Shopify vs WordPress for SEO: Which is Better for You?

SEO optimization is vital for businesses and websites to grow online and reach their target audience efficiently. Therefore it has become very important for them to choose the best CMS system with great SEO support. In this blog, we will discuss Shopify vs WordPress for SEO. Which is better? Read to get more insight! 

Businesses that want to establish themselves online are always riddled with questions like

1. Which CMS platform is better for their website?
2. Which platform's SEO plugins are the best?
3. Or, Shopify vs WordPress for SEO, which is better for my e-commerce store?

In this digital world, your online presence and reach can really decide the fate of your business. Whether your business will do well online or fall down to the depth of no returns can depend on which CMS platform you choose. 

But the purpose of this blog is not to discuss these factors. Leaving behind factors like visibility, ranking, and traffic, we will focus on the first step new business must take when establishing a website online. 

The very step to creating your website, if you do not already know, is to choose the most suitable platform for launching your website.

While going through the list of all the possible CMS platforms you can choose, two platforms stand out:

1. WordPress
2. Shopify

Many new businesses get confused about which of these platforms they should use. This blog will help to end the debate between Shopify vs WordPress for SEO.

Shopify vs WordPress for SEO: Why Choose WordPress?

Before we compare the sites and get into the intricacies of Shopify vs WordPress for SEO, we must look at the basics. The first contender in this battle between Shopify vs WordPress for SEO, we will look into WordPress.

There are actually two versions of WordPress CMS available. These two types include:

1. Hosted WordPress: It is available at wordpress.com.
2. Self-Hosted WordPress: It is available at wordpress.org

The hosted version of WordPress is similar to Shopify, on the other hand, the self-hosted version is open source allowing users the ability to customize heavily.

The hosted version allows users to access a wide range of features for an annual fee. Users can use these features to build and maintain websites, simple blogs, and even e-commerce sites.

Following is a side-by-side comparison of hosted and self-hosted WordPress: 
 

In the endless debate about Shopify vs WordPress for SEO, you should also know why you should rely on WordPress. 

Why use WordPress?

To have a better understanding of Shopify vs WordPress for SEO, let us consider why the latter is so popular.

As you might already know, WordPress started as a blogging platform, which has now transformed into a giant website builder with a robust CMS. For a long time, many businesses have utilized WordPress for various purposes, including e-commerce. 

Following are some reasons why a lot of companies, as well as individuals, rely on WordPress:

1. The very first reason that attracts a lot of people is the fact that WordPress is free. However, you need to remember that you would indeed have to pay for domain name and hosting services. 
2. Secondly, it is very easy to use; therefore, individuals with no prior experience in website building can easily establish their website using its user-friendly interface. 
3. Thirdly, as we have already discussed, WordPress is completely customizable. This is especially useful for those lacking web designing and programming knowledge. In addition, they have a large array of plugins for you to choose from.
4. Finally, WordPress is SEO friendly, to the point you can even say SEO and Google love WordPress. Therefore, a lot of businesses prefer WordPress over any other CMS.

Shopify vs WordPress for SEO: What Choose Shopify?

The Shopify vs WordPress for SEO comparison will always be incomplete without familiarizing with Shopify. Unlike WordPress, Shopify is a complete e-commerce platform handy for small businesses. Their platform allows businesses and merchants to start, grow, and manage online businesses. 

With Shopify's help, people can build customized online stores to sell their products and services.

So, is Shopify edging past in this competition between Shopify vs WordPress for SEO? Let us look into it!

Why Use Shopify?

Now, to build our case for Shopify, in the battle between Shopify vs WordPress for SEO, let us look at the merits of the former.

According to a statistic, about 1.59 million live websites use Shopify for their business. Following are some reasons why you should use Shopify to establish your e-commerce brand:

1. First, Shopify is easy and very convenient to use, so even if you are an amateur in website building, you can easily use Shopify to build your website.
2. Secondly, Shopify offers a few website builder plans that you can choose from. Depending on your chosen type, it could either be cheap or expensive.
3. Thirdly, Shopify is especially popular with SaaS SEO services companies with great app integration.
4. Lastly, Shopify is also very reliable regarding security and offers standard add-ons to help you. 

Why Compare Shopify vs WordPress for SEO?

Coming back to the main point, WordPress and Shopify have proved very useful for business. However, the question still stands which is better: Shopify vs WordPress for SEO? 

Finding the best CMS is very important for businesses considering establishing themselves digitally. 

Keeping the debate of Shopify vs WordPress for SEO aside, we can easily say that these are two of the best e-commerce platform out there. After all, the end goal of all online businesses is to sell their products and services to earn profits. 

But each of these platforms has its distinctive USPs. Depending on your business needs, you can opt for Shopify vs WordPress for SEO needs.

Shopify vs WordPress for SEO: WordPress

WordPress is one of the oldest CMS platforms, and according to a statistic, it powers around 43.1% of the internet. This percentage is huge enough to convince many people of how impressive WordPress is. WordPress has built-in SEO features, in addition to the many SEO Plugins available in the WordPress Library. Therefore, WordPress is the favorite when it comes to SEO. 

So, why should businesses opt for WordPress over Shopify in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO contest?

