Migrating an ecommerce website from BigCommerce to Shopify can create new opportunities for growth, but it also introduces important SEO and data risks BigCommerce Shopify migration.
A platform migration can change product URLs, category structures, metadata, internal links, technical settings, and site architecture. If these changes aren't handled correctly, search engines may struggle to understand the new website, potentially resulting in broken pages, traffic loss, or ranking changes.
A successful BigCommerce to Shopify SEO migration therefore requires more than transferring products and customers. Businesses need a structured process for preserving important data, mapping URLs, implementing redirects, maintaining metadata, and monitoring organic performance after launch.
Why SEO Matters During BigCommerce to Shopify Migration
Search engines have already indexed your BigCommerce website.
Over time, your store may have accumulated:
- Organic rankings
- Backlinks
- Indexed product pages
- Category rankings
- Brand visibility
- Organic traffic
When moving to Shopify, the website's URL structure and technical architecture may change.
For example:
Old:
example.com/category/product-name
New:
example.com/products/product-name
If the old URL disappears without an appropriate redirect, users and search engines may encounter a 404 page.
The goal of an SEO migration is to preserve as much of the existing search equity as possible while improving the new Shopify store.
1. Crawl and Audit the BigCommerce Store
Before making any changes, create a complete SEO inventory of the existing website.
Identify:
- Product URLs
- Category URLs
- Blog URLs
- Important landing pages
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Canonical URLs
- H1 headings
- Internal links
- XML sitemap
- Indexable pages
- Organic traffic
- High-ranking pages
- Backlinks
Use analytics and search performance data to identify the pages that matter most.
Don't assume that every URL has equal SEO value.
A product page generating significant organic traffic deserves more attention than an outdated page with no impressions or visits.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
One of the most important parts of the migration is URL mapping.
Create a spreadsheet containing:
| Old BigCommerce URL |
New Shopify URL |
Redirect |
/old-product |
/products/new-product |
301 |
/old-category |
/collections/new-category |
301 |
Map important old URLs to their most relevant new destinations.
Don't automatically redirect every old page to the homepage.
If an old product has been replaced by a similar product, redirect it to the relevant replacement.
If an old category has been reorganized, redirect it to the closest equivalent Shopify collection.
3. Implement 301 Redirects
Shopify uses a different URL structure from BigCommerce in many cases.
Common Shopify structures include:
/products//collections//blogs/
Old BigCommerce URLs may therefore need redirects.
A 301 redirect tells search engines and users that a page has permanently moved.
Before launch, make sure important old URLs have appropriate redirects.
After launch, monitor for:
- 404 errors
- Redirect chains
- Redirect loops
- Incorrect destinations
A redirect that points to an irrelevant page may provide a poor user experience even if it technically resolves.
4. Preserve Product SEO
Product pages often generate significant organic traffic for ecommerce businesses.
When migrating products, preserve important information such as:
- Product names
- Product descriptions
- Product images
- Product attributes
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Image alt text
Avoid changing product content unnecessarily during the migration.
If you're already dealing with a platform change, making hundreds of unrelated content changes at the same time can make it