I sell things online. Real things. Candles that smell like rain. A small batch of tea. And once, a goofy T-shirt shop that got way too popular on Tuesday nights. So I care about SEO. If people can’t find my stuff, my cart stays lonely.
Over the last few years, I’ve run stores on Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, and one big build on Magento (Adobe Commerce). I’ve broken things. I’ve fixed them. I’ve watched pages fall off page one, then climb back up after a simple tweak. You know what? SEO is part art, part plumbing. If you want the blow-by-blow notes from my platform showdown, I published a full breakdown of the test for the data nerds.
Let me explain what I saw, what I touched, and what actually moved the needle.
What I Look For (Plain and Simple)
- Fast pages, even on mobile
- Clean URLs that make sense to humans
- Control of titles and meta descriptions
- Easy 301 redirects when names change
- Solid sitemaps and robots control
- Schema markup for rich results
- Blog tools that don’t fight me
- Filtered pages that don’t blow up duplicate content
- Easy image alt text
- Local and multi-language support, if needed
Need a refresher on why each of these basics matter? This e-commerce SEO best-practices guide breaks them down in plain English.
Not every platform gets all of that right. Some try. Some make you work.
Shopify: Fast and Friendly, But the URLs Bug Me
I love Shopify for speed. My soap shop on Shopify felt snappy right out of the box. I used a clean theme, resized images to WebP, and turned on lazy load. Boom. Green lights in Core Web Vitals most days.
Real example:
- I had a product page at /products/sea-salt-soap.
- I changed the handle and set a redirect from /products/sea-salt-soap to /products/sea-salt-ocean.
- It took two minutes. Traffic didn’t skip a beat.
- Three weeks later, organic clicks were up 18% for that product, mostly from a better title tag and a short FAQ section I added in the description.
What I liked:
- Auto sitemaps and clean 301s
- Apps for JSON-LD schema that “just work”
- Robots edits now possible with robots.txt.liquid (I blocked ?view= quick views)
- Built-in CDN and good image handling
What made me grumble:
- You’re stuck with /products/ and /collections/ in the URL. I wanted /shop/soap/sea-salt. Nope.
- Blog slug lives under /blogs/. Not cute. Also, the editor is basic.
- Variant pages can get messy. I had to make sure canonicals were set so Google didn’t index color variants by accident.
- Collection filter pages can duplicate content if you don’t plan.
A tiny win:
- I added a short “buying guide” to my main collection pages. About 150 words with two internal links. Organic traffic to those pages rose 38% in 90 days after the update. Same products. Just better copy and structure.
Verdict: Shopify is fast and stable. Great for focus and growth. The URL thing still bugs me, but you can rank hard with good content and a tidy theme.
WooCommerce: Full Control, Big Power, More Chores
My tea store runs on Woo. I host it on a LiteSpeed server with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin. I also use Rank Math for SEO. I like control. I like clean permalinks. And I love how my blog ties in.
Real example:
- I had a post, “How to Brew Oolong Tea,” and linked it to product pages for two oolong types.
- I used schema with a HowTo block and added FAQs.
- A month later, I saw rich results for that post. Click-through rate jumped from 3.8% to 6.1%.
- Product pages got a lifting tide effect—more internal links, more trust, more sales.
What I liked:
- I set URLs how I want: /tea/oolong/da-hong-pao
- I can tweak canonicals, noindex, and schema, all in Rank Math
- Image compression with ShortPixel, done on upload
- Blog is a beast on WordPress. It just is.
What made me sweat:
- Plugin updates broke my product schema once. Took an evening and two cups of coffee to sort it out.
- Hosting matters. Cheap hosting gave me slow TTFB. I had to move.
- Security and backups need real care. I use daily off-site backups now. Learned that the hard way. If you’re operating WordPress in a network, see how I protected files on a WordPress Multisite—it’ll save you from a few gray hairs.
Another honest bit:
- I spent more time on upkeep with Woo. But my control paid off. Over six months, organic sessions grew 52%. A lot came from long-form guides and tight internal links.
Need inspiration for how niche guides can drive traffic outside of product pages? Take a look at this laser-focused Asian dating guide—it shows how deep, culturally aware content combined with clear next steps can capture competitive keywords and funnel readers smoothly toward a sign-up. Likewise, a well-structured, location-based piece—such as this detailed guide for aspiring sugar daters in Greece’s capital, Sugar Baby Athens—shows how answering hyper-specific local questions can pull in motivated visitors and direct them toward a sign-up or the next logical conversion.
Verdict: If you want full control and you’re okay doing the work (or paying a dev), WooCommerce is a powerhouse for SEO.
BigCommerce: Solid Built-Ins, Quiet Workhorse
I ran a client’s parts catalog on BigCommerce. Lots of filters. Lots of SKUs. Not fancy, but steady.
Real example:
- We had filters like size, color, and thread count that made tons of URLs.
- BigCommerce let us noindex certain filter combos and keep a clean canonical to the base category.
- We built “editorial” copy on the top of key category pages—about 120–200 words—and pushed buying guides below the fold.
- Category traffic rose 22% in three months, and we kept crawl waste way down.
What I liked:
- Good control over faceted navigation without wrestling ten plugins
- Easy redirects and sitemap handling
- Fast enough without heavy tuning
What bugged me:
- Themes felt stiff at times
- The blog is… fine. But I prefer WordPress for content heavy plays.
Verdict: For mid-market catalogs with many filters, BigCommerce keeps SEO clean without a fight.
Wix: Way Better Than It Used To Be
I used Wix for a local bakery that shipped cupcakes. About 120 SKUs and lots of seasonal items.
Real example:
- We set custom meta titles, added alt text on all product images, and used Wix’s structured data tool.
- They ranked in the top three for “wedding cupcakes [city]” within two months. The site wasn’t blazing fast, but it was okay.
What I liked:
- SEO setup is straightforward
- Redirects are easy
- Schema is no longer a mystery
What I didn’t love:
- Heavy JavaScript can slow big catalogs
- Limited control versus Woo or Shopify for deep technical stuff
Verdict: For small stores and local sellers, Wix can absolutely rank. Keep the catalog tidy and the images light.
Squarespace: Pretty and Simple, Just Don’t Push It
I put an artist’s print shop on Squarespace. Clean look. Very brand-first.
Real example:
- We added short stories to each collection page, like “How I Shot This Series,” and used image alt text that actually described the scene.
- Rankings were strong for brand terms and a few niche phrases like “moody coastal prints.”
What I liked:
- Clean markup out of the box
- Easy 301s and sensible meta control
- Great for small catalogs and brand storytelling
What got in the way:
- Custom schema per product is doable but clunky
- Filters and big catalogs feel cramped
- The blog is nice, but not as flexible as WordPress
Verdict: Great for small, visual shops. For complex SEO plays, it’s not my pick.
Magento (Adobe Commerce): A Tank With a Manual
I worked on a 20k SKU Magento store for a client. Lots of layered navigation, stores in two languages, and strict SEO rules.
Real example:
- We set canonicals on category pages and noindexed certain layered nav pages.
- We built a feed for Google Merchant Center with clean GTINs.
- After a round of speed work and schema fixes, we saw a 19% lift in organic revenue in one quarter.
What I liked:
- Powerful SEO control at scale
- Multi-store and multi-language features that don’t feel like a hack
What wore me out:
- Dev time. Nothing is “just a quick fix”
- Hosting costs and caching setups are not beginner friendly
Verdict: For enterprise and complex catalogs, Magento can be a beast—in a good way—