I am currently experiencing a small downward spiral across some of the brands I manage on a large, 10,000-plus-page e-commerce website. Our bounce rate has increased due to stock management across several products. Am I damaging my website's reputation by continuing to optimize products that will be out of stock for eight weeks or more? I understand the decline and increased bounce rate and how/why they happen, but this is the first time I have identified a problem like this. It is a rough spot, and I need help to solve it. It makes sense that things would slowly fall off the radar if left out of stock; however, if I update or continually improve these pages, am I just weighing them down and hurting them further?
It’s possible that continuing to optimize out-of-stock products could potentially hurt your website’s overall performance, especially if the products are unavailable for an extended period.
While optimizing your pages can improve your search engine ranking, it’s important to consider the user experience. If a user clicks on a product that is out of stock for an extended period, they are likely to experience frustration and leave your website, contributing to a higher bounce rate.
Instead of focusing on optimizing out-of-stock products, consider the following strategies:
- Remove or Hide Out-of-Stock Products: Removing out-of-stock products from search results or hiding them behind a clear message indicating their unavailability can improve the user experience and prevent unnecessary clicks.
- Redirect to Similar Products: If you have similar products in stock, consider redirecting users to those options instead of showing the unavailable product.
- Provide Clear Stock Updates: Clearly communicate the expected restock date or allow users to sign up for notifications when the product is back in stock.
- Prioritize In-Stock Products: Focus your optimization efforts on products that are readily available.
By implementing these strategies, you can improve your user experience, reduce bounce rates, and maintain the reputation of your e-commerce website, even with out-of-stock products.