BigCommerce SEO (Tips & Tricks To Improve Traffic)

Suppose you have successfully created a store in BigCommerce, and you are all set to sell your first product. But how will you get your first customers? How will you rank your store in SERPs? Sounds difficult, right?

But what if we say it’s not that difficult? Everything boils down to how you navigate the SEO features strategically. From setting up an SEO-optimized store to conducting on-page and off-page SEO, everything needs a proper strategy.

With this in mind, we have come up with 9 essential BigCommerce SEO tips to rank your site organically in Google search results. Let’s move on. 

How to Set up an SEO-Optimized Bigcommerce Store?

Before hopping on some tricks and strategies to rank your Bigcommmerce site organically, you need to be aware of some fundamental settings to create an SEO-friendly online store.

1. Use an SEO-friendly Template

An attractive and well-designed template attracts everyone. But what if it’s SEO-friendly at the same time? Well, Bigcommerce offers a range of designed templates (both free and paid), and most of them are SEO-friendly. You can choose any of them as per your business requirements. 

But before selecting one for your online store, ensure the template must integrate these features like cross-browser compatibility, mobile responsiveness, quick-loading capacity, etc.

2. Register Your Bigcommerce Store with the Google Search console

 You can’t ignore this step if you want to create an SEO-friendly Bigcommerce store. Registering your store with Google Search Console allows you to monitor and optimize search performance. Also, it resolves server errors, loading issues, security issues, and so on. 

Now, to add your BigCommerce store to Google Search Console, you need to set up a search console account. To know more about the process, click here.

3. Submit Your Sitemap to Google 

Once you are done with the registration process, now you have to submit your sitemap to index your store’s web pages, including products, categories, brands, blog pages, etc. It’ll help crawlers prioritize the most important pages on your website. There’s a variety of sitemaps available in the SEO toolkit, but Bigcommerce prefers the commonly used XML sitemaps.

Source: Bigcommerce

Thankfully BigCommerce automatically generates your store sitemaps like “yourdomain.com/xmlsitemap.php,” and you just need to submit the link to the Search Engine.

4. Ensure that your store is mobile-optimized 

Statista claims that mobile devices have generated 54.4% of website traffic in 2021. So, laptops/computers are no longer the trends – it’s the mobile era. Hence, website owners should create a mobile-friendly store to make it SEO-optimized. 

Here are a few tips to make your BigCommerce store mobile-friendly-

• We live in a lightning-fast world. Customers prefer fast loading and shipping services from every online store. So, ensure your store loads quickly on every device.
• Your store must integrate a mobile-friendly design. So before selecting a theme/template, always test the mobile preview option.
• Helpfully, BigCommerce offers Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to provide a better browsing experience for shoppers and customers. Make sure to activate this feature in your BigCommerce store. 

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5. Make sure you have an SSL Certificate Installed in Your Bigcommerce store

An SSL certificate ensures the security of a web page. Even Google claims that a website with a valid SSL certificate has an extra advantage over other websites that are not secured.

With this in concern, BigCommerce offers a free, dedicated SSL certificate called Encryption everywhere. Moreover, BigCommerce also has an option for those who want paid SSL certificates with better security features like site seals, increased purchase protection, Extended Validation, and so on. 

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 9 Essential BigCommerce SEO Tips to Rank Your Site Organically

Once you set up a proper SEO-optimized BigCommerce Store, you should know some mandatory SEO tricks and strategies to rank your website in the search engine. Let’s see! 

1. Perform Proper Keyword Research 

Keyword research is the most important step of your whole SEO strategy. So, make sure to perform this process with solid tricks and intent. Before diving deeper into some keyword research strategies, remember that your keyword should integrate these three elements- Relevance, Authority, and Volume. 

Here I’m going to spill a few keyword research strategies you should know to get found in the SERPs- 

• Create an initial list of relevant topics

This is the fundamental step of keyword research strategy. Just grab a pen and a paper, put yourself in your audience’s shoes and brainstorm some terms/keywords your audience might search for. 

E.g., if you sell fashionable clothes in your BigCommerce Store, you might come up with these keywords like women’s clothes (246000), 80s fashion ( 201000), fashion designing(135000), Korean fashion(40500), and many more.

(If you want to kickstart your online boutique journey, check out this article to get some effective guides.)

• Google Auto-suggest 

Type the main topic in the Google Search Bar, and it’ll suggest other effective keywords related to your topic. 

         

•  Related Searches

After typing the main keywords in the Google search bar, you’ll get hundreds of results of the same. But if you scroll down at the bottom of the page, it’ll show you related searches that might benefit you. 

