A beautiful website design attracts customers, which is true, but those potential customers wouldn’t even know your store exists without SEO. SEO is what draws customers to your door, and without it, it will just be another pretty site that can’t fulfill its purpose—driving sales.
If your eCommerce store is on the BigCommerce platform or if you are considering migrating your old website to it, you will need to learn about BigCommerce SEO. This guide will walk you through detailed, practical steps to enhance your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.
The Significance of BigCommerce SEO
Search engine optimization involves refining your website to improve its visibility on search engines like Google. When done correctly, it helps your store rank higher in search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
Why do you need to rank high? Well, when people search on Google or Bing, most will only look at the search results on page 1. Page 2 often does not get a glance at all. Higher rankings mean more traffic and more traffic can lead to increased sales and growth.
The Elements of Effective BigCommerce SEO
1. Keyword research and implementation
Keywords are the foundation of SEO. Your path to online visibility starts with identifying the terms and phrases your potential customers are searching for.
- Primary keywords: These are the main terms related to your products or services. For example, if you sell handmade candles, primary keywords might include “handmade candles” or “organic candles.”
- Long-tail keywords: These are more specific phrases that potential customers might use, such as “handmade soy candles for aromatherapy.”
Integrate these keywords naturally into your product titles, descriptions, meta tags, and URLs. Avoid keyword stuffing, as it can harm your SEO efforts and lead to a poor user experience.
Here’s a tip: Use keywords naturally. When you use them, write for the reader and not for search engines.
2. On-page SEO optimization
On-page SEO involves optimizing individual pages on your site to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic. Here are the key areas to focus on:
- Title tags: Each page should have a unique, descriptive title tag that includes your primary keyword.
- Meta descriptions: Meta descriptions are the short descriptions of each page that come up when you type in a keyword on a search engine.
Write compelling meta descriptions that incorporate your keywords and encourage clicks. Although meta descriptions don’t directly affect rankings, they influence click-through rates.
- Header tags: Use H1 tags for your main titles and H2/H3 tags for subheadings. This structure helps search engines understand the content of your pages. It also helps users who want to scan your page for relevant information.
- Alt text for images: Include descriptive alt text for all images. This improves accessibility, which is a legal requirement, and helps search engines index your images properly.
3. Quality content creation
High-quality, relevant content is a cornerstone of successful BigCommerce SEO. Regularly update your blog and product pages with informative and engaging content that addresses the needs and interests of your audience. Also, try to make your content evergreen.
- Blog posts: Write blog posts that provide value, such as how-to guides, industry news, or product comparisons. Use your keywords naturally throughout the content.
- Product descriptions: Craft detailed product descriptions that highlight the features, benefits, and unique selling points of your products. Avoid using manufacturer descriptions and create original content instead.
Write from a customer’s point of view and include everything your customer may want to know about the product you are selling.
4. Site speed and performance optimization
Optimization falls under technical SEO, which has to do with the technical details of your website, such as site speed and performance. Google considers site speed as a ranking factor, so it’s necessary to optimize your BigCommerce store’s performance.
Here are ways you can make your site faster:
- Image optimization: Compress images to reduce their file size without compromising quality. Use tools like TinyPNG or JPEG-Optimizer.
- Caching: Enable browser caching to store copies of your site’s pages, images, and files, which helps improve loading times.
- Minifying CSS and JavaScript: Reduce the size of your CSS and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters and whitespace.
5. Mobile optimization
With more users browsing on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly site is imperative. Ensure your BigCommerce theme is responsive, meaning it adapts to different screen sizes and provides a seamless experience across all devices.
- Responsive design: Choose a BigCommerce theme that automatically adjusts to various screen sizes.
- Mobile usability: Test your site on different mobile devices to ensure easy navigation, readable text, and clickable elements.
6. Quality backlinking
Backlinks, or inbound links from other websites, are vital for SEO. They signal to search engines that your site is trustworthy and authoritative and that other sites find you to be so.
You can gain quality backlinks through:
- Guest blogging: Write guest posts for reputable blogs in your industry. Include links back to your site.
- Influencer collaborations: Partner with influencers who can share your products with their audience and link to your store.
- Social media sharing: Promote your content on social media platforms to increase visibility and encourage others to link to your site.
7. Analytics tools utilization
To monitor how well you are doing regarding your SEO strategy, you can use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These tools provide insights into your traffic, user behavior, and the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
Here are the factors you need to monitor:
- Traffic analysis: Track the number of visitors to your site and their sources.
- Keyword rankings: Monitor how your keywords are ranking over time.
- Conversion rates: Analyze how well your site converts visitors into customers.
8. Continuous improvement
SEO is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. A successful SEO strategy requires regular tweaking and maintenance so that you can keep up with changing search engine algorithms. Google, for example, reportedly changes its algorithms over a hundred times a year.
Regularly update your content, optimize new pages, and stay informed about the latest SEO trends and algorithm changes.
- Content updates: Refresh old blog posts and product descriptions to keep them relevant.
- New keywords: Continually research and incorporate new keywords as trends change.
- SEO audits: Perform regular SEO audits to identify and fix issues that may be affecting your rankings.
9. Maximize your BigCommerce SEO efforts with SEO-friendly themes
Choose a BigCommerce theme from Epic that is designed with SEO best practices in mind. Our themes are optimized for speed, mobile responsiveness, and include structured data to enhance your site’s visibility in search results.
Reach Your Customers Now!
Optimizing your BigCommerce SEO will increase your online visibility and drive more traffic to your store. You can do it on your own, but you will need to spend lots of time studying SEO first. Or, you can turn to the experts with years of experience in successfully turning relatively unheard-of sites into ones that rake in sales.
Why take the time off your business to study the basics when you can simply make use of our expertise? Let Epic turn your BigCommerce store into a website that effectively converts visitors into customers. Send us a message and let’s talk.
