# Stop Optimising for Bots: Why Modern E-commerce SEO is Broken
If I hear one more "expert" tell a Brisbane retailer that they need to write 500 words of "SEO content" for every category page, I’m going to lose my mind.
Look, I get it. You’ve been told for a decade that Google needs to be fed a steady diet of keywords to understand what you sell. But here’s the harsh reality that most agencies are too scared to tell you: Nobody reads that junk. Not your customers, and increasingly, not Google’s AI-driven ranking systems either.
In 2026, e-commerce SEO isn't about tricking a bot. It’s about user intent, technical precision, and brand authority. Most Australian e-commerce sites are currently burning money on outdated tactics that actually hurt their conversion rates.
At Local Marketing Group, we’ve seen businesses from Milton to the Gold Coast triple their organic revenue by doing the exact opposite of what the "standard" advice suggests. It’s time to bust the myths that are holding your online store back.
Myth 1: The "SEO Text" at the Bottom of Category Pages Still Works
You know the ones. You scroll past the beautiful products, past the filters, past the footer, and there it is—a wall of text titled "Best Organic Dog Treats in Brisbane." It’s stuffed with keywords, written by a bored freelancer for $20, and it provides zero value to a human being.
The Reality: Google is Smarter Than Your Spreadsheet
Google’s Helpful Content updates weren't a suggestion; they were a death warrant for this practice. If you are hiding text at the bottom of a page just for a bot, you are telling Google that your content isn't actually helpful.The Fix: Stop writing for bots. If you have something to say about a category, say it at the top where people can see it, and make it useful. Talk about shipping times to QLD regional areas, sizing guides, or how to choose between products. If it’s not worth reading, don’t publish it.
Myth 2: Keywords are the Most Important Metric
I see this every week. A business owner shows me a report from their current agency highlighting that they rank #1 for a high-volume keyword. Then I look at their Shopify or BigCommerce analytics, and their sales are flat.
Ranking for "shoes" is useless if you only sell high-end Italian leather boots. You’re attracting browsers, not buyers. This is a trap that many fall into when they start optimising their site. High volume does not equal high intent.
The Reality: Intent Trumps Volume
In 2026, the game has shifted toward Zero-Click Searches and AI Overviews. If your keyword strategy doesn't account for how people actually search today—often using natural language and voice—you’re invisible.I’ve seen a boutique furniture store in Fortitude Valley out-earn a national competitor simply by dominating long-tail, high-intent queries like "sustainable teak dining tables Brisbane delivery" rather than fighting for the generic "dining tables."
Myth 3: Technical SEO is a 'Set and Forget' Task
Most e-commerce owners think that once their sitemap is submitted and their SSL is active, technical SEO is done. This is a dangerous assumption. E-commerce sites are dynamic. You add products, delete out-of-stock items, change categories, and run sales.
The Reality: Faceted Navigation is Killing Your Rankings
This is the silent killer of e-commerce SEO. When a user filters by "Size: Large," "Colour: Blue," and "Price: <$50," your site might be generating a unique URL for every combination.If you have 1,000 products, you could accidentally be creating 100,000 low-quality URLs that Google has to crawl. This wastes your "crawl budget." Google gets tired of wading through your junk and stops indexing your important pages.
Personal Observation: I recently audited a site for a local apparel brand that had 40,000 indexed pages but only 400 actual products. Google was so confused by the duplicate filter pages that it stopped ranking their main category pages entirely. We cut the index by 90%, and their traffic doubled in two months.
Myth 4: You Need a Blog Post for Every Keyword
There is a massive misconception that "more content = more traffic." This leads to what I call the "Blog Graveyard." Hundreds of 600-word posts about "How to wear a scarf" that get three views a year.
The Reality: Pruning is Better Than Planting
In the current landscape, having 50 incredible, deep-dive pages is infinitely better than having 500 mediocre ones. Google prioritises Topic Authority. If you want to rank for "Camping Gear," you don't need 100 short posts; you need the best "Ultimate Guide to Camping in South East Queensland" on the internet.Stop chasing every tiny keyword and start building resources. And for heaven's sake, stop using AI to churn out generic fluff. If an AI can write it in 30 seconds, it’s not giving you a competitive advantage. It’s just noise.
Myth 5: Backlinks are All About Quantity
If an agency offers you a "package" of 50 backlinks a month for $500, run. Run very fast in the other direction. These are almost certainly from PBNs (Private Blog Networks) or low-quality link farms in overseas markets that have no relevance to your Brisbane-based business.
The Reality: Local Relevance is King
A single link from a reputable Australian publication like The Courier Mail, a local QLD lifestyle blog, or a niche industry partner is worth more than 1,000 links from random "guest post" sites.We’ve moved past the era where Google just counts links. Now, it looks at the context. Does it make sense for this site to link to you? If you sell surfboards in Burleigh Heads, a link from a local surf report site is gold. A link from a tech blog in Eastern Europe is a red flag.
The "Product Page" Problem: Why You’re Not Converting
Most e-commerce SEO focuses on getting people to the site. But if your product pages are just a copy-paste of the manufacturer’s description, you’re failing.
1. Duplicate Content: If 50 other retailers are using the same manufacturer description, why should Google rank you? 2. User Experience: If your page takes 4 seconds to load on a mobile device in a patchy 4G zone in Logan, that user is gone. 3. Mobile-First is Now Mobile-Only: If your site is just "responsive" but hasn't been designed for a thumb-driven experience, you are losing money. I’ve argued before that responsive design isn't enough anymore; it needs to be mobile-optimised from the ground up.
How to Actually Win: The 2026 E-commerce Playbook
So, if the old ways are dead, what works?
1. Master the "Entity" Game
Google doesn't just look at words; it looks at entities (people, places, things). You need to use Schema Markup to tell Google exactly what you sell, what it costs, if it’s in stock, and what people think of it. This isn't optional. It’s the difference between a plain blue link and a rich snippet that shows your 5-star rating and price, which drastically improves click-through rates.2. Own the Local Angle
If you have a physical presence in Brisbane or ship primarily to the Australian market, lean into it. Mention local landmarks, use Australian English (it's 'optimise', not 'optimize'), and highlight your local shipping speeds. Google loves local relevance.3. Fix Your Internal Linking
Stop thinking about links as just a way to move through a site. They are a way to pass "authority" (link juice). Your high-performing pages should be strategically linking to the pages you want to rank. Most sites have a messy, accidental internal link structure. Fix it, and you'll see a lift across the board.4. Video is Non-Negotiable
In 2026, if your product page doesn't have a video, you're behind. Not just for the user, but for SEO. Google is increasingly pulling video snippets into search results. A 15-second clip of someone using your product can do more for your SEO than 1,000 words of text.Conclusion: The Era of Lazy SEO is Over
The days of "gaming the system" are gone. If you want your e-commerce site to thrive in the competitive Australian landscape, you have to stop following the herd. Stop paying for "SEO packages" that deliver reports full of meaningless metrics and start focusing on what actually moves the needle: user experience, technical excellence, and genuine authority.
It’s frustrating to see so many business owners being sold the same outdated strategies year after year. It drives me nuts because I know how much potential is being wasted.
If you're tired of the fluff and want a strategy that actually results in more sales—not just more graphs—let’s talk. At Local Marketing Group, we don’t do "packages." We do results.
Ready to stop chasing bots and start chasing customers? Contact Local Marketing Group today and let’s build an e-commerce strategy that actually works.