Technical E-commerce SEO study of Georgian online shops
We checked 1,468 pages across 38 websites against 13 criteria. The market's median technical health score was 74.1.
The results show what a client should check on their own website. Product information markup and the management of category pages often need to be reviewed.
What Georgian online shops are missing
We checked 1,468 pages across 38 Georgian online shops. Below are the elements that Google uses to understand product and catalog pages and that most websites have not yet set up in full.
- Product Schema
Product schema is special structured data that helps Google better understand information about a product. Through it we can supply the search engine with details such as the product's name, price, availability, brand, rating, photo and other information. Correctly added Product schema increases the chance that the product will appear more informatively in Google's search results, for example with a price, stock status or rating.
- Canonical Tag
The canonical tag is an HTML tag that tells Google which URL should be considered the main, primary version of a page. It is used in particular when identical or very similar content is available at several different URLs. The canonical tag helps Google process duplicate pages correctly and shows which URL it should consolidate the SEO signals onto.
- Title
The title is the page heading that Google shows in search results. Out of 37 websites only 13 have a unique title on every page, while in the rest repeated titles make it harder for Google to tell the pages apart.
- Breadcrumb
A breadcrumb is a path shown at the top of a page that indicates how the customer gets from the main category to a specific product. Out of 38 websites only 17 have a breadcrumb, while in the rest it is harder for Google to understand the hierarchy of the site's categories and pages.
- Alt text
Alt text is a short description of an image that helps Google understand what is shown in the photo. Out of 33 websites only 12 have alt text filled in on product images, while the rest make less use of the opportunity to get additional traffic from Google Images.
- The catalog's second page
The second and subsequent pages of a catalog should point with a canonical tag to their own URL and not to the first page. Out of 22 websites only 1 has this set up correctly, while in the rest it can become harder for Google to discover and index the pages and products deeper in the catalog.
The market in figures
What we checked and how many had it right
27 core SEO elements were checked across 38 websites. A rating of "had it right" means that the website met the relevant criterion. The threshold for each criterion is given in the table next to the element checked.
| Check | Had it right | Threshold |
|---|---|---|
Out-of-stock product in the index Do pages of out-of-stock products stay in the index or are they controlled | 0.0% Small sample | ≤ 30% |
The pagination canonical is correct The canonical of page 2 points to itself (and not to the first page) | 4.5% | Yes |
Price in the schema Is the price marked up in the structured data | 24.2% | ≥ 80% |
Product schema on the product page Do product pages have Product schema (the markup needed to show price and stock in search) | 27.3% | ≥ 80% |
Stock status in the schema Is stock availability marked up in the structured data | 27.3% | ≥ 80% |
Breadcrumb schema Is the page hierarchy marked up (home → category → product) | 28.9% | ≥ 80% |
Duplicate titles How many websites have no repeated titles (the page title shown in the search result) | 35.1% | ≤ 5% |
Image alt text Do product images have a text description (alt) | 36.4% | ≤ 20% |
The canonical points to itself Does the canonical point to its own page or to another one | 44.7% | ≥ 90% |
Breadcrumb navigation Do the pages have visible hierarchical navigation | 44.7% | ≥ 80% |
Title length on the product Does the title fit in the search result without being cut off | 45.5% | ≥ 80% |
Unique H1 on the category page Is the main heading of the categories unique or repeated | 46.9% | ≥ 95% |
meta description on the product Do product pages have a description displayed in the search result | 51.5% | ≥ 90% |
Canonical on every page Do the pages have a canonical - an indication of which version of the URL is the main one | 52.6% | ≥ 95% |
The sitemap is declared in robots.txt Can the search engine find the page map from robots.txt | 57.9% | Yes |
Open Graph image Do the pages have an image for sharing on social networks | 60.5% | ≥ 80% |
meta description on the category Do category pages have a description displayed in the search result | 68.8% | ≥ 90% |
Broken links How many websites keep their share of broken links within the norm | 76.3% | ≤ 2% |
Open Graph title Do the pages have a title for sharing on social networks | 76.3% | ≥ 80% |
sitemap.xml exists Does the website have a map of its pages for the search engine | 78.9% | Yes |
Core Web Vitals on mobile Loading speed and stability on a mobile phone | 86.5% | ≥ 75% |
Page 2 of the catalogue works Does page 2 of the category open with a 200 status | 89.5% | Yes |
lang attribute Is the page language declared in the HTML | 89.5% | ≥ 95% |
Category text Do category pages have searchable text beyond the product list | 90.6% | ≥ 50% |
Filters do not create excess URLs When a shopper selects colour, size and price, the website often creates a new URL. Such URLs run into the thousands and Google crawls them instead of the real pages. This check looks at whether the website controls these URLs | 97.4% | Low risk |
viewport for mobile Is the mobile screen parameter declared | 97.4% | ≥ 95% |
charset is declared Is the character encoding declared (so that Georgian letters display correctly) | 100.0% | ≥ 95% |
13 criteria
Category pages
89.3A category page brings together related products under a single topic or product group. An accurate and informative description helps Google better understand the page's topic and supports higher visibility for the relevant search queries. 68.8% of websites had the category description right.
