SEO for an online store: from technical status to pages that sell
SEO for an online store starts with the catalog, not with the texts: the search engine should get a complete list of pages, understand where the price and availability are, and not spend a detour on duplicates. While this is not the case, it is too early to write requests and descriptions. On July 31, 2026, we took data from three live stores — sweets, building materials, and garden tools. In two, the site map gives a code of 200 and zero bytes. In the third, it contains 4,236 records for 1,300 addresses. That is, in none of the three Google does not receive a correct list of pages.
two of the three have an HTTP 200 and zero bytes in the body
Site map
4,236
Duplicate addresses
entries in the map for 1,300 unique ones — 3.3 addresses per product
no Product block in all three stores
Product marking
402.9
The first response from the server
ms, 547.3ms and 625ms
from no counter to GA4 with product list view events
Analytics
Who it's for
Situations where this service delivers results
Scenario 1 of 5
The directory is full, and there is almost no search traffic
Sweets and Snacks Shop delivers its first response in 402.9ms, the fastest of the three sites we measured. And at the same time, its sitemap is empty, the Sitemap line in robots.txt is commented, there is no structured data, and there is no h1 tag on the main page. Speed does not save here: the search engine did not receive a list of pages.
We'll review your situation in a free audit
Scenario 2 of 5
Thousands of items, and no one knows how many there really are
In the wholesale store of building materials, both standard addresses of the site map gave zero bytes, so we calculated the catalog differently - by pagination of the standard search: 31 pages of 100 items plus 45 for the last one, a total of 3,145 products. While there is no such figure, there is nothing to estimate the amount of work on metatags.
Scenario 3 of 5
One product opens from several categories
For a garden tool store, the sitemap weighs in at 1.18MB and contains 4,236 records that lead to 1,300 unique addresses. An average of 3.3 addresses per product. A round trip is spent rewatching the same thing again, and the signals are shared between copies.
Scenario 4 of 5
You are an official seller of a brand that is sold by ten others
Same product, same description from the manufacturer, same picture. What sets you apart in publishing is what you see under the title: price, availability, category path. The official store of the tool that we measured has only a description of the organization and contacts in the markup — there is no product markup, so there is nothing to show in the snippet.
Scenario 5 of 5
Two language versions on one directory
The second language doubles the number of addresses, meta tags and lines in the sitemap. The uk and ru versions of the building materials store are both alive, but there is no sitemap at all - so neither of them is listed to the search engine.
What's included
Complete list of work and what you get as a result
Measurement of the current state with numbers and date: the size of the catalog by two methods, the composition of the site map, duplicate addresses, speed, markup, analytics — so that after a quarter there is something to compare with.
Working sitemap and uncommented Sitemap directive in robots.txt: the search engine receives a list of pages, and does not guess about them from internal links.
Canonical addresses on products available from multiple categories - weight is no longer shared between copies of the same card.
Structured Product and Offer data on cards: price, availability, article number, brand, breadcrumbs. The page becomes eligible for the rich snippet.
Analysis of the structure of the catalog: which categories are there, which are lacking for real demand, which duplicate each other and which should be consolidated.
Title and description rules that scale to the entire catalog — so you don't manually start meta tags on thousands of cards.
Internal linking between categories, products and articles: reference weight is collected where the order is placed.
Setting up e-commerce in analytics if it is missing or dead. Without this, the result cannot be seen or contested.
Monthly report with an unchanged set of numbers: addresses in the map, pages in the index, speed, visibility, orders from organics.
Commodity feed, if you unload at the sites: the fields for the feed and for the markup are taken from the same catalog data.
When this service isn't right
What's not included — so there are no surprises at delivery
Promises of items and number of orders
Descriptions for the entire catalog without a separate copywriting budget
Photography of goods
Contextual advertising is a separate direction and a separate budget
Work with pricing and assortment: the site does not make an expensive product competitive
Free audit of the store in lieu of promises
The conversation about the promotion of the store should begin with the numbers about the store itself. We measure your site from the outside — directory, sitemap, speed, markup, analytics — and show you what's losing money right now. All three stores we measured on 07/31/2026 appeared to be working: HTTP 200, valid HTTPS, mobile version. The problems were in what is not visible from the screen.
What we measure
Directory size by two methodsWe count on the site map and cross pagination of the standard search. In a wholesale store of building materials, the first method yielded zero, the second yielded 3,145 products. It is the discrepancy that shows how many positions the search engine does not see.
Site map statusHow many entries, how many of them are unique addresses, whether all language versions are present, whether the Sitemap line in robots.txt is uncommented. A blank card with code 200 is the most frequent find in our sample.
