When it comes to ecommerce websites and ecommerce platforms that you can use online, essentially there are only a handful of platforms that you can use for your shop or your online store. The main ones you have probably heard of are Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce.
Do not get me wrong, Squarespace and Wix do have the ability for you to have a shop front and they are becoming more powerful with more sophisticated features for shops.
But in this instance we will go in to the most common platforms, and the best ecommerce platform for SEO. We look at some of the strongest ecomm platforms, which are Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce.
Shopify is known for its ease of use and speed of getting your online store up and running. It is a great option for most. It gives you a great sitemap feed, it does a sitemap automatically and it has built in SEO tools for you to use. Though they have been known for a rigid URL structure that is hard to change or needs custom coding to change.
If you are looking for practical Shopify SEO tips, check out our complete guide: Shopify SEO: A Complete Guide to Boosting Store Traffic and Sales
Trial Shopify store here: Shopify
WooCommerce has been a long time favourite. It has been around for a while and it integrates into WordPress so therefore you can get much more flexibility and customisations from it.
We would say WooCommerce is the most flexible platform because it uses WordPress, so it combines that element of blogging with selling.
You also have the option to change the checkout, customise products, and add different plugins to make the platform more flexible if that’s something you might need.
For those using WordPress, see our guide: WordPress SEO
BigCommerce is worth considering when you plan to scale. That is when it becomes more valuable for technical SEO.
It is known for better technical SEO flexibility, so the SEO elements you can control on your site are usually stronger than what you get with Shopify, including customisable URL structures.
Learn more about BigCommerce.
Squarespace and Wix are solid choices for small businesses and beginners. They are intuitive, come with built-in SEO tools, and offer plenty of ready-made templates.
For more on Squarespace SEO, have a read of our guide: Squarespace SEO Guide We also cover Wix SEO in detail here: Wix SEO Guide.
Some larger businesses use Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento. This powerful platform is ideal for enterprise-level brands that sell hundreds or thousands of products and need excellent performance, extensive customisation options, and the flexibility to build highly complex online stores.
Some of the key points to look at when choosing the right platform that is best for SEO, include what you want to get out of it and what your end goal is.
If you are looking at getting a blog setup you might want to use WooCommerce for content marketing.
If you are just a beginner and you do not have time to look at complex tutorials I would say Squarespace, Wix or Shopify.
If you are an enterprise brand that has loads of products and data to control, then go for BigCommerce or Magento.
WordPress is super powerful because of the customisation options it offers. So if you need to customise things quite heavily, then WooCommerce on WordPress might be your go-to platform.
Remember the hosting part of this equation. With WordPress, you have to self-host it yourself. So if you do not understand hosting or do not want the extra hassle, you might be better off going with Shopify, Wix or Squarespace because everything is already handled for you, it is not a separate process.
Shopify is great because of the hosting it includes. It has quite a few technical on-page elements and the structure becomes easier to understand once you have used it a few times.
Webflow, from our experience, has a a bit of a learning curve. I would only recommend it to developers or designers who are already familiar with the platform.
If you are purely focusing on listing your products, Shopify is often better from a technical and back-end perspective.
In summary there is no best off the shelf ecommerce platform that is better for SEO because it does depend on several factors and your goals and needs, as we mentioned above. See our comparison table below for a quick compare.
Remember that SEO is an ongoing process so just because a platform says it has SEO features does not guarantee any rankings or any sales. You need to put in the work by creating great products, great content, building backlinks and following all these SEO best practices.
So no matter the platform it still comes down to other factors. I would also suggest you consult with an SEO expert maybe before you decide.
If you need professional help with your ecommerce SEO, feel free to check out our SEO services or our dedicated ecommerce SEO agency offerings.
Here is a table of these platforms and their features:
| Platform | Best For | SEO Flexibility | URL Structure Control | Hosting Required | Ease of Use | Content/Blogging Strength | Scalability | Key Drawback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Beginners and small to medium stores | Good (built in basics) | Limited (rigid) | Included | Very high | Moderate | High | Rigid URLs, apps often needed |
| WooCommerce | Content focused and heavy customisation | Excellent (WordPress power) | Full control | Self hosted | Medium | Excellent | High | Requires maintenance and technical skill |
| BigCommerce | Scaling businesses | Very good (strong technical) | Good customisation | Included | High | Good | Very high | Higher pricing as you scale |
| Squarespace | Very small or design focused stores | Good for basics | Moderate | Included | Very high | Good | Moderate | Less powerful for complex stores |
| Wix | Small beginners | Good (with tools) | Moderate | Included | Very high | Moderate | Moderate | Limited for serious scaling |
| Adobe Commerce (Magento) | Large enterprise brands | Excellent (full customisation) | Full control | Self hosted | Low | Good | Excellent | Steep learning curve and high cost |
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