BigCommerce SEO Case Study: How BigCommerce Wins at SEO with Simply Better Content

Achieving prominent visibility within search engine results has become crucial for businesses of all sizes in today's competitive online marketplace. 

Among the numerous factors affecting search engine optimization (SEO) success, one aspect stands out - content quality.

BigCommerce - one of the leading ecommerce platforms, has mastered the art of leveraging superior content to dominate the SEO landscape. 

By prioritizing content excellence and understanding the evolving demands of search algorithms, BigCommerce secured its position as a frontrunner in the realm of SEO. 

In this article, we’ll dive into the BigCommerce strategies that helped them use the power of simply better content and triumph in the highly competitive niche.

Let’s dive in!

BigCommerce Background

BigCommerce, founded in 2009, is a ‘hosted’ ecommerce solution that allows business owners to set up an online store and sell their products online.

‘Hosted’ means that BigCommerce runs on its own servers, so you don’t have to buy web hosting or install any software to use it. 

BigCommerce comes with a range of customizable templates to help you design your online store.

The platform enables merchants to create and manage their online stores effortlessly, with a wide range of features and integrations designed to enhance the customer experience and drive revenue.

BigCommerce mainly aims at people without design skills — but it also allows tech-savvy users to edit the HTML and CSS of their stores.

Established companies such as Gillette, Fujitsu, Ben and Jerry’s, Skull Candy, Ted Baker, and Harvard University make it a solution that punches above its weight and is trusted by serious businesses.

BigCommerce Results

BuiltWith estimates that around 47,100 live websites are currently on the BigCommerce platform.

According to BigCommerce, their revenue on December 31, 2022, was $311.7 million ARR.

By using the power of SEO and consistently excellent content writing, BigCommerce grew its organic traffic to:

• Over 6M of monthly website visitors
• Traffic value of over $3 million
• $311.7 million ARR

What’s important to mention is that their focus wasn’t on improving the traffic but on improving the quality of content and increasing conversion rates.

Here you can see how their traffic value increased to over $3M over time according to Ahrefs:

So let’s find out how their compelling product-led content(that we at Omnius create for every client)helped them achieve these astonishing results.

How BigCommerce Achieved Content Excellence with the Power of SEO and Content

1. They are Committed to Empowering Online Sellers

BigCommerce recognizes that the success of online businesses is intertwined with their ability to grow and adapt. 

Using the core selling features, BigCommerce maintained a smooth shopping experience for their customers:

• the choice of 12 free templates
• a drag-and-drop page builder and the ability to edit CSS and HTML
• the ability to sell unlimited products with flexible categories and shipping rates
• integrations with PayPal and other payment gateways
• ability to accept multiple payment methods, including credit cards and services such as Google Pay and Apple Pay
• blogging functionality
• unlimited staff accounts
• SEO tools
• integration with third-party apps
• discount coupons and gift vouchers
• product review functionality
• professional reporting option

BigCommerce offers a scalable infrastructure that fosters businesses to handle increasing customer demand and expand products without compromising performance. 

Without a high-quality product, every effort you put into marketing wastes time.

2. Identifying their USP

Besides all the features they provide users with, the main USP of BigCommerce is the ability to run multiple stores using one account.

BigCommerce differs from its competitors in that all its plans let you build not just one store but several.

This can be useful for merchants who run multiple stores or serve multiple segments (for example, B2C, B2B, retail, and wholesale).

Given that running multiple storefronts with competitor Shopify requires you to be on a $2,000+ plan or higher, this represents excellent value for money.

Identifying the proper USP that resonates with your audience is a step towards converting them much easier.

3. Focusing on the Right Channels 

Recognizing that knowledge and guidance are crucial for their success, BigCommerce goes beyond providing an online store platform.

That’s why they started offering extensive educational resources, including webinars, guides, and documentation.

With the goal of empowering businesses with the necessary knowledge and strategies to thrive in ecommerce.

And next to direct traffic, which BigCommerce primarily built with SEO, their second marketing channel is actually organic search, along with referrals in 3rd place:

It says enough about their focus on SEO and what it brought to them.

And what about social media channels?

Their primary social media traffic comes from YouTube with 37.08%, which is also organic traffic based on SEO and video content.

4. Ensuring Website Speed and Mobile Responsiveness

BigCommerce understands the significance of website speed in delivering a seamless user experience. 

By leveraging advanced caching methods, content delivery networks (CDNs), and optimized coding practices, BigCommerce page load time enhances performance. 

This focus on website speed enables them to capture and retain user attention, reducing bounce rates and increasing the likelihood of conversion.

With the increasing dominance of mobile devices on their website, mobile responsiveness stayed a critical aspect of user experience. 

By prioritizing mobile responsiveness, BigCommerce ensures that users can effectively engage and convert, who constitute a significant portion of their customer base.

