Choosing The Best eCommerce Platform for SEO: 7+ Options for Success

When it сomes to finԁing the best eCommerce platform for SEO, there аre multiрle oрtions аvаilаble. As business owners unԁerstаnԁ the сost nаture of eCommerсe аnԁ its аbility to ԁrive sаles without stores сhoosing the right рlаtform beсomes сruсiаl.

Seleсting the рlаtform, for your venture саn be сhаllenging. It’s not аbout finԁing а рlаtform thаt meets your requirements but аlso ensuring thаt it suррorts SEO. SEO рlаys а role in ԁriving traffic аnԁ generаting leаԁs for аny eCommerсe website. Whether you’re starting an e commerce business or exраnԁing аn existing one, the platform you сhoose will signifiсаntly imрасt your suссess. The quаlity of your сhosen the best Seo friendly ecommerce platform is сruсiаl beсаuse even smаll ԁetаils like user ассessibility аnԁ smooth operations can ԁetermine the viаbility of your business.

This article рroviԁes an in ԁeрth analysis of the wholesale eCommerce platforms known for their SEO рerformаnсe. Reаԁ on to ԁisсover their аԁvаntаges аnԁ finԁ the eCommerсe рlаtform, for SEO thаt suits your business neeԁs.

Top 7 best eCommerce platform for SEO

#1 WooCommerce

Key Features:

• Developers designed WooCommerce as a WordPress extension, therefore it seamlessly integrates with any site running on WordPress.
• You can effortlessly modify independent meta descriptions, titles, and other elements on various pages such as product pages, category pages; etc.
• The strong SEO advantages offer you the ultimate level of control, from title tags and meta descriptions to product details and URLs.
• Utilize the built-in blogging tool to craft content to enhance your SEO.
• The built-in data analysis tool offers an enhanced understanding of your expanding business.
• SEO-friendly design enabling your site to secure a higher ranking on search engine results pages & a user-friendly interface that facilitates customers’ navigation through your store.
• An extensive array of customization options that range from color schemes and fonts to layout choices for you to create a unique store that reflects your brand.
• Access to the robots.txt files.
• If you need assistance, a large community of developers stands ready to aid you.
• Using the software incurs no cost.

Cons

• Those desiring an alternative to WordPress may find this plugin unsuitable, since its design specifically caters to WordPress, thus lacking compatibility with non-WordPress sites.
• The WordPress platform and its counterpart share identical security risks, consequently, businesses must undertake additional measures to fortify their website’s protection.
• Hidden expenses from plugins and features on premium options.

Pricing

The platform is free but with the possibility of upgrading to a Premium plan. Some expenses could include:

• Hosting: from $6.95/month
• Domain name: from $15/year.
• Communications: free to $348/year
• SEO: free to $79/year
• Security: free to $300/year
• SSL certificate: typically free but could cost up to $65 per year

Read more: Magento Vs WooCommerce: Which One Was Developed For You?

#2 BigCommerce

Key Features

• Plenty of SEO features are offered by BigCommerce, such as built-in 301 redirects; it also allows users to edit their robots.txt file and URL structure to enhance user-friendliness.
• All templates exhibit responsiveness and facile adaptability to their viewing screens; a significant portion of these templates are compatible with Google’s AMP.
• Offers a broad array of plugins and themes, along with an image optimization feature.
• Easy to sell in multiple currencies & does not require transaction fees, even with a third-party gateway.
• Features an intuitive interface, empowering consumers to effortlessly browse and find their desired products.
• Free trial available.

Cons

• Pages might load at a sluggish pace.
• Annual online sales have limits imposed, and no shipping discount is available.
• The built-in blog fails to facilitate RSS feeds.
• Many of the free themes exhibit excessive similarity to one another, potentially posing a challenge in terms of customization.
• Custom typefaces are not supported by the page builder widgets.
• The VAT MOSS tax rates do not receive adequate provisions.

