Survey data showing 59% of shoppers leave stores due to poor search points to a major opportunity for brands that invest in structured data, SEO, and strong site design.
Salt Lake City, UT (PRUnderground) November 9th, 2026
SEO National™, a Utah-based search engine optimization (SEO) agency that has helped e-commerce brands, startups, and established companies improve their search performance through ethical SEO practices since 2007, says a recent Nosto survey of U.S. and U.K. consumers highlights a significant challenge for online retailers. The survey found that 59% of shoppers often leave e-commerce sites because of poor on-site search, while 40% say AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude are more helpful than many retailers' search tools.
When shoppers struggle to find products, even a well-designed store can lose their interest. Clear navigation, logical category pages, and intuitive site search help visitors narrow their options and find relevant products. An e-commerce SEO company like SEO National considers how site structure and user experience work together to make product discovery easier.
Structured data addresses a different part of the problem by describing page content in a format search engines can interpret. For online retailers, that can include product names, prices, reviews, and availability. For search engines, accurate, well-implemented markup helps interpret product pages. For AI systems, organized product information can help clarify what a store offers.
"Good SEO looks beyond rankings to how people find and navigate a website," said Damon Burton, founder and president of SEO National. "That means organizing product pages so shoppers can find what they need, making information accessible to search engines, and addressing technical or design issues that get in the way of a purchase. A professional SEO company evaluates these elements together to help businesses build a more effective path from the first search to checkout."
Together, site structure, user experience, and structured data help retailers make product discovery easier for shoppers and improve how search engines interpret their offerings. For businesses, addressing these elements provides a way to strengthen the buying journey, from the initial search to the final purchase.
Businesses that want to understand how their site structure, search performance, and design affect sales can learn more at SEONational.com.
