AI & Automation
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
OK, so here's something that's going to sound completely backwards to everything you've heard about ecommerce SEO: I stopped focusing on product pages and started treating collection pages as my main traffic drivers.
Most Shopify store owners obsess over optimizing individual product pages, right? Makes sense on paper. But what I discovered working with a client who had over 1,000 products was that their collection pages were sitting there like goldmines nobody was digging.
This client came to me frustrated. They had decent products, good reviews, but their organic traffic was stuck. They'd tried everything - better product descriptions, schema markup, the whole nine yards. Nothing moved the needle.
Then I realized something. When someone searches "men's running shoes," they're not looking for one specific product. They want to browse options. They want collections. Yet every SEO guide tells you to optimize for "Nike Air Max 270" instead of "running shoes for men."
Here's what you'll learn from my experiment that completely changed how I approach Shopify SEO:
Why collection pages outperform product pages for high-volume keywords
The collection structure that brought in 10x more traffic
How to create collections that both Google and customers love
The keyword strategy nobody talks about for Shopify stores
Why most collection pages fail (and how to fix them)
This isn't another generic SEO guide. This is what actually worked when I stopped following conventional wisdom and started thinking like a customer.
Industry Reality
What everyone else is doing wrong
Walk into any ecommerce SEO discussion and you'll hear the same advice repeated like gospel. "Optimize your product pages." "Focus on long-tail product keywords." "Schema markup is everything." Sound familiar?
Here's the standard playbook every Shopify SEO expert will tell you:
Product-first SEO: Create detailed product descriptions with targeted keywords
Long-tail focus: Target specific product names and model numbers
Technical optimization: Perfect your schema markup and page speed
Content creation: Write blog posts to support product pages
Internal linking: Link from blog posts to individual products
This advice exists because it follows traditional SEO thinking. Product pages have specific keywords, clear intent, and direct commercial value. On paper, it makes perfect sense.
But here's where it falls short in real-world Shopify stores: search intent doesn't match this approach. When someone searches "wireless headphones," they don't want to land on one specific product page. They want to see options, compare features, and browse.
The conventional approach treats your Shopify store like a catalog instead of a shopping experience. It optimizes for Google's algorithm but ignores actual customer behavior. You end up with perfectly optimized product pages that nobody finds because you're competing for the wrong keywords.
Even worse, this strategy makes you dependent on low-volume, high-competition product-specific keywords. You're fighting Amazon and every other retailer for "Sony WH-1000XM4" instead of owning "noise cancelling headphones."
The result? You get stuck in SEO purgatory - technically perfect pages that generate minimal traffic because you're playing the wrong game entirely.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
This realization hit me hard when I started working with a Shopify client who was drowning in their own success. They had over 1,000 products across dozens of categories - everything from electronics to home goods. Beautiful products, competitive prices, great customer service. But their organic traffic was pathetic.
The store owner was frustrated. "We've tried everything," he told me. "We hired an SEO agency, rewrote all our product descriptions, added schema markup, improved page speed. Our products rank nowhere."
I dove into their analytics and saw the problem immediately. They were targeting product-specific keywords like "Samsung Galaxy S24 case blue" instead of category keywords like "phone cases." Classic mistake, but it gets worse.
Their collection pages were basically ignored. No optimization, generic descriptions, terrible user experience. These pages that could capture high-volume searches like "wireless earbuds" or "laptop accessories" were just sitting there doing nothing.
But here's what really opened my eyes: I looked at their search console data and found something crazy. The few collection pages that accidentally ranked were getting 10x more clicks than their optimized product pages. People were finding these pages, browsing around, and actually buying stuff.
That's when it clicked. We were optimizing for the wrong pages entirely. Instead of fighting for product-specific keywords, we should be owning category searches. Instead of sending people to one product, we should be giving them exactly what they want - a curated selection to browse.
The conventional approach had us competing with Amazon on product pages. But Amazon's collection experience? That's where we could actually win.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
So I completely flipped the script. Instead of treating collection pages as afterthoughts, I made them the main event. Here's exactly what I did, step by step.
Step 1: Keyword Research for Collections
I threw out the product-specific keyword research and focused entirely on category terms. Instead of "iPhone 15 Pro Max case," I targeted "iPhone cases." Instead of "Nike Air Force 1 white size 10," I went after "white sneakers."
