Recommended Settings for WooCommerce Stores

WooCommerce stores have unique SEO needs focused on product visibility, e-commerce schema, and driving sales. This guide provides recommended SEOvault AI settings to maximize your online store’s search performance and conversion rate.

Core settings

Output mode

Recommended: Auto

Auto mode automatically generates SEO metadata for products, categories, and other WooCommerce content.

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Output Mode
2. Select Auto
3. Click Save Changes

Homepage settings

Title template:

%sitename% - %sitedesc%

Description template:

Shop %product_categories% at %sitename%. Free shipping on orders over $50. %site_tagline%

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > Homepage
2. Set the title and description templates
3. Click Save Changes

Product SEO

Product title template

Recommended:

%title% - %sitename%

This format:

• Puts the product name first (most important for search)
• Adds store name for branding
• Keeps titles concise for mobile display

Product description template

Recommended:

%short_description%

This uses your WooCommerce short description as the meta description. Write compelling descriptions for each product.

Alternative:

%title% - %short_description%

To configure product templates:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > Templates
2. Set the product title and description templates
3. Click Save Changes

WooCommerce-specific features

SEOVault AI includes specialized WooCommerce integrations:

Product schema

Recommended: Enable

SEOVault AI automatically:

• Merges with WooCommerce’s native product schema
• Adds variation images to schema
• Includes product attributes
• Adds return policy to organization schema

This happens automatically when both WooCommerce and SEOvault AI are active.

Product identifiers

Recommended: Enable if you sell on multiple platforms

Product identifiers (GTIN, MPN, SKU) help with:

• Google Shopping feeds
• Rich product results
• Cross-platform inventory management

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > WooCommerce
2. Check Enable Product Identifiers
3. Configure identifier fields
4. Click Save Changes

Import/Export for product identifiers

Recommended: Enable if you manage products via CSV

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > WooCommerce
2. Check Enable CSV Import/Export
3. Click Save Changes

Schema markup

Recommended: Enable

E-commerce schema is critical for product visibility in search results.

Recommended schema types for WooCommerce:

• Product — For individual products
• Organization — For your store brand
• BreadcrumbList — For navigation
• Review — For product reviews
• AggregateRating — For average product ratings

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Schema
2. Check Enable Schema Markup
3. Configure default schema types
4. Click Save Changes

Social media optimization

Open Graph

Recommended: Enable with product-specific images

Open Graph tags improve how your products appear when shared on social media.

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Open Graph
2. Check Enable Open Graph
3. Set default OG image (store logo)
4. Check Use product images for OG (WooCommerce integration)
5. Click Save Changes

Twitter Cards

Recommended: Enable with large image

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Twitter Cards
2. Check Enable Twitter Cards
3. Select Summary with Large Image
4. Click Save Changes

Sitemap

Recommended: Enable

Include all products and categories in your sitemap.

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > Sitemap
2. Check Enable Custom Sitemap
3. Set sitemap URL to /sitemap.xml
4. Click Save Changes

Post types to include:

• Products (always)
• Product categories
• Product tags (optional)
• Pages (shop, about, contact, etc.)
• Posts (if you have a blog)

Exclude:

• Out of stock products (optional)
• Hidden products
• Draft products

Canonical URLs

Recommended: Enable

Canonical URLs prevent duplicate content issues, especially important for:

• Products with multiple variations
• Products in multiple categories
• Filtered product pages

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Canonical URLs
2. Check Enable Canonical URLs
3. Click Save Changes

Feed optimization

Recommended: Optional

Most e-commerce sites don’t need RSS feeds for products. Disable if not used.

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Feed
2. Uncheck feed options if not needed
3. Click Save Changes

Advanced WooCommerce recommendations

Category pages

Title template:

%category% - %sitename%

Description template:

Browse our collection of %category% at %sitename%. %category_description%.

