If you’re trying to choose between Shopify and BigCommerce, the SEO question comes up pretty quickly – and rightly so. The platform you build on shapes how easily search engines can crawl and rank your store. Getting it right from the get-go puts you at the best possible starting point.
The good news is that both platforms are more than capable, and neither is going to sink your SEO. However, they do approach things differently, and those differences matter depending on how technical you want to get and how much control you need over the finer details.
This article walks through where each platform stands on the things that actually get results in organic search: URL structure, site speed, technical foundations, content tools and the wider ecosystem around each one.
Table of Contents
- URL Structure: A Small Difference That Causes Big Debates
- Technical SEO Foundations
- Content and Blogging
- The App Ecosystem
- Site Speed and Core Web Vitals
- International SEO
- At a Glance: Shopify vs BigCommerce
- Shopify vs BigCommerce: Which Should You Choose?
URL Structure: A Small Difference That Causes Big Debates
This is probably the most talked-about technical distinction between the two platforms, so it’s worth being straightforward about it.
Shopify automatically adds prefixes to your URLs. A product page will sit at /products/your-product-name and a collection page will be at /collections/your-category. You can’t remove these.
BigCommerce, on the other hand, lets you set fully custom URLs without any enforced prefixes, which gives you a cleaner structure if that matters to you.
Does it actually affect rankings? Honestly, not in any meaningful way. Google has said repeatedly that URL structure is a minor signal, and there are thousands of Shopify stores ranking at the top of competitive search results with those prefixes intact. It’s a real difference, but it’s not a reason to choose one platform over the other.
Technical SEO Foundations
Both platforms cover the basics of technical SEO well. You can edit title tags and meta descriptions on every page, product and category. Both generate XML sitemaps automatically. Both handle 301 redirects, though Shopify prompts you to create one when you change a URL, which is a useful touch that saves stores from accidentally losing link equity when products are renamed.
Where BigCommerce Has an Edge
BigCommerce includes microdata (rich snippets) built into product pages as standard. This gives search engines structured information about your products, which can improve how your listings appear in results. It also offers slightly more granular control over Open Graph settings, which affects how your pages look when shared on social platforms.
BigCommerce also handles duplicate content at the URL level a bit more carefully by default. Every page gets a unique URL, which reduces the risk of search engines indexing multiple versions of the same content.
Where Shopify Holds Its Own
Shopify’s themes are generally well-optimised for Core Web Vitals out of the box. Page speed is a ranking factor and Shopify’s infrastructure, combined with its built-in CDN, means most stores load quickly without needing a developer to intervene. The platform has also invested heavily in performance in recent years, and it shows.
Shopify also integrates directly with Semrush, which gives you actionable SEO recommendations from inside your dashboard. For store owners who aren’t SEO specialists, that’s a practical shortcut to understanding what needs attention.
Content and Blogging
Content is where a lot of eCommerce SEO is won or lost. Buying guides, category page copy, blog posts, comparison articles – these are the things that build topical authority and bring in traffic from customers who aren’t ready to buy yet but will be.
Neither platform has a particularly powerful native blogging tool, and that’s worth knowing upfront. Both offer a basic built-in blog, but if you’re serious about content marketing you’ll likely want to extend things with apps or custom development at some point. Shopify’s blog is functional but lacks features like galleries, comment threading and content tagging without third-party support. BigCommerce’s is similar in capability.
The bigger factor here is that content performance depends far more on the quality of what you publish than on which platform hosts it. A well-structured buying guide on a Shopify store will outrank a thin product description on BigCommerce every time. It’s worth investing in expert SEO services to get ahead.
The App Ecosystem
This is where Shopify pulls ahead in a meaningful way. There are over 640 SEO-specific apps in the Shopify App Store, compared to around 25 in BigCommerce’s. That gap matters because SEO is rarely a single-tool problem. You might need an app for structured data and another for redirects management at scale, for example. Shopify’s ecosystem gives you far more to work with.
The counterargument is that BigCommerce builds more of that functionality natively, so you don’t need as many apps to reach a solid baseline. Both positions have merit, of course, but for stores with complex SEO needs or those working with specialist agencies, Shopify’s breadth of tooling tends to win out.
On the flipside, however, it’s worth remembering that Shopify’s reliance on apps means costs can creep up. If you’re adding paid apps, factor that into your total cost comparison before deciding.
Site Speed and Core Web Vitals
Google uses page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals, as a ranking factor. Both platforms perform reasonably well here, but there are nuances.
Shopify’s hosted infrastructure and global CDN mean you’re starting from a good baseline on most plans. Theme quality plays a big role though. A bloated, poorly coded Shopify theme will undermine that advantage quickly. BigCommerce similarly performs well but is more dependent on how the store has been built and configured.
For both platforms, the honest answer is that speed performance is largely in your hands. The platform provides the foundation; what you build on top of it determines how fast the final store actually loads.
International SEO
If you’re selling internationally, both platforms support multi-currency and multi-language, but they go about it differently. Shopify Markets is a solid, well-integrated solution that handles currency conversion, language and regional pricing from one dashboard. BigCommerce has strong multi-storefront capabilities, which gives you more architectural control if you need to run genuinely separate storefronts for different markets.
For most UK eCommerce brands expanding into Europe or beyond, Shopify Markets is the more accessible starting point. For larger operations managing multiple distinct brands or regions, BigCommerce’s approach gives you more flexibility.
At a Glance: Shopify vs BigCommerce
| Area | Shopify | BigCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| URL structure | Prefixes enforced | Fully customisable |
| Built-in SEO tools | Good baseline | Slightly more native control |
| Redirect handling | Auto-prompts on URL change | Manual but reliable |
| SEO app ecosystem | 640+ apps | ~25 apps |
| Site speed | Strong CDN, good defaults | Solid, theme-dependent |
| International SEO | Shopify Markets, easy setup | More complex, more flexible |
| Blogging | Basic, app-extensible | Basic, similar limitations |
URL structure
Built-in SEO tools
Redirect handling
SEO app ecosystem
Site speed
International SEO
Blogging
Shopify vs BigCommerce: Which Should You Choose?
If you want more technical control without relying on apps, BigCommerce is the stronger starting point. It gives you cleaner URLs, more built-in SEO settings and slightly less to configure manually.
If you want a larger support network, more integrations and a platform that the majority of UK eCommerce brands are already building on, Shopify is the natural choice.
What both platforms have in common is this: the SEO results you get will depend far more on what you do with them than on which one you pick. A well-executed strategy on Shopify will outperform a neglected store on BigCommerce every time, and vice versa.
If you’re unsure which platform suits your business, or whether your current setup is working as hard as it should be, that’s exactly the kind of question the team at eComOne can help you answer.
Need some help with your eCommerce SEO, or perhaps you’re considering investing in PPC services? Either way, the team at eComOne knows how to elevate eCommerce brands. If you’re ready to see real results, get in touch with the team today.
At eComOne, we work with brands on both Shopify and BigCommerce and get strong results on either. If you’re not sure whether your current platform is holding you back, or whether your SEO program is set up to grow, we’re happy to take a look. Just get in touch with the team to see how we can work together.