Pricing

• Standard: $39 per month
• Plus: $105 per month
• Pro: $399 per month
• Enterprise: varied, depends on your business’ needs

#3 Shopify

Key Features

• Several SEO-enhancing features that Shopify provides include, such as social sharing buttons and built-in blogging capabilities.
• Indexing controls & tools for generating website sitemaps
• The feature for recovering abandoned carts.
• You can include the option to add alternative text to photos and edit your page titles and descriptions on all of your main pages as well as product pages.
• You can create redirects to deter visits from people and search engines to prevent access to product pages for discontinued products in your inventory.
• The average load time of just over one second ensures a swift loading speed.
• Collaborates seamlessly with an extensive array of payment gateways, and is ideally suited if you possess a brick-and-mortar store.
• Free 14-day trial.

Cons

• You’ll require the assistance of developers to mitigate potential SEO issues inherent in Shopify’s built-in features, specifically for tasks such as fixing your internal link structure.
• Users may encounter issues such as duplicate URLs and duplicate paginated URLs.
• The Shopify platform does not automatically compress images, nor does it include structured data.
• The basic plan’s features are limited.

Pricing

• Basic (FOR INDIVIDUALS & SMALL BUSINESSES): $25/month
• Shopify (FOR SMALL BUSINESSES): $65/month
• Advanced (FOR MEDIUM TO LARGE BUSINESSES): $399/month

#4 Wix

Key Features

• The built-in SEO plugins of Wix facilitate site optimization for enhanced search engine rankings – there is no necessity to install third-party equivalents.
• Provides the APIs tailored for developers who require enhanced control, an advanced Robots.txt editor, the bulk 301 redirect, and affiliate tags.
• Easily customize your store with a wide range of templates and designs using an intuitive interface.
• Modify the title and meta tags of your website using Wix; moreover, it facilitates a straightforward process for identifying optimal keywords specific to your site with the aid of its integrated keyword research tool.
• You can utilize the built-in blog tool to generate content, thereby enhancing your SEO.
• Do not need any coding knowledge.
• Directly connect your Wix website to Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

Cons

• Can’t export your website to other platforms.
• Loading pages can exhibit slowness.
• Tags and archive pages often experience numerous instances of duplication.

Pricing

• Connect Domain: $4.50/month
• Combo: $8.50/month
• Unlimited: $12.50/month
• VIP: $25.50/month

#5 Weebly

Key Features

• Weebly’s themes automatically adjust to fit any screen size, exhibiting responsiveness; should you desire heightened control over your website’s design, you can switch to the HTML/CSS Editor.
• Drag-and-drop templates offer a code editor and responsive design options for individuals with advanced experience.
• Features include meta descriptions and titles, header and footer codes, a custom HTML element, an automatic sitemap,…that can help you improve your SEO strategy.
• This site outperforms many others with its competitive loading speed and bandwidth.
• You can easily target keywords for each page and link a custom domain name to any Weebly site.
• Prevent broken pages by setting up automatic 301 redirects.
• The system is compatible with mobile devices.

Cons

• Unless a paid plan is upgraded to, Weebly positions ads on free websites, and removing these advertisements is not possible.
• Some other site builders offer more control over your website’s design than this one.
• The page does not allow for the grouping of products or services.
• Weebly offers a limited number of link attributes.
• Multi-language websites receive no support.

Pricing

• Free ecommerce website builders: Free access
• Personal: $10/month
• Professional: $12/month
• Performance: $26/month

#6 Adobe Commerce

Key Features

• Adobe Commerce enables you to utilize this feature to create unique URLs for your products, optimize them with rich snippets and meta tags, as well as establish 301 redirects for managing any broken links.
• Your store management is facilitated by several built-in tools, such as an order management system, a shipping calculator, and a payment gateway.
• Is a platform that requires expertise, however, services like BSS’ Magento 2 Development Services are always available to help grow your business.
• Integrates with third-party applications through an extensive API.
• Developers can create custom modules using a flexible architecture.
• You can customize your store with a diverse array of themes and templates.
• The platform can be scaled with your business as it grows.