Product pages
71.1A product page combines detailed information about a specific product with the option to buy it. A complete description helps the customer make a choice and increases the page's visibility for more specific search queries. 51.5% of websites had the product description right.
Duplicate titles
84.7The title is the page heading that Google often shows in search results. Identical titles can turn several pages into competitors with one another for the same search query. 35.1% of websites stayed within the acceptable threshold for duplicate titles.
Filters and their URLs
100Product filtering helps the customer sort a product list by various parameters. Managing it correctly spares Google from processing excessive and near-identical URLs. 97.4% of websites had filter control right.
Canonical
90.8The canonical is an indication that helps Google determine which URL is the main version of a page. Using it correctly reduces the risk of SEO signals being split between duplicate pages. 52.6% of websites had the canonical right on every page.
Structured data
18.3Product schema is structured data that supplies Google with information about a product, including price and availability. This data can appear as extra detail in search results and attract the customer's attention. 27.3% of websites had Product schema right.
Out-of-stock products
65An out-of-stock product page shows a product that is temporarily or permanently no longer available. Managing such pages incorrectly can lead the customer to an unavailable product and force Google to process unnecessary URLs. We checked only 3 websites against this criterion and none of them met the requirement.
Pagination
50Pagination means distributing the products in a catalog across several pages. Setting it up correctly helps Google treat the second and subsequent pages as independent pages. 4.5% of websites had the canonical on the second page right.
Page discovery by Google
92Page discovery means whether Google finds all of a website's important pages. sitemap.xml and robots.txt help it do so, while broken links get in the way. 78.9% of websites had sitemap.xml right.
Core Web Vitals
100Core Web Vitals assess a page's loading speed, interactivity and visual stability on mobile devices. Good metrics improve the user experience and reduce the risk of the page being abandoned early. 86.5% of websites met the defined threshold.
Category content
66.8Category text is a description that, alongside the product list, explains the topic on the category page. It helps Google understand the page's content and increases visibility for broad search queries. 90.6% of websites had the category text right.
Internal links
69.6Internal links connect a website's various pages with one another. A correct structure makes it easier for the customer to move around the catalog, and it helps Google discover pages and understand the site's hierarchy. 44.7% of websites had hierarchical navigation right.
Language and the page's technical foundations
86.8The HTML language attribute tells Google what language a page's content is written in. Specifying it correctly helps the search engine identify the page's language accurately. 89.5% of websites had the language attribute right.
Where the money is lost
At the first stage, the model calculates the potential loss of organic traffic. To do this, organic traffic is multiplied by a loss factor that shows what share of traffic may be lost because of a particular SEO defect. A maximum loss threshold is defined for each defect.
At the second stage, the lost visits are converted into orders using the segment's average conversion rate. Conversion shows what share of visits ends in an order. At the third stage, the resulting number of orders is multiplied by the segment's average order value, that is, the average value of a single order.
The result is a modelled estimate and not an actual financial loss. The real impact may differ and depends on price, stock, competition, customer behaviour and other factors.
The potential loss of organic traffic is calculated by multiplying traffic by the loss factor. The factor is the sum of the values defined for the various SEO defects, although each defect has its own maximum threshold. For example, the impact of Core Web Vitals is assessed at a maximum of 12%, while for Product schema the maximum threshold is 5%.
The number of lost visits is multiplied by the relevant segment's conversion rate, which yields the number of orders likely lost. The model uses a conversion rate of 1.5% for supermarkets and 0.8% for the electronics segment.
The number of lost orders is multiplied by the relevant segment's average order value, which yields the estimated financial loss. The model uses an average order value of ₾70 for supermarkets and ₾450 for the electronics segment.
