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Frequently asked

Questions about ecommerce SEO and AI search.

Clear answers to the questions brands ask when search starts looking less like a list of links and more like a conversation.

01 — Ecommerce SEO

Ecommerce SEO

5 questions

Ecommerce SEO is the practice of making an online store's categories, products, filters and supporting content easy for search engines to crawl, understand and rank, so the catalogue earns demand from people actively looking to buy.

Search is one of the few channels where demand already exists. A store that is structured well can capture that demand across thousands of queries without paying for every click, and the same structure is what makes products legible to AI answer engines.

Ecommerce SEO works at catalogue scale. Instead of optimising a handful of pages, the work centres on templates, category and facet architecture, product data quality, variant and duplication control, internal linking and crawl budget across a large, constantly changing set of URLs.

Technical fixes can show up in crawling and indexing within weeks, while architecture, content and authority work typically compound over several months. The realistic timeline depends on the size of the catalogue, the current technical state and how quickly changes can ship.

A useful audit covers crawling and rendering, indexation control, site and facet architecture, internal linking, category and product templates, structured data, product information quality, content coverage against demand, and how the brand currently appears in AI answers — each finding prioritised by impact and effort.

03 — GEO & AEO

GEO and AEO

4 questions

GEO — generative engine optimisation — is the practice of preparing content, data and authority signals so generative search systems can retrieve, quote and attribute your information when composing answers.

AEO — answer engine optimisation — focuses on answering specific questions directly and unambiguously, in formats that machines can extract: clear question-led sections, concise definitions, comparison detail and supporting structured data.

AEO is about being the clearest answer to a question. GEO is broader: it covers the whole information ecosystem a generative system draws from, including entity understanding, corroboration and quotable source material.

They share the same foundations. Pages still need to be crawlable, indexable, fast and genuinely useful. GEO adds a layer on top: structuring and corroborating that information so it survives being summarised into an answer.

04 — Platforms

Platform SEO

4 questions

Shopify SEO works within the platform's fixed URL patterns, collection and variant behaviour and theme templates. The work concentrates on collection architecture, canonical and duplication control across product paths, template-level metadata and structured data, and internal linking that spreads authority through the catalogue.

Amazon is a closed marketplace with its own ranking system driven by relevance and sales performance rather than links. Optimisation focuses on listing data, titles, attributes, images, backend keywords and conversion signals — separate from, but complementary to, your own store's SEO.

WooCommerce gives more control and therefore more responsibility. Attention typically goes to hosting and performance, plugin-driven bloat, attribute and taxonomy structure, faceted URL control and keeping generated pages out of the index when they add no value.

The platform decides what is technically possible. Knowing its URL rules, template limits, indexation behaviour and structured-data support determines which fixes are worth prioritising and which need a workaround.

05 — Measurement

Measurement

4 questions

By tracking a defined set of buying-intent prompts across answer surfaces and recording whether the brand appears, how it is described, whether it is recommended and whether it is cited — then watching how that changes as the underlying information improves.

It is a composite indicator that combines presence, recommendation and citation frequency across a tracked prompt set. It is only meaningful relative to itself over time and against a consistent methodology.

Through monitoring of prompt responses and independent sources where the brand is described, checking that the name, category and product details are represented consistently and accurately.

By recording which URLs are named or linked in generated answers for a tracked prompt set, then mapping those citations back to the pages, templates and structured data that made them retrievable.

06 — Working together

Working with SEOAIExpert

4 questions

Engagements usually begin with a diagnosis of the current search and AI visibility position, followed by a prioritised roadmap and ongoing implementation support across technical foundations, architecture, content and authority.

Scope is matched to the size of the catalogue and the stage of the business. Smaller stores generally start with foundations and architecture; larger catalogues need template-level and crawl-scale work.

Yes — work is delivered remotely and the approach applies to any market. International setups add hreflang, market-level architecture and localisation considerations to the scope.

We review your store, platform and current visibility, discuss where demand and answers are being lost, and outline the highest-impact priorities. You leave with a clearer view of what to do next, whether or not you work with us.

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