How to Handle Out-of-Stock Products SEO-Wise

 Dealing with out-of-stock products can be a tricky situation for any e-commerce business. Not only do you lose the chance to generate revenue from that particular product, but there’s also the risk of negatively impacting your SEO performance. Product pages that are no longer available for purchase may confuse search engines and visitors, potentially hurting your rankings if not handled properly.

In this blog, we’ll explore how to handle out-of-stock products in a way that minimizes any negative impact on your SEO and even helps you maintain or improve your rankings during times when products are unavailable.

1. Don’t Remove the Page Entirely

The first and most important SEO recommendation when dealing with out-of-stock products is do not remove the product page entirely from your website. Many e-commerce businesses may be tempted to delete the page, but this can result in losing valuable SEO equity that the page has accumulated over time.

When you delete a page, it can result in broken links (404 errors) and disrupt the flow of authority and rankings that the page may have built. Here’s why keeping the page live is a better choice:

• Retain Valuable Backlinks: If your product page has earned backlinks from external sites, removing the page would cause these links to become broken, which can harm your SEO efforts.

• Avoid 404 Errors: Broken links resulting from deleted pages can create a negative user experience and send signals to search engines that your website isn’t well-maintained, which can harm your overall rankings.

• Maintain Page Authority: If the page has been ranking well for specific keywords, deleting it would eliminate any search engine authority it has accumulated. Leaving the page live allows you to keep these rankings and redirect traffic in the future.

2. Show the Product as “Out of Stock” with a Clear Message

If a product is out of stock, it’s crucial to be transparent with your visitors. Rather than keeping the product page as it is and hoping customers won’t notice, make sure to clearly label it as "out of stock" on the page. You should also provide an expected restock date or an option for customers to sign up for email notifications when the product becomes available again.

From an SEO perspective, clearly marking the product as out of stock helps both users and search engines understand the situation. Here’s how to handle it:

• Add a Clear Label: Use a noticeable label or banner that indicates the product is out of stock. This reduces user frustration and makes your page more transparent.

• Provide Information: If possible, include an estimated restock date. This keeps users informed and shows that you’re actively managing inventory, which is important for maintaining trust.

• Enable Back-in-Stock Notifications: Allow users to sign up for notifications when the product is back in stock. This increases engagement, and search engines might interpret this as positive user interaction on your page.

3. Optimize the Page for Future Sales

Even though the product is out of stock, the page can still serve as a valuable asset for your website’s SEO. Rather than letting the page languish without updates, you can optimize it for future sales and improve its performance in search engines.

• Keep the Content Relevant: Make sure the page remains useful for users even when the product is out of stock. You can update the product description, add alternative product suggestions, or provide related content such as “similar products” or “recommended products.”

• Use Structured Data (Schema Markup): Use schema markup to mark the product as “out of stock.” This helps search engines understand that the product is currently unavailable but may be restocked in the future. Schema markup can be used to provide additional details such as availability status, price, and more.

Example Schema for Out-of-Stock Products:

json
https://seranking.com/?ga=4203212&source=link
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Product Name",
  "availability": "https://schema.org/OutOfStock",
  "priceCurrency": "USD",
  "price": "49.99",
  "sku": "12345"
}

This informs search engines that the product is temporarily unavailable but will return. Additionally, it helps ensure that the product page doesn’t lose its SEO ranking when the product comes back in stock.

4. Redirecting Out-of-Stock Pages (301 Redirect)

If a product will not be restocked or is permanently discontinued, you may consider using a 301 redirect to send users and search engines to a relevant alternative product or category page. This is an important SEO strategy to ensure that the value of the product page is not lost and that visitors are directed to a relevant page.

Here’s how to handle the situation with a 301 redirect:

• Redirect to a Similar Product: If you have a similar product that can replace the out-of-stock item, set up a 301 redirect from the out-of-stock page to the new product page.

• Redirect to a Category Page: If there isn’t a close alternative, you can redirect the out-of-stock product page to a relevant category page that offers similar products.

• Avoid Redirecting to the Homepage: It’s important not to redirect to the homepage, as this can confuse users and search engines. Always redirect to a page with related products to maintain relevance.

5. Use an “Out-of-Stock” Page Instead of 404 Errors

If a product is out of stock and won’t be restocked, it’s better to direct users to a custom out-of-stock page rather than a generic 404 error page. This page can offer alternative solutions, such as:

• Redirecting users to other products that are available.

• Allowing users to join an email list for updates.

• Offering similar items or categories for browsing.

This approach helps retain the page’s link equity and doesn’t disrupt the user experience. A well-designed out-of-stock page can continue to capture organic traffic while guiding users toward similar products or signups.

6. Consider Temporary Removal (For a Limited Time)

If the product is only temporarily out of stock and you anticipate it returning soon, you might consider temporarily hiding the page from search engines rather than deleting it. You can use the noindex tag to ensure that the page does not show up in search results while it is out of stock but can be re-indexed once the product is available again.

Here’s how to use a noindex tag:

html

<head>
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">
</head>

This will instruct search engines to remove the page from their index while still allowing them to follow any links on the page. When the product comes back in stock, you can remove the noindex tag to re-enable indexing.

7. Monitor and Analyze Impact on SEO

Once you’ve implemented a strategy for out-of-stock products, it’s important to monitor and analyze the impact of your changes. Use tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track how the out-of-stock pages are performing. Keep an eye on metrics such as organic traffic, user behavior (bounce rate, session duration), and the number of conversions generated by the out-of-stock pages.

If you see that the out-of-stock page is still driving a significant amount of traffic, you might need to tweak your strategy further to maximize that traffic’s value.

Conclusion

Handling out-of-stock products with SEO in mind is crucial for preserving your website’s rankings and user experience. Rather than removing the page or letting it sit dormant, ensure that it remains useful by clearly marking it as out of stock, providing relevant alternative products, and utilizing schema markup and redirects. Monitoring and adjusting based on the performance of out-of-stock pages will also help you maintain SEO value and continue offering a seamless shopping experience for your customers.

By properly managing out-of-stock products from an SEO perspective, you can mitigate any negative impact and keep your e-commerce site running smoothly while improving user satisfaction and maintaining your search engine rankings.