Lee Foot

Technical SEO for large catalogues

I investigate the problems that stop search engines crawling, indexing and understanding your site. That includes the awkward issues that tend to come with large, complex websites.

#the-work

Most audits list every warning a crawler can produce, weighted by how easy it is to detect rather than what it costs you. Nobody actions page 74.

I start with the templates and categories that earn, find what stops them being crawled, indexed and ranked, and give your developers a short list they can ship: what to change, why, and what it is worth.

The work is built for large ecommerce catalogues: faceted navigation, filter pages, inventory churn and international setups. The problems that only show up at scale.

Migrations get the same treatment. Redirect mapping is automated and validated rather than pasted into a spreadsheet, everything is tested before go-live and monitored after it, and there is a rollback plan if something goes wrong.

#examples

The kind of output this work produces. The data shown is illustrative.

  • index-coverage.xlsx
    ABC 1TemplateURLsIndexed 2Category4,21086% 3Product38,90062% 4Filter URL212,40012% 5Blog64092%
    CoverageCrawlRaw
    e.g. Index coverage across every template
  • redirect-map.xlsx
    ABC 1Old URLNew URLMatch 2/tents/dome-2/camping/tents/2-person-dome98% 3/backpacks/trek-65/camping/backpacks/trek-65100% 4/sleeping-bags/salenone 5/stoves/gas/cooking/stoves/gas91% 6/jackets/rain/clothing/jackets/waterproof87%
    RedirectsUnmatchedRaw
    e.g. Redirect mapping for a migration
  • hreflang-check.xlsx
    ABCD 1URLen-GBde-DEfr-FR 2/tents✓✓✓ 3/backpacks✓✗✓ 4/sleeping-bags✓✓✗ 5/stoves✓✓✓ 6/jackets✓✓✓
    Return tagsErrorsRaw
    e.g. Hreflang return-tag checks
  • crawl-log-analysis
    Googlebot hits by pathLast 30 days
    /filter?colour=
    48%
    /product/
    22%
    /category/
    18%
    /search?q=
    9%
    /blog/
    3%
    e.g. Log file analysis of Googlebot crawl
  • canonical_check.py · run
    $ python canonical_check.py --sitemap
    ✓ 18,420 URLs crawled
    ✗ 312 canonicals point to 404 pages
    ✗ 1,140 paginated pages point to page 1
    → Wrote canonical-issues.csv
    $
    e.g. Canonical and duplicate URL audits

#includes

Includes

  • Indexing and crawl problems
  • Faceted navigation and filter URLs
  • Site migrations and redirect mapping
  • Hreflang and international sites

Free tools to start with

If a free tool solves it, you don't need me.

#how-it-works

  1. 01

    Tell me what's getting in the way

    Email me or book a call. You don't need a polished brief or a list of requirements. Just tell me what's holding your team back, what you need help with or what you'd like to improve.

  2. 02

    Agree on the work

    I'll set out what needs doing, what you'll get, how long it'll take and what it'll cost. We'll agree on the scope before I start, so you know what to expect.

  3. 03

    I get on with it

    I work directly with your team to investigate problems, build solutions and get the work shipped. I'll keep you updated as I go, and if something unexpected comes up, we'll work out the next step together.

  4. 04

    Built to keep working

    You keep the code, scripts, documentation and data. If I've built a tool, dashboard or automated process for your team, I'll make sure you have what you need to run and maintain it.

/services

/contact