Securing a prominent position on Google is crucial for the success of your BigCommerce store.

However, boosting your store’s visibility requires strategic optimization and a holistic approach to SEO. That’s where we come in! Here are effective strategies to improve your store’s ranking on Google.

Keyword Research and Optimization

Start by conducting thorough keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush. Identify relevant keywords and long-tail phrases related to your products or niche. Incorporate these keywords strategically in product titles, descriptions, URLs, and meta tags to enhance visibility.

Access Google Keyword Planner:

  • Visit Google Keyword Planner by signing in to your Google Ads account (or create one if you don’t have an account already).
  • Go to “Tools & Settings” in the upper right corner, then select “Keyword Planner” under the “Planning” section.

Explore Your Options:

  • On the main dashboard, you’ll find options like “Find new keywords,” “Get search volume and forecasts,” and more.
  • Choose “Discover new keywords” to find new keyword ideas or “Get search volume and forecasts” to analyze keyword metrics.

Discover New Keywords:

  • Select “Discover new keywords.”
  • Enter terms or phrases relevant to your business or niche in the provided field.
  • Adjust targeting options like location, language, date range, and search engines if needed.
  • Click “Get Results.”

Review Keyword Ideas:

  • Keyword Planner generates a list of related keywords based on your input.
  • Explore the list, which includes average monthly searches, competition level, and suggested bid for each keyword.
  • Refine the list by filtering or sorting based on relevance, search volume, competition, etc.

Analyze Search Volume and Forecasts:

  • Choose “Get search volume and forecasts” from the main dashboard.
  • Enter your selected keywords or phrases.
  • Adjust settings for location, language, date range, and other parameters as needed.
  • Click “Get Started.”

Review Search Volume and Forecasts:

  • Google Keyword Planner displays the average monthly search volume for the entered keywords.
  • Additionally, it provides forecasts like click-through rate (CTR), impressions, and average cost-per-click (CPC) if you plan to run ads.

Access Historical Metrics:

  • Explore historical metrics by adjusting the date range to see how keyword search volumes fluctuate over time.
  • Analyze trends to understand seasonal variations or changes in keyword popularity.

Save and Download Keywords:

  • Save selected keywords by adding them to a plan or download them for future reference.
  • Click on “Add to Plan” to create a new plan or add to an existing one.
  • To download keywords, click on the download icon and select the format (CSV, Google Sheets, etc.) for the file.

Use Keywords in Your Strategy:

  • Utilize the gathered keyword insights in your SEO or advertising strategy.
  • Incorporate relevant keywords into website content, ad campaigns, or other marketing efforts to enhance visibility and reach your target audience.

Optimize Product and Category Pages

Ensure each product page and their associated categories are optimized for search engines. Craft unique and compelling product descriptions, include high-quality images with descriptive alt text, and use structured data to provide search engines with detailed information about your products. 

When it comes to eCommerce SEO specifically, this part is crucial. The content on these pages is what provides context for shoppers and for the Google crawlers.

Mobile Optimization

Optimize your BigCommerce store for mobile devices. Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites, so ensure responsive design, fast loading times, and an intuitive user experience across various devices to improve rankings.

While the relationship between mobile responsiveness and search engine rankings is still somewhat nebulous, there’s no doubt that a great mobile user experience would lead to a longer time on page, would would have a residual effect on SEO.

Choose a Responsive Theme:

  • Opt for a responsive BigCommerce theme that automatically adjusts and looks good on various devices, including smartphones and tablets. If you desire a more bespoke look and feel, you may have to invest some money into a custom design. The good thing about platforms like BigCommerce is, however, that popular themes look good out of the box and have plenty of standard eCommerce features so that you can run your online store without much hassle. 

Simplify Navigation:

  • Streamline your site’s navigation for mobile users by creating clear, concise menus and easy-to-use navigation bars that work well on smaller screens.

Optimize Images and Media:

  • Compress images and media files to reduce load times without compromising quality. Use formats like JPEG or PNG and consider lazy loading to improve site speed. Site speed doesn’t impact SEO all that much compared to other more important factors, but it’s still something worth optimizing if your website feels slow. 

Ensure Readability:

  • Make text easily readable by using legible fonts, appropriate font sizes, and ample spacing between elements. Avoid long blocks of text that are hard to read on smaller screens.

Implement Mobile-Friendly Design Elements:

  • Use touch-friendly buttons and clickable elements with sufficient spacing to prevent accidental clicks or taps.
  • Optimize forms for mobile by using autofill options, reducing input fields, and employing mobile-friendly form designs.

Test and Optimize:

  • Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or other tools to check your site’s mobile responsiveness. Address any issues identified through testing.
  • Regularly test your site on various mobile devices to ensure a consistent and user-friendly experience.

High-Quality Content Creation

Create engaging and informative content for your store. Start a blog or resource section to share valuable content related to your products, industry trends, or how-to guides. Quality content attracts organic traffic and boosts your site’s authority.

Relevant and Quality Content:

Focus on creating valuable, informative, and relevant content that addresses users’ queries or interests. Content depth, originality, and usefulness are vital for SEO.

Keyword Research and Optimization:

Conduct keyword research to identify relevant terms and phrases. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your content, including titles, headings, meta descriptions, and body text.

Readable and Engaging Writing:

Write for readers first, making content easily readable and engaging. Use subheadings, bullet points, and shorter paragraphs for better readability.

Optimized Headlines and Meta Descriptions:

Craft compelling and keyword-rich headlines that accurately describe the content. Write concise and persuasive meta descriptions that encourage clicks on search engine results pages.

Internal and External Linking:

Include internal links to relevant pages within your blog and link to authoritative external sources when appropriate. This improves user experience and shows credibility to search engines.

Internal Linking Structure

Develop a well-structured internal linking strategy. Link product pages to related categories or relevant blog posts within your site. This enhances user navigation and distributes link authority across your site, improving overall SEO. 

The backbone of SEO is links. Links are what Google looks at to determine the quality of a page in some cases, as the pages across the web that point to a certain location says a lot about what the user can hope to find there. Smart internal linking makes your site more crawlable and also easier to use, which can influence metrics like bounce rate and conversion rate. All of this plays a role in SEO to some degree.

User-Friendly URLs and Site Structure

From the start, optimize your URLs to be descriptive and user-friendly. Create a logical site structure with clear navigation paths that make it easy for users and search engines to find and index your content.

Customer Reviews and Testimonials

Encourage customer reviews and testimonials for your products. Positive reviews not only build trust with potential customers but also serve as valuable user-generated content that can improve search engine rankings.

Monitor Analytics and Adjust Strategies:

Regularly monitor your site’s performance using Google Analytics and BigCommerce analytics tools. Analyze data to understand user behavior, identify strengths and weaknesses, and adapt your strategies accordingly.

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By implementing these SEO strategies consistently and staying updated with the latest SEO trends, your BigCommerce store can climb the ranks on Google, attracting more organic traffic, improving visibility, and driving higher conversions in the competitive world of e-commerce. Contact us to find out how our team of BigCommerce SEO experts can help you optimize your BigCommerce site to show up on the front page of Google.