• Visit Quora 

One of the smartest ways to target informational keywords is to visit quora and check out what people are searching for related to your business. For example, if you sell home decor items in your BigCommerce Store, type the main keywords, find out others’ queries, and consider them as main keywords. 

• Use Keyword Research Tools 

Now, if you want more detailed information about main keywords, the Keyword research tools are a great help in this case. There are various tools available in the market. We have mentioned some most used ones for you-

• Ahrefs
• SEMRush
• Ubersuggest
• Keywords Everywhere
• SECockpit
• Google Keyword Planner 

• Spy On Competitor’s Websites

This is the best strategy if you are searching for some commercial keywords. Keep an eye on your competitors’ websites and check out what keywords they are targeting and ranking for. 

You may also get help from some Keyword research tools  (mentioned above) to find the exact keywords they are targeting.

2. Set Up Clean URLs 

Having clean URLs for web pages, blog posts, and product pages is very much effective from an SEO perspective. Clean URL means short, simple, and indexable. Now I’ve mentioned a few tips you can follow to create an SEO-friendly URL:

• Start the URL with your page titles.
• Remove numbers and special characters as they are considered unsafe characters.
• Make it as simple as possible.
• Add targetted keywords in your URLs. for ex.- 
• Make them readable
• Use HTTPS instead of HTTP

3. Optimize the Homepage and Landing Page of your BigCommerce Site 

You can’t avoid optimizing your store Homepage and Landing pages if you want to please SERPs. Here are some best practices you should follow to create an SEO-friendly homepage-

• Optimize the homepage title with proper keywords
• Create a persuasive headline and keep it less than 60 characters
• Provide value
• Add testimonials
• Add a killer CTA

For optimizing the landing page, you can include-

• Apply scarcity technique
• Make a clear offer
• Add keywords
• You may also show testimonials and reviews to increase conversion rates.

4. Optimize BigCommerce Product Pages 

An optimized product page is not only important from an SEO point of view but directly related to greater ROI. With this in concern, you need to optimize BigCommerce product pages in the best way possible to convert the scrollers into buyers. 

• Optimize Title and meta descriptions  on Product pages 

The title tag is the first thing one sees after hopping on your page. So, optimizing your product pages’ title tags is a pivotal activity to please SERP. Make sure they are keyword oriented, simple, and easily understandable.

To change the product pages titles in your BigCommerce store, follow the process-  Products >add> SEO

Apparently, Meta descriptions don’t play a huge role in ranking your websites, but Google claims that optimizing meta descriptions can increase CTR. So make sure to write proper SEO – friendly meta descriptions. E.g.-

1. Use less than 120 characters
2. Add keyword-oriented actionable words
3. Never create duplicate meta descriptions

• Optimize Product Description in your BigCommerce Store 

A killer SEO-optimized product description can boost your sales. So why ignore it? Well, to write an audience-driven, SEO-friendly product description, you must follow these strategies –

1. Include features but mainly focus on benefits
2. Write to please humans, not search intent
3. Inject effective keywords naturally. Don’t make it keyword-stuffing

For the product description section in Bigcommerce, tap Products>adds>Product Description. 

• Optimize Product Images

When it comes to optimizing product images, ensure that you have followed the below-given steps-

1. Name the image file properly with accurate words. You may also use the keywords you are trying to rank for. Ex- don’t keep the file names like “image-1” and “image-2” instead, names like “running shoes,” “winter jackets,” etc.

2. Use “alt text” to describe the image to search intent. You may also inject keywords here. But don’t make it keyword-stuffed.

3. Keep the product images as small as possible for easy loading. Bigcommerce mostly offers JPG/JPNG format that is used frequently in every eCommerce store.

4. Provide an image sitemap to give additional information to the search engine.

(*Additional Tip: If you are just your online business and don’t want any product  stock headache, Bigcommerce Dropshipping will be the perfect option for your business.) 

5. On-Page SEO for BigCommerce Blogs

As an eCommerce business owner, you can’t avoid the power of content marketing. It’s not only important from an Off-page SEO point of view but also necessary to boost credibility among your customers, build brand awareness and create a healthy relationship with your visitors. Remember, people buy only when they find value! 

Thankfully, BigCommerce has built-in SEO features to make your store more authoritative and authentic. But how to make it appropriate for search intent? Let’s see –

1. Optimize Blog URL and Titles 

Like product pages, your BigCommerce blog URLs and titles should be well optimized. Remember to add clean URLs and SEO-optimized blog titles to your blog posts. 

2. Inject Value in Your Blog Posts

Don’t forget to provide value while focusing on search intent. Even Google only promotes those content/sites that are value-driven and audience oriented. With this in mind, create blog posts your audience is searching for. Answer their “why” and come up with the best piece to hold their back. 

