Managing out-of-stock products effectively is not just about improving the user experience—it’s also vital for maintaining and improving your website’s technical SEO. Improper handling of unavailable products can most times lead to poor search rankings, and thus a loss of organic traffic.
Here’s how to manage out-of-stock products from a technical SEO perspective.
Why Handling Out-of-Stock Products Impacts SEO
When products go out of stock or you have discontinued product pages, search engines like Google need clear signals about how to handle the affected pages. Failing to provide these signals can often lead to a couple of issues like:
- Waste crawl budget: Search engines may waste crawl budget repeatedly visiting pages for products that you no longer sell or don't have in inventory.
- Loss of Rankings: Out-of-stock pages can lose their ranking, reducing the page’s visibility even after restocking.
- Poor User Experience: Visitors landing on out-of-stock pages without clear instructions are more likely to bounce, increasing your bounce rate which can overtime lead to lowering your SEO performance.
So, the next question is how should an e-commerce business handle permanently discontinued product pages or ones that are temporarily unavailable?
Technical SEO Best Practices for Out-of-Stock Products
Use 404 or 410 Status Codes for Permanently Unavailable Products
If a product is permanently unavailable and has no suitable replacement, consider using a 410 (Gone) status code. This tells search engines that the page is no longer relevant and prevents further crawling.
If the product page has earned backlinks or generates significant traffic, consider redirecting it. You can use a 301 redirect to point the URL to a relevant replacement or category page. This preserves link equity and provides users with a logical alternative.
Optimizing Temporarily Out-of-Stock Pages
Deleting temporarily out-of-stock pages is a very common SEO mistake. Instead, keep the page live and update it with clear messaging.
- Technical Implementation: Add a visible "Out of Stock" message on the page with expected restocking dates. This tells search engines like Google that you're only out of stock and helps improve customer satisfaction.
- Structured Data: Use schema.org's Product markup to indicate the item's availability as OutOfStock.
Use Back-in-Stock Notifications
Include a "Notify Me When Available" option. Not only does this enhance user experience, but it also keeps the page active and relevant in search results.
Plus continuous user engagement signals the page’s relevance to search engines, helping maintain its rankings.
Avoid Noindexing Out-of-Stock Pages
Using the noindex tag may remove the page from search results, but it also wastes the authority and backlinks earned by the page. Instead, keep the page indexed with appropriate updates to help retain its SEO value.
Optimize Category Pages
If multiple products in a category are out of stock or permanently out of stock, the category page may still rank. Ensure your category pages are well-optimised with clear filtering options and relevant content.
You will want to use descriptive anchor text to guide users to similar or alternative products.
Use Canonical Tags for Duplicate Pages
If filters for in-stock or out-of-stock items create duplicate content, implement canonical tags to avoid splitting ranking signals.
A common instance of this is to canonicalize filtered pages to the main category URL. This effectively tells Google that the main category URL should be indexed and not the filtered URL.
Leveraging Structured Data for SEO
Mark Availability with Schema Markup
Use availability within the Product schema to inform search engines about the stock status. This ensures rich results in search engine results pages (SERPs) accurately reflect the product’s availability.
Schema can be used to mark pages with InStock, OutOfStock, PreOrder.
Managing Seasonal or High-Demand Products
Now if you have a couple of seasonal items that regularly go out of stock, create a dedicated landing page highlighting the product’s availability cycle. for instance you can have “Winter Coats - Back in Stock Every October.”
Build Internal Links to Replacement Products
Update your internal linking strategy to direct users to relevant alternatives when products are unavailable. This ensures link equity flows to similar items, boosting their visibility.
Conclusion
Handling out-of-stock products effectively requires a balance between technical SEO and user experience. However, you always want to retain and ensure a positive user experience.
By following these technical SEO best practices, you can minimize the negative impact of stockouts, retain your search rankings, and keep customers satisfied.
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