The loss factor is not a single number; it is calculated separately for each website from that website's own assessment scores. Each criterion has two predefined parameters: a threshold above which the loss counts as zero, and a maximum share that this defect cannot exceed. If a website's score is above the threshold, no loss is charged for that criterion. If the score is below the threshold, the loss grows proportionally: the further the score is from the threshold, the closer it moves to the maximum share. The shares of all criteria are then summed, and the total has an overall upper limit - for a single website the model never counts a loss of more than 35% of organic traffic. The thresholds and maximum shares are expert assumptions and not a measured quantity, which is why they are stated openly below.
| Defect | Score threshold | Maximum upper limit |
|---|---|---|
| Core Web Vitals | 45 | 12% |
| Page discovery by Google | 55 | 9% |
| Duplicate titles | 60 | 8% |
| Category content | 40 | 7% |
| Canonical | 55 | 6% |
| Product pages | 55 | 6% |
| Structured data | 50 | 5% |
| Pagination | 50 | 5% |
| Filters and their URLs | 45 | 5% |
| Internal links | 50 | 4% |
| Language and the page's technical foundations | 50 | 3% |
| Total upper limit for a single website | 35% |
If a mid-sized electronics shop has 55,383 organic visits per month and the model applies a 2.9% loss factor, the estimated loss is roughly 1,606 visits per month. At a conversion rate of 0.8%, that amounts to about 13 lost orders. With an average order value of ₾450, the estimated financial loss comes to ₾5,850 per month and ₾70,200 per year.
- Organic traffic: 55 383 visits per month
- Loss factor: 2,9%
- Lost visits: 1 628 per month
- Conversion 0,8% → 13 orders
- Average order value ₾450 → ₾5 850 per month, ₾70 200 per year
| Defect | Websites affected | Visits per month | ₾ per month |
|---|---|---|---|
Structured data Without structured data the price/rating is not visible in search - CTR drops | 27 | 29 808 | ₾56 022 |
Canonical Without a canonical the signal is scattered among duplicates | 12 | 9 906 | ₾17 581 |
Pagination A pagination problem - the depth of the catalogue does not make it into the index | 13 | 5 229 | ₾11 528 |
Internal links Weak internal links - link weight does not reach the deep pages | 12 | 4 491 | ₾8 857 |
Product pages Weak product pages - long-tail traffic is lost | 6 | 4 429 | ₾7 273 |
Duplicate titles Duplicate title/H1 - the pages compete with each other for the same query | 7 | 3 465 | ₾4 253 |
Category content Without category text the page cannot rank for broad queries | 4 | 1 766 | ₾2 654 |
Indexation A sitemap and indexation problem - some of the pages do not make it into search | 1 | 506 | ₾668 |
Core Web Vitals A slow mobile experience - the user leaves before the page loads | 1 | 86 | ₾310 |
These figures reflect a modelled estimate and not an actual financial loss. The organic traffic data is taken from Ahrefs, while the conversion and average order value figures are assumptions applied at segment level. The metrics used and their values are given above.
Segments
The data for 7 segments shows each segment's median technical health score, conversion rate and average order value. This comparison lets the client assess their own metrics in the context of the relevant segment. The segment's conversion and average order value data is also used in the financial loss model.
Shops checked
The logo grid shows only those websites on which the automated check was completed in full. The remaining websites were excluded because of restrictions on automated access, technical unavailability or the absence of an operating online shop.
Agrohubagrohub.ge- AutoPapaautopapa.ge
- Biblusibiblusi.ge
Breezybreezy.ge
Citruscitrus.ge- Dominodomino.com.ge
DressUpdressup.ge
Elit Electronicsee.ge
Europroducteuroproduct.ge
Extra.geextra.ge
Goodwillgoodwill.ge
Gorgiagorgia.ge
GPCgpc.ge
Grandelgrandel.ge
Holstholst.ge
Hotsalehotsale.ge
INGCOingco.ge
iSpaceispace.ge
JYSKjysk.ge
Ketogenketogen.ge
Kontakt Homekontakt.ge- LC Waikikilcwaikiki.ge
Mi Housemihouse.ge
Modusmodus.ge
Molimoli.ge
Nikora Supermarketnikorasupermarket.ge
Novanova.ge
Pharmadealspharmadeals.ge
Pharmadepotpharmadepot.ge
Sulakaurisulakauri.ge
Superstoresuperstore.ge
Swoopswoop.ge
Tegeta Motorstegeta.ge- Tsamali.getsamali.ge
Veli.storeveli.store
Vitamini.gevitamini.ge
Wishlistwishlist.ge
Zoommerzoommer.ge
Methodology in brief
The study included 38 websites on which the automated check was completed in full.
A crawler is an automated system that checks a website's pages and analyses their technical SEO elements. Within this study it checked 1,468 URLs.
The study is based solely on publicly available web pages and their technical data. The analysis does not include internal data on orders, advertising campaigns or customer behaviour.
The loss model is based on traffic, conversion and average order value metrics. The resulting figure is a modelled estimate and not a confirmation of actual revenue or financial loss.
Frequently asked questions
At the first stage it is recommended to check the price, stock status and Product schema on product pages. Next, the canonical on every page and the canonical specified on the catalog's second page should be reviewed. A developer can carry out the technical check of these items within a short time.
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