Also, add keywords to optimize your content, but don’t do it forcefully. It may harm the search intent.

Moreover, you may add graphics, images, videos, and GIFs to break the boredom of continuous wording. It also enhances the user experience.

3. Use Proper Headings 

If your content isn’t skimmable, then it’s skippable – keeping this in concern, you should use the content heading (H1, H2, H3, H4) properly. H1 tag is the most important from an SEO point of view. So, use it only once in your blog posts. 

5. Ensure That Your Blog Posts are Readable 

Keep the blog posts as simple as possible. You don’t need to sound smart by adding jargon. Make the sentence short, simple, and easily understandable. You may use some tools like Hemmingway and Grammarly to check the readability of your content. 

6. Build Backlinks 

Building backlinks is a pivotal part of off-page SEO. If you follow a perfect SEO guideline, your store will automatically create backlinks via sharing. But every time, it’s not possible. So, you need to follow some steps to build backlinks manually.

1. Broken Link Building 

Broken Link building is a process where you find some links related to your business niche that is no longer live/backdated. You create a new link of the same and reach out to the webmaster taking permission from them to replace the broken link with your new one. 

You can find those dead links via Google Webmaster, Dead Link Checker, Ahrefs Broken Link Checker, and so on.

2. Guest Posting 

Guest posting is one of the most effective ways to build backlinks. Here the content author posts relevant content to other websites and gets an author byline mentioning their name, image, and a link to their website.

You may search for “ Guest Post+your niche/ Write for us+your niche” and contribute to their website. It is the best way to build authority as a website owner.

3. Resource Page Linking

Often well-known websites perform this practice. They create lists containing a range of external links. You can reach out to them and request to add your website link. 

4. Do competitor Analysis 

Spy on how your competitors are building backlinks – What strategy they are adapting- what type of content they are publishing. By doing so, you can strategize your SEO tricks in a better way. 

You may also take help from some tools like SEMrush to get a detailed backlink strategy of your competitors.

5. Analysis Link Gap 

Find those sites that have added links to your competitors. You can use tools like Backlink Gap to find them. Reach out to them and show them reasons/results on why they should add your website link too. This is the quickest way to build backlinks for your BigCommerce Store.  

Some Advanced BigCommerce SEO Tips 

Once you are done with the basic SEO practices of BigCommerce, now it’s time to dig further to get some advanced BigCommerce SEO tips. Let’s go!

7. Use Rich Snippets 

Google has introduced Rich Snippets to enhance the user experience by adding more information at a time. It also increases CTR by providing your consumers with more relevant information they are looking for. In a nutshell, Rich Snippets is a feature where google shows the relevant information ( price, availability, review star) in the search result.

Thankfully BigCommerce automatically generates rich snippets for your store by taking information from your web and product pages. So, make sure to add all the additional information as much as you can. 

Now, if you want more effective rich snippets, you can integrate a third-party app ( Schema App ) from BigCommerce App Marketplace.

8. Set Up 301 Redirects 

301 Redirects is an SEO-friendly process to deflect the old URLs to the new ones. E.g., if you have an old store linked to BigCommerce and have changed it to a new link, 301 Redirect will automatically inform Google that your store still exists but with a new URL. 

To create 301 redirects on your BigCommerce store, follow the below-given steps:

• Go to settings> 301 redirect > tap on Add Redirect 

• Bigcommerce lets you redirect to a new URL in mainly two ways – 1. Manual redirects, and 2. Dynamic Redirects 

If you select Manual redirects, enter the new page URL in the blank space and save it. 

But if you’ve selected the Dynamic Redirect option, click the link under “New URL” >select the pages from pop-up options and insert links.

9. Set CDN 

Consumers/browsers want results as fast as possible. If your store lacks here, they won’t take a moment to leave your site. 

And BigCommerce has taken this concern seriously as it provides a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to improve image load speed for the browsers. Even in times of heavy traffic, CDN helps to load the content efficiently. It means a better UX and a better UX leads to a higher conversion rate. 

Final Words: Is BigCommerce SEO Worth It?

After analyzing all the BigCommerce SEO strategies, we can conclude that Bigcommerce is one of the leading ecommerce builders with some great SEO features. Except for the on-page SEO, you must take care of other SEO factors like Content Marketing, social commerce, Google Shopping, Google analytics, and so on. 

But never ignore the power of networking. Surely you can’t ignore the search intent, but how you build connections with your potential customers is directly proportional to the conversion rate.

Hope this guide will be a great help in order to rank your BigCommerce store organically to SERPs. If you have any doubt, do let us know in the comment box below. 

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