Here are some advantages of WordPress in regard to SEO:

1. We already know WordPress is an open-source platform that allows users to customize their website to suit their purpose best. This feature enables developers to optimize the website for technical SEO, making it an ideal choice for businesses seeking an SEO optimisation company.
2. WordPress also has many plugins and themes to help businesses easily perform technical SEO. This means you do not have to edit the codes or even know coding to optimize your website.
3. After Google's mobile-first indexing, mobile SEO has become very important for sites to better their ranking. WordPress offers mobile responsive themes, so the design layout and the other elements would automatically adjust for mobile users.
4. Another good feature of the WordPress platform is that it allows users to customize their URLs. This a point in favor of WordPress in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO conversation.
5. Site speed is an important factor that can help your website's ranking. A site that has slow loading times also has more bounce rate. WordPress allows users to optimize their site's speed with their plugins.
6. WordPress's built-in editor allows users to create and publish blogs easily. In addition, they also give you the freedom to customize the website's metadata. For SEO, both the content and metadata are important. This is an important factor to consider in Shopify vs WordPress for SEO debate.
7. WordPress also has an excellent community being the world's most popular content management system. Therefore, plenty of resources and strategies are available to help you optimize your website to its maximum potential.

This was our case for WordPress in comparing Shopify vs WordPress for SEO.

Shopify vs WordPress for SEO: Shopify

So, where does Shopify stand in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO challenge? This section will tell us!

Shopify, in comparison to WordPress, might not be as popular. However, it is very useful for e-commerce. Shopify helps businesses by taking care of the website of basic ranking functions like:

1. XML sitemaps
2. Indexing

Shopify is more focused on e-commerce marketing. Moreover, users can even optimize to perform well on the search engine. So, as a brand why should you choose Shopify in Shopify vs WordPress for SEO purposes?

Following is the list of SEO-focused advantages Shopify offers.

1. One of the biggest advantages of Shopify is excellent site speed and high performance. Shopify has amazing built-in features like data structuring, automatic image compression, etc., that help improve the website's overall speed and performance. This is an important factor in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO battle.
2. Secondly, Shopify has a built-in schema markup for SEO, so you do not have to manually create it. This can help websites by making them easier for the search engine to understand.
3. Next, Shopify also allows search engines to easily crawl and index your website by automatically generating sitemaps.
4. Similar to WordPress, Shopify also offers themes that are very mobile-friendly and mobile-responsive. This can help the website by improving their website's ranking and visibility.
5. Another advantage of Shopify is the ability to integrate with SEO tools easily. This way, businesses can easily track their site's performance. This takes Shopify past WordPress in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO debate.
6. Lastly, Shopify also offers SEO Plugin options to further increase their website's performance. 

After looking at how both WordPress and Shopify support, we conclude that WordPress wins in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO debate. However, this does not mean that Shopify is not good for SEO, just that it cannot win compared to WordPress.

Comparing Shopify vs WordPress for SEO

When it comes to SEO, both Shopify and WordPress have their own pros and cons. However, to fully understand which is better, here is a side-by-side comparison of Shopify vs WordPress for SEO:

WordPress	Shopify
WordPress is very SEO-friendly, making it the popular contender in the Shopify vs WordPress for SEO debate.	On the other hand, Shopify is also very SEO-friendly but does not have the same flexibility as WordPress.
WordPress will give you full control of the site; therefore, you can easily customize it, as well as optimize it for SEO.	Meanwhile, Shopify may support SEO to an extent, but it cannot provide the same control as WordPress.
WordPress offers a variety of plugins for site speed optimization. This is important when considering Shopify Vs WordPress for SEO.	Shopify is better than WordPress regarding site speed since they manage server optimization for their users.
WordPress is more focused on content management.	While Shopify is designed to support e-commerce.

From this comparison, it becomes very obvious that when it comes to Shopify vs WordPress for SEO businesses might prefer WordPress.

WordPress vs Shopify for SEO e-Commerce

While Shopify and WordPress are very popular among e-commerce businesses, we should also know what makes them different. The difference between Shopify vs WordPress for SEO lies in their purpose. Shopify is an e-commerce platform primarily designed for creating and managing online stores. 

On the other hand, WordPress started as a blogging platform that soon developed into a CMS platform that businesses could also use. WordPress does not have a built-in e-commerce function. However, it provides an e-commerce plugin like WooCommerce to help users. 

Since Shopify is designed to accommodate online stores, all of its tools can help businesses establish their websites, manage online sales, and market products and services.

Thus, businesses whose priorities are more toward e-commerce might prefer Shopify. When comparing Shopify vs WordPress for ecommerce, Shopify wins by a clear margin.

We hope this blog could answer your doubts on Shopify vs WordPress for SEO choices.

Conclusion

Many businesses wishing to establish their business online wish to find the best platform with a good SEO. Therefore, they are often riddled with the dilemma of Shopify vs WordPress for SEO; which is better? The solution to this question is complex because both WordPress and Shopify platforms have their own pros and cons. 

Only after going through all of their advantages can a business decide which platform will suit their goals the most.

If you want to adopt a robust SEO strategy, consult the experts at Gigde. Connect with us to hear our take on Shopify Vs WordPress for SEO. 

FAQs

Q.1 How much is SEO on Shopify?

The cost of SEO on Shopify may vary on your business-specific needs and goals. Businesses can even perform basic SEO practices on their own; however, if they hire a professional, the expenses can depend on the type of packages they offer.

Q2. Which hosting is best for WordPress?

Following is the list of some of the best hosting providers on WordPress:

1. Ionos
2. Hostinger
3. Bluehost
4. HostGator
5. Site Ground

Q3. What is SEO friendly domain?

An SEO-friendly domain is a domain name that is relevant to your website's content and even contains the relevant keywords. SEO-friendly domain names should be concise and without special characters. 

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