Ecommerce

Ultimate Guide to Product Detail Pages (PDP)

October 11, 2023

Online shoppers are looking for different things than the regulars at your average brick-and-mortar store. They’re spending time doing research, crawling the internet not only to find the best price, but to find the products that bring them the most value. To give them the information they need to make an intelligent purchase, you need to put your best foot forward.

A well-optimized product detail page (PDP) can help your sales funnel flow smoothly and improve conversions.

But beyond that, successful PDPs also build trust with your customers, creating a brand voice that your users can connect with to enhance the online shopping experience. They also are a great opportunity to help your site rank higher on search results with titles, image tags and product descriptions being goldmines for SEO keywords that Google adores. 

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Of course, creating an amazing digital experience for your shopper requires a lot of trial and error, but use this guide as a launching platform to explore the fun and effective options you have at your disposal!

What is a product detail page?

On e-commerce websites, a product detail page typically includes a few standard components:

product detail page

Where and how you include these components is based on your store’s specific products and audience. The best location to include these components can be discovered through experimentation; feel free to try out different placements, sizing, fonts and designs to find the best PDP formatting for your store!

Product detail pages are a vital piece of the e-commerce puzzle. One of the most effective ways to convince shoppers to buy is by providing valuable information about your products.

Why product detail pages is important?

Product detail pages play a crucial role in the success of e-commerce websites. They provide valuable information about your products, helping to convince shoppers to make a purchase. Here's why:

1. Increase trust and credibility

Product detail pages provide key information about your products that helps build trust with potential customers. By including details like product descriptions, specifications, customer reviews, company information and guarantees, your PDPs demonstrate your credibility and reliability as a seller.

2. Improve search engine rankings

The content on your PDPs, like titles, descriptions, tags and reviews, give search engines valuable information to properly index your products. This helps boost your rankings for relevant product keywords, driving more qualified organic traffic to your website.

3. Optimize for conversions

When prospective customers have all the information they need about a product on its detail page, they are more likely to convert into buyers. You can optimize your PDPs to make purchases easy by including features like product videos, alternative product suggestions, and clear "Add to Cart" calls-to-action.

4. Provide a better shopping experience

Comprehensive, well-organized PDPs make online shopping much more enjoyable for customers. By presenting key details about a product in a clear and visually appealing manner, you can make browsing and researching options a simple and satisfying experience for shoppers.

Elements of Product Detail Pages

1. Product Images

Source: Herschel

High-quality, well-lit product images that showcase the key features and selling points of the product help attract shoppers and create trust. Multiple image angles can provide a more complete picture to customers.

2. Product Information

Concise but thorough descriptions of key facts like product dimensions, materials, functions, usage, and benefits help customers assess whether the product will meet their needs.

3. Color and Size Options

Source: Samsung

Clearly displaying the available colors and sizes for a product helps shoppers quickly determine which options are available and match their preferences. Dropdown menus and image swatches work well.

4. Technical Specifications

For certain product types, including specifications like processor speed, memory, battery life, resolution, weight and more can help technical buyers fully evaluate a product option.

5. User Reviews

Allowing customers to read reviews from other shoppers gives them social proof and additional insights that help boost trust and conversion rates. Limiting promotional or fake reviews is important.

How To Write An Effective Product Detail Pages?

1. Create Product Titles that Stick

A product title is the name of the product that you want to sell. Think of it as a headline title of a newspaper article – it needs to be attention-grabbing and descriptive at the same time to keep users engaged and wanting to purchase. Not only that, but your product title is the main SEO element of each PDP. It is usually the primary link in your store's SEO strategy and is the first thing Google looks at when it ranks your page. To make sure your product stands out in search engine results, it's crucial to have a well-crafted product name.

