By Nicolas Avila · October 9, 2026

The category page: most visited, least maintained

Photo: Avila Ops Tecnologia

In an online store, the category page (the page listing all products of one type: “running shoes,” “cat food,” “formal dresses”) is what Google shows for searches that generate the most sales, such as “buy running shoes in Rio Preto.” It usually receives more visits than any individual product. And in almost every small store, it is a photo grid with a one-word title and no text. Google reads the page, finds nothing to understand, and shows the category from the competitor who wrote something.

The store owner maintains product pages one by one and leaves categories to the platform. A well-positioned 200- to 400-word category description is one of the highest-return SEO changes a small store can make.

What does a category page need?

In addition to the product grid:

1. A title stating what it is and where. “Men’s and women’s running shoes, 1-day delivery in Rio Preto” instead of “Shoes.” The title is what appears on Google.
2. An opening paragraph above the grid answering what customers want to know: what the category contains, price range, brands, delivery time, and exchange terms. Up to 80 words. This is what Google and AI systems quote.
3. Supporting text below the grid, 150 to 300 words: how to choose within this category, who each type suits, what changed this year. This answers the search “which running shoes should I buy?”
4. Filters that generate useful URLs without generating junk. “Women’s running shoes” can have its own page if people search for it; “blue running shoes size 38 under R$ 300” should not become an indexable URL.
5. Three to five category FAQs covering delivery times, exchanges, sizes, and payment.

The table summarizes the difference:

How do I organize categories so Google understands?

Keep them few and clear. A small store with 200 products needs six to 12 categories, with no more than two levels: “Footwear,” then “Running shoes,” “Flip-flops,” “Casual sneakers.”

Each product has one primary category. A product in four categories can generate four URLs for the same thing, and the platform must identify one as the primary URL (canonical tag).

Category names use the customer’s words, not the supplier’s code. “Food for neutered cats” sells; no one searches for “Premium feline line.”

The category is the hub of the store’s internal links: the menu links to it, each product links back to it, and the supporting text links to best-selling products.

What is the most common mistake?

Creating a blog article for a search the category should already serve. “The year’s best running shoes” on the blog, listing the same products, competes with the category, and neither rises. The rule is to keep the category; the blog addresses what the category does not answer (how to train, how to care for shoes, when to replace them). The case is detailed in two pages competing for the same search.

The second mistake is copied supporting text. A generic description of “running shoes” exists in thousands of stores. What makes your category worthwhile is what only you know: which models sell best in your city, for which type of runner, and your actual delivery time. Category text can also be shallow, and usually is.

A natural products store in Rio Preto had 14 categories without text. Over one weekend, it wrote opening paragraphs and supporting text for its three highest-selling categories (supplements, teas, flours). In the following two months, those three began appearing for searches including the city that had previously shown only marketplaces.

What to do now

Open your store’s best-selling category and read it as a customer: does the title say what it is and where? Is there a paragraph with price, delivery time, and exchanges? If not, that is this weekend’s work. If you want a store whose categories come written and organized for Google, with Pix, card, and boleto payments and no sales commission, your store can be live in one day: avilaops.com/loja-virtual or contact us on WhatsApp: wa.me/5517997811471.

Frequently asked questions

Does anyone read text below the product grid?

Google always does. People who are still choosing read it too, and they are precisely the people searching for the category. The opening paragraph is for everyone; the lower text is for people who want help deciding.

How many categories should a small store have?

Between six and 12, in up to two levels. Each category should have at least five products. A category with two products becomes another category’s subcategory or disappears.

Is a category page worthwhile for a physical store that does not sell online?

Just as worthwhile. A “Cat food in Rio Preto” page with brands, a price range, and store pickup appears on Google the same way. The button opens WhatsApp instead of saying “buy.”