Course description

You sell online and you know the basics of SEO, but your product and category pages still aren't being found. Your descriptions came from the supplier, your collections are a grid of photos, sizes and colours have made near-identical pages, and you're not sure what your theme, apps or Etsy listings are doing for you. This course is the next step: SEO for the pages that sell, on your own Shopify or WooCommerce shop and on Etsy.

You'll learn how shoppers search for products, how to find the words they use and how to give every search one page. Then you'll work on product pages, category and collection pages, filters, duplicates, variants, stock changes and redirects, shop structure, structured data for products and Google Merchant Center. You'll see what Shopify and WooCommerce do for you and what to check, how Etsy search works, and how to use guides, seasonal pages, Search Console and GA4 to keep improving.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and each one ends with a practical exercise for your own shop or the practice files. You follow Whitrope Wool, a made-up wool shop in the Scottish Borders selling on Shopify and Etsy, through 2026, and finish with a final project for a made-up coffee roaster on WooCommerce. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers and a cheat sheet, plus keyword maps and templates as spreadsheets, product and category page templates, checklists, JSON-LD examples, a redirect map template, an Etsy listing worksheet and tracker, a results log and the final project files.

What you'll learn

• How shoppers search for products: product, category and informational searches, where shop pages appear on Google, how Google and Etsy search differ, and a starting point check for your shop.
• Keyword research for products: your customers' own words, Google's free tools, Etsy's search suggestions and your own search box, choosing phrases and a keyword map that gives every search one page.
• Product pages that rank and sell: product titles and title tags, descriptions in your own words instead of supplier text, the details shoppers need, image file names and alt text, and reviews within UK law.
• Category and collection pages: category copy and buying advice, when a new collection deserves its own page, tag pages, filters and faceted navigation, long lists and empty categories.
• Duplicates, variants and stock changes: where shop duplicates come from, canonical tags, sizes and colours as options or pages, out-of-stock and discontinued products, and a redirect map.
• Structure, links and structured data: shop structure and depth, internal links and breadcrumbs, Product and Offer markup checked against Google's rules, reviews, variants, shipping and returns, and Google Merchant Center free listings.
• Shopify, WooCommerce and page speed: Shopify addresses, collections, themes, apps and redirects; WooCommerce permalinks, categories and plugins in general terms; and Core Web Vitals for shops.
• Etsy search and listings: how Etsy search works as its Seller Handbook explains it, titles, all 13 tags, categories and attributes, listing quality and how Etsy listings appear in Google.
• Content, seasons and measuring results: buying guides from first-hand knowledge, Black Friday and Christmas pages kept on the same address, Search Console and GA4 for shops, and an audit routine.
• Final project: an SEO audit and 90-day plan for a coffee roaster's WooCommerce shop, or your own shop, with a model answer.

Who it's for

Online sellers who've done a beginner SEO course or set up their own shop: owners and staff of small shops on Shopify or WooCommerce, Etsy sellers, and sellers who use both. You don't need to write code. You'll read short examples of structured data and page code, and every one is explained in plain English.

What this course is, and isn't

This is a practical course built on Google's own guidance, the Shopify Help Center, WooCommerce's documentation and Etsy's Seller Handbook. It doesn't recommend apps, plugins, themes or SEO tools: every exercise works with your shop's own settings, Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4 and a spreadsheet. Platforms change their tools and help pages from time to time, so names and labels are given as they were at the time of writing, in October 2026. No SEO work can promise rankings, traffic or sales; the course shows you how to give your product and category pages a real chance of being found by the right shoppers.

What will I learn?

• Tell product, category and informational searches apart, and know which kind of page answers each one
• Find the words shoppers use for your products and map every important search to one page
• Write product titles, title tags, meta descriptions and descriptions in your own words, with image file names and alt text
• Turn bare category and collection pages into pages with useful copy, and decide which tag and filter pages Google should see
• Handle duplicates, canonical tags, variants, out-of-stock and discontinued products, and plan, load and check redirects
• Build a clear shop structure with internal links and breadcrumbs, and check product structured data against Google’s rules
• Set up Google Merchant Center free listings, and use Search Console and GA4 to see how shop pages are doing
• Work with Shopify’s addresses, collections, themes and apps, and with WooCommerce permalinks, categories and plugins
• Improve Etsy listings with clear titles, all 13 tags, the right category and attributes, as Etsy’s Seller Handbook explains
• Run a shop SEO audit and write a 90-day plan with owners, hours and checks

Frequently asked questions