SEO for eCommerce Platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento)

When you’re starting off on your eCommerce journey, you naturally have to decide which platform you’re going to base your shop on.

And since switching over later is impractical, then you need to get it right from the get-go.

This blog breaks blog breaks down which eCommerce platforms are best for SEO. We'll compare the top three choices - Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, so you can make an informed decision from the start. 

After comparing the three platforms, we'll dive into how to perform SEO across all eCommerce platforms, giving you practical strategies to boost visibility, rankings, and conversions. We'll cover these key areas: 

• Conducting keyword research
• Optimising product pages 
• Optimising URL's
• Creating category pages
• Internal linking structure
• Adding schema
• Building high-quality backlinks 
• Using social media to amplify visibility 
• Managing reviews and user-generate content
• Fixing technical issues such as 404s and redirects 

The 3 Main eCommerce Platforms

Arguably, the three biggest players in eCommerce are Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento.

One is simple, one is slightly more work, while the other is complicated. But which is which?

The table in the next section will break down each important element of an online store, and you can then decide on your platform based on your skill level.

Comparing Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento

As we will see in the table below, Shopify is the easiest to get started with. While WooCommerce is free, it requires a bit more work. Magento will likely require you to bring in an expert to run it for you, at least at the beginning.

How to Perform SEO for All eCommerce Platforms

What makes eCommerce SEO much different from regular SEO is that online stores have things like product catalogues, dynamic pages, and long complex site search engine strings that shouldn’t be indexed in Google.

Therefore, your SEO eCommerce strategy should be tailored accordingly.

1. Conduct keyword research

Keyword research is going to sink your site or make it sail. If customers can’t find what they’re looking for, you’ll never get any visits and sales.

Use something like Ahrefs (paid) or Google Keyword Planner (free) to figure out your relevant keywords. Google Auto-Suggest is also another excellent free option.

2. Optimise product pages

Product pages need long tail keywords.

This means making the text as descriptive as possible to not only get highly-specific customers, but to also rank for ‘near me’ searches and People Also Ask snippets.

So, instead of “men’s shoes”, expand it to something like “black men’s shoes, leather, size 10.”

You should be thinking all the time about voice search and assistants like Siri and Alexa. So make your pages sound conversational and detailed.

3. Optimise URLs

Another way to improve your online visibility is to make sure your URLs are optimised to the hilt.

Keep URLs short but precise. Remove all unnecessary filler words like ‘and’. Take care to ensure that the important product keywords are in the URL.

This helps Google properly categorise your pages and help you find the right customers.

You can redo URLs later, using 301 redirects, but this has SEO implications. You could also forget to redirect the page and instead give the customer a 404 page not found.

4. Make category pages

Google loves what’s called pillar pages. This is a page which is basically a whole category, with all relevant posts or products linked to on that page.

So, using the clothes example again, have a shoes category, shirts category, skirts category, and so on. Have your results for those categories appear on that page.

Not only does it help customers to find what they are looking for, but it provides excellent SEO benefits.

5. Internal linking structure

To improve your SEO, you have to improve what’s called your ‘bounce rate.’ This is how fast the customer leaves or ‘bounces’ from your page.

The shorter the time, the worse your SEO gets. You have to keep the visitor on your site for as long as possible.

This means linking to other pages on your site, so the customer goes from one page to another, staying on the site longer.

Just make sure the linked pages are relevant. Nobody likes clicking on something totally irrelevant. THAT will make them bounce.

6. Add schema

Schema makes your website look more interesting and informative on Google.

It provides searchers with essential product information, so they can decide whether or not to click through to you or not.

This can be information like the price, any discounts, average review rating, number of reviews, shipping information, and opening times.

Schema is a more advanced SEO for eCommerce. But if you get it right, then you’re already miles ahead of the competition. So hire an expert for this.

7. Get backlinks

Backlinks can never be ignored when it comes to SEO for eCommerce platforms.

That’s why you need to make this the strong foundation of your SEO eCommerce strategy.

Backlinks must be relevant and Google strongly favours local links. Try partnering up with other companies and backlink each other. Get local media mentions.

8. Use social media

Social media links are not indexable in Google, but they will obviously provide more publicity and exposure for your company. Not to mention increased traffic to your store.

So don’t rely on social media for SEO optimisation for online stores. But don’t ignore it either.

For eCommerce, Instagram is far and away the best, but don’t ignore Facebook, and perhaps even Pinterest.

Add the relevant hashtags and make sure your images are the best they can be. Answer all customer comments and encourage them to directly message you and visit the store.

On Instagram, reels and stories get the most engagement, so lean heavily into those. But mix it up with images as well. The key is to do a bit of everything, and to do it often.

9. Ask customers for reviews

One of the major things Google looks for when making ranking decisions is the number of reviews. More specifically, the number of good reviews.

The more good reviews you have, the better your search engine ranking for eCommerce will be.

Reviews are obviously better going directly on your product pages. But you can also collect reviews on Google, Yelp, TrustPilot, and others. Just be sure to link to those pages, so Google knows those pages are you.

For Google reviews, set up your Google business profile. It’s free and provides valuable online visibility for your brand.

10. Fix 404 page not founds and 301 redirects

Nothing ruins a customer’s experience more than clicking through to a page and getting a 404 page not found message.

This creates a bad impression of your company, as well as a missed sale.

Do a regular technical SEO for eCommerce audit to find all 404 pages, and do a 301 redirect to send the customer to the new page. Try to limit your 301’s, though. Google is not too keen on redirecting people too much within your site.

Conclusion

Remember, this is the platform you’ll likely be stuck with, as shifting everything over to another platform will result in temporary but significant disruption.

So it’s absolutely essential to get your choice of eCommerce platform right before you open your store for business. Check out our eCommerce SEO services.