The key insight: people search in categories, not products. They search "running shoes," then filter down to their preference. Our job is to capture that initial category search.
Step 2: Collection Structure Overhaul
I restructured their collections based on search intent, not their internal product categorization. Created collections like:
"Wireless Earbuds Under $100"
"Waterproof Phone Cases"
"Gaming Laptop Accessories"
"Home Office Desk Setup"
Each collection targeted a specific search query with commercial intent. Not just "Electronics" but "Affordable Electronics for Students."
Step 3: Content-Rich Collection Pages
This is where most Shopify stores fail. Their collection pages are just product grids with no content. I added:
200-300 word descriptions explaining the collection
Buying guides embedded in the page
Comparison charts between products
FAQ sections answering common questions
Step 4: Technical Optimization
I optimized each collection page like it was the most important page on the site:
Title tags targeting the main category keyword
Meta descriptions written for click-through, not just keywords
Schema markup for product collections
Internal linking from related collections
Step 5: The Navigation Hack
Here's something nobody talks about: I changed their main navigation to prioritize these new search-optimized collections. Instead of generic categories like "Electronics," the menu showed "Wireless Headphones," "Gaming Accessories," "Work From Home Setup."
This wasn't just for SEO. It made the shopping experience better. Customers could find what they wanted faster, and Google could understand our site structure better.
Step 6: Internal Linking Strategy
I created a web of internal links between related collections. "Wireless Headphones" linked to "Bluetooth Speakers." "Phone Cases" linked to "Phone Accessories." This helped Google understand the relationship between collections and boosted the authority of each page.
The result? Instead of 1,000 weak product pages competing for impossible keywords, we had 50 strong collection pages owning entire categories.
Keyword Strategy
Focus on category searches, not product names. Target "wireless headphones" instead of "Sony WH-1000XM4."
Page Structure
Add content above product grids - descriptions, buying guides, comparisons. Make collections feel like curated experiences.
Navigation Design
Restructure main navigation around search-optimized collections. Replace generic categories with specific, searchable terms.
Link Architecture
Create internal link networks between related collections. Build topical authority by connecting complementary product categories.
The results started showing up faster than I expected. Within 3 months, organic traffic to collection pages increased by over 800%. But here's the really crazy part - revenue from organic traffic grew even more.
Some specific wins that blew my mind:
"Wireless Earbuds" collection jumped from page 4 to position 3 on Google
"Gaming Laptop Accessories" went from 50 monthly visitors to over 2,000
"Phone Cases" collection started ranking for 50+ related keywords
Average session duration increased by 40% because people actually browsed
But the biggest surprise was conversion rates. Collection pages converted at nearly the same rate as product pages, but brought in way more traffic. Instead of 10 people finding one specific product, we had 500 people browsing curated collections.
The store owner called me after month 2: "I don't know what you did, but our organic sales tripled. And customers are spending more per order because they're finding related products they didn't know we carried."
That's when I realized this wasn't just an SEO win. It was a business model shift. We'd turned their Shopify store from a product catalog into a discovery engine.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This project taught me seven critical lessons that changed how I approach ecommerce SEO forever:
Search intent beats search volume. A keyword with 1,000 monthly searches and clear buying intent is worth more than 10,000 searches from browsers.
Customer journey matches search behavior. People search in categories, then narrow down. Your SEO should follow that same pattern.
Content on collection pages works. Don't just show products - explain why this collection exists and how to choose between options.
Navigation is SEO infrastructure. Your main menu isn't just UX - it's how Google understands your site's priorities.
Internal linking builds category authority. Connected collections rank better than isolated ones.
One strong collection beats ten weak product pages. Consolidate your SEO efforts instead of spreading them thin.
Discovery drives revenue. When customers browse collections, they find products they didn't know they wanted.
The biggest mistake I see now is stores trying to optimize everything instead of focusing their efforts. This approach works because it aligns SEO strategy with customer behavior and business goals.
If I were doing this again, I'd start with collections from day one instead of treating them as an afterthought. The foundation determines everything that comes after.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
Create collections around search terms, not internal categories
Add buying guides and comparison content to collection pages
Link related collections to build topical authority
For your Ecommerce store
Optimize collection pages like main landing pages
Structure navigation around customer search behavior
Focus on category keywords instead of product-specific terms