How much copy should a collection page have?

Find the median word count of the top three ranking pages for your target keyword and match it. Generally 300–500 words, but it varies significantly by category. Apparel tends to need less; certain categories like cannabis-related keywords often rank pages with well over 1,000 words. Mimic the median of what already ranks rather than using a fixed number.

Is it okay to use the same FAQs on multiple collection pages?

Identical FAQs covering brand-level information — shipping policy, return policy, sourcing — are fine to repeat across collection pages, as long as each page also has unique copy and unique FAQs specific to that collection. The uniqueness in the collection-specific content is what prevents cannibalization; the shared brand FAQs alone won't cause a problem.

Why are my collection pages not ranking even though I've added the target keyword?

Having the keyword in your H1 and meta title is a starting point, not a complete optimization. Pages also need sufficient unique copy, internal links from related pages and the main menu, and enough page-level authority to compete. A collection page with no inbound links may not even be indexed by Google.

What causes keyword cannibalization between collection pages?

Cannibalization happens when multiple pages target the same or very similar keywords with near-identical content, giving Google no clear signal about which page to prioritize. It is compounded by a lack of internal linking — without anchor text pointing to the intended target page, Google cannot determine which page deserves the ranking.

Should I optimize all product pages or just some?

For small catalogs, optimize every product page. For catalogs with thousands of SKUs, start with your top performers by traffic, revenue, or margin. AI has made optimization fast enough that larger catalogs are increasingly feasible, but prioritizing high-value pages first ensures you see returns before working through the full catalog.

What should I fix first — collection pages, product pages, or Merchant Center?

Start with collection pages — they drive roughly 70–80% of e-commerce SEO value. Fix missing copy first, then address duplicate content, then add internal linking between related collections. Product page optimization and Merchant Center audits come after, but all five of these fixes are free or near-free and faster to implement than backlinks, PR, or competitor content.

5 Shopify SEO Mistakes Found on Calls With 30+ Six- to Nine-Figure Brands

Name: 5 Shopify SEO Mistakes Found on Calls With 30+ Six- to Nine-Figure Brands
Channel: Kai Cromwell
Description: Kai Cromwell reviewed sales and consulting calls from March with over 30 Shopify brands doing six to nine figures in annual revenue and found the same five SEO mistakes on repeat. The video covers missing collection page copy, duplicate content across collections, absent internal linking, unoptimized product pages, and neglected Google Merchant Center feeds.

Every month, Kai Cromwell speaks with over 30 Shopify brands through agency sales calls, mentor consulting, and one-on-one work with international e-commerce brands — all of them doing at least six to nine figures in annual revenue. After reviewing every call from March, the same five SEO problems kept appearing, regardless of brand size or category.

None of these fixes require a budget. They are the foundation that everything else in SEO depends on, and they produce faster results than any of the higher-effort tactics — backlinks, PR, Reddit placements, competitor comparisons — that most brands reach for first.

Mistake 1: No Copy on Collection Pages

This is the most common and most fixable. Many of these brands have good products, solid reviews, and a keyword in the H1 and meta title — often placed there by a previous agency or freelancer who considered that sufficient. It is not. The keyword in your H1 tells Google what the page is about. The copy on the page tells Google how much it knows about the topic.

Adding a few hundred words of copy to a collection page is the easiest way to rank higher with the least effort. There are two ways to rank any page: authority and relevance. Copy is the relevance signal. Without it, you are competing for the top three spots on authority alone — and most brands don't have enough of it to win that way.

On word count: don't pick an arbitrary number. Find the median word count of the top three pages currently ranking for your target keyword and match it. Generally that falls between 300 and 500 words, but apparel categories often need less, and some categories — cannabis-adjacent keywords, for example — rank pages well into the thousands of words. The median of what already ranks is your target.

Mistake 2: Collection Page Copy That Is Nearly Identical Across Pages

The second problem is the inverse of the first: brands that do have collection page copy, but it is the same generic paragraph across every page with the keyword swapped out. One-shot ChatGPT content. The same FAQ blocks repeated verbatim. Google reads this as near-duplicate content, and when multiple pages look the same, it has no way to determine which one should rank — so none of them break into the top three.

Shared FAQs covering brand-level information — shipping, returns, sourcing — are fine to repeat across collection pages. That kind of repetition does not cause problems. What causes problems is when the shared FAQs are the only content, with nothing unique above them. Give each collection page its own body copy and its own collection-specific FAQs, and the repeated brand FAQs below won't hurt you.

Mistake 3: No Internal Links Between Similar Collections

Brands that watch this channel and build long-tail collections are ahead of most. But roughly 95% of them build those pages and then do nothing with them — no links from anywhere, no place in the site architecture. A page with no inbound links is likely not even indexed by Google. Building it was wasted work.

About 4% link to new collections from the main menu, which is better. Only 1% do what is actually correct: link from the main menu, from relevant collection pages, and from the homepage. That 1% sees meaningfully better results.

Internal linking between related collections does two things. It signals to Google which page should rank for which keyword — especially important when two pages target closely related terms like "hiking boots" and "waterproof hiking boots." And it distributes authority from your stronger pages to newer, less-established ones. The anchor text you use between collections is the clarifying signal that prevents cannibalization. Exact or near-match anchors pointing from a subcollection to the parent collection, and vice versa, give Google the map it needs.

Mistake 4: No Product Page Optimization

Collection pages drive roughly 70–80% of e-commerce SEO value, so they deserve the most attention. But product pages matter, and the larger your catalog, the more they matter. More products means more long-tail keyword surface area — more pages that can each independently capture a specific search and drive a sale.

For small catalogs, optimize every product page. For catalogs with hundreds or thousands of SKUs, start with your top performers by traffic, revenue, or margin, and build a plan for the rest. The same rules apply as with collection pages: target keyword frontloaded in the title, frontloaded in the first sentence of the description, and appearing naturally throughout.

Mistake 5: A Google Merchant Center Feed That Was Set Once and Forgotten

Most brands set up their Merchant Center feed when they first launched Google Ads and never looked at it again. The Google Ads team — whether in-house or at an agency — typically controls access to Merchant Center and focuses on bid strategies and ad headlines, not feed optimization. Feed optimization often falls through the gap entirely.

This is a mistake with a measurable cost. For brands with even a few hundred products, there is often four figures per month in organic revenue sitting in an unoptimized feed. The fixes mirror product page optimization: front-load keywords in product titles, front-load them in the first sentence of descriptions, and audit product categories for accuracy across your catalog. Start with top performers if the catalog is large.

Fix These First, Then Move On

Backlinks, Reddit mentions, PR placements, and competitor comparison content all work. But none of them will move the needle the way these five fixes will, and they cost significantly more time and money to execute. These five are free, fast, and foundational. Fix them first, and the other tactics compound on top of a site that is actually built to rank.

Top 5 SEO Mistakes that 7+ Figure Shopify Brands Make