Online shop SEO starts with your category pages.

More of the UK's shopping now happens online than before the pandemic. ONS figures show internet sales made up 27.4% of all retail sales in 2025, up from 19.2% in 2019. Growth has steadied, but competition for every search keeps rising. For a small online shop in Norwich or anywhere in Norfolk, the question is simple. When someone searches for what you sell, does your shop turn up?

The answer usually depends less on your product pages and more on a part of the shop most owners never think about: category pages.

Why category pages do the heavy lifting

Think about how people actually search. Hardly anyone types a product code or a brand's internal product name. They type something broad, like compostable coffee cups, branded paper bags or wholesale cleaning supplies. That kind of search matches a group of products, not a single item.

A category page is the natural landing spot for that search. It shows choice, it answers the "do they sell this?" question at a glance, and it gives Google a clear page about one topic. Product pages still matter, but they tend to win the very specific searches. Category pages win the broad ones, and the broad ones bring in most new customers.

Shoppers search for a type of thing. Your category pages are where that search should land.

What a good category page has

Most shop platforms, Shopify included, give you a bare grid of products with a title on top. That is a start, not a finished page. Here is what we add.

A heading that matches the search

Name the category the way customers say it, not the way your supplier's catalogue does. "Takeaway Cups" beats "Range TC-200". Your main heading and your meta title should both use that plain phrase.

A short, useful introduction

Two or three sentences above the grid explaining what is in the range, who it suits and anything that sets you apart, such as minimum order sizes or delivery options. Keep it short so the products stay near the top on mobile. If there is more to say, put it below the grid.

Filters that don't create a mess

Filters for size, colour or material help shoppers, but each combination can create a new web address. Left alone, that gives Google hundreds of near-identical pages to crawl. Your developer should make sure filtered views point search engines back to the main category page.

Links to related ranges

A cups page should link to lids and sleeves. This helps customers build a bigger order and helps search engines understand how your shop fits together.

Clean URLs and titles for every product

Category pages get people in, and product pages close the sale. Both need tidy foundations:

• Readable URLs built from the product name, not a database number.
• Meta titles written for each page, not generated from a template that repeats the shop name five times.
• Product structured data so search engines can read price and availability properly.

We did exactly this for Surplush, a Norwich buyers club selling packaging and cleaning supplies to businesses at wholesale prices. As part of looking after their shop since its relaunch in January 2025, our SEO work has included moving to slug-based product URLs, adding Product structured data and writing new meta titles. None of it is glamorous. All of it makes the shop easier for Google to read.

Four mistakes we see on local online shops

1. Empty categories. A page with just a grid and no words gives search engines little to go on.
2. Copied supplier descriptions. If fifty other shops use the same text, there is no reason to rank yours.
3. Deleting out-of-stock pages. If an item is coming back, keep the page live and say so. If it is gone for good, redirect it to the closest category.
4. Too many tiny categories. Ten categories with two products each are weaker than three strong ones. Group things the way customers think.

Where the local angle fits

If you deliver locally, offer collection or serve trade customers in Norfolk, say so on the category pages where it is true. A line like "delivered across Norwich" helps a local shopper decide, and it gives your page a reason to appear for searches with a place name in them. Just keep it honest and relevant. Stuffing town names into every heading helps nobody.

The same principles apply whether your shop runs on Shopify or is built from scratch. Shopify collections can be made into strong category pages with the right copy and settings. A bespoke build, like the ones we create in Next.js, gives you full control over URLs, filters and page speed when the platform starts to feel limiting.

Get the categories right and the rest of your shop has something solid to hang off.

If your online shop gets visitors but few of them arrive from search, your category pages are the first place we would look. Kyurkchiev Group builds and looks after online shops for businesses across Norwich and Norfolk, and we are happy to take a look at yours.