Running an ecommerce SEO audit might sound as exciting as watching paint dry, but trust me, it’s the difference between a store that thrives and one that gets lost in search results.
Let’s say you just opened a new shop in a busy mall. You’ve got the best products, a beautiful layout, and competitive prices—but no one walks in. Why? Maybe your store is hidden behind a column, the signage is unclear, or the doors won’t open properly. That’s exactly what happens to an ecommerce website that isn’t optimized for search engines.
If your online store isn’t showing up in search results, loading too slowly, or failing to convert visitors into buyers, it’s time for a thorough ecommerce website audit.
In this blog post, we’re breaking down a step-by-step ecommerce SEO audit checklist that will help you fix hidden issues, boost search engine rankings, and turn your website into a sales-driving machine. Let’s get started.
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An ecommerce SEO audit is like a full-body checkup for your online store. It looks at everything—your homepage, product pages, category pages, technical setup, and even off-page SEO-like backlinks. If search engine bots struggle to crawl your site or pages load too slowly, you’re losing customers before they even get a chance to shop.
An SEO audit will help you identify broken links, duplicate content, slow load times, and keywords that you’re missing that may be preventing you from ranking higher in search engines. These fixes will make your site more visible on search engine pages, which will help you get more organic traffic and increase sales.
Not only that, AI-driven tools like ChatGPT and SurferSEO can assist in keyword research, content creation, and even optimizing product descriptions for better search performance.
Let me be frank with you — an SEO audit is not a quick endeavor. But these are things you should not skip, it’s like hearing weird noises in your car and hoping it won’t break down. A well-optimized ecommerce site receives lots of organic traffic, clicks, and sales.
Running an ecommerce SEO audit isn’t just a technical task—it’s the difference between showing up in search results or getting buried under competitors. If your ecommerce website isn’t optimized, search engines won’t rank it well, and customers won’t find you.
Think of it like this: You wouldn’t open a physical store without checking if the signage is visible, the aisles are easy to navigate, or the checkout process is smooth. The same applies to your online store—if pages take forever to load, search engine bots struggle to crawl your site, or your content is outdated, you’re losing potential sales.
An SEO audit helps you:
✔ Find and fix technical issues that block rankings (like slow site speed and broken links)
✔ Improve on-page SEO to make your content more relevant to search engines
✔ Strengthen backlinks and off-page SEO to build authority
✔ Optimize for user experience, ensuring visitors stay and convert
Without regular SEO checkups, your ecommerce business risks falling behind. A thorough ecommerce website audit keeps your store competitive, visible, and profitable.
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For the first part of auditing your ecommerce site, you need to make sure it’s built for search engines and users alike. If your site has broken pages, loads too slowly, or isn’t mobile-friendly, it won’t rank well—no matter how great your products are.
Here are the steps you should follow to fix technical SEO issues and improve your search engine rankings:
Before you optimize anything, make sure search engines can actually find and understand your ecommerce site. If Google can’t crawl and index your pages properly, they won’t show up in search results, no matter how good your SEO is.
To improve search engine crawlability, ensure your XML sitemaps are updated and submitted in Google Search Console. Use robots.txt to block low-value pages and analyze server logs to identify crawling inefficiencies.
A messy, confusing layout makes it harder for both search engine bots and customers to find what they’re looking for. Optimizing your site architecture and URL structure keeps everything organized and improves your search engine rankings.
To sum it up, for the best SEO performance, URLs should be concise, readable, and keyword-rich. Avoid underscores—use hyphens instead since search engines treat them as space separators. Also, ensure URLs are structured logically, such as /best-running-shoes instead of long query strings.”
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A slow ecommerce website drives customers away faster than a long checkout line. Site speed isn’t just about convenience—it directly impacts search engine rankings, conversions, and bounce rates.
If your pages take too long to load, search engines will push them lower in search results, and frustrated shoppers will leave before making a purchase.
Additional note: Google measures page experience using Core Web Vitals: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) assesses loading speed, First Input Delay (FID) evaluates interactivity, and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) determines visual identity and stability.
A well-optimized page should have an LCP under 2.5 seconds and a minimal CLS score to avoid unexpected layout shifts.
