When e-shop owners think about SEO, they think about product pages. But the searches with the biggest volume and the clearest buying intent are usually broad: "women's sneakers", "electric scooters", "organic olive oil 5 litres". For those queries, Google prefers pages that show choice. In other words, category pages.
Yet in most Greek e-shops the category page is a product grid titled "Shoes" and nothing else. That is a missed opportunity.
Why categories deserve more attention
- They target high-volume phrases. A single category can bring more traffic than dozens of products combined.
- They are stable. Products come and go; the category stays and accumulates history and links.
- They distribute authority. Internal link equity flows from categories down to products.
- This is where you face Skroutz. For broad queries you are competing with Skroutz and BestPrice listing pages. You need a page that deserves to sit next to them.
1. Design categories around search
Category structures often mirror the supplier's catalogue or how the warehouse is organised. That is not necessarily how people search.
Before creating or restructuring categories:
- List the phrases customers actually use (Search Console, Google autocomplete, your own site search logs).
- Check whether Google shows category pages or articles for each phrase. If it shows articles, a category page probably will not rank there.
- Only create subcategories where there is real demand and enough products. A subcategory with two products is a thin page.
2. Title, H1 and URL
- H1: the phrase people search for, in its natural form: "Women's sneakers", not "Sneakers – Women – All".
- Title tag: the H1 plus a genuine differentiator, e.g. "Women's sneakers | Free shipping over €40 | Store name". Only claim what is true.
- URL: short and hierarchical where it makes sense:
/women/sneakers. No IDs, no dates.
3. Category copy: short, useful, well placed
The old trick was 800 keyword-stuffed words dumped below the grid. We do not recommend it. What works:
- Above the products: one to three sentences saying what the visitor will find, without pushing products below the first mobile screen.
- Below the products: a short buying guide. For office chairs: how to choose seat height, what a synchro mechanism is, what a decent chair costs. 200–400 words someone would actually read.
- A small FAQ with the questions you hear on the phone: "Is it suitable for kids?", "How much is shipping to the islands?".
Write for people. If the copy does not help anyone decide, it will not help your SEO either.
4. What the product grid shows
The products are the category's real content. A few things affect both rankings and sales:
- Default sort: popular, in-stock products first. A category that opens with sold-out items convinces neither shoppers nor Google.
- Products per page: 24–48 is sensible. Too few creates deep pagination; too many makes the page heavy.
- Card information: price, availability, perhaps star ratings and a "Ships tomorrow" badge.
5. Pagination
- Every page (
?page=2,/page/2/) must be reachable through real<a href>links, not only a JavaScript button. - Each paginated page gets a self-referencing canonical. Do not canonicalise all pages to page one; that hides the products on later pages.
- If you use infinite scroll or "Load more", make sure real paginated URLs exist behind it.
6. Filters without chaos
Filters (size, colour, price, brand) are essential for users but can spawn thousands of junk URLs. The core idea: decide which combinations have search demand and deserve their own indexable page (e.g. "Nike women's sneakers"), and keep the rest out of the index. We will cover faceted navigation in depth in a separate post.
7. Internal links into categories
- The main menu should link to important categories with plain links.
- Breadcrumbs on every product page pointing back to the category.
- Links between sibling categories: "See also: Boots, Sandals".
- Links from blog posts, with anchor text that describes the category.
8. Technical details people forget
- Empty categories: fill them, hide them from navigation and noindex them temporarily, or 301 them to the parent.
- Near-duplicate categories ("Phone accessories" and "Mobile accessories"): merge them.
- Categories must load fast on mobile. Dozens of oversized thumbnails without lazy loading is a common culprit.
A note on Skroutz and BestPrice traffic
Many Greek shops look at their category pages and conclude they do not matter, because most product traffic arrives via Skroutz or BestPrice straight onto product pages. That is exactly why categories are an opportunity. Comparison-site traffic is paid per click or per sale and goes wherever the cheapest offer is. A category that ranks organically brings shoppers who are browsing your range, not just your price, and who often buy more than one item.
Category page checklist
- [ ] The category matches a phrase people actually search
- [ ] Natural H1 and a title tag with a real benefit
- [ ] Clean URL without parameters
- [ ] Short intro above, buying guide or FAQ below
- [ ] Default sort shows in-stock, popular products first
- [ ] Pagination with real links and self-canonicals
- [ ] Filters that do not flood the index
- [ ] Links from menu, breadcrumbs and blog
Where to begin
Pick the 5–10 categories that drive the most revenue. Check in Search Console which queries they appear for and at what position. Improve the title, intro and buying guide, then measure again after six to eight weeks. Categories often respond faster than people expect, precisely because nobody else has bothered with them.
For the product side, see our guide to product page SEO. If you want help restructuring your categories, have a look at our e-commerce SEO service or get in touch.