E-shop SEO Is Different
Most SEO guides (including my SEO guide for business owners) are written for business websites or blogs. E-shops have completely different problems — thousands of product pages, filtering, seasonal inventory, duplicate supplier descriptions.
Let's look at the 5 most common mistakes we see in Czech e-shops.
1. Duplicate Product Descriptions
The most widespread problem. Your supplier sends a product description and you upload it. But 50 other e-shops selling the same product use the exact same description.
Why it's a problem: Google penalizes duplicate content. If 50 e-shops have identical descriptions, it shows the one it considers most trustworthy — probably not you.
How to fix it:
- Rewrite at least your 30–50 best-selling products in your own words
- Focus on what the customer cares about: how the product helps, who it's for
- Add unique elements: own photos, video reviews, product FAQ
- Start from products with the highest revenue — 20% of products generate 80% of sales
2. Filter URLs in Google Index
E-shops have filters — color, size, price, brand. Each filter combination creates a new URL. If you let Google index all combinations, you have thousands of pages with similar or identical content.
How to fix it:
- Block filter URLs in robots.txt or set
noindex - Canonical on filtered pages points to the main category
- Strategically index only filters with high search volume (e.g., "red dresses" might make sense as a standalone page)
3. Thin Category Content
A typical e-shop category: name, 3-word description, product list. From Google's perspective, that's an almost empty page.
How to fix it:
- Write a 200–400 word category introduction
- Add FAQ with 3–5 category-specific questions
- Display subcategories for internal linking
- Place text below products — users see products first, text is a bonus for Google
4. Missing Product Image Alt Texts
Surprisingly many e-shops have image alt texts like "product-image-1" or none at all.
How to fix it:
- Descriptive alt text: "Red women's running shoes Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 41, side view"
- No keyword stuffing
- Automate: most platforms can generate alt texts from product names
5. Slow Checkout and Product Pages
Speed of the entire e-shop matters, but checkout and product pages are critical.
Common culprits:
- Unoptimized images (5 MB instead of 200 KB)
- Too many scripts (live chat, remarketing pixels, analytics)
- No lazy loading
- Large unused CSS/JS bundles
How to fix it:
- WebP images with correct dimensions
- Lazy loading for below-fold images
- Critical CSS inline, rest async
- Defer non-essential scripts
- Target: above 80 on mobile in PageSpeed Insights
How to Detect These Problems
- Duplicate descriptions: Copy the first sentence into Google with quotes. Found on 10+ sites? Problem.
- Filter URLs: Search
site:yourshop.com inurl:?in Google. - Thin content: Open a category and count words (excluding product names). Under 100 = problem.
- Alt texts: Right-click image → Inspect. If
alt=""or missing, fix it. - Speed: PageSpeed Insights — score under 50 on mobile = urgent.
Priority Order
- Filter URLs (immediate technical impact)
- Speed (affects conversions and SEO)
- Duplicate descriptions (start from bestsellers)
- Category content (start from top 10 categories)
- Alt texts (can be done in bulk)
Need help with your e-shop SEO? I offer an SEO audit specifically focused on e-commerce. Get in touch and I'll take a look. See how an audit works in practice in What an SEO Audit Reveals. For a complete technical checklist, read Technical SEO Checklist.