Make product and category pages easy to find in Google
Begin with the top sellers and categories. Each page should answer what shoppers search for, show a price and stock that Google can read, and avoid a pile of duplicate URLs from variants and filters.
Example
You ask
We sell handmade leather wallets online. Which product pages should we fix first, and what is missing from them?
The assistant
Your assistant sorts your products into a priority table using your revenue ranking and search data, then checks the top pages against the product checklist. It lists missing specs, price and stock markup, and variant URLs that need a canonical.
Use it when
- Your site sells products online and is about to launch.
- Product or category pages get few visits from search.
- You want the variant, filter, and feed setup of your shop checked.
You give it
- Your top products and categories by revenue or margin
- The URLs of your product and category pages, or a sample of them
- Search Console access for the site, if it is already live
It returns
- A priority table: each product or category, its page, target keyword, search volume, and revenue rank
- Each priority page checked against the product or category checklist, with what is missing
- URL and markup problems with fixes, and your list of facts, photos, and Merchant Center steps
How the skill runs
Pick the products to work on
Start with your top products and categories by revenue or margin. Add
site_pages,page_updatesfor pages marked tune or expand,search_consolefor the last 28 days, andkeyword_plannerfor volume.Look at what ranks
For top keywords, check whether ranking pages are product pages, category pages, or guides. If most are guides, plan a guide that links to your product page. Note what they show that yours lacks: sizes, materials, delivery times, returns.
Check each product page
Title and H1 with the product name and the attribute shoppers search for. A description from your own facts, a plain spec list, price and stock in the HTML, several images, and stated shipping and returns. Real reviews only.
Check each category page
A short intro for shoppers, with the products on the first screen. Products linked with normal links that Google can follow. A unique URL for each page of results. An empty category gets noindex or a 404 until it has products.
Set variant and filter URLs
Put descriptive words in the path. Give each variant that should appear in search its own URL. Each indexable page sets its canonical link to itself. Keep filtered lists that need not appear in search out with noindex or a canonical to the category. Use robots.txt only to save crawling.
Add Product markup
Include name, image, and offers with a price above zero and a priceCurrency. Add availability and return and shipping details when you have them. Keep the markup in the first HTML response, and check it in Google's Rich Results Test.
Connect Merchant Center
You sign up for Merchant Center and connect it, which the Google Shopping tab requires. A small shop with few changes can let it read the site. A larger shop, or one whose stock changes often, uploads a feed and turns on automatic updates.
Where it stops
- It starts from your top products by revenue or margin. Without that list, it asks for it before ranking anything.
- It does not write, buy, or invent reviews or ratings. Ratings appear in markup only when real reviews show on the page.
- Merchant Center sign-up and connection are your steps. The skill can check that feed prices and stock match the pages.
- It does not make every filter combination indexable. Only the few filtered lists that match real searches should show in search.
Questions before you install
Do I need to rewrite the whole catalog first?
No. The skill starts with the priority products and leaves the rest of the catalog for later.
Does Product markup get my products into Google Shopping?
No. Product markup helps Google read the page, but Merchant Center is required to appear in the Google Shopping tab.
How do size and color variants get their own pages?
Give each variant that should appear in search its own URL, as a path or a parameter. A variant that differs only by an optional parameter sets its canonical to the URL without that parameter.