How to fix seo category empty on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. To ADD products: Admin → Products → View → edit each product → scroll to 'Categories' → check the previously empty category → Save.
2. To NOINDEX: Admin → Products → Product Categories → click the empty category → scroll to 'Search Engine Optimization' section → set 'Indexing' to 'No Index' (or paste <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> into the custom header field if available on your plan) → Save.
3. To HIDE from nav: Admin → Storefront → Navigation → find the category → uncheck 'Visible' or remove it from the navigation tree → Save. Alternatively, edit the category and set 'Visible' to off.
4. To DELETE and REDIRECT: Admin → Products → Product Categories → check the category → Delete. Then Admin → Server Settings → 301 Redirects → Add redirect from old URL to parent category URL.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">

What is seo category empty?

A category (also called a collection) page on your store currently lists zero products. This means the page exists and is publicly accessible — Google can find and visit it — but there is nothing on it for shoppers or search engines to engage with. It's essentially a dead end: a page with a heading, maybe a description, and a blank product grid.

Google classifies pages with little or no meaningful content as "thin content," which can drag down the overall quality signal of your entire site — not just that single page. Empty category pages waste your crawl budget (the limited number of pages Google will visit on your site), meaning important, revenue-generating pages may be crawled less often. They also make your store look unfinished to shoppers who land on them, killing conversions. If enough thin pages accumulate, Google may reduce your store's rankings across the board. Fixing or hiding empty categories protects your organic traffic and keeps shoppers from bouncing.

See the complete Seo category empty guide for every platform and the full background.