Cons

• You need to provide the server.
• Navigating it is challenging, and you will continually require the assistance of experts for the creation and modification of your online shop.
• Affordability may not be an option since you will need to bear multiple costs
• Technical knowledge necessitates.

Pricing

• Magento Open Source ecommerce Platform: Free
• Adobe Commerce: $22,000 to $125,000/year, with additional costs including: Web hosting, Domain, SSL certificate, Web developer, Transaction fees

#7 Squarespace

Key Features

• Squarespace is well known for being a user-friendly platform, employing a drag-and-drop design platform that allows effortless adjustments to the appearance of a user’s website without necessitating any knowledge of coding.
• Incorporates built-in features that escalate traffic and enable you to automate sitemap generation, adds meta tags to each page and control over your site’s appearance in the SERPs.
• The Yoast SEO plugin enhances the SEO capabilities.
• Smartphone compatible.
• Streamline social sharing
• A helpful user community is accessible.
• Free trial available.

Cons

• Customizing templates has limitations.
• Lack of plugins and extensions compared to other platforms.
• Periodic sluggishness and operational complications.
• Payment options are limited, as the platform only accepts Stripe and PayPal.

Pricing

• Personal: $14/month
• Business: $23/month
• Basic Commerce: $27/month
• Advanced Commerce: $49/month

Read more: Top 8 Best Ecommerce Platform For Clothing Store In 2024

Value of the best eCommerce platform for SEO

What is the significance of SEO in online retailing and eCommerce?

Certainly, as an entrepreneur or a merchant delving into the vast realm of eCommerce, you grasp the concept of SEO: it is, simply, a way of increasing the number of people visiting your site by way of organic means, whether it be through increased numbers or just quality. Simply said, improper implementations of SEO make your website not be accessible for customers.

Several variants of SEO can be deduced when broken down. This on-site SEO or on-page SEO refers to using standards and lists for all the pages on your site which make it friendly to search engines when used. That said, offsite SEO refers to improvements that are undertaken off your page but highly impact your site rankings on various search engines.

The effectiveness of digital marketing greatly depends upon a strong SEO strategy that makes your store pop up in searches conducted by people in the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. This translates into better positioning in the search engine results pages than most of your competitors, hence drawing more attention from web users to your eCommerce site. Once these individuals have been empowered, they form a context which makes conversion of potential qualified customers to loyal customers to be simple. Additionally, there is a direct relationship between the amount of traffic and higher profitability.

Consequently, making your first priority use the Seo ecommerce platform is among the most important points at which you should focus on. This makes them visible online thus increasing organic traffic to their sites translating into more customer engagements and conversions. Furthermore, using superior SEO techniques enables them to surpass competitor firms through high search ranking, thereby making them leaders who assure longevity.

What makes the best eCommerce platform for SEO?

To succeed in building a successful website, you must understand the SEO capabilities inherent in each eCommerce platform, as well as SEO-friendly features on each of these platforms. In fact, not all existing market eCommerce platforms are as user-friendly as they need to be despite the realization that SEO is important. That is why, as you determine the most appropriate SEO benefits for your eCommerce site, you should be active in finding these.

Site speed

The speed at which your website loads directly influences your customer’s experience: quicker loading makes them more satisfied, and slowness produces an unsatisfactory user experience. Poor performance immediately has its effects which include being ranked poorly by search engines and thus pushed down into oblivion. If your page takes 3 seconds to download, visitors have more than a thirty percent chance of being frustrated and leaving your website rather than waiting till it is ready. When this period starts from 1 second until 10 seconds, it amounts to nearly 123%.

Find the best eCommerce platform for SEO with a broad spectrum of speed enhancement options like cache and customization. Make sure that it has hosting services optimized towards increased server responses time with an improved site performance whereby you can resize other graphics, reduce their sizes, minify scripts, use a CDN for additional high speed and apply browser caching.

