the review count in markup must match visible data. Pass only when the markup represents genuine displayed ratings and follows applicable guidance. Fail invented, hidden, or mismatched ratings. Owner: development and review operations. Correct and validate.

Review markup: Evidence required: individual visible reviews and corresponding structured fields. Pass when author, publication date, rating, and review text in markup reflect the review shown on the product page. Fail markup for reviews not present on the page or values that differ from visible content. Owner: development. Correct and rerun the Rich Results Test.

BreadcrumbList: Evidence required: visible breadcrumb path and markup. Pass when Home > Category > Subcategory > Product matches the actual hierarchy and every item is represented accurately. Fail when structured paths invent levels or disagree with navigation. Owner: development. Correct and validate.

LocalBusiness when applicable: Evidence required: proof of a genuine physical location and the business details displayed on the site. Use this markup only when it accurately represents the business entity; do not create location signals for nominal markets. Pass when address, phone, and business hours match visible information. Owner: development or local operations. Correct discrepancies and retest.

Validation: Test markup in Google's Rich Results Test and review Search Console reporting where available. Pass when no blocking errors remain and warnings have been assessed for relevance. Fail when errors prevent valid interpretation or markup contradicts visible content. Schema issues can affect eligibility, but this checklist should not claim they directly hurt rankings.

Record results for Product, Offer, AggregateRating when 5+ reviews are genuinely displayed under the source condition, individual Review markup, BreadcrumbList, and LocalBusiness where applicable. Close each issue only after the corrected markup is deployed and validated; do not mark up hidden or unsupported information.

Shopify and WooCommerce can produce different crawl, theme, app, plugin, and structured-data behavior. Audit the live store instead of assuming a platform default is correct. Save evidence for each check, assign the failing item to whoever controls the theme or plugin stack, and retest after changes.

Shopify: Evidence required: sitemap output, robots.txt behavior, rendered structured data, Search Console reports, theme performance, and installed apps. Verify the automatic sitemap rather than relying on a settings label such as Settings > SEO. Check Shopify's built-in or theme-provided schema in the Rich Results Test. Review Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse evidence without assuming Shopify performs better by default. Audit third-party apps for page-weight and script impact. Edit robots.txt through the robots.txt.liquid template only when a documented crawl need exists. Pass when each live output is intentional and valid. Fail conflicting markup, unnecessary scripts, or crawl rules that block important pages.

WooCommerce: Evidence required: active SEO plugin settings, permalinks, sitemap, theme performance, lazy-loading behavior, structured data output, and any product feed. A core SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO, RankMath, or All in One SEO can manage many settings, but pass only when the rendered output is correct. Review primary category handling, Settings > Permalinks > Product permalinks, sitemap generation, theme behavior such as Astra, GeneratePress, or Store where those are actually used, image loading, and duplicate schema from plugins. If a Google Shopping feed plugin is used to sync products to Google Merchant Center, verify the feed separately from organic SEO.

Shared platform issues: Evidence required: crawl samples of filter URLs, representative image payloads, and Core Web Vitals data. Both platforms can develop filter-based duplicates or image bloat depending on configuration. Pass when faceted navigation, image delivery, and template performance are controlled by evidence. Fail any implementation that creates unintended crawlable duplicates or measurable performance problems.

For Shopify, document whether automatic sitemaps are active, structured data validates, Core Web Vitals have been reviewed, third-party apps have been assessed, and robots.txt is intentional. For WooCommerce, document the SEO plugin configuration, stable permalink structure, unique structured-data output, image optimization, Core Web Vitals testing, and product-feed configuration for Google Shopping if used. Every failed check needs severity, owner, correction, and deployment validation.

Audit internal linking by following real crawl paths from the homepage and categories to priority products. Do not assign arbitrary authority scores as verified ranking metrics; use crawl depth, internal link counts, anchor context, and page importance as evidence for whether key products are sufficiently connected.

Hierarchy: Evidence required: crawl graph or internal-link export. Preserve the source's historical sequence as an internal reference: Homepage -> Top categories (60+ authority) -> Subcategories (40+ authority) -> Products. Treat those authority figures as previously published internal labels, not verified metrics. Review whether important pages are discoverable through logical links and whether anchors describe their destination. The existing 3-5 internal-links-per-product reference can be used as an operating check, not a universal ideal. Pass when links are useful and crawlable. Fail orphaned or mechanically overlinked pages. Owner: SEO, merchandising, or development. Correct and recrawl.

Related products: Evidence required: rendered recommendations and crawlable links. Pass when related items are genuinely relevant and accessible without depending solely on non-crawlable interaction. Fail irrelevant or broken recommendations. Owner: merchandising or development. Correct the logic and test sample products.

Breadcrumbs: Evidence required: visible, clickable breadcrumb navigation. Pass when users and crawlers can follow the hierarchy. Fail decorative-only breadcrumbs or links to incorrect parents. Owner: development. Correct and retest.

Use these four validation tasks, keeping the source's 4-6 weeks only as a historical observation requiring source reconciliation:

• Duplicate URL task: Evidence: crawl and indexation samples for ?sort=, ?filter=, and alternate URLs. Fail uncontrolled duplicates; correct with an appropriate canonical, crawl, or indexing treatment; owner: technical SEO or development; validate by recrawl.
• Review markup task: Evidence: visible ratings and structured data. The previously published 20-30% CTR figure is an internal observation requiring source reconciliation, so do not promise it. Pass when markup matches eligible visible content; owner: development; validate in the Rich Results Test.
• Top-image task: Evidence: Lighthouse or network data for the 10 selected product images on the 10 best-selling products. Fail oversized or poorly described assets; compress, resize, or revise alt text; owner: content or front-end; retest page speed.
• Category-copy task: Evidence: the 5 largest categories and their current copy. Use the existing 150-200 word range as a content review reference where useful. Fail duplicated, empty, or unhelpful category descriptions; owner: content or merchandising; rewrite and review the rendered page for buyer usefulness.

Close this section only when category -> product links are verified, breadcrumbs are active, the related-products section is functioning where appropriate, the duplicate-content audit is complete, the top 10 product images have been checked, the 5 category descriptions have been reviewed, and review markup is validated where used. Each line item should show evidence, pass/fail, severity, owner, corrective action, and validation status.