Database Development
When you’re trying to compete in the eCommerce world, having your BigCommerce store show up on search engines is critical. The right SEO strategies will increase your organic traffic, your search engine ranking, and increase conversion rates. Let’s take a look at 10 actionable ways to increase your visibility and performance of your BigCommerce store through the use of SEO.
1. Start With SEO-Friendly Urls
Having a clean, keyword-rich URL is important for both your audience and search engines to have an understanding of your content. BigCommerce has full URL customization capabilities, so don’t simply accept their long strings of numbers and symbols. Use hyphens to separate words and better yet, have additional relevant keywords to clearly describe your product or product category.
2. Optimize Page Titles and Meta Descriptions
Your titles and meta descriptions are the first thing your audience sees in search engines, so create them to be informative, relevant, concise, and to encourage the viewer to click, e.g., “Shop Now,” or “Free Shipping” (be value-driven). Each page needs to have unique metadata so as to avoid duplicate content issues.
3. Use Header Tags Wisely
Header tags (which include H1, H2, H3, etc.) can provide organization and also boost readability. Every page should have one H1 (usually the title of the page), followed by subheadings in sequential order. This is great for navigation for your users, but it also tells search engines the structure and hierarchy of topics which can translate to better relevance and indexation.
4. Enhance Site Speed to Boost User Experience and Rankings
Site speed is an established Google ranking factor. Use the built-in CDN on BigCommerce to help serve your content faster. Optimize images, lazy load images, and minimize unused JavaScript and third-party apps. A quick site means lower bounce rates and improved user satisfaction, and those are both considered vital components of SEO success.
5. Make Your Site Mobile Friendly
With Google’s mobile-first indexing, your performance on mobile devices will affect your rankings. Make sure you are using a responsive BigCommerce theme that includes touch-friendly call-to-action buttons, logically organized elements, and fast-loading pages. Test your site periodically using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool and fix any issues.
6. Utilize Structured Data to Enable Rich Snippets
Rich snippets can improve how your listings appear in search results. With rich snippets, you can provide your potential customers with important product-level information including prices, stock level and reviews. Structure data using schema.org for products, breadcrumbs, and FAQs using BigCommerce apps or your own custom scripts or markup. Rich snippets can help improve listing visibility and click-through rates.
7. Create Unique and Valuable Keyword-Rich Content
Content is at the heart of organic. You should add unique and valuable content on your product, category, and blog pages. Think about user intent and use content that answers common questions, solves a problem, or compares options. Use long-tail keywords to help target more specific search queries leading to ready-to-buy customers.
8. Optimize Every Product and Banner Image
Images are important for eCommerce but so is image optimization for SEO. Always rename your image file names before uploading them to your site to something a little more descriptive e.g., black-running-shoes.jpg and always fill out the alt text field to help with accessibility for your website and image search visibility. Before uploading your images, compress them in some way to reduce file size while keeping image quality high.
9. Create a Good Internal Linking Strategy
The use of internal links will allow you to pass page authority and keep users engaged. You should be linking products, categories, and blog posts with descriptive anchor text. It will improve how users navigate your website. A clear internal linking structure will improve crawlability, allow Google to understand your site’s hierarchy, and increase the visibility of deep pages.
10. Evaluate, Analyze, and Constantly Improve
SEO is not a one-and-done tactic, as it requires constant evaluation. Use tools, like Google Search Console, to assess the performance of your keywords, look for indexing errors, and identify any mobile usability issues. The BigCommerce analytics will show which pages convert the most. Update old content, fix broken links, and regularly test new variations to always stay ahead of the competition.
