When it comes to starting an online store, there are numerous e-commerce platforms to choose from. However, the most important factor that determines the success of any online store is its visibility on search engines. In other words, a higher search engine ranking leads to more traffic and ultimately more sales. Therefore, it’s important to consider the SEO capabilities of different e-commerce platforms before making a choice. In this article, we’ll compare the features between Shopify and other e-commerce platforms to determine which one offers better SEO.

SEO comparison between Shopify and other e-commerce platforms

Shopify

Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, powering over a million online stores worldwide. The platform offers a range of built-in SEO features that make it easy for store owners to optimise their websites for search engines. These include:

Customizable URL structures

Customizable URL structures are an important aspect of SEO for any e-commerce platform. They refer to the ability to customize the URLs of product pages, blog posts, and other pages on a website. By customizing the URL, you can optimise it for search engines and make it more user-friendly.

Shopify allows for full customization of URL structures for product pages, blog posts, and other pages on your website. This is important for SEO because it allows you to include relevant keywords in your URL, which helps search engines understand the content of the page. For example, instead of having a URL like www.yourstore.com/products/12345, you can customize it to something like www.yourstore.com/best-widget-2021.

Mobile optimisation.

Mobile optimisation is the process of ensuring that your website is optimised for viewing on mobile devices. This is important because mobile traffic accounts for over half of all internet traffic, and search engines give preference to websites that are mobile-friendly. In other words, if your website is not mobile-friendly, it may not rank as high in search engine results pages, which can lead to fewer visitors and sales.

Shopify offers mobile optimisation features that make it easy for store owners to ensure their websites are optimised for mobile.

Here are some of the key features:

1. 1. Mobile-responsive themes. Shopify offers a range of mobile-responsive themes that are optimised for viewing on mobile devices. These themes automatically adjust the layout and design of your website to fit the screen size of the device being used.
   2. Mobile-friendly checkout. Shopify’s checkout process is optimised for mobile, which makes it easy for customers to complete their purchases on their mobile devices. This includes features such as auto-populated forms, mobile-friendly payment gateways, and one-click checkout options.
   3. Mobile-first indexing. Shopify’s platform is optimised for mobile-first indexing, which means that search engines will prioritize the mobile version of your website over the desktop version when determining search rankings.
   4. Mobile speed optimisation. Shopify offers tools and features to help optimise the speed of your website on mobile devices, which is important for both SEO and user experience. This includes features such as image optimisation, lazy loading, and browser caching.
   5. Mobile app integration. Shopify offers integrations with mobile apps such as Facebook Messenger, which makes it easy for customers to interact with your store on their mobile devices.

Automated sitemaps.

Automated sitemaps are an important aspect of SEO for e-commerce websites. A sitemap is s a file that lists all the pages on your website, which makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site. Automated sitemap generation is a feature offered by Shopify that makes it easy for store owners to create and submit sitemaps to search engines. Here’s a closer look at how automated sitemaps can help improve your SEO on Shopify:

1. 1. Improved crawlability. Automated sitemap generation ensures that all the pages on your website are listed in a single file, which makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site. This can improve your website’s visibility in search results and ultimately drive more traffic to your store.
   2. Faster indexing. When you update or add new pages to your website, submitting a new sitemap can help search engines find and index those pages more quickly. This can help improve your website’s search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your store.
   3. Easy submission. Shopify’s automated sitemap generation makes it easy for store owners to create and submit sitemaps to search engines. This means you don’t need to have technical expertise to ensure your site is optimised for SEO.
   4. Prioritization of important pages. With automated sitemap generation, you can prioritize important pages on your website, such as your homepage, product pages, and category pages. This helps ensure that these pages are crawled and indexed more frequently by search engines, which can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your store.

Meta descriptions and title tags.

Meta descriptions and title tags are important on-page SEO elements that help search engines understand the content of your website. Here’s a brief explanation of each:

1. 1. Meta descriptions: Meta descriptions are brief summaries of the content of a web page that appear in search engine results pages. They provide a concise overview of the content of a web page and can help improve click-through rates. Shopify allows you to customize meta descriptions for each page on your website, including product pages, blog posts, and collection pages.
   2. Title tags: Title tags are HTML elements that specify the title of a web page. They appear in the tab of a web browser and in search engine results pages. Title tags are important for SEO because they help search engines understand the content of a web page. Shopify allows you to customize title tags for each page on your website.

SSL security.

SSL security is a security protocol that encrypts data transmitted between a website and its users. It’s important for SEO because search engines prioritize websites that are secure and trustworthy. When a website has SSL security, it’s indicated by a “https” in the URL instead of “http”. This gives users confidence that their data is secure and makes it more likely that they’ll engage with the website.

Shopify offers SSL security for all stores, which is important for both SEO and user trust. By providing SSL security, Shopify helps store owners improve their search engine rankings and attract more visitors. It also gives customers confidence that their personal and financial information is secure, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.

Other E-commerce Platforms

While Shopify offers numerous SEO features, it’s not the only e-commerce platform on the market. Here’s a comparison of Shopify’s SEO features with those of other popular platforms:

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress. While it’s a powerful platform, it requires a bit more technical expertise to optimise for SEO. Some of its SEO features include customizable URLs, meta descriptions, and title tags, but it lacks automated sitemap generation.

Magento

Magento is a powerful e-commerce platform that’s best suited for large online stores. It offers advanced SEO features such as customizable URLs, automated sitemaps, and schema markup. However, it’s more complex to set up than Shopify and may require technical expertise.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a popular e-commerce platform that’s similar to Shopify in terms of features and ease of use. It offers customizable URLs, meta descriptions, and title tags, but lacks automated sitemap generation. It also has a slightly steeper learning curve than Shopify.

Related Article: The best eCommerce platform for SEO