Many ecommerce sites don’t necessarily struggle because of rankings alone. In many cases, the issue sits at the very first step which is how search engines are able to crawl and interpret the site (Cue the cries of every technical SEO).
It’s something that often isn’t immediately obvious, particularly when a site is growing and new products, categories, and filters are being added over time. From the outside, everything can look as though it’s in place, but if search engines aren’t consistently crawling the right areas of the site, it can cause key pages to not be seen, slow down how quickly updates are picked up across the site and bottleneck how key pages perform in search.
This is where ecommerce SEO starts to differ from general SEO because crawl budget starts to become more relevant, particularly for larger ecommerce websites where the number of URLs can increase quite quickly.
What on earth is crawl budget?
All SEO’s regardless of specialty should understand the fundamentals of crawling because of how crucial it is. Crawl budget refers to how frequently and how deeply search engines crawl your website, and while that might sound quite technical, in reality it just means how much time and resource search engines like Google will spend crawling your site. After all, powering crawlers and storing the data they gather isn’t free for Google.
For smaller sites, this generally isn’t something that needs much attention, as search engines are able to access and process most pages without difficulty. Ecommerce sites however, tend to introduce a different set of challenges. With product listings, category structures, faceted navigation, and product variations, it’s very easy for the number of URLs to grow into the thousands, or significantly more for larger sites. Search engines won’t treat all of these pages equally, so they naturally prioritise certain areas over others.
The key point is that you want those priorities to align with the pages that matter most from a commercial and SEO perspective.
Common reasons ecommerce sites run into crawling issues
Unless you’ve inherited a nightmare site (lucky you), in most cases crawl budget issues don’t come from a single, obvious problem. Instead, they tend to develop gradually as different elements of the site expand and overlap. It can be quite overwhelming on knowing where to start, especially when you’re looking at tens of thousands of urls trickling down your crawler software, so we’ve included a few common areas below that could be the source of your crawling headaches..
Faceted navigation and filtered pages
Faceted navigation is an important part of the user experience because it allows visitors to filter products by attributes such as size, colour, or price. With every bit of helpful tech there’s always a price to pay and in this case, we have to deal with each of these filter combinations which can generate a unique URL and keeps core content of the page largely the same. Apart from duplicate content issues, over time, this can result in a large number of near-identical pages being available for search engines to crawl. While these pages may still serve a purpose for users, they don’t always provide additional value in search results, which means search engines can end up spending a disproportionate amount of time crawling them instead of focusing on primary category pages. Just imagine a crawler finding a url such as /shoes/running-shoes?page=7&colour=black&size=10&brand=nike&brand=adidas&gender=mens&material=mesh&price=50-100&sort=best-selling&availability=in-stock&width=wide&terrain=road&drop=low&rating=4-up. Not only can it access this quite frankly hidious url, but can access every variation of the applied filters within this url. Now lets just imagine that the running shoes page has the below filter options:
- 10 colours
- 12 sizes
- 20 brands
- 3 genders
- 5 materials
- 6 price ranges
- 5 sort options
- 2 availability options
- 3 widths
- 4 terrain types
- 2 sale item states
- 5 rating filters
- 4 sole types
- 2 vegan friendly states
That means from one single (albeit top level) category page, you have have 414,720,000 possible url combinations. The horror.
Duplicate and parameter-based URLs
Another common challenge comes from URL parameters created by sorting options, pagination, and tracking tags. These can lead to multiple versions of the same page existing under different URLs. Although these variations can be useful for navigation or analytics, they can make it less clear which version of the page should be prioritised. As a result, crawl activity may be spread across several similar URLs rather than being concentrated on a single, preferred version, which reduces overall efficiency.
Internal linking not clearly supporting key pages
Internal linking plays a significant role in how search engines navigate a site and determine which pages are important.
