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BigCommerce SEO

Improves a BigCommerce store so product, category, and content pages rank better in search engines and drive organic traffic and sales.

If you treat SEO as a one-time setup, you miss that themes, platform defaults, and app ecosystems change.

Key points

  • Write unique product and category copy instead of using manufacturer descriptions to avoid duplicate content issues.
  • Keep title tags under 60 characters and meta descriptions around 150–160 characters for better click-through rates.
  • Ensure important pages are reachable within three to four clicks from the homepage by using a hierarchical internal link structure.
  • Optimise images with descriptive filenames, alt text, and compression for performance and accessibility.
  • Use schema markup for products, reviews, and breadcrumbs to enhance search result display.

A jewellery store rewrites product copy

A jewellery store on BigCommerce used manufacturer descriptions for all 200 products. After rewriting unique copy, adding schema markup, and optimising image alt text, the store saw a noticeable increase in organic traffic to product pages over six months — a classic jeweler seo improvement. They also restructured categories to be reachable within three clicks and shortened title tags to under 60 characters.

Three pillars of BigCommerce SEO

  • Technical SEO Covers canonicals, redirects, XML sitemaps, robots.txt, and HTTPS consistency to ensure search engines can crawl and index your store efficiently — a core ecommerce seo technique.
  • On-page optimisation Includes unique product copy, keyword-focused title tags, meta descriptions, image alt text, and schema markup to help search engines understand page content.
  • Site structure and internal linking Uses a hierarchical category system so important pages are reachable within three to four clicks, spreading link equity and improving crawl depth.

Four common mistakes to avoid

  • Leaving duplicate manufacturer descriptions Copied product descriptions create thin content and can cause search engines to see pages as duplicates. Write unique copy for each product.
  • Using long, unclear URLs Clean, descriptive URLs with hyphens are recommended. Avoid adding unnecessary parameters or numbers that make URLs hard to read.
  • Overloading with third-party scripts Excessive apps or scripts slow page load times, hurting both user experience and search rankings. Audit and remove unused scripts.
  • Treating SEO as a one-time setup A common mistake: template changes, catalogue updates, and algorithm shifts require ongoing attention. Revisit your SEO setup regularly, especially after adding new products or changing themes.

Three things to check after a theme change

  • Title tag and meta description formatting Themes can override your title tags or meta descriptions. Check a few product and category pages to ensure they still display as intended.
  • Canonical tags and redirects Theme changes may alter URL structures. Verify that canonical URLs point to the correct pages and that old URLs redirect to new ones.
  • Sitemap output and robot behaviour Ensure the XML sitemap still includes all important pages and that robots.txt has not accidentally blocked critical content.

Common questions

Is Coalition Technologies a legitimate agency for BigCommerce SEO?

Coalition Technologies is a BigCommerce partner agency, but this entry does not evaluate specific agencies. Always research reviews and case studies before hiring.

What are the key elements of BigCommerce SEO?

Technical SEO, on-page optimisation, site structure, and link building. Each element supports the others to improve search visibility.

Sources

  1. BigCommerce Ecommerce SEO Official guide from BigCommerce on ecommerce SEO best practices.
  2. Google Search Central Google's documentation on search fundamentals and SEO guides.
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