If your ecommerce site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing potential sales. Google also prioritizes mobile-first indexing, meaning your mobile experience affects your search engine rankings. A frustrating mobile experience can send visitors straight to a competitor.
A mobile-responsive ecommerce website makes it easier for shoppers to browse, buy, and return. If your mobile experience is clunky, your rankings and revenue will take a hit.
For a better mobile experience, consider implementing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to enhance load times, use Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) for app-like browsing, and compress images for faster mobile performance.
Trust is everything in ecommerce. If shoppers see a “Not Secure” warning in their browser, they might think twice before entering their payment details. Google also prioritizes secure websites, so having HTTPS isn’t just about security—it helps with search engine rankings too.
A secure ecommerce site keeps customer data safe, improves search engine rankings, and builds trust—essential for turning visitors into buyers.
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Optimizing individual pages is just as important as fixing technical issues. A strong on-page SEO strategy helps search engines understand your content while making it easier for customers to find and engage with your ecommerce site.
If you’re not using the right keywords, you’re missing out on potential buyers. The goal isn’t just to rank high—it’s to rank for search terms your customers are actually using. That’s where keyword research and strategic keyword placement come in.
Always remember that keyword optimization should align with search intent. Transactional keywords belong on product pages, while informational keywords should be used in blog content. Use long-tail keywords and semantic SEO for better search rankings.
Optimizing for relevant keywords helps search engines know your content well, improving your visibility in search results and boosting organic traffic to your ecommerce website.
Meta titles and descriptions impact search engine rankings and click-through rates. Make sure they’re optimized to attract both search engines and users.
Optimized meta tags help your ecommerce site rank better in search results and increase organic traffic.
Search engines favor high-quality, unique content, and so do shoppers. Weak or duplicate product descriptions can hurt your ecommerce site’s visibility and credibility.
For better accessibility, content should be voice-search-friendly, optimized for easy readability, and compliant with ADA guidelines to ensure inclusivity
A solid internal linking strategy assists search engines scan your ecommerce site more efficiently while guiding visitors to relevant pages. Done right, it improves search engine rankings, increases organic traffic, and keeps shoppers engaged longer.
An effective internal linking structure is built using a pillar-cluster model, with general pillar pages linked to more niche subtopics. This model also helps with SEO, as it allows for the distribution of link equity between relevant content.
Your ecommerce website isn’t just ranked based on what’s on your site—search engines also consider your site’s authority, which is influenced by backlinks and brand mentions. A strong off-page SEO strategy helps build credibility and improve search engine rankings.
Your brand’s reputation plays a role in how search engines view your ecommerce business. If people are talking about your store online, that’s a good sign—but you need to monitor these conversations.
Strong off-page SEO and backlinks tell search engines that your ecommerce site is credible and authoritative, improving your rankings in search results.
Google values fresh, authentic content, and UGC provides exactly that—continuous, relevant updates that improve keyword rankings and engagement.
While customer reviews focus on personal experiences, affiliate editorial reviews offer in-depth, expert evaluations of products and services. These reviews play a crucial role in SEO and conversions:
Encourage customers to leave detailed reviews, ask questions in forums, or share experiences on social media. The more genuine engagement your brand generates, the stronger its SEO and conversion potential.
Case studies provide tangible proof of content performance, demonstrating how strategic SEO efforts translate into measurable traffic, engagement, and rankings. Below are three case studies that highlight the power of user-generated content and affiliate editorial reviews in driving organic growth.
This product review showcases how expert recommendations drive organic traffic. With a high domain authority and relevant keyword rankings, this piece proves the value of in-depth, well-structured content in the affiliate space.
This case study highlights the power of informative, health-related product reviews. The extensive keyword reach demonstrates how well-optimized content ranks for numerous search terms, ensuring long-term visibility and conversions.
This evergreen “how-to” content piece illustrates the importance of engaging, informative articles. The high average time on the page indicates strong reader interest, making it an excellent example of content that sustains organic traffic over time.
Search engine optimization for ecommerce websites not only helps in getting rankings but also helps in conversion. If they don’t see what they need in your shop or get frustrated during the payment process, they’ll simply walk out without spending anything. A frictionless experience keeps the customers entertained and aids in sales.
