If you run an eCommerce store and you’ve hired an SEO expert before (or even an agency), but still haven’t seen meaningful growth in traffic or sales…
“You’re not alone.”
I’ve audited and worked with countless eCommerce brands, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, you name it and I see this pattern again and again:
They invest in SEO, wait for months and still don’t rank for their main money keywords.
So what’s going wrong?
In this post, I will break down the real reasons most eCommerce stores never rank, even after hiring someone who claims to “know SEO.”
They Focus Only on Homepage & Blog but Not Collection Pages
Let me be blunt:
Your category (collection) pages are your biggest SEO assets.
Yet 90% of eCommerce stores treat them like placeholders. No intro copy, no internal links, no schema, no optimization but just a list of products and a weak title tag like “Shoes” or “Men’s Wear.”
That’s not SEO. That’s a missed opportunity.
Google ranks pages based on search intent. And when someone searches for “leather jackets for men” or “organic dog food,” they want a product category, not a blog or homepage.
Fix:
Treat your top collection pages like landing pages.
- Add a 100–150 word intro with your keyword
- Use H2s for subcategories or filters
- Include internal links to related products or blogs
- Optimize the meta title + description properly
- Add FAQ schema if it makes sense
No Real Keyword Strategy – Just Guesswork
Many store owners (and even SEOs) make this mistake:
They “guess” their keywords instead of researching what people actually search for.
For example, they target “premium men’s denim wear” when the real keyword with search volume is just “men’s jeans” or “buy men’s jeans online.”
And then they wonder why nothing ranks.
Fix:
Do real keyword research with tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush or even free ones like Ubersuggest and Google Keywords Planner.
Find:
- High-intent keywords (e.g., “buy”, “cheap”, “fast shipping”)
- Long-tails that match your exact products
- Keywords for category + product pages, not just blogs
Blog Strategy is Completely Disconnected from the Store
Some eCommerce SEO strategies get stuck in blog limbo, they pump out 4 blogs per month like “Top 10 Summer Styles in 2025” or “Why Sustainable Fashion Matters.”
Cool !
But how does that bring transactional traffic to your store?
These posts might get some views, but they don’t bring in people ready to buy.
Fix:
Create blog content that supports your products and leads to internal links. For example:
- “Best Leather Jackets for Winter 2025” (link to your leather jackets page)
- “How to Choose the Right Running Shoes” (link to specific products)
- “X Reasons Why Organic Dog Food Is Better” (and link to your organic dog food category)
Make the blog a part of your funnel, not just a content graveyard.
Technical SEO is Being Ignored Completely
I’ve seen sites with:
- Duplicate titles across 50+ pages
- Noindex tags on collection pages
- Broken internal links
- Bloated themes slowing everything down
- Mobile usability issues all over the place
And the worst part? Most store owners don’t even know this stuff is happening. Their SEO guy sends a report once a month, but never audits the real issues.
Fix:
Run a proper technical audit. Use tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb. Look for:
- Crawl issues
- Indexation problems
- Canonical errors
- Slow Core Web Vitals
- Broken schema
- Missing structured data on products
And fix them fast, because Google cares more about clean structure than fancy design.
No Product Reviews, UGC, or Freshness Signals
Google loves fresh, unique content but most eCommerce product pages are thin and generic.
They all have the same manufacturer description, no real reviews, and haven’t been updated in years.
Even with backlinks, Google won’t trust these pages to rank.
Fix:
Encourage reviews. Add user-generated photos. Update your best-selling products with new copy, fresh FAQs, or seasonal updates. Add “last updated” schema where relevant.
Dynamic content builds trust and trust builds rankings.
Lastly, I Think!
Hiring an SEO expert isn’t enough if the strategy is wrong or the execution is lazy.
Ranking an eCommerce store isn’t about “doing some SEO.” It’s about building a search-first store, where every page is optimized with intent, purpose, and clarity.
So if you’ve tried SEO before and failed, look deeper!
Is your keyword strategy aligned with your products?
Are your category pages fully optimized?
Is your blog supporting your SEO goals or just adding fluff?
And most importantly:
Is the person you hired actually doing the work or just sending pretty reports?
SEO works. eCommerce SEO works.
You just need the right foundation and the right execution.
Written by Fuzail Anwar
SEO Expert | Helping businesses worldwide
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