The same supplier description may be used by 50 other e-shops. It is not an automatic penalty, but it may not answer the customer's questions when choosing. For filter URLs use noindex and do not combine it with robots.txt, otherwise Google never sees the noindex on the page. Full-resolution photos are often 5 MB instead of 200 KB. Start with filter URLs, then speed, bestseller descriptions and your 10 biggest categories. I do e-shop SEO as part of SEO from €340/mo.
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 I 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: A copied description is not an automatic penalty. It may leave important customer questions unanswered. Google chooses representative URLs for duplicate or very similar pages; sharing a supplier paragraph does not mean only one shop can appear for every query.
How to fix it:
- Rewrite priority products selected by demand and missing information 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, a smaller part of the catalogue usually brings most of the 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:
- Distinguish index exclusion from duplicates: use crawlable
noindexfor exclusion; canonical only to an equivalent duplicate, not automatically to the main category - Don't combine that with robots.txt: blocking stops crawling, so Google never sees the
noindexor canonical on the page. Use robots.txt only for combinations that shouldn't be crawled at all - Strategically index only filters with high search volume (e.g., "red dresses" might make sense as a standalone page)
3. Thin Category Content
A category with a short introduction can serve customers well when its products, filters and navigation help them choose. Missing useful information is the issue, not failing a prescribed word count.
How to fix it:
- Write an introduction that answers missing selection questions; there is no required SEO word count
- Add FAQ with 3-5 category-specific questions
- Display subcategories for internal linking
- Place explanations where they help the shopping task: short guidance before products, longer advice without obstructing selection
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:
Common causes of slow checkout and product pages
- Unoptimized images 5 MB instead of 200 KB
- Too many scripts live chat, remarketing pixels, analytics
- No lazy loading images below the fold are not deferred
- Large CSS/JS bundles unused code that is still downloaded
How to fix it:
- WebP images with correct dimensions
- Lazy loading for below-fold images
- Critical CSS inline, rest async
- Defer non-essential scripts
- Use PageSpeed Insights diagnostics and field Core Web Vitals rather than the score alone
How to Detect These Problems
- Duplicate descriptions: Copy the first sentence into Google with quotes. A match prompts a usefulness review; it is not proof of a penalty.
- Filter URLs: Search
site:yourshop.com inurl:?for a sample; verify actual index status in Search Console and URL Inspection. - Thin content: Check whether products, filters and guidance answer selection questions; there is no SEO minimum word count.
- Alt texts: Right-click image → Inspect. Describe meaningful product images; an empty alt is appropriate for purely decorative images.
- Speed: Use PageSpeed Insights diagnostics, field metrics and the effect on buying.
Starting list to prioritise against actual findings
Starting order of fixes
- Filter URLs immediate technical impact
- Speed affects conversions and SEO
- Duplicate descriptions start from bestsellers
- Category content start from the top 10 categories
- Alt texts can be done in bulk
What to take away
- A copied supplier description is not an automatic penalty, but it may leave buyers' questions unanswered, so rewrite the priority products.
- With filter URLs, distinguish index exclusion from duplicates: use crawlable
noindex, or canonical only to an equivalent duplicate, and do not combine either with robots.txt. - What decides the length of category text is missing information, not a word count.
- Descriptive alt text belongs on meaningful product images; an empty alt is appropriate for purely decorative ones.
- Judge speed by PageSpeed Insights diagnostics and field Core Web Vitals, not by the score alone.
- You do not have to fix everything at once; start with the items that have the largest impact on your own findings.
Need help with your e-shop SEO? I offer an e-shop 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.
These distinctions follow Google: helpful content and canonical URLs.