Duplicate addressesHow many times the same card is available through different category paths. In the store of garden tools, 3.3 addresses per product turned out - this is a separate stage of work, and its length depends on how many years the structure has been accumulating.
SpeedFirst server response and HTML weight separately for main, category and card. In our sample, the spread was from 402.9 to 625 ms on sites similar in purpose.
Structured dataIs there marking of the product, price, availability and bread crumbs. Only a description of the organization and contacts was found at the official seller of garden tools - in the issue it looks poorer than a competitor with the same product.
AnalyticsAre orders measured at all? One of the three stores didn't have a meter at all - no GTM, no GA, no Pixel. There, any conversation about conversion is based on words only.
Category titles and textsDo the pages have a main title, are the descriptions filled in, are there any template stubs left? Two of the three stores had no h1 tag on the main page, and one had a page description of 46 characters.
Payment and delivery at checkoutHow many ways are actually available to the buyer. It's not SEO, but it's where traffic either converts to orders or doesn't.
What you get
A document with the numbers of your store: catalog, site map, takes, speed, markup, analytics — with the date of measurement and a description of the method by which each number was obtained.
List the findings in order of sales impact, not in order of convenience for us.
Work plan for the first three months with a division into technical part, structure and content.
The conversation lasts 40 minutes, where we go through the document point by point and answer questions.
Timeline: 3-5 working days from the moment we received the store address
Why is it free
Because without numbers, a proposal for the promotion of a store is a set of words that are the same for everyone. The audit shows whether we have anything to do at all: if the store is technically in order, but sales are falling, we will say so and not take money for months of work. The document remains with you in any case, even if we do not start work.
What's next
After the audit, there is a plan and estimate by stages. We don't have a "pay for three months and wait" scheme: each month has a list of works and a list of numbers by which it can be seen. We work according to a contract, with an account and a deed.
Short form: your contact and site URL
Contract, act and 30-day warranty
Every project gets a written contract: scope, deadlines, amount, acceptance procedure. After delivery — act and invoice, then 30 calendar days of warranty.
Sole proprietor & bank transfer
The contractor is a registered sole proprietor. Payment by invoice with closing documents.
Rights & access — yours
Code, design and materials transfer to you after full payment. Domain, hosting, repository and analytics are registered to you.
Client portal instead of email chains
During the project you get access to a portal: contracts, invoices, acts and project status in one place.
European clients
Among our work — projects for Norway, Bulgaria, Moldova and Spain.
Verifiable numbers
Every case in the portfolio comes with a link to a live site and a technical measurement.
Audit first, then pricing
There is no price list on the site intentionally: the scope of the same work differs multiples between clients.
We say "no" when unsure
If the task isn't ours or the deadline is unrealistic — we tell you upfront.
What affects the price
Why two seemingly identical tasks are priced differently
The size of the directory — and how well you know itIn the wholesale store of building materials, the site map did not give any address, and we counted 3,145 positions by pagination of the standard search. Until this figure is available, there is nothing to estimate the amount of work on meta tags, texts and markup.
How many duplicates have accumulated in the structure4,236 entries in the map for 1,300 addresses are 3.3 ways to one product. The analysis of such addresses is a separate stage, and its length depends on the age of the store, not on our rates.
The state of analytics at the startA store without any counter requires a complete e-commerce setup before any other work. A store that already has GTM, GA4, and product list view events skips this step.
Number of language versionsThe second language duplicates URLs, meta tags, and sitemap lines, and adds hreflang validation. A store with one version and a store with two give different monthly volume for the same catalog.
Who writes category textsThe technical part without descriptions gives half the result. If you prepare the texts according to our rules, this is one volume of work, if we write it, it is another, and it is counted separately from the technical part.
Process steps
Transparent stages with approval at every step
Total duration:30–90 days
1
Measurement and audit
3-5 working days
We count the catalog using two methods, analyze the site map and robots.txt, take a look at the speed, look at the markup and analytics. This is the same free audit: the numbers from it become the basis with which we then compare the result.
2
Technical cleaning of the catalog
10-15 working days
Working site map, uncommented Sitemap directive, canonical addresses on products from several categories, redirects instead of beaten paths. Here we decide what to do with language branches.
3
Markup and analytics
5-10 working days
Product and Offer on cards, breadcrumbs, e-commerce events in GA4. It goes in parallel with the previous stage: the markup affects the template, not the address structure.
