SEO by platform
BigCommerce SEO, step by step: where each setting lives
Nine settings in the order to change them, where each one lives in your BigCommerce control panel, and the BigCommerce help article that says so.
The settings, in order
Work down the list once. Each step names the menu, what BigCommerce does by default and what to set.
0 of 9 done
Use maintenance mode, not a hidden store
Channels > the storefront's action menu > Make inactive
When you take the store offline for big changes, BigCommerce shows search engines a maintenance page with a 503 response, which tells them to come back later. Make the storefront active again as soon as you're done.
Fill in the homepage SEO fields first
Settings > Website > Search Engine Optimization
Any product, category or page with blank SEO fields borrows the homepage's title and description, which gives the store duplicate titles. Set the homepage fields first, then each page's own.
Check it free: SERP snippet previewWhat is Title tag?BigCommerce Help Center: SEO fields
Write a title and description per page
Products: edit a product > SEO; Storefront > Web Pages > Edit > Advanced Options
Each page type keeps its SEO fields in a different place. BigCommerce advises a unique title under 60 characters that starts with a relevant keyword.
Check it free: Meta description generatorWhat is SERP?BigCommerce Help Center: SEO fields
Keep URLs on SEO Optimized (Short)
Settings > URL Structure
The default puts the product name straight after the domain. Custom formats are possible, but BigCommerce warns that changing store URLs can hurt SEO badly and recommends the Short setting if you're unsure.
Check it free: URL slug generatorBigCommerce Help Center: SEO fields
Check the 301 redirects
Settings > 301 Redirect > Create Redirect
Renaming a product, category or web page creates a 301 for you. When you delete a product, point its old URL at a category or a similar product.
Check it free: Redirect checkerBigCommerce Help Center: 301 redirects
Write an image description for each photo
Edit a product > Images & Videos > image description
BigCommerce calls alt text the image description. Left blank, every image on the product uses the product name, so describe each photo on its own.
Verify the store in Search Console
Settings > Data solutions > Site Verification Tags
Add a URL-prefix property in Google Search Console, copy its HTML tag and paste it into the Site Verification Tags field. Verification lasts as long as the tag stays in the store's header.
Submit xmlsitemap.php, not sitemap.xml
yourdomain.com/xmlsitemap.php, then Search Console > Sitemaps
The store's XML sitemap lives at /xmlsitemap.php and is split by page type; you submit only the main URL. /sitemap.php is a page for people, not the one to submit.
Check it free: Sitemap checkerWhat is XML sitemap?BigCommerce Help Center: sitemaps
Read robots.txt before you edit it
Settings > Website > Search Engine Robots
Every store ships a robots.txt that keeps search engines out of the cart, checkout, account and search pages. Rules you add are merged with those defaults, and BigCommerce warns that a mistake can hurt your SEO.
Check it free: Robots.txt testerWhat is robots.txt?BigCommerce Help Center: robots.txt
Every step is from BigCommerce’s own documentation, read 29 Sep 2026.
What SearchBlueprint does for a BigCommerce site
A planning tool, not an editor: it doesn't change your BigCommerce settings. It crawls your site and tells you which searches to go after and which page should win each one.
Try each one below, on SearchBlueprint’s own plan for its own site
1Starting from a blank list
Your keyword list, started from your own site.
Most keyword tools hand you thousands of phrases. Your plan starts from your own BigCommerce site instead: the searches you already show up for, and the ones a site like yours could rank for.
- Your current position for each search you rank for
- Searches a site like yours could rank for, marked not ranking yet
- Monthly searches and cost per click for each keyword
- #71
free website traffic rankings
170 searches a month · $6.33 a click
- #71
web traffic statistics free
110 searches a month · $10.71 a click
- #50
spy seo
30 searches a month · $20.47 a click
- #80
what is my hosting
30 searches a month · $3.45 a click
2Which page gets which search
Give each search its own page.
You've watched two of your own pages chase the same search and neither win. Every keyword you confirm goes to one page. Where two pages compete, you're told which ones, and where nothing fits, the plan suggests a page to create.
