One of the recurring issues I come across on optimizing ecommerce websites, is the lack of text on category and subcategory pages. Usually, what I see on the typical category and sub-category pages of an ecommerce site is a bunch of product images, and maybe, just maybe they have some content below the images.
See “no text” example below:
Adding more text will help the search engines determine what your page is about, and offers a great opportunity to use textlinks to build internal linking within your website.
Optimially, it’s best to place the text under the H1, but above the product images. Consider redesigning your page template with content placed just below the H1 page header. Content should optimally be placed closer to the top of the document.
Although, the classic objection to this is that the text placed in that position on the page will interfere with usability, page views (engagement), and ultimately conversions.
To the rescue comes a CSS technique called, Absolute Positioning.
Consider using CSS absolute positioning to effectively move content blocks across Category & Sub-category templates. Content will appear closer to the top of the code structure, yet would appear at the bottom of the page when rendered within a browser.
The addition of more text is a way to optimize your website, increase your keyword relevancy scores, boost internal linking, and create a more engaging user experience.
Below is a powerpoint slide I created on Absolute positioning , and how it can be the solution to page layout problems.
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Great post but how long before Google starts to look at CSS to check for copy placed off page or absolutely positioned for SEO purposes? My thinking is to place it optimally for both users and spiders from the start.
I think it’s unlikely that a search engine would penalize a website just for using absolute positioning. However, if someone is intentionally placing copy off page…, that’s spammy. Hey, there’s always the robots.txt file. You can robots.txt your CSS to be excluded from the bots
I’ve have had problems with this – google dropped my visitors with 30%.
But excluding CSS in robots.txt might be a great idea.
Great article! I was pondering this thought today about a potential client with an e-commerce store. I has thought of adding the text below the images, but was concerned that it would be too far down the page from an SEO point of view…but it seems you have solved this problem! Thanks!!
Nice post,thanks for searing this serch engin optimization information.
Very handy tip. I just wonder if there would be any benefit if the images where also named appropriately, would that help with the Pages SEO. So rather than the image name being Product 123.jpg that you may have Keyword_Product_123.jpg
This could be a service that photographers could offer, SEO Optimised images?
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