Keyword Research
As with any other platform, the first SEO for Bigcommerce strategy we´ll need to cover is keyword research.
Proper keyword research is the essential foundation where you will build up the rest of your SEO strategy. As such, it is the one bound to have the most in-depth effect on how well your eCommerce store ranks.
The goal in Keyword Research is pretty straightforward: find the best words people interested in your products use on search engines to find your products.
However, several factors influence what constitutes the “best words” such as how much a word is searched for (volume), how much competition it has, and how closely it relates to your product.
You are looking for the most popular set of words with the lowest competition ratio that describes your product as accurately as possible.
You might wonder just how can you find all of this information to make the right choice? Enter Google Keyword planner.
You can sing up for Google AdWords for free (without actually investing in an ad campaign) and you’ll automatically be granted access to Google’s Keyword Planner for free. This powerful and easy to use tool helps you select the most efficient keywords for your SEO strategies, and it only takes two windows.
The first window is straightforward. First, you need to input your starting keywords (1), these will be very general words that by themselves are of little practical use because they are too broad or there’s too much competition for them.
To give you an example, if you sell watches, you might start with the keyword “Watch” and see what the planner suggests.
However, I’d recommend being a little more specific; it will save you some time. If you focus exclusively on a brand, try “Brand watch” or a specific type, such as “Women’s sports watch”
Always keep in mind that the secret to effective keyword research is to put yourself in your customer shoes, and figure out the words they’d use to find your product.
Once you input your starting keyword, you have a section to refine your search parameters (2) which I highly recommend doing. Focusing your search on a geographic zone you intend to service, or a specific language you want to cover will yield more accurate and usable results.
Once you are done refining your search, click the Get Ideas button and it will show you the second screen.
And it is here where Google’s Keyword Planner shines. Not only do you get a list of longtail keywords suggestions, complete with their relevance, CPC, etc. on the Keyword Suggestions section (1). You also get a lot of information about the specific words you entered in the Search Data section (2) such as gender projections and the types of devices they are using to look those keywords.
Use this tool to zero-in on the best keywords that match your product (or products) and create a list for each of them. These will be the words you’ll give priority when you are creating content for your online store or making new product listings.
Page Titles & Meta Description Tools
This is a handy tool BigCommerce offers its users that allows you edit your page titles and meta descriptions.
Customizing this helps you not only to rank higher but also helps in your sells conversion. The first interaction most people will have with your product might be them searching a related keyword on google. You want that snippet that shows on their web search to be an optimized, well-written tool that highlights the benefits of your products to invite them to click through to your page.
To access this tool when you are adding a new product, go to the other details tab (1)
And scroll down until you are met by the dedicated SEO field (2)
This section is your playground. Highlight your product’s name, features, customer benefits and special offers you set your product apart from the competitions and other potential search results on your customer’s eyes
Remember, this isn’t something exclusive to your product pages! You can customize this in your home pages, categories, and even blog posts.
Dynamic Sitemap
Another powerful SEO for Bigcommerce tool at your disposal when using the platform is the dynamic sitemap, but to fully grasp the advantage it provides you need to understand how Google and other search engines explore your website’s content.
Search engines employ search bots that go around the internet crawling through websites links and content, indexing and ranking what they find and recommend them to users who input queries with keywords related to them.
As you create more content in your site, post new product listings or new blog entries, these will have bots indexing and ranking them overtime, and finding new sections of your website through the links you provide to them.
Over time, they map out your entire online store. Even if you don’t do anything, this will eventually happen.
However, there’s a way to speed up the process and have your store indexed faster, and that’s by submitting your site’s map to search engines.
Normally you’ll go manually, putting together the sitemap file determining the most optimal way a search engine bot should crawl your website. Or you might employ a third-party tool to accomplish this.
With Bigcommerce neither is necessary since the platform generates a sitemap for you and makes it easy to submit it to Google.
First, though, you’ll need to verify your site with Google. It is a free and simple process that BigCommerce itself walks you through here.
Once that’s done, just go to Server Settings in your Bigcommerce dashboard and select Google XML Sitemap which will generate the link you’ll need to provide in your Google’s Webmaster Account.
Doing SEO for Bigcommerce’s platform is more accessible than doing so on other similar sites. This is due in no small part to the efforts of the site in automating most of the basics needs as far as search engine optimization strategies go.
However, it is a tradeoff.
More automation means you have less direct control, which can have you sitting out while other competing stores take advantage of the more advanced SEO for Bigcommerce.
Applying comprehensive SEO to your online store in Bigcommerce can be a daunting task though, especially if you don’t boast a solid background on the subject.
If you want to fully harness the power (and enjoy the benefits) of a robust SEO strategy that is tailor-made to your online store’s specific needs, it might be wise to contact an SEO expert. They can eliminate the guesswork and learning curve from the process and have you reaping the benefits of a more prosperous store in no time.
