Ecommerce SEO Audit Checklist

Use this for: Existing stores with public catalog pages.

Export or list public catalog URLs, then choose examples of each important template: category, paginated category, standard product, variants, temporarily unavailable item and permanently removed item. Include high-value and recently changed pages. Define which examples should be indexed before judging their current status. Keep account, cart and checkout actions out of an automated crawl.

1. List actual templates and states.
2. Choose representative URLs and expected index states.
3. Set a read-only, rate-conscious crawl scope.

Use this for: Stores with Search Console history.

In Search Console Performance, compare equivalent date ranges and inspect Pages and Queries. Filter a category or product URL pattern, then compare device and country if the pattern differs. Review stock changes, promotions and site releases alongside the dates. A decline in clicks alone does not identify a technical cause.

1. Compare equivalent dates.
2. Filter affected URL groups and inspect queries.
3. Check stock, seasonal and release context.

Use this for: Public products and categories intended for search.

Compare the public product/category export with a crawl started from the homepage and with sitemap URLs. Filter for intended landing pages absent from the navigation crawl. Open a missing item and try reaching it through menus, category listings and related products. A sitemap presence does not repair an unusable browsing path.

1. Compare catalog, crawl and sitemap lists.
2. Filter intended pages missing from the crawl.
3. Inspect their category and menu assignments.

Use this for: Canonical catalog pages with unexpected index results.

Open Search Console’s Page indexing report and inspect exclusion reasons affecting the sampled canonical products and categories. Use URL Inspection for an example and compare the indexed record with a live test. Check status, robots, noindex and Google-selected canonical. “Crawled, currently not indexed” is an observation, not a diagnosis of one specific fault.

1. Find the relevant exclusion group.
2. Inspect an intended canonical URL.
3. Compare current output with the older indexed record.

Use this for: Stores with alternate product paths or parameter URLs.

For a sampled product, open its clean URL, collection-path version and real tracking or variant URLs where present. Compare their final status, canonical, internal-link destination and sitemap entry. A canonical should reflect the page model; do not treat every alternate color URL as the same case.

1. Collect duplicate and variant paths.
2. Compare response, canonical, links and sitemap.
3. Identify the shared rule behind conflicts.

Use this for: Stores with filters, sorting or internal search URLs.

In a crawl export, group URLs by filter, sort, search and pagination parameters. Open representative combinations and inspect links, index directives and content. Identify intentional search landing pages separately from low-value filter combinations. Robots.txt limits crawling; it does not reliably remove indexed URLs, and a blocked crawler cannot read a new noindex.

1. Group actual URL patterns by function.
2. Inspect useful, duplicate and empty combinations.
3. Choose the narrow crawl/index policy for each class.

Use this for: Categories using pagination, infinite scroll or load more.

Open a large category and inspect its next-page links or load-more implementation. Check that later batches have reachable URLs and product links without requiring a crawler to click or scroll. Inspect page-two canonical output; distinct pagination pages should not all declare page one canonical.

1. Open a category with multiple batches.
2. Follow later-page URLs and inspect links.
3. Compare pagination canonicals and product coverage.

Use this for: Category and product templates.

Open representative categories and products. Compare the title tag, meta description, main heading and visible answer with the page’s actual query intent and inventory. Read specifications, compatibility, delivery and return information as a shopper. Group repeated defects by template instead of issuing hundreds of indistinguishable copy tickets.

1. Compare search intent with the actual assortment.
2. Inspect title, heading and essential product details.
3. Group repeated missing fields by template.

Use this for: Products with meaningful variants.

Select each relevant variant on a sampled product, copy its URL and reopen it in a fresh session. Compare selected options, image, price, stock and structured-data representation. Check the store’s single-page or multipage variant design before judging canonicals. Fragment-only differences are not distinct indexable pages.

1. Select and reopen variant-specific links.
2. Compare page, catalog and structured data.
3. Check canonical behavior against the intended model.

Use this for: Products with stock transitions or retirement.

Sample a temporarily unavailable product and a permanently removed product. Compare the visible message, purchase controls, offer availability and HTTP status. A useful temporary-stockout page can remain available with truthful alternatives. A permanently removed page needs a relevant replacement redirect where one exists, or an appropriate not-found response; do not send every old product to the homepage.

1. Open each stock-state sample.
2. Inspect status, offer data and user options.
3. Check the retirement policy and replacement relevance.

Use this for: Product pages with structured data or product feeds.

Run representative product URLs through the Rich Results Test and read the applicable merchant-listing or product-snippet result. Compare name, image, price, currency, availability and variant identifiers with the page and feed. If Merchant Center is used, inspect its product issue details too. Distinguish required errors from optional enhancements; valid markup does not guarantee display.

1. Test each important product template.
2. Compare output with the page and current feed.
3. Trace mismatches to their source field or integration.

Use this for: Public mobile store templates.

Test a category, product and variant selection at phone width. Check whether key content and links are present in rendered output, then use PageSpeed Insights to inspect field data where available and lab diagnostics. Test filter and variant interactions directly, using a test mode where available and stopping before any purchase or payment. Separate a real-user trend from a single lab score.

1. Review phone-width category and product journeys.
2. Compare rendered content with the intended template.
3. Investigate the reported slow element, interaction or shift.

Use this for: Completed audit findings.

Group confirmed findings by root cause and affected template. Fix inaccessible important pages, incorrect offers and broken purchase paths before minor wording refinements. For each repair, state the owner, example URL, affected scope, proposed change and retest. Keep unknown causes as investigations rather than presenting guesses as measured revenue loss.

1. Group evidence by shared cause.
2. Order work by reach, severity and business relevance.
3. Assign a concrete change and repeatable retest.