4
Directory structure and semantics
10-20 working days
Which categories exist, which are lacking for real demand, which duplicate each other. The decision to create or merge a category is made by your person - we provide the demand figures and the implications for the structure.
5
Texts and links
15-30 working days
Rules of headings and descriptions for the entire catalog, texts of priority categories, links between categories, products and articles. The order of categories is by marginality, not by the number of products in them.
6
Reporting and subsequent months
every month, starting from the second
The same set of numbers every month: addresses in the map, pages in the index, speed, visibility, orders from organics. The same — so that months can be compared with each other, and not read a new format every time.
Did not find your case?
Describe how it works on your side — we will tell you whether “SEO for an online store” fits and what it means in your situation. No brief and no call: one question, one answer.
Technologies & integrations
What we build on and what it connects to
Stack
Search Console is the only place where real indexing is visible; we do not invent this number without your access
GA4 with eCommerce - measures organic orders, but shows trend, not checkout
Screaming Frog — search for duplicates and empty meta tags; a complete bypass of tens of thousands of addresses takes hours, so we do it by category
Product, Offer and BreadcrumbList — price, availability and category path in the snippet; this is a chance for an enhanced view, not a guarantee
Sitemap index instead of one map - the standard generator on a large directory gives an empty body or collects in tens of seconds
OpenCart and WooCommerce are the platforms of all three measured stores; on closed SaaS, some technical edits are not available
Product feeds are a separate channel with their own policies: the account can be blocked regardless of the state of the site
Integrations
Google Search Console
GA4
Google Tag Manager
Google Merchant Center
Rozetka
Prom
eSputnik
Cloudflare
List of works with numbers against subscription fee "for promotion"
How this option differs from the alternative
subscription fee "for promotion"Our approach
Where does it start?semantics and texts from the first month, technical status - sometime laterstore measurement before signing: catalog by two methods, site map, doubles, speed, markup, analytics
What is in the monthly reporta screenshot of items based on a sample of requests selected by the contractor himselfan unchanged set of numbers: addresses in the map, pages in the index, speed, visibility, orders from organics
What is promised in the contractitems or traffic as a liabilitythe list of works and figures that depend on us; we do not promise items and do not give guarantees for them
If there is no analytics on the sitethe report is based on items, because there is nothing to measure the orderwe put it as the first step and directly say that the result does not count until this moment
Who is left with the audit?audit is included in the first paid monththe document is yours in any case, even if we will not work further
Cases
Tasks and results in numbers — all metrics measured by us
online store for the delivery of sweets, snacks and gift sets
Task
Understand why your store is getting almost no traffic from search.
Solution
Measuring the speed and weight of the page, checking the sitemap and robots.txt, structured data, headers and the composition of analytics.
Result
Measured on 07/31/2026: first response 402.9ms, full HTML load 532.4ms at 303.4KB - fastest TTFB among the three sample stores. At the same time, /sitemap.xml gives HTTP 200 and zero bytes, feed/google_sitemap — 404, the Sitemap line in robots.txt is commented from the default template. Zero blocks of structured data, zero h1 tags on the main page, page description 46 characters. No analytics detected at all — no GTM, no GA, no pixel. Neither a list of pages nor data about the product is transmitted to the search engine, and there is nothing to check the consequences.
wholesale building materials store
Task
Check whether the search engine sees a directory of this size.
Solution
Calculation of the catalog by pagination of standard search by unique product identifiers, verification of both standard addresses of the site map and composition of analytics.
Result
Measurement 07/31/2026: 3,145 products in the live catalog — 31 pages of 100 items plus 45 for the last one, counted by unique ids in payload view_item_list. Two language versions uk and ru. Analytics configured: GTM, GA4, Google Ads remarketing with product list view events. First response 547.3ms, full download 685.6ms at 212.1KB. The site map is actually missing: both standard addresses return zero bytes, the directive in robots.txt is commented. There is no structured data.
online store of the official seller of garden tools
Task
Assess why the product cards are poorly presented in the issue.
Solution
Traversing the site map with counting unique addresses, checking structured data, headings and language versions.
Result
Measurement 07/31/2026: 1.18 MB sitemap, 4,236 records for 1,300 unique addresses — about 1,213 cards and 70 categories, that is, an average of 3.3 addresses per product. Structured data is limited to the description of the organization and contacts: there are no product markings and breadcrumbs. There are zero h1 tags on the main page. First response 625ms, full download 752.5ms at 350.4KB. Two language versions with hreflang and HSTS enabled - there is basic hygiene, but there is no commodity layer for rendering.
