which platform is better for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes in 202Y? i will be launching a new site very soon, but i would like to here from the redditors before i select one. 35 💬🗨
illusory I'd say anything you have full control over is preferable to depending on a platform to implement the features you want. It is like deciding wether to build a house vs renting a mostly furnished apartment. Iwillbewealthy I use WooCommerce because I've been a WordPress user for 10+ years.
I develop WooCommerce sites to test markets with and then implement full ecommerce sites so its just easier to improve on a concept site than start all over with Shopify.
But it wasn't lost on my that majority of my competitors are on Shopify. In fact out of 6 or 7 sites that are direct competitors at least 4 are on Shopify, none on WordPress.
The reliability and stability of Shopify cannot be stated enough. Any changes can break WooCommerce for you. You might install a backend plugin to do something and it could break an unrelated checkout process issue and you won't know it until you investigate a drop in sales for 5 days.
Stability and reliability is very important for ecommerce. A lot of ecommerve won't be relying on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that much, majority will be getting off trending social media (paid) and Pay Per Click (PPC).
A really big player in my vertical uses WordPress and Magento. I saw wp-content links and knew they were on WordPress but their site had /Magento/ links in them.
They are a big retailer and have 10s of thousands of inventory.
I would use WooCommerce for myself, majority of you are SEO consultants, I would advise clients to just use Shopify to save headaches.
Don't worry about server issues, Content Delivery Network (CDN). Performance is so important in ecommerce. Sites need to look instantly. I have some customers spending 30 minutes on the site, with 25+ page loads. These people need performance and reliability.
I don't understand what's special with WooCommerce SEO. It's just a matter of content, page titles, descriptions. Ability to make posts and pages for long-tail keyword grabbing. I'm sure you can do that easily in Shopify as well.
MoonEdd ✍️ thank you so much for this in depth explanation
alphazwest Both can be implemented in a way that is robust in terms of SEO structure.
Generally, I find WooCommerce the solution for those that want flexibility and don't mind doing things themselves and Shopify for those that want to focus more on the sales/product side of things–not minding hiring a developer or using a somewhat cookie-cutter product.
"Cookie cutter" might be a poor wording. "Standard-issue" might be better. IDK.
FYI — I've spent most of my eComm time using WooCommerce and/or Magento over the years. jackiseo Are you talking about e-com store right? Here's my take on this Magento is robust and big corporations use it, it also requires a developer or full team.
WordPress woocomerce is good for small site that has products under like 100 Shopify is better for more products but its not open source so you will be at their mercy. Opencart is another great option, similar like WordPress but is dedicated towards stores, also its open source like WordPress.
In terms of SEO what matters? • Site speed • Meta tags • User Experience (UX)/User Interface (UI) • Technical SEO (robots.txt, permalink structure, canonicals, duplicate content and bunch of few hundred other things)
First 3 points (Site speed, meta tags, ux/ui) can be done nicely irrespective of platform/Content Management System (cms). The only thing that left is Technical SEO
Any platform that is open source gives you full control and so you will be able to implement best technical seo implementations easily.
Full control also means: • You will be responsible for hosting & stability • server security & firewalls • keeping code clean (updating themes/plugins) • basically managing hosting or server yourself or if you can't manage server yourself then there are managed options out there not so cheap.
You might have another question Why Virtual Private Server (VPS)/dedicated server for woocomerce site instead of shared hosting?
Shared hosting : slow hosting with shared resources among hundreds or thousands of other sites. techymechky I will keep it simple just like your question!
If you're an expert on WordPress go with WooCommerce!
If you're a newbie then choose Shopify!
Price – Shopify is not cost competitive as WooCommerce however, it if you do not know the in and out about WP then youay actually end up paying similar cost + time. Shopify takes care of everything on the other hand and charges premium rate.
SEO – WooCommerce pages rank better Shopify however, dropshipping today rely more on advertising than so if you're planning to spend heavily on ad, both are okay but if you're conservative on ads then WooCommerce
Good Luck with your journey!
kabornman Agree. If you've never done this before, start with Shopify.
JessycaFrederick I've used them both. I prefer Shopify for ecommerce for many reasons that have nothing to do with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I am an SEO and SEO would not be my first concern when choosing an ecommerce platform. You have adequate control on both. • Fraud prevention (they started doing this after I shut down my Shopify store, but I had been a victim of credit card fraud and there wasn't any recourse) • Banking is all built in, no need to configure and keep up with security changes • Customer information security \- I don't trust WordPress to be secure enough to secure my customers' data • I have (and had) several affiliate relationships where the partners are (were) on these two platforms. The ones on Shopify always convert better. There are a lot of reasons for this, but one big one is that they have a seamless checkout process.
thecafebean Shopify is great if all you need is a simple e-commerce site. It is another story if you need a plugin that does a current thing. And most all plugins for Shopify are charge per month.
Also, if you have a site that they don't like, they will shut you down. Shopify is always changing their Terms Of Service (TOS), and they do check the sites on their platform.
I have found I don't like not owning plugins, lack of control, and being shut down for not picking a popular niche. So I would say WooCommerce all the way. lonelyschnozz Yay! I get to use the phrase "it depends". If you want full control over your site I would opt for WooCommerce, but if you want a solid e-commerce platform that gives you pretty much all the tools needed for good SEO go with Shopify, it really has improved its SEO capability over the years (heck, they have Kevin Indig on their team, one of the smartest SEO users in the game!)
P.S. If you're migrating from Magento or WooCommerce to Shopify I would definitely get a pro in to do the migration; the worst I've seen is a 45% loss in organic traffic from not doing a proper migration to Shopify. Ouch! carlosandresl Hello, I think Shopify is an excellent tool for setting up your e-commerce website, but it's not as well-suited to SEO as WooCommerce is. For your Shopify site to rank well on Google and other search engines, you'll need to go through lengthy and time-consuming processes \- none of which are necessary on WooCommerce. HTMLPanda WooCommerce is a one-stop solution for all your e-commerce business needs. It is free, easy to set up & use, fast, and versatile. It has everything you need to establish a successful e-commerce store. In short, WooCommerce is a complete package. If you want to grow your e-commerce business, look no further than WooCommerce.
Top Reasons Why You Should Choose WooCommerce for Your Online Store Development • Open-Source, Free, and Easy to Us • Back-end with WordPress • Highly flexible and customizable • Fast and performance packed • SEO Friendly Platform • Tons of Themes, Plugins and Extensions • Cost Effective
