14.9M clicks analyzed: category pages win 2/3 of ecommerce search clicks, more pages ≠ more traffic

gaganghotra_ · x · 2026-11-06

Lawrence Hitches analyzed 14.9M Google Search clicks across 100 ecommerce sites: category pages deliver a median two-thirds of clicks despite product pages outnumbering them 9:1, validated across 12,000+ queries where both page types competed.

Key points from the linked study:

More category pages don't win a bigger share of clicks — each extra page just earns less (33 category pages averaged 340+ clicks/page/year; 29,000+ pages averaged under 4)
Adding category pages doesn't grow demand, it spreads the same demand thinner; faceted/filtered collections often inflate counts
A new category earns its place only when three conditions hold at once: real non-branded group-level search demand, enough stock to be genuinely useful, and no existing page already ranking for it (else cannibalization)

A practical framework for indie hackers doing SEO/growth.

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14.9M clicks analyzed: category pages win 2/3 of ecommerce search clicks, more pages ≠ more traffic

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