Which e-commerce platform is best for SEO?

When you’re setting up an e-commerce business, choosing the right platform is fundamental. To achieve long-term success and be able to grow, business owners must make the decision wisely. There are lots of considerations, it needs to look professional and provide a good experience for the customer, but it also needs to work for you as a business owner. From the business point of view, it needs to be able to rank on search engines and needs to have the infrastructure to give you information about its performance in terms of traffic, sales and revenue.

In this article, we’ll tell you all about what to look for in an e-commerce platform so you can ensure it meets the needs of your business as well as those of your customers.

What is an e-commerce platform?

Businesses that sell their products online use e-commerce platforms. Essentially, these are digital storefronts that allow customers to make transactions.

At the centre of an e-commerce platform is the content management system or CMS. This is a tool that allows businesses to organise, display and update their products. Administrators manage listings through this to ensure that everything is up to date. The CMS is crucial to the visual appeal and user-friendliness of the website as it needs to capture the attention of visitors to encourage sales.

Working alongside the CMS in the platform is the commerce engine. This is focused on the transactional side of things and manages everything linked to buying and selling. All of the order processing, payment gateways and inventory management are dealt with through the commerce engine.

Together, the CMS and commerce engine work to ensure a functioning e-commerce website that works for both the business and the customer.

What SEO features should an e-commerce platform have?

A successful e-commerce platform is one that works in harmony with your business goals. Usually, this means that it aligns well with search engine optimisation best practices. A good platform will showcase the products for sale whilst also incorporating a suite of SEO features to ensure your site is discoverable and will rank. Here are some of the key features your e-commerce platform should have.

Customisable URLs

When you can optimise your URLs, you can create ones that are both user-friendly and search engine-readable. Customers benefit from being able to access your site easily while search engines can understand the content and structure of your site better, which aids with ranking.

Redirects

E-commerce sites need to manage redirects well. These are essential for maintaining a smooth user experience and preserving SEO value when there are website changes such as a product being out of stock or discontinued.

Custom Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions play a crucial role in making a website more visible and attractive for both customers and search engines. When you can customise your title tag and meta description, you can make them more appealing to search engines, which helps you rank higher in results pages. Essentially, these are how you make a good first impression and stand out in the crowd.

Editable HTML

Being able to edit the HTML on your e-commerce platform means having control over elements like heading tags and internal links. This allows you to fine-tune your site for optimal SEO performance.

Blog Section

A dedicated blog section enables you to upload fresh and relevant content regularly. Search engines favour sites that provide new, valuable content regularly. What’s more, by maintaining a blog, you can target long-tail keywords to further help your ranking.

Flexible Navigation and Menu

This feature means you’re able to add web pages to your navigation headers and footers. This helps users navigate your site with ease. It also helps with search engine rankings, which enhances the overall visibility of your site.

Auto-generated Sitemap

When your sitemap is generated and updated automatically it means that all pages are listed for search engine crawlers as soon as changes are made. This improves the indexation of your site’s content and is instrumental in ensuring search engines have an accurate picture of your website.

From a customer perspective, a well-organised and up-to-date sitemap means being able to find specific pages easily. The user experience is improved, which means visitors are likely to stay there longer and convert.

Optimised Page Speed

Search engines favour sites that load quickly. Choosing a fast e-commerce platform—or one that allows you to optimise the page speed—means you’ll do better with search engines. Naturally, customers will prefer a faster site too.

Performance can be tracked easily

A vital aspect of any good e-commerce platform is the ability to track the performance of the site. Whether this means integrating tools like Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager, you need to be able to see metrics like traffic, conversions and user behaviour so you can analyse what’s doing well and what isn’t.

What is the Best E-commerce Platform for You?

We have taken a look at the pros and cons along with the costs of some of the most popular e-commerce platforms:

Shopify

Pros

• It’s quick to set up
• Fully hosted
• There is a WIZWIG editor so you can build and edit your website easily with no coding skills
• Integrates easily with Google Shopping, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon and eBay
• There are plenty of apps and extensions so you can add new functionality
• Shopify has an app so you can manage orders from your mobile phone or tablet
• Ongoing customer support

Cons

• Can be restrictive if you’re looking to create bespoke functionality
• Ongoing costs can make it more expensive to run in the long term compared to other platforms. The Advanced and Plus plans can be very pricey.

Costs

From £19 per month, plus transaction fees that can vary depending on traction type and the package

WooCommerce

Pros

• It’s a free plugin that can be added to your WordPress website
• It can be customised along with the rest of your WordPress website. WordPress has an abundance of plugins that can be used to improve and optimise your e-commerce website
• There is no shortage of WordPress/WooCommerce developers. Also, there is a lot of advice on forums and YouTube
• No ongoing monthly cost
• Can integrate with platforms such as Google Shopping, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon and eBay

Cons

• WordPress websites need maintenance and, typically, require a developer to set up so the upfront cost can be expensive
• Depending on the complexity, they can take a while to build
• It’s self-hosted so you will need to set up hosting
• No ongoing support. This can make it a difficult platform for beginners

Costs

No monthly cost. The transaction fee can vary depending the payment gateway

BigCommerce

Pros

• Fully hosted
• Powerful enterprise solution that is used by large companies such as Ted Baker, BMW and Ben & Jerry’s
• Simple to list your products on Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Google Shopping
• Ongoing customer support
• A wealth of built-in tools and features
• Flexible product management
• No transaction fees

Cons

• Likely to be overkill for small to mid-sized e-commerce businesses
• Can be costly compared to other platforms

Costs

From $39 per month. No transaction fee

Wix

Pros

• Fully hosted
• Ongoing customer support
• Easy to use and no coding skill is required so it doesn’t require a developer to set up
• Good entry-level platform

Cons

• Lack of feature
• Not the best option for bigger businesses

Costs

$27 per month. Tranaction fee: 2.1% of the transaction amount + 20p

Final Thoughts on e-Commerce Platforms and SEO

Any online business wants to be as successful as possible. Choosing your e-commerce platform wisely is important. Business owners need to look beyond the aesthetics and choose a platform equipped with SEO features like customisable URLs, redirection strategies, customisable title tags and meta descriptions to ensure both customers and search engines can find your site easily. HTML editing, blog capabilities and flexibility with navigation pathways will also help customers and stand out for algorithms. Overall, it’s about being able to fine-tune your website so that it works for the customers and search engines.