What we need from you
We can't start without this — best to prepare in advance
1Access to Search Console and GA4 - or consent to configure them if they are not available.
2Access to the admin panel of the store to edit the structure and meta tags.
3One person on your side who can make decisions about the directory structure.
4Understanding Marginality by Category: It's profitable to promote what makes money, not what has a lot.
5Willingness to work with content: the technical part without texts gives half the result.
If something is missing — let us know, we'll help you gather it or do it as a separate task.
FAQ
Most frequently asked questions — with concrete answers
Where does the work on the store begin?
From measurement, not from semantics. First, you need to know how many products are actually in the catalog and how many of them are available to the search engine. In the wholesale store of building materials, both standard addresses of the site map returned zero bytes, so the catalog had to be counted by regular search pagination — 3,145 items turned out. Our recommendation: always two independent counting methods. The difference between them is the shortest answer to the question of how much of the catalog the search engine does not see.
Why are you so attached to the sitemap?
Because a page that is not in the index cannot bring either a visitor or an order. A map is a direct list of addresses that you request to be bypassed; without it, a part of the directory may not reach the bot for years if there are few internal links to it. Fair limit: the map does not raise positions and does not guarantee indexation, Google writes it directly. Ten thousand addresses in the map do not mean ten thousand pages in the index, and the real number is visible only in your Search Console - we do not have access to it by default.
My product opens from several categories - is this bad?
It costs you a detour. In a garden tool store, the sitemap contains 4,236 entries for 1,300 unique addresses — 3.3 paths to one product. The bot wastes resources to re-view the same thing, and the signals are shared between copies instead of being collected on the same page. We immediately warn you about something unpleasant: after cleaning, the number of pages in the index drops for a while. It's an expected turn of events, not a loss, but if you don't tell ahead of time, it looks like a failure on the report.
Why markup the product, if the page is already in production?
So that the price, availability and path of the categories appear under the title instead of the bare address. An expanded snippet takes up more space and gives more reasons to click — at the same position. In all three measured stores, there is no product markup; the official seller of the tool has only a description of the organization and contacts. The line here is hard: markup doesn't rank up, it's up to Google to show the expanded view or not, and marking up what's not on the page leads to manual penalties, not preference.
What are the deadlines for the first results?
Technical changes are visible in indexing for several weeks. A noticeable change in organic traffic is a quarter or more, and it depends on the competition in the niche and how launched the startup is. A store that has an empty sitemap and no markup at all, and a store that technically has everything in order, move at different speeds. We do not name the dates of the appearance of positions: this is decided by the searcher, not the contractor.
Do you guarantee items?
No. Google publishing is not controlled by anyone from the outside, and any guarantee of positions is either ignorance or deception. We take on jobs and numbers that depend on us: indexing, speed, markup, structure, texts. We report on them every month and show the measurement method so that you can check the figure yourself.
What to do if there is no analytics on the site?
Make her the first step. One of the three stores measured had no meter at all—no GTM, no GA, no pixel—while the site appeared fully operational. For comparison, a wholesale building materials store has GTM, GA4 and Google Ads remarketing with product list view events, and there is already something to work with. A fair margin: GA4 shows a trend, not an accounting truth — blockers, consent mode, and browser restrictions on cookies cut off part of the events, so you need to consciously compare its numbers with the box office.
Do you need a product feed if you have SEO?
These are different channels, and they do not replace each other. The feed opens the product distribution and platforms — places where a person already compares specific items, and not looking for a site. The data for the feed and for the markup are taken from the same fields of the catalog, so it is cheaper to do them together than separately. What a feed doesn't do: It doesn't make your price competitive. In the commodity issue, you stand next to everyone, and if it is more expensive without explaining why, the feed will simply show this comparison faster.
How do you report?
Every month, the same set of numbers: how many addresses are in the sitemap and how many pages are in the index, what are the speed indicators, what is the visibility by the group of commercial requests, how many orders from organics according to your analytics. The set does not change on purpose - otherwise the months cannot be compared with each other. The method by which it was obtained is indicated for each number.
Give the address of the store - we will calculate your catalog and show what the search engine sees from it.
The answer is a document with numbers: the size of the directory by two methods, the state of the site map, duplicate addresses, speed, marking and analytics, with the date of measurement. Next is the work plan by stages.
From measured casesMeasurement 07/31/2026: 3,145 products in the live catalog
There is no price list on the site on purpose: the same work differs several times over between two clients, and a “from” figure explains nothing in that case. First a free audit — we count your pages, duplicates and speed — then we name the sum and the deadline and fix both in the contract.