OPTIMISING YOUR COLLECTION / PLP PAGES - A SEO CHECKLIST (62 CHECKS)

I've just finished a SEO Consultancy project for a Shopify client where one of the specific asks was for recommendations to increase visibility of their collection pages. So, while it's fresh in my mind, here's a checklist that you and I can use again in the future. To run these checks you will need full access to Google Search Console alongside a license to use Screaming Frog.

Prefer to have someone do this for you? Then contact me for a quote.

Best in class example. Gymshark have done phenomenal work with their overall SEO, including their Collection pages.

The Basics

1. Does the URL for the Collection return a 200 status code?

2. Does the URL for the Collection have a follow, index tag? (I.e. is not set to noindex)

3. Does the URL for the Collection have a self-referencing canonical tag?

4. What's the UX from a landing page to a Collection? Is it easy to navigate to?

5. What's the UX from the Collection to a product? Do core buttons and links function as expected?

The Content

Meta Data + Headings

1. Are title tags optimised and unique to each Collection page? I.e no cannibalisation

2. Are meta descriptions optimised highlighting key USP's?

3. Is there a H1 with target keyword included?

4. Are other Headings used (and appropriately coded)?

Copy

1. Does each Collection have a unique reason to exist?

2. Is there a unique description written for each Collection?

3. Has any content been duplicated from other websites?

4. Are target keywords actually included in the copy?

5. Has the copy been AI generated?

6. Does the copy align with the target audience?

7. Does the content answer FAQ's helping overcome common customer concerns?

8. Is the spelling and grammar all up to scratch?

9. Are there longer tailed keywords which could be integrated into the copy?

10. Does the Collection page description focus on the unique benefits that business offers?

11. Is there enough content on the page? (Using competitors and existing ranking data for comparison)

12. Are there supporting Google EEAT signals (delivery times, returns policy, who runs the business etc)

Layout

1. Are products ordered by the most popular first? (increasing dwell time)

2. Are out-of-stock products hidden/demoted on the page?

3. Do all Collection pages have products associated with them?

4. Do all Collections pages have at least 5 products associated with them? (otherwise is this thin content?)

5. Are breadcrumbs present from the Home Page to the Collection?

6. Are breadcrumbs present from product pages back to Collection pages?

Images

1. Are images original, or are they stock? Or AI generated?

2. Do images align with the target audience?

3. Does the hero image of the Collection align with the product selection, or is it generic?

4. Do product images shown change dynamically (e.g. light and dark) to make it easier to browse?

5. Can users scroll through product images via the Collection making it easier to browse?

6. Are images loaded on a Collection page via a CDN or from the main domain?

7. Do all images on the Collection page have appropriate alt-text?

8. Are all images a small a file size as possible (ideally under 1mb)?

9. Do images have the correct height and width attributes?

Video

1. Are any videos correctly embedded and do they load fast?

2. Does the video show Ads before playing? Or related videos after playing?

3. Is VideoObject schema used on the videos to help them surface more often?

Technical SEO (Front-End)

1. Is the Collection page located at an appropriate depth in the URL structure (ideally one sub-folder deep)?

2. Is the Collection page pointing to the correct canonical URL of products?

3. Are there internal links in the main Collection page description to core Product pages or other core Collections?

4. Is CollectionPage schema present?

5. Does the currency and content dynamically updating according when the language / country is adjusted?

6. Is faceted navigation in use? Does this generate new URLs?

7. If yes, are these new URLs correctly crawled and indexed by Google in the way you want them to be?

8. Are the filters in the faceted navigation logically worded?

9. Are the filter options in the faceted navigation what you would expect to see? (based on industry standards)

10. Can the product selection be logically sorted? (By price, featured etc)

11. Is pagination in use if there are more products than the template can handle? Is this coded correctly?

12. Are Collection pages appropriately internally linked from the home page, other collections, other products and other blog posts?

13. Are there any internal links passing through 301 redirects to reach a Collection page?

Technical SEO (Back End)

1. Is Breadcrumb schema correctly configured to connect other pages with the Collection page?

2. Are all Collections referenced in the XML sitemap?

3. Are any of the Collection pages orphaned?

4. Does the Collection page template meet Core Web Vitals scores? If not, what needs to be corrected?

5. Is the hreflang configuration correct for the Collection correct?

6. Are Collections being auto-generated across every territory, or are they specific to a single country?

7. If you land on an international page does a popup nudging you to the right location appear?

8. If international, is the content appropriately adjusted to reflect audience expectations?

9. Are there any automatic redirects in use when visiting an international Collection?

---

This isn't a full list. Nor is it a template to conduct a sitewide SEO Audit. Other items elsewhere can significantly influence the overall sitewide quality a website has, so it's hard just to isolate the items that can be looked at when just looking at collection pages. Still, this gives you a good feel for the level of depth and detail that needs to be looked at when working out how to help a site become more visible.

Do your collection pages need improvement? Contact me for a no-obligation quote to see how I can support.

CONTACT DAN