A hosted platform built more SEO-friendly than most — flexible URLs and built-in structured data — but its faceted search and multi-category catalogs still need crawl discipline.
BigCommerce is hosted like Shopify but gives you far more SEO control: you can set custom URL structures (no forced path prefix), it emits Product structured data out of the box, and it serves the catalog server-side over Akamai's CDN. The themes use the Stencil framework, and the platform also supports a fully headless setup via its Storefront and GraphQL APIs. The recurring issues are catalog-shaped rather than platform-limitation-shaped: refinement/faceted URLs, products living in multiple category paths, and thin or duplicated category pages.
Reference: BigCommerce SEO docs →
Measured across the 5 BigCommerce storeswe've audited — this list re-ranks itself as we scan more.
Specific to how BigCommerce is built — not generic checklist advice.
BigCommerce's product filtering generates refinement URLs that, left uncontrolled, get crawled as endless variants of a category. Use the platform's faceted-search SEO controls and canonicals so only the clean category URL is indexed.
When a product belongs to several categories, BigCommerce can expose it under multiple URL paths. Confirm canonicals resolve every variant to one product URL so ranking signals don't split.
Full fix guide →Going headless with the Storefront/GraphQL API means you're now responsible for the meta tags, canonicals, and JSON-LD that the stock Stencil theme provided automatically. Many headless BigCommerce builds ship with missing or incomplete Product schema — verify it in the rendered output.
Full fix guide →We catalog 167 BigCommerce fixes — exact steps for BigCommerce's admin and theme, each with a link to the official docs.
Ensure every product and category page is crawlable and discoverable by submitting a complete XML sitemap, fixing internal links, and removing any crawl blocks so Google can index your full catalog.
Eliminate unexpected layout shifts by reserving explicit space for every image, video, embed, ad, and late-loading widget before it loads, so nothing on your page jumps around as it renders.
Reduce Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) to under 2.5 seconds by serving your hero image in a modern format, preloading it, and eliminating render-blocking resources.
Write a unique, page-specific meta description for every page on your store so Google can display a relevant snippet in search results.
Based on 5 BigCommerce stores audited on SEOLZ
vs all-platform average
| Avg SEO | 80 | ≈ average | |
| Avg AEO | 31 | -11 below average | |
| Avg WCAG | 89 | ≈ average | |
| Avg Security | 66 | -10 below average | |
| Avg GEO | 52 | +4 above average | |
| Avg Composite | 67 | +3 above average |
BigCommerce stores score near the all-platform average. AEO is the most common area for improvement.
Search engines need to crawl and understand your catalog. We check every page for indexability, metadata, canonical tags, Core Web Vitals, internal linking, and faceted navigation — the issues that silently kill organic traffic.
Learn how to fix SEO issues →AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews pull from structured data. We audit your product schema, FAQ markup, brand signals, and E-E-A-T indicators — so your products show up where shoppers are increasingly searching.
Learn how to fix Answer Engine (AEO) issues →Is your brand mentioned when someone asks an AI assistant for product recommendations? We track your presence across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI engines — and tell you what's driving mentions up or down.
Learn how to fix AI Visibility (GEO) issues →1 in 4 adults has a disability. Inaccessible sites face ADA lawsuits — and lose customers. We run WCAG 2.1 AA checks across your catalog pages and tell you exactly what to fix.
Learn how to fix Accessibility (WCAG) issues →Security headers, SSL configuration, email authentication, and server misconfigs — issues that erode customer trust and tank your search rankings if Google flags you.
Learn how to fix Security (OWASP) issues →SSL expiry, outdated CMS versions, unverified GTM containers. The operational health checks that fall through the cracks — until they cause an outage or a ranking drop.
Learn how to fix Site Lifecycle issues →Yes — we crawl your live BigCommerce storefront, whether it's a standard Stencil theme or a headless build, and write fixes for the BigCommerce admin and theme.
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