If you’re looking to optimize your store’s SEO, Shopify has a wealth of features and a robust community that are perfectly suited to this task.
As well as featuring prominently in the platform’s name, Shopify is frequently touted as being the best e-commerce platform for entrepreneurs who want to get their product into as many hands as possible without having to heavily rely on expensive third-party agencies to manage their SEO for them.
That’s an appealing proposition, but is it truly the best option for every business? We examine the key differences between Shopify and other platforms in the hope of guiding you toward a more suitable choice that will better serve your digital marketing goals.
Key Differences Between Shopify And Other E-Commerce Platforms
While there are a host of benefits that come with Shopify, the platform does have its downsides. Chief among these is the fact that it’s a bit more complex than some of its competitors. In addition to the challenge of learning the platform and its features, you’ll have to contend with regular maintenance and updates (which are a costly affair).
If these considerations are weighing on you, Shopify might not be the best choice for your business. One alternative is simply to go down the path of least resistance and opt for an established e-commerce platform that’s already been tested and proven to work. In this case, you might want to consider WooCommerce or Magento as a base.
Features.
With its emphasis on cutting-edge technology and providing a modern and functional user experience, it’s no wonder that Shopify is frequently touted as the best e-commerce platform for entrepreneurs who want to get their products into as many hands as possible. The platform’s flexibility and built-in features provide an abundance of options for boosting your product’s exposure and driving sales online.
From SEO to PPC, from email marketing to automated product deliveries, and so much more, Shopify’s feature set is quite comprehensive and boasts all the modern conveniences that entrepreneurs and businesses in general demand in this day and age.
Not sure what type of feature Set you need or want?
That’s completely understandable. With so much choice and flexibility, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
Take your time and explore the different features and their options to find the best fit for your business. Don’t be afraid to experiment and play around with different combinations and setups until you find a configuration that suits you perfectly.
Remember: you’re the expert of your store and the only person who knows exactly what type of features you need and want. So, take all the time you need and discover the ideal solution for your unique brand and business.
Cost.
The cost of a tool matters, and in this case, it’s not solely about the price of the software. The cost of maintenance and updates also need to be considered. The good news is that Shopify is quite cost-effective when compared to other platforms. You’ll pay only for the features that you use and as a result, you can get a good return on your investment.
Just bear in mind that Shopify does come with a price. But for a business just getting started and looking for a solution that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, it’s hard to avoid opting for this platform.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Shopify’s pricing plans do offer substantial discounts for students and entrepreneurs. So if you’re in full-time education and you’re launching a new store, you might want to consider opting for the free plan. At least, for now.
Community.
If you’re looking to build a community around your brand, you’ll want to consider what type of platform you use. In terms of e-commerce, Shopify is the undisputed king when it comes to providing a robust community of users who are eager to engage with your brand.
From tutorials to forums to blogs, the platform provides an abundance of resources for those who want to learn more about doing business online and for those who are looking to connect with other entrepreneurs.
You can also take advantage of the platform’s built-in social media features to spread the word about your brand and its products online. From blogging to Facebook Live, from Twitter to Instagram, there’s a social media platform out there that can help you reach your audience and establish a strong community.
On the other hand, if your objective is to just sell your product and keep your customers informed about your company’s latest news and promotions, you might want to consider opting for an e-commerce platform that provides more discreet interaction and limits the amount of social media exposure that your product can receive.
What Is Shopify SEO
When you create an online store, one of the first things you need to do is to figure out how to get the most out of it. You want to attract as many potential customers to your website as you can, which is why you put in the hard work to make it look great. You also want to ensure that when a customer does click on a product or service, that they are confident the page they land on will assist them in meeting their needs.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to have high-quality and relevant website content that will engage potential customers and encourage them to make a purchase. The main purpose of SEO (search engine optimization) is to drive traffic to a website through organic searches on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO is a relatively simple process that involves using keywords and backlinks to promote an online business or brand.
You can use keywords in various ways to optimize your content. You can choose a word that is relevant to your business and add it to the content you post on social media and websites. You can also look at your competitors’ websites and see what keywords they are using on social media to gain more traction in the SEO world. You can even look at the SEO of websites that are similar to yours to see how they are using certain words and how you can incorporate them into your own content.
Backlinks are another important part of SEO. Backlinks are simply nodes that point to other websites and describe your relationship to the linked page. When someone clicks on a link, they will typically be taken to the linked page. Let’s say you are on Facebook and you click on a product that takes you to an eCommerce store, that’s a backlink.
Backlinks can be valuable, so much so that Google regularly updates its algorithms to seek out backlinks and even penalizes websites that don’t have them.
Building backlinks is fairly straightforward; you can do this by acquiring other websites’ authoritative content that is relevant to your business and distributing it on your own website. You can also use social media to start discussions with bloggers and other prominent figures in your niche.
Why Should You Care About SEO?
With each new generation of online shoppers, the expectations of what an e-commerce website should provide have changed. Gen Z, for example, expects completely different things from an e-commerce website than their parents did. According to HubSpot Blogs’ research, 89% of Gen Z say they use search engines regularly to find products they want, versus 70% of millennials.
Despite this, many entrepreneurs still struggle with knowing how to get their businesses found on the internet. If you are looking for a way to optimize your e-commerce website so that it can reach its full potential, then this article is for you.
SEO can help you figure out how to position your business in the digital world. Having an SEO-optimized e-commerce site can help attract customers to your business, convince them to make a purchase, and help you understand which products and marketing strategies will work best for your business.
To achieve an SEO-optimized e-commerce site, you need to work with an SEO company that can implement a robust strategy designed to grow your business on the internet.
An SEO-optimized e-commerce site will have a combination of the following three elements:
- Keywords – You have to have keywords in your content, meta tags, and site URL. Each element can be optimized independently, but together they form a powerful search engine marketing (SEM) strategy.
- Links – Backlinks are extremely important for any website, but even more so for an SEO-optimized site. When a user clicks on a link, they will be taken to a different website. Backlinks allow you to create a digital trail that will point a user to your website if they are looking for products or services you offer. When other websites refer to your business or brand, it is typically considered “link building,” and this is also keyed into Google’s algorithm.
- Content – The perfect SEO-optimized e-commerce site will have high-quality and valuable content that is relevant to its target audience. Having relevant content that is interesting and well-written will make your site more popular on social media channels such as Facebook.
The process of optimizing your website for SEO involves using various tools to identify relevant keywords, determining the most effective placement for these keywords, and experimenting with different methods to drive traffic to your site.
You don’t need to be a technical expert to optimize your site for SEO. In fact, most SEO companies are fully capable of doing the technical work for you so that you don’t have to over-explain what you’re doing. As long as you’re providing them with relevant content and letting them know what keywords you’re aiming for, they can get to work on improving your site’s SEO.
Top Keywords for E-commerce
To effectively use keywords in SEO, you need to analyze the competition. Luckily, there are various tools that can help you do this. Here are the top keywords for e-commerce that HubSpot Blogs’ research found to have the highest search volume — meaning there are tens of thousands of searches per month.
The Final Word
To end this article, let’s briefly review what we’ve covered so far. We started with the basics – what is SEO and why is it important to your business?
Then, we took you on a whirlwind tour of the different e-commerce platforms and how they compare and contrast one another. Naturally, this was followed by a rundown on Shopify itself. Now, it’s time for you to make the right choice for your business.
Hopefully, this article will help you make the right choice when selecting an e-commerce CMS (content management system). If you found this article valuable, be sure to check out our guide to SEO for e-commerce, which goes into more detail about SEO for e-commerce.