Noindex considerations:

• Index main product categories
• Noindex empty categories
• Noindex filter combinations that create thin content

Product variations

Recommended: Use parent product for SEO

• Set SEO data on the parent (simple) product
• Let variations inherit from parent
• Canonical URLs point to parent product
• Avoid duplicate content across variations

Product reviews

Recommended: Enable and encourage reviews

Reviews:

• Provide social proof
• Add rich review schema
• Improve conversion rates
• Give search engines fresh content

To encourage reviews:

• Send automated review requests after purchase
• Offer incentives for reviews
• Make review process easy
• Respond to all reviews

Product images

Critical: Optimize all product images

Requirements:

• High-quality product photos (multiple angles)
• Consistent sizing and style
• White or neutral backgrounds
• Descriptive alt text (e.g., “Blue cotton t-shirt with v-neck”)
• Compressed for fast loading
• Appropriate file names (e.g., blue-cotton-tshirt.jpg)

Image SEO:

• Use descriptive file names
• Add alt text for accessibility and SEO
• Use structured data for images
• Enable lazy loading for product galleries

Product descriptions

Best practices:

• Unique descriptions for each product
• Include relevant keywords naturally
• Highlight key features and benefits
• Include dimensions, materials, care instructions
• Write for both search engines and customers
• Minimum 300 words for main products

Breadcrumbs

Recommended: Enable

Breadcrumbs help navigation and SEO:

To configure:

1. Go to SEOvault AI > General > Breadcrumbs
2. Check Enable Breadcrumbs
3. Configure breadcrumb separator
4. Click Save Changes

SEOVault AI automatically filters duplicate breadcrumb schema from WooCommerce.

Robots.txt for WooCommerce

Recommended additions to robots.txt:

Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /customer-logout/
Disallow: /lost-password/

Disallow: /*add-to-cart=*
Disallow: /*?filter*
Disallow: /*&filter*

This prevents indexing of:

• Cart and checkout pages
• Account pages
• Filtered views that create duplicate content
• Add-to-cart URLs

Performance optimization

Page speed

E-commerce sites must be fast:

• Optimize product images
• Use a caching plugin
• Enable lazy loading
• Minimize CSS/JS
• Use a CDN
• Choose fast hosting
• Optimize database

Mobile optimization

Critical: Most e-commerce traffic is mobile

Ensure:

• Mobile-friendly product pages
• Easy checkout on mobile
• Fast page load speed
• Touch-friendly buttons
• Readable product descriptions
• Mobile-optimized images

Shopping feed optimization

Google Shopping

SEOVault AI product identifiers help with Google Shopping feeds:

• GTIN — Global Trade Item Number (ISBN, UPC, EAN)
• MPN — Manufacturer Part Number
• SKU — Stock Keeping Unit

Configure these in WooCommerce product data for better Shopping results.

Monitoring and maintenance

Regular tasks

• Weekly: Check product schema in Google Rich Results Test
• Monthly: Review top-performing products and optimize
• Quarterly: Audit product descriptions and images
• Annually: Review and update settings based on algorithm changes

Key metrics to track

• Organic product traffic
• Product page rankings
• Click-through rates from search
• Conversion rate
• Average order value
• Cart abandonment rate
• Product review count and rating

Common WooCommerce mistakes to avoid

• Duplicate product descriptions — Write unique descriptions for each product
• Missing product images — Every product needs at least one high-quality image
• Ignoring mobile optimization — Most shopping happens on mobile
• Thin category pages — Add unique content to category descriptions
• No product reviews — Reviews build trust and improve SEO
• Poor site speed — Slow sites lose customers and rankings
• Ignoring structured data — Product schema is essential for e-commerce SEO
• Canonical URL issues — Ensure variations don’t create duplicate content

Multi-lingual stores

If you sell in multiple languages:

Use translation plugins

Compatible with:

• WPML
• Polylang
• TranslatePress

Configure hreflang tags

SEOVault AI can help with hreflang implementation for international SEO.

Localize product data

• Translate product titles and descriptions
• Localize prices and currencies
• Use local domain or subdirectory structure
• Configure local schema (address, phone)

When to customize these recommendations

Customize settings if:

• Your store has a unique product model (digital products, subscriptions)
• You use advanced WooCommerce features (bookings, memberships)
• You have a complex product catalog with custom taxonomies
• Your industry has specialized schema needs
• You sell on multiple marketplaces with different requirements

Related docs

• SEO Title and Description Templates (Replace Variables)
• Open Graph and Twitter Card Setup
• Schema Validation and Testing
• Canonical URLs: Prevent Duplicate Content