You could take into account that for small businesses in which speed advantages are a significant part of an efficient SEO strategy, the self-hosted SEO could provide more control. Although hosting your eCommerce site is more convenient for managing speeds, all the bandwidth lies with you as a vendor. If your website all of a sudden gets flooded with traffic, this may cause it to collapse under all its users. Hosted solutions provide high chances of having no downtime with this bandwidth. As a result, there is the probability that you still have to find an eCommerce platform for your needs.

SEO-friendly URLs

You should use the most efficient eCommerce platform for SEO purposes, which generates the canonical site URL. Your site has a unique URL per page that may cause search engines to record different website URLs that would point to one page. Also, using a lot of the no-follow tags instead of making things clear will only complicate issues and will see sites lose coverage value hence dragging down their overall search rankings.

The Seo friendly ecommerce platform enables you to specify canonical URLS for a website, in addition to redirecting 301 of the old pages to the proper ones. This makes your links concise, reduces issues of duplicated contents as well as facilitates search engine indexing of a particular web page using only a single URL, improving users’ experience. Besides, this makes the system redirect all mobile devices to a mobile version of a web. It can really improve the search engines standing and ensure that all traffic gets directed towards your major website.

Multi-devices compatible

Billions of people worldwide use smartphones, and this figure escalates daily. The rise extends to tablet users and other smart digital devices as well. Merely having a mobile-friendly website falls short of adequacy – failing to ensure multi-device compatibility means forfeiting engagement with a substantial portion of your audience.

The process of ensuring your website’s superior appearance and functionality on mobile devices is known as mobile optimization; a cruciality heightened by the escalating trend in people utilizing their mobile devices for internet access. Notably, Google articulates its preference for websites optimized primarily towards mobile usability – an endorsement that significantly impacts search rankings. The best eCommerce platform for SEO should be one that offers mobile-optimized themes that automatically adapt to various screen sizes.

Tags

Canonical tags, or rel canonical, provide search engines with important information on how it identifies the original versions of pages against duplicate ones. Through them, Google ascertains which particular page in your site is a primary data source. The incorporation of canonical tags on your website conveys a clear signal to Google, that this highly content-laden page is just a duplicate, and here is the source/original of it on which you rely to improve customer experience so as to protect your ranking and this warning aims at avoid any drop in.

Therefore, they prevent the challenges associated with duplication content and keyword cannibalism. Make sure that your eCommerce platform has control for these canonical tags to avoid some problems. Not managing your canonical tags will lead to self-canonicalization. That is, if these different pages are not real canonical pages, it might be perceived even then by Google.

Small businesses can heave a sigh of relief, knowing that they don’t need to worry about these problems. However, as your online store continues to expand – and it certainly will – you may find yourself in need of a higher level of control since evolution within your SEO may bring you to require more sophisticated support.

Product title & Meta description

Important for SEO performance, product titles, and meta descriptions furnish search engines with crucial information about a web page’s content and relevance. The product title acts as the headline for its respective page, frequently being users’ initial point of contact in search engine results. Crafting well-optimized product titles by incorporating pertinent keywords that potential customers might employ when seeking out specific products is an ideal strategy. Keywords incorporated into the title enhance a page’s visibility in search results and foster comprehension of its content by search engines. Moreover, an alluringly concise product title can magnetize increased user clicks, thus elevating the overall click-through rate (CTR) for that particular page.

On the other hand, meta descriptions offer a succinct overview of the product or page content, although they do not directly influence search engine rankings, their significance lies in enhancing CTR. A meticulously constructed meta description – one that is engaging, pertinent, and embedded with targeted keywords – can attract users to select your listing from among search results. The page’s relevance and engagement potentially improve rankings when a higher CTR signals this to search engines; therefore, enhanced rankings are within reach.

Indexing control

You hold the power of indexing control, which allows you to stipulate the website pages that search engines should index. This capability is crucial as it enables the exclusion of pages unrelated to your website’s primary keywords.