According to SemRush, 32.3% of visitors come from mobile devices, and that number is increasing:

5. Thorough Keyword Research and Strategic Content Planning

BigCommerce recognizes the importance of thorough keyword research in developing a successful SEO strategy. 

According to the SemRush audit, they’re currently ranking for over 650k organic keywords in the top 100 results, and that number is in reality even higher:

Gaining valuable insights into search trends, competition analysis, and keyword opportunities allowed them to optimize their website content accordingly.

Not only are they targeting the right keywords for their niche, but the search intent and user experience are crucial in ranking over 20k keywords in the top 3 results.

And when it comes to strategic content planning, BigCommerce started creating all the content types they could provide for their users, from TOFU to BOFU content, creating:

• Educational articles
• Guides
• Webinars
• Podcasts
• Reports
• Events, etc.

Creating various formats of content for different personas, repurposing the existing ones, and doing it on a high level make their content unique and valuable.

6. Creation of High-Quality, Informative, and Engaging Content

Creating high-quality and relevant content is a key component of successful SEO. 

By educating their potential users and providing actionable tips, BigCommerce enables businesses to easily optimize their product pages, blog posts, and other content elements for relevant keywords identified through research. 

Not only do they provide them with a pretty easy-to-adapt and SEO-friendly platform, but they even educate users on how to use it effectively.

Which is a great way of using product-led content to educate and attract new users.

Here is their organic traffic trend of growth(these numbers are even higher in reality):

This amount of traffic comes from 3,376 pages.

And if you check the top 10 pages on their website, you can see that those pages bring over 40% of their total traffic and over 30% of the traffic value.

The total traffic of the top 10 pages: 350k+

Keywords these pages rank for: 31k+

Value of those pages: $1,310,400

Total traffic value: $3,288,362

Note: Focusing on your most important pages on the website and putting more effort into creating them to be much above the competition could potentially bring you many benefits.

Just as it did for BigCommerce.

Not only will it help you rank those pages, but it will also support your other pages on the website to grow easier and rank higher.

7. Incorporating Multimedia Elements and Interactive Features for Improved Engagement

By integrating visually appealing images, videos, infographics, courses, and other multimedia content, BigCommerce creates a more immersive and dynamic online environment.

These elements not only enhance the website's visual appeal but also help convey information in a more engaging and digestible format. 

On the other hand, they make their content easy to consume and navigate by including the table of contents and making their paragraphs short and easy to consume.

Furthermore, incorporating interactive features such as quizzes, surveys, polls, courses, and interactive charts encourages active participation from users. 

This interactivity fosters a sense of engagement and community, increasing the time spent on the website and driving higher levels of user engagement. 

Incorporating interactive features and breaking the content can help you can create a more compelling and interactive website that captivates users, encourages participation, and ultimately enhances the overall user experience.

And all of it leads to increased conversions which is the final goal.

8. Staying Ahead with Fresh and Relevant Content

Regular content updates and website maintenance are crucial in staying ahead and ensuring your content is always relevant.

Content updates involve refreshing and adding new content to your website to keep it current and informative. 

By regularly publishing fresh articles, blog posts, product updates, or industry news, BigCommerce provides value to its audience and improves its website's visibility. 

Fresh and relevant content signals to search engines that their website is active and valuable, increases the chances of higher rankings, and attracts more organic traffic.

On the other hand, it strengthens, even more, their authority, which is already high.

Moreover, regular content updates and website maintenance contribute to better SEO performance. 

Search engines favor consistently updated websites with fresh and relevant content, and they also consider factors such as website speed, mobile responsiveness, and user experience when determining search rankings. 

By keeping their website regularly updated and well-maintained, BigCommerce ensures constantly driving more organic traffic to their website.

Incorporating this as part of your SEO strategy and investing time and effort into these practices will undoubtedly contribute to the long-term success of your online presence.

And it will help you stay ahead in the competitive digital landscape.

Results That BigCommerce Achieved

Here’s the showcase again of BigCommerce's SEO growth through simply better content:

As you can see, they weren’t focused much on improving the organic traffic but on improving and investing in its quality, along with increasing conversion rates.

Conclusion

By providing fresh and relevant content, you engage your audience, enhance your website's visibility, and establish yourself as a reliable source of information.

Simultaneously, consistent website maintenance ensures optimal performance, and user experience, which are essential for maintaining a successful online presence. 

And prioritizing content excellence and being consistent will help you stay ahead in the SEO race.

Embracing well-defined SaaS growth strategies will be vital for your business to adapt, evolve, and succeed in the dynamic SaaS landscape.

And for that, you will need to build a team of professionals to help your business stand out. 

Or you can let the Omnius team do it for you. The choice is yours.

Book a 30-minute call to learn how you can improve your SEO and see how we can help your business reach its full potential with high-quality content.