7 product page SEO techniques for UK ecommerce sites

What to take away

Target one search phrase per page

A product page seldom ranks for a broad term such as womens coats. It ranks for a precise phrase naming a material, a fit or a size. Pull those phrases from your site search log and from Search Console impressions.

Place the phrase in the H1, the title tag, the URL slug and the first line of the description. Use it once in each spot, then stop repeating it in every bullet.

Rewrite the description rather than pasting manufacturer copy

Manufacturer text sits on the brand site and on every reseller, so it competes with itself. Rewriting takes about an hour a page and leaves you with copy nobody else holds.

Lead with what the item does, then cover material, fit and care. Prose suits the opening line; bullets suit specifications.

John Lewis puts fabric, fit and care detail in the same block on every garment page.

Add product schema markup that matches the page

Product schema markup tells Google the price, currency, availability and rating without guessing. Mark up name, image, description, brand, SKU and offers as a minimum.

Values must match what a shopper sees, otherwise the rich result can vanish.

Review markup needs genuine reviews on the page, and the rating must be the average shown.

Optimise product images for search and speed

Filenames and alt text are read by search engines, so grey-merino-walking-socks.jpg beats IMG_2043.jpg. Describe the product once rather than repeating a keyword five times.

Serve images in WebP or AVIF at display size, and lazy load anything below the fold. Heavy files damage Core Web Vitals.

Show the item from more than one angle: full product, close detail and in use.

Write unique copy for every variant

Size and colour variants often share one description, which produces near-duplicate pages. Add detail such as leg length or capacity.

Where variants differ only by size, keep one canonical URL. Where the shopper's need changes, give the page its own copy.

ASOS lists the model's height and the size worn, which helps shoppers judge fit before ordering.

Link product pages to categories and related products

Product pages pass authority to category pages and back, so link upwards with descriptive anchors such as waterproof walking boots rather than click here.

Optimising category pages matters just as much, because those pages decide which products get crawled and which stay buried.

Add three or four related products chosen by shared attributes, so the links reflect what shoppers compare.

Handle reviews, delivery and returns claims correctly

Testimonials must be genuine and verifiable under the CAP advertising codes, so never lift a review from another retailer's site.

Returns copy needs the same care. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 set the cancellation period for most online orders, so check your wording against the rules rather than a competitor's page.

Measure the pages after launch

Watch revenue per session and conversion rate by page, not rankings alone. Impressions without clicks usually mean a weak title tag.

ONS retail industry data gives a monthly view of online sales as a share of total retail, which helps separate your own dip from a market-wide one.

On Shopify, a Shopify SEO audit checklist shows whether templated product pages repeat the same title tag.

Common questions

How long should a product description be?

Long enough to cover material, fit and care. Most pages need a short paragraph plus a specification list, not hundreds of words of filler.

Does product schema markup improve rankings?

Not directly. It helps Google understand the page and can win rich results showing price and availability, which tends to lift click-through.

Should I use supplier photographs?

They are better than nothing, but original shots and lifestyle images usually perform better and avoid duplicate image results.

Do I need unique copy if the supplier bans changes?

Check the contract first. Many suppliers allow rewritten descriptions. Where yours does not, add sizing notes, delivery detail and FAQs around the supplied text.