Product descriptions — the method for copy that sells and ranks

The product page is the most profitable page in your store — and often the most neglected: three lines copied from the supplier, no title tag, an empty meta description. Here's the complete method: the structure, the keyword, the tags, the order of priority on a big catalog, and one example rewritten end to end.

A description isn't a list of specifications

Specifications say what the product is; the description has to say what it changes for the buyer. The structure that works:

1. The hook: one or two sentences placing the product and its main benefit.
2. The strong points: a short bulleted list — material, use, care, compatibility. That's the part the eye scans.
3. The situation: a paragraph answering "is this for me?" — the level, the context of use, the advice.

Between 150 and 300 words: enough to exist in Google's eyes, short enough to be read.

A fourth part earns its place when the product allows: what it isn't made for. "Waterproof for rain, not for river crossings" removes an objection, cuts returns, and instantly distinguishes your page from the supplier's. Few stores dare write a limitation; that's exactly why it inspires trust.

The target keyword: one per page

Each page should aim at one precise query, and serve it everywhere it counts:

• in the title tag (70 characters maximum — beyond that, Google truncates);
• in the meta description (160 characters, one persuasive sentence — it's your free ad in the results);
• in the body of the description, naturally, without stuffing.

A preview of the Google result before publishing avoids nasty surprises: a cut title, a description replaced by a random snippet.

How do you choose the query? Almost always through the long tail, not the product name alone. "Hiking boots" is out of reach and carries no precise buying intent; "waterproof women's hiking boots" has less volume, converts better, and you can win it.

Beware one frequent trap on a catalog: two pages must not target the same query. On close variants (the same bag in three volumes), differentiate by use or capacity, otherwise your pages fight over the same position and Google picks one at random.

One example, before and after

Before, as it comes from the supplier:

> 45 L backpack. 600D polyester. Side pocket. Adjustable straps. Weight 1.2 kg.

Accurate, unreadable, and strictly identical on the fifty stores selling the same reference.

After:

> Hook — A 45-litre pack for three days out without compromising your back: the usable volume of a large pack, the weight of a medium one. > > Strong points — Abrasion-resistant 600D polyester · ventilated back and straps adjustable at two points · side pocket reachable without opening the pack · 1.2 kg empty. > > Who it's for — Two to four day treks, under shelter. If you're going under canvas with cooking gear, look at a 60-litre instead.

Same product, same data, twice the words, and a page that exists for Google as well as for the buyer. The work consisted in answering three questions the supplier never asked: what is it for, who is it for, and when is it not right.

The case of silent catalogs

Products imported with no text, a supplier stingy with data: the problem isn't rare, it's the majority. Three ways out:

• Write by hand — at four pages an hour, a 500-item catalog is three weeks of work.
• Paste the specifications into ChatGPT, page after page — feasible, but it breaks at catalog scale.
• Have the photo described: current AI models can look at a product image and draw material, shape, colour and use from it, without inventing what isn't visible.

That last one is what Publium's product description generator offers: the app lists your synchronised catalog and writes the description, title tag and meta description around the keyword you choose — from the data, or from the photo. You review, correct, and the app updates the page straight in PrestaShop.

One precaution is worth stating, because it decides the quality of the result: a description generated from a photo describes what is visible. It doesn't know the exact composition, the warranty, or compatibility. That information has to come from your data or your review — and that's exactly what the review is for.

What order to work through 500 pages

Nobody rewrites 500 pages in one pass. The order that pays most:

1. The twenty best sellers. They already get traffic; a clean tag and description translate immediately into click-through rate.
2. Pages with impressions but almost no clicks. Google already shows them: only the title is missing. These are the fastest gains in the whole catalog.
3. Category leaders. The products you feature in each family — they receive the internal linking, therefore the authority.
4. New products, as they come. A fresh page written at creation costs five minutes; the same one revisited six months later costs double, because you have to reopen the subject.
5. The catalog's long tail, in batches. The rest, by family, at a regular rhythm. It's the job you never quite finish — and that's fine.

What the product page won't do

It won't capture pre-purchase searches: "which boots for the GR20", "how to choose a backpack". Those queries call for a guide, not a product — that's the job of the blog. A page trying to do everything becomes a misplaced article: it loses conversion without gaining ranking.

The checklist before publishing

• One target query, present in the title, the meta and the text.
• Title tag ≤ 70 characters, meta description ≤ 160.
• A scannable bulleted list, never a compact block.
• An owned limitation where the product allows.
• No supplier copy-paste: duplicate content rarely ranks.
• Structured data filled in: price, availability, brand.
• A link to a guide or comparison on your blog: linking works both ways.

An hour spent on your twenty best sellers pays more than ten hours scattered across the whole catalog: start there. If the catalog is too big to redo by hand, tell us what you sell — we'll show you what it looks like on your own pages.