If key category or product pages are not consistently linked from other relevant areas of the site, they may not be revisited as frequently as they should be. By contrast, pages that are linked more prominently, or from multiple sources, tend to be crawled more regularly, which helps reinforce their importance. Our method of thinking here at Koozai is to approach the ‘easier the better’ mentality. The more relevant internal links that point to a page, means more opportunities for google to crawl that page.
Low-value pages remaining accessible to search engines
Not every page on an ecommerce site needs to appear in search results, but in many cases, low-value pages are still accessible to search engines. This can include empty category pages, out-of-stock products with minimal content, or automatically generated pages that don’t provide much useful information. While these pages may still have a role within the site, they can take up crawl budget without contributing to performance in search.
Site structure becoming more complex over time
As ecommerce sites grow, their structure can become less straightforward, particularly if new categories and product groupings are added without a consistent framework. Categories may begin to overlap, products may appear in multiple sections, and navigation can become more layered. While this doesn’t necessarily create immediate issues, it can make it harder for search engines to understand how pages relate to each other and which areas should be prioritised. More importantly, it makes it harder for the customer! Remember, the key to SEO is always keeping a ‘user first’ mindset.
Improving how your site is crawled
In most cases, improving crawl efficiency doesn’t require major technical changes,design revamps or entire new websites (much to the dismay of the bored CFO’s) but rather a more considered approach to how pages are structured and managed. Whether you’re inheriting a site that has had no SEO, or you’re looking to ensure you’re correctly maintaining the crawl efficiency of your ecommerce site, we’ve highlighted a few areas and actions below for you to ensure you’re getting the most of out of those crawlers.
Managing filtered pages more carefully
Not every filtered page needs to be indexed, and in many situations it is more effective to guide search engines towards the main category pages. This can be achieved by using canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page, while still allowing users to make use of filters as part of the browsing experience. The aim is to balance usability with clarity for search engines. If you find that a specific type of variation is highly popular or holds a large amount of relevant search volume such as a particular brand of shoe, then it’s fine to keep these pages crawlable as long as you ensure the content is unique.
Reducing duplication and reinforcing preferred URLs via internal linking
Consistency in internal linking is an important starting point when addressing duplication. Where possible, internal links should point to the main version of a page rather than parameter-based variations. Canonical tags can then be used to reinforce this further, helping search engines understand which version should be indexed and ranked.
You can also use internal linking more proactively to support the pages that matter most. Content such as blog posts, guides, and FAQs can provide natural opportunities to link back to important category and product pages. This not only helps users navigate the site, but also signals to search engines which pages should be prioritised.
Reviewing which pages should be indexed
It is often worthwhile to review whether all currently indexed pages are providing value in search. If certain pages are unlikely to perform, it may be more effective to improve their content or to use noindex where appropriate. In some cases, consolidating similar pages into a single, stronger page can lead to better results.
Maintaining a clear and logical site structure
A clear site structure supports both usability and efficient crawling.
Categories should be organised logically, and important pages should be accessible within a small number of clicks from the homepage. The more straightforward the structure, the easier it is for search engines to move through the site and interpret its hierarchy.
Why this matters
Crawling is the first step in how search engines process and understand your website. It’s like introducing somebody to your home, you don’t want them to see the messy cleaning cupboard under the stairs, you want them to see the beautiful living room you’ve spent the last thirty minutes desperately cleaning. Showing Google your key pages ensures it only sees quality content that keeps bringing it back. This means that pages are crawled regularly, updates are picked up more quickly and changes are reflected in search results with less delay. When crawling is less efficient, even well-optimised pages can take longer to perform as expected.
This is also becoming more relevant in the context of AI-driven search, where systems rely on well-structured, clearly connected, and frequently crawled content to generate responses and surface information.
So….what’s the takeaway?
Crawl budget can sometimes feel like a technical detail and can sound scary to non-technical SEO’s, but for ecommerce sites it has a direct impact on how effectively a site performs in search. In many cases, improvements come from simplifying rather than adding. By reducing duplication, maintaining a clear structure, and guiding search engines towards the most important pages, it becomes much easier to ensure that crawl budget is being used effectively.
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