If you are looking to start a new ecommerce project, you might be asking yourself which platform will give you an edge when it comes to search engine optimization. We’ve done some research and put together a list of the four most common ecommerce platforms we work with and how they help with SEO efforts.
Top Ecommerce Platforms to Consider for Search Rankings
1.) Shopify
Shopify has been around since 2006 when they were founded by Tobias Lütke as an alternative to building websites from scratch on platforms like WordPress and Drupal.
Shopify is a great launching pad for beginners to get their foot in the door of ecommerce. With Shopify, you can build and customize your store online with ease!
In contrast to Magento, this platform is incredibly simple for business owners to create a store without needing any coding knowledge. The user interface is straightforward and intuitive, which allows users to change the style as they go along – whether that be with widgets, plugins, or products.
The blogging feature on this Shopify is perfect for publishing new content that can be used in order to draw customers. Not only does the blog come with a built-in editor, but there is also an option available for uploading custom designs as well when you want something different!
Shopify is also a great option for anyone who needs to track their website stats. It allows you to easily monitor the website visitors – all thanks to Google Analytics integration.
So, what are the negatives to using Shopify when it comes to SEO? Well, it all comes down to the lack of customization. For example, there is a stiff URL structure, which makes it impossible to change the URL for many of your pages.
2.) BigCommerce
BigCommerce was founded in 2006 by Wayne Macey after experiencing first-hand the challenges of building a website. The platform is built on Ruby on Rails, which offers great functionality for SEO.
BigCommerce offers exceptional flexibility and simplicity. Even if you don’t have any experience building a site, BigCommerce will make it easy for you to create a site that fits your business needs.
BigCommerce offers many features that are SEO-friendly, including being optimized for mobile, 301 redirects, and the ability to customize how the URLs appear on a site.
It also has an easy interface to help you browse products and allows merchants to sell virtual goods, digital downloads & subscriptions from their storefronts.
However, nothing is perfect… BigCommerce often comes under fire for slow loading pages. In fact, pages can take upwards of 5 seconds to load! These slow loading times aren’t great for SEO.
There are also costs to consider. While their Standard package is fair for $29.95 a month, things get more expensive, you’ll have to pay 10X as much if you want the features that come with the Pro plan.
3.) WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin for WordPress, which means it does not operate as a standalone platform. It’s great for those of you who are already familiar with how WordPress works.
WooCommerce has hundreds of plugins to help customize your website and make it more compatible with the needs that you and your business have.
WordPress is one of the easiest platforms to use, but if you do get stuck, you can easily turn to the thousands of WordPress experts out there! Whether you prefer YouTube, forums, blogs, there’s always someone happy to answer your questions.
Though it comes with many features, the problem lies in finding plugins that offer specific functions – this process takes time and effort. More plugins also usually correlates to a site that loads slower.
4.) Magento
Magento is a popular ecommerce platform that was created in 2008. It offers many features for SEO, such as sitemaps, XML, and Google Analytics integration.
The biggest benefit of Magento is the customization. As an open-source platform, Magento gives you the freedom to build a website with specific features and functions. For example, if your site needs custom checkout processes, then Magento will never hold you back.
The customization also means the code can be tweaked to help your website rank better in the search engine results.
However, this benefit can also be a weakness, especially for those who aren’t tech-savvy. The truth is that if you lack knowledge in coding, then it will be hard for you to create and maintain anything other than an average website. It’s no secret that Magento users always have to hire professional coders to make changes.
There’s also the cost of using the platform… You may be shocked to see that it’ll cost over $20,000 for the basic package, which makes the platform impossible for many ecommerce owners to even consider.
Final Thoughts on the Top Ecommerce Platforms for SEO
There are many ecommerce platforms to choose from and it can be difficult to know which one is best for your business. In this article, we discussed four different ecommerce platforms and how they are uniquely different. If you aren’t confident in being able to create your own ecommerce store, don’t hesitate to ask a professional ecommerce developer for help!