How Online Stores Can Quickly Build Sub-categories Targeting Long-tail Keywords - #BrightonSEO eCommerce Summit

Kristina Azarenko @azarchick | #brightonSEO
How Online Stores Can Quickly Build
Sub-categories Targeting Long-tail Keywords
Kristina Azarenko
@azarchick

These updates might be minor but they are important.
Kristina Azarenko

“By 2040, around 95% of all purchases
are expected to be via eCommerce”
(Source: Nasdaq)

It seems we’re already living in
2040, right?!

Source: Segmentify

How to build specific
categories targeting long-tail
keywords that sell
A scalable edition

I met this client last year

$5.99
$4.99
$10.99
$9.99
Medium-sized
Store

The main product - t-shirts

The biggest issue…

All categories were too general

They didn’t rank
for long-tail queries…

… the queries with
transactional user intent…

…and were just letting their
competitors get all the money!

Monthly
Search
Volume

So how do we ﬁx that?

Create more speciﬁc categories
to capture lost opportunities!

1.
Perform keyword research

2.
Identify a set of pages
opportunities with the highest
impact

3.
Send content
recommendations

4.
Send internal linking
recommendations

It’s easy, right?

Oh,
and follow up ~5 times
to make sure the recommendations
are actually being implemented

It’s not a real SEO recommendation
if it’s implemented right away
© azarchick
”

3 months later…

The new pages were created…

The recommendations were
implemented…

The trafﬁc was steadily
growing…

But something was missing…

SCALABILITY

The new pages captured
~10% of the opportunities

19% 29%
71% was still missing :(

To go through all these steps again
would mean spending about 1-2 years
on the implementation

That’s why I needed
something more here

Something that will be
faster and more scalable

or…

The 8-step
eCommerce framework

That will help any online store
do exactly this:

Create high-quality sub-categories targeting
long tail keywords with buying user intent
(without spending years on implementation)

Yay!Yay!Yay!

Important note:
A store should have ﬁlters

Step 1:
Complete the initial
keyword research

Step 2:
Analyze the existing ﬁlters and
ﬁnd those that will become basis
for the new indexable facets

Fit
Women
Men
New Balance
Lacoste
Short Sleeve
Sleeveless
Colour
Brand
Style

• Fit (e.g. for women, for men, for children)
• Colour (e.g. black, green, white)
• Brand (e.g. New Balance)
• Style (e.g. short/long sleeve)
Filters that will become indexable facetsFilters that will NOT become indexable facets
• Price
• Size
• Country of produce

• Price
• Size
• Country of produce
Filters that will NOT become indexable facetsFilters that will become indexabl
• Fit (e.g. for women, for men, fo
• Colour (e.g. black, green, white
• Brand (e.g. New Balance)
• Style (e.g. short/long sleeve)

Different categories might have
different sets of ﬁlters
that will become indexable facets
Pro Tip:

Step 3:
Deﬁne the rules for creating
indexable facet pages

• The facet pages should only be created
for top level categories (e.g. T-shirts)
Filters that will become indexable facets

• Only the combination for ‘category + filter’
should exist (i.e. no ‘category+filter+filter’
variations should have their separate URLs)
Filters that will become indexable facets

Is this facet for a top level category?
Don’t create a
facet page
Create a facet
page
Will this facet be based on one of
these filters: fit, brand, colour, style?
Will the facet be based on the combination
of ‘category + filter’, e.g. ’t-shirt + green’
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Should I
create a
facet
page?

Step 4:
Deﬁne the rules for canonicalization
of the new facet pages

• If a facet page lists 9 or more products
set up a self-referencing canonical
How to choose the right canonical

• If a facet page has less than 9 products
set up a canonical tag to the parent page
(i.e. top level category)

• *9 was the golden middle number in my case.
You can change it

Don’t create a facet
page
Create a facet page
Does the page lists
≥ 9 products?
Canonical to itself
Canonical to parent
page
Yes No

Step 5:
Set internal linking to success

Link to the new facet pages
using <a href=“”> links

These are
links
to the new
pages
Fit
Women
Men
New Balance
Lacoste
Short Sleeve
Sleeveless
Colour
Brand
Style

Step 6:
Create Title & H1 tags templates

Titles
{Facet Name} {Category Name} in Canada | Brand Name
Green T-Shirts in Canada | Brand Name

H1s
{Facet Name} {Category Name} in Canada
Green T-Shirts in Canada

Step 7:
Test everything

Step 8:
Improve!

(Image from Alexis Sanders’
presentation on perfect vs done -
ﬁgures)

Where are we at right now?

$$$:
The framework has generated
$2 mln in additional yearly revenue

Will this framework save 2 years
on implementation?

Yes!

Will it help to capture
more trafﬁc and $$?

Absolutely!

Does it still require resources?

Yes

‘But Kristina, what about
the crawl budget?’

Crawl budget is something
most sites don’t need to
worry about… Unless you
have millions and millions
of URLs”
Source: Google Webmaster Hangouts, Jan 31st, 2020
“

But for big stores with millions
of pages crawl budget can
become a real issue

Source: https://izzismith.com/seo-memes/

There’s an answer!

Canonicals Noindex

If the page has <9 products
add <meta name="robots"
content="noindex"> to it

Other Websites to Use the
Framework

• Automotive websites (dealerships)
• Marketplaces
• Aggregator websites
Other Websites to Use the
Framework

The 8-step
eCommerce
framework
Step 1: Complete the initial keyword research
Step 2: Analyze the existing filters and find those that will
become the basis for the new indexable facets
Step 3: Define the rules for creating indexable facet pages
Step 4: Define the rules for canonicalization of the new facet pages
Step 5: Set internal linking to success
Step 6: Create Title & H1 tags templates
Step 7: Test Everything
Step 8: Improve!

bit.ly/SEO-Shop-Up
SEO Shop UP: eCommerce Newsletter with
500+ subscribers

Thank you!
Kristina Azarenko
• eCommerce & Technical SEO Consultant
• Founder of MarketingSyrup.com
• Creator of the SEO Challenge course
• International speaker
azarchick
Kristina Azarenko

How Online Stores Can Quickly Build Sub-categories Targeting Long-tail Keywords - #BrightonSEO eCommerce Summit

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