Certain platforms incorporate sitemaps into their offerings, but others neglect to provide this service. Consequently, you must manually submit your website’s sitemap to search engines, which is a potentially time-consuming task. The best eCommerce platform for SEO grants indexing control via its comprehensive sitemap feature. The sitemap is a comprehensive file listing all the pages on your website and plays a crucial role in search engine indexing. When you submit this map to search engines, it ensures inclusion of only your desired pages within their results – an effective control over what is indexed and displayed.

Robots.txt

‘Robots.txt’ is a directory where you instruct the search engine spiders which of your site pages you like them to or not to crawl and index. This becomes essential considering numerous pages of eCommerce websites contain duplicated contents including product, category, and search pages as well. As bots allot limited time to crawl through sites, those in charge of eCommerce websites will instruct them through a robots.txt file to point out which pages they should pay attention to and those they can afford to ignore. Thus, this ensures that prominent value pages get enough focus.

Additionally, some eCommerce sites may have pages that provide personal data like customers’ accounts and log-in portals. Use of robots.txt ensures that these pages cannot be accessed either by crawlers and any other individual who is not the proprietor, therefore protecting the customer secured data.

Product schema

A product schema that contains particular attributes will make your product listing more appealing on the SERP and increase clicks. These possible elements may include prices, reviews, ratings, offers, product descriptions, awards, etc. Usually resulting in a rich result or snippet in the SERPS, this is captivating enough among other cluttered search findings hence increasing more clicks and conversion rates.

Sitemap generator

Search engines also refer to your site’s sitemap, a sort of reference chart guiding you to the location of each page in the site. There are two of them – HTML and XML, but mostly you use the first one in order that this or that visitor could easily use your web site. There is a XML version for search engines.

For whatever purpose you want Google to ignore, or crawl your content, always possess up-to-date XML sitemap. Do not automatically create a sitemap, where you include all your pages. It might inadvertently cover wrong pages like non canonical pages, 404 errors and so forth. It will negatively impact your SEO performance.

Remind yourself all the time, because a site map is made for crawler’s move on page’s and comprehend these contents. At this juncture, when a search engine crawls on your online portal, you would not want to run the risk of losing it through poor navigation on your site and since there is a hierarchy in your web platform, it is vital to equip it with a clear and explicit map. The search engine’s ability to provide relevant resources in response to entered queries is made possible by active “search bots” who locate and index the Internet’s contents. Therefore it is essential to make sure your crawler gets useful data; if not, your eCommerce platform won’t be included during searches.

Others

There are several other features that you can explore to maximum SEO benefits:

• The IP address you possess
• Independent navigation links
• Independent page titles
• ALT tags for images
• Independent H1 headings
• The buttons for social sharing
• Access to the log file
• Migration
• Batch uploading

Final thoughts

Conclusively, the ultimate objective of the endeavor is on ensuring that you select the best ecommerce platform for SEO. We had also stated earlier that one should ensure they get a platform where they easily add new materials, alter the website, or properly optimize the pages. There are certain things we know in a bid to help you make better decisions, but we cannot presume over what to do for you. Each eCommerce platform considers itself as being the best, but these titles apply only to certain types of businesses or sellers. Moreover, the success of one company doesn’t mean it will also work for others – it is hardly the worst case. What actually matters is about your choice – choosing the most suitable platform that meets your expectations, and after this step it would become the most SEO friendly ecommerce platform.

Based on your business plan and SEO strategy, we recommend selecting two or three platforms from this list. Further, investigate them, engage in free trials if needed, or download and install the software on a test domain. Your personal experience, garnered during these tests, may aid in your decision-making process. It could provide crucial insights – a litmus test of sorts – guiding you toward the website builder that best aligns with your needs.

BSS Commerce, with its extensive experience in all facets of the Shopify marketplace – ranging from eCommerce Services to Themes and Apps – readily offers assistance on your quest for the best eCommerce platform for SEO.