A confusing site layout can drive potential customers away. Fixing user experience (UX) issues ensures people can easily find what they need.
Conduct a UX Audit
A complicated checkout process is one of the biggest reasons for cart abandonment. Keep it fast and frustration-free.
Reduce Checkout Steps
Enhancing UX and conversion rates means ensuring that your ecommerce site isn’t just ranking well in search results but is also converting traffic into revenue.
Once the basic SEO strategies are implemented on the ecommerce website, there are various advanced techniques that these websites can follow to appear higher in the search results. Voice search and local SEO optimization ensure that you get noticed by more potential customers than your competitors.
As more people use voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, optimizing for voice search helps your store appear in relevant queries.
Use Conversational Keywords
Add FAQ Schema Markup
If your ecommerce business also has a physical location or serves specific regions, local SEO can bring in more foot traffic and local orders.
Claim and Optimize Google Business Profile
Also, to capture ‘near me’ searches, optimize your Google Business Profile with location-based keywords, use LocalBusiness schema for search visibility, and keep NAP (Name, Address, Phone) details consistent. Encourage customer reviews to boost local rankings.
SEO is not something to be done once — it is a long-term practice. Monitoring your ecommerce website’s performance helps to make sure that your efforts aren’t in vain and that you can nip issues in the bud before they impact your search results.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Setting up Google Analytics and Google Search Console gives you the data needed to track progress.
Enable Google Analytics and Google Search Console
Running an ecommerce SEO audit without the right tools is like trying to fix a car without a wrench—you won’t get very far. The good news? There are powerful tools that can help you track rankings, find technical issues, and improve your site’s performance.
Here’s the table format for your SEO Tools for Ecommerce SEO Audit:
SEO Tool | Function & Features |
SEMrush: Popular SEO Audit Tool | Tracks ecommerce SEO keywords, competitor insights, tags, duplicate content, links, and backlinks. The free version is limited but useful for small website audits. |
Ahrefs: One of the Industry Leaders | Helps audit a website by analyzing top-performing content, keyword gaps, organic performance, and backlink profile. |
SE Ranking: User-Friendly SEO Tool | It provides a rank tracker, keyword research, competitor analysis, on-page SEO checker, and backlink checker to improve search engine rankings. |
Screaming Frog: In-Depth Analysis Page by Page | Performs detailed crawling and analysis of a website’s URLs, internal and external links, and structure, mimicking how search engine bots see a site. |
Google Analytics: How Your Site Behaves Online | Tracks audience data, traffic sources, conversion rates, and user behavior, helping businesses optimize SEO strategies and campaigns. |
Google PageSpeed Insights: Know Your Performance | Evaluates page load speed and mobile performance, providing recommendations to improve site speed and lower bounce rates. |
Google Search Console: Organic Ranking Opportunities | Monitors and optimizes indexing, search performance, mobile usability, linking, URL inspections, and sitemap submissions for better search engine rankings. |
These tools are important for conducting a thorough ecommerce SEO audit, helping businesses identify technical issues, keyword opportunities, and performance improvements for their online stores.
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SEO isn’t something you do once and call it a day. Search engines evolve, algorithms change, and competitors keep optimizing. If you want your ecommerce site to rank high, drive consistent organic traffic, and convert visitors into buyers, you need to keep auditing, tweaking, and improving.
We’ve covered everything—from technical SEO audits to on-page optimization, backlinks, user experience, and advanced SEO strategies. Now it’s your turn.
SEO isn’t about doing everything at once—it’s about making steady, data-driven improvements that keep your ecommerce business ahead. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results
SEO Content Specialist Duane is a results-driven SEO Content Specialist who combines strategic keyword research with engaging storytelling to maximize organic traffic, audience engagement, and conversions. With expertise in AI-powered SEO, content optimization, and data-driven strategies, he helps brands establish a strong digital presence and climb search rankings. From crafting high-impact pillar content to leveraging long-tail keywords and advanced link-building techniques, Duane ensures every piece of content is optimized for performance. Always staying ahead of search engine updates, he refines strategies to keep brands competitive, visible, and thriving in an ever-evolving digital landscape
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