- One main keyword per page, across the site
- A warning when two of your pages compete
- Pages to create, where no page answers a search
40 pages mapped · 2 to build
Primary keyword
seo automation
1,900 searches a month · KD 14
Page
- /
3What people ask ChatGPT
Questions to answer for ChatGPT and AI Mode.
People ask ChatGPT full questions, not two-word searches. From the keywords you pick, your plan drafts the questions a buyer might ask and ties each one to a page. You keep the ones that sound like your customers.
- Questions for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Mode
- Each question tied to a page
- Remove any that don't sound like your customers
5 of 5 kept
4On a paid plan
A title and description for every page.
Confirm your keywords once and every page gets a title and a meta description in one list, ready to paste into each product's SEO fields. Your BigCommerce site only changes when you paste them in.
- A row for every page, not just the homepage
- Based on the keywords you confirmed for each page
- New pages to consider, listed with your current ones
- Keyword
- seo tool for agencies
- Secondary: client seo reporting, seo software for agencies
- Meta title
- SEO Tool for Agencies: Every Client Site | SearchBlueprint
- Meta description
- Run SEO and AI search plans for every client site, with branded reports and share links your clients open without a login.
- Recommended H1
- SEO for every client site, in one workspace
Publishing to BigCommerce
Writing opens to customers in October.
The connection publishes to the built-in blog with a store-level API account's access token, addressed by your store hash. It starts in draft mode like every connection, posts land with title, body and a meta description mapped into the native blog, and once a post is live the verifier fetches the storefront URL and records what came back.
- 1
Create a store-level API account
In the control panel, go to Settings, then Store-level API accounts, and create an account with content modify scope. Copy the access token.
- 2
Note your store hash
It is the short code in your control panel URL, store-XXXX.mybigcommerce.com. On a control panel with two stores, check the hash against the store you mean.
- 3
Connect and test
In the project's Publishing tab, choose BigCommerce, paste the token and store hash, and send a test publish. Check the post under Storefront, then Blog.
Native blog, no plugin
Posts land with their title and body mapped into BigCommerce's built-in blog. There is no category hierarchy to map, and your theme controls the rendering.
Docs: BigCommerceDrafts until you say otherwise
The connection starts in draft mode, so posts wait in your control panel until you publish them or switch the connection to publish live.
Docs: BigCommercePublished means the public URL answered
After every publish we fetch the public URL and record what came back. Published shows only when the page was found, a fresh 404 waits out a grace window, and a server error never concludes the page is missing.
Docs: Publish verificationArticles come off a planned calendar
Plan items on the content calendar and write them two ways: click Write on a card, or let Auto-write pick each one up at midnight on its calendar date. Both run the same researched pipeline, which drafts the article and then revises it against the content score across sweeps.
Docs: Content calendarEvery article is scored before you ship it
The content score runs 36 fixed checks in 6 categories, with no randomness anywhere: the same page always produces the same score. Each check comes back as a pass, a warn or a fail, and each failure names its specific fix.
Docs: Content score
What it won’t do on BigCommerce
Better to know before your first publish.
We do not set the post thumbnail: BigCommerce takes it as a path inside its own image manager, not a URL. Add the thumbnail on the post in the BigCommerce blog editor.
We send the post title and a meta description, and nothing for a separate SEO title. Set it on the post in the BigCommerce blog editor.
The API account must keep its content scope. Editing the account's scopes in BigCommerce can silently drop it.
- Docs: BigCommerce
Questions people ask
Why am I getting a 401 on publish?
Token or scopes. Store-level API accounts are the supported kind here, and the account needs content modify scope. Create a fresh account with the right scopes and paste its token.
The post exists but the blog page 404s. Why?
The store's blog is disabled in storefront settings. Enable it, the posts were saved and appear once the blog itself is visible.
My store's blog actually runs on WordPress. Which connection?
WordPress. The connection follows where the posts must land, so a WordPress blog next to a BigCommerce store wants the WordPress connector.
See the plan for your own BigCommerce site
Your first plan is free and needs no card. It shows your rivals, the searches people type to find sites like yours, and which page should answer each one.
- Free first plan
- No credit card
- Keep your plan