Keep your product title descriptive - so that when a shopper arrives at your product detail page, they immediately know what they are purchasing. It is also good practice to keep your titles short and succinct. Typographical conventions state that you can only have 70 characters in your product title to prevent it from being truncated. Titles are not the place to discuss the benefits of your product or to deep dive into its functionality. Keep it short, to the point and accessible on the page. 

2. Feature Amazing Visuals

It's hard to argue the fact that people are visual creatures. Photos are not just a great way to add some life to your product detail page, they're also a great way to add some credibility to your product. Since your shoppers aren’t able to interact with your product in person, high-quality images which convey the feel of the product are vital for the shopping experience. A product image needs to showcase the product fully and from all sides. The background image should be a neutral one, not too distracting and not too dark. 

product detail page image examples

Images also help you tell the story of your brand, your mission and your product. Let your customer see the hand-crafted process, the design team hard at work, the raw materials or individual features that go into the creation of your product - it will add value to their shopping experience.

tesla example image

According to recent research, 100% of shoppers search for visual content before making a purchase. Images are the most trustworthy content on an e-commerce website. Therefore, investing time and capital into high-quality images is one of the key ways to boost conversions for your store!

3. Make sure you’re using the right keywords

Google is always changing its algorithm when it comes to search results (check our guide on SEO and keywords here!). That means that you need to make sure that you’re using relevant keywords and phrases. There are two categories of keywords:

broad and niche keywords seo

You want to target both categories of keywords in your product descriptions. Just be sure to focus on words that are specifically relevant to your store - no matter how good your SEO ranking is, you won’t be able to convert if you're not reaching the correct target audience.

You also want to make sure that you’re using SEO plug-ins so that you’re able to track how well the product description is being received by the search engines. AIOSEO has an awesome plugin to measure your SEO actions and search engine rankings.

4. Create unique product descriptions

Google likes unique content and they’re always looking to boost the ranking of websites that provide one-of-a-kind, original copy. This means that your product descriptions need to be written differently for each product page on your website to assert their relevance in the search results. 

You have to make sure that you’re not just using a standard template and copying in product features; Google can spot unoriginal product descriptions easily and will punish your e-commerce website for it. 

Original product descriptions aren’t easy to write - especially for a busy eCommerce store owner. It seems nonsensical to spend hours a day hand-crafting product descriptions from scratch. Hypotenuse AI is an AI product description generator that can create fluid and unique product descriptions in seconds for your e-commerce store, creating an immersive experience for your online shoppers!

5. Link to your social media profiles

social media links product detail pages

The world is more connected than ever, and the rise of social e-commerce means that online purchases that were once completed in isolation are now a shared experience amongst shoppers and their friends. When someone likes a product, they often share it with their circle, resulting in word-of-mouth marketing which boosts your popularity with your target audience.

The easiest way to take advantage of social media is to place social buttons on individual product pages. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for customers to share your products with their friends - so a simple Facebook or Twitter icon can make a world of difference!

6. Free Stuff

As the wise Queen Latifah once said: “I don't care how much money you have, free stuff is always a good thing.” Throughout the galaxy of e-commerce sites, the experience of shopping in your store needs to go beyond that of your competitors. A key differentiator is by offering them free stuff.

This is not to say that you must include bundle deals or add-ons that would hurt your bottom line, but can try to include free content to improve the user experience and sell. This free content can come in many forms: case studies, how-to videos, style notes, and more! Get creative and include content that you're willing to give away for free.

This is also a great opportunity to fill your page with SEO keywords - if product descriptions and titles were not enough, these “free content bonuses” are a great way to make your PDPs rank higher, giving them more visibility on search engines.

recipe in product detail page


One great example is food sellers that include recipes - these describe the benefits of the product to shoppers and create an engaging experience for them with useful, free content.

Conclusion

You have a great product but if you can’t sell it, then it’s of no use to you. Keyword-rich content, engaging imagery, and a clear call to action are the hallmarks of great product detail page design. Let your products sing with great visuals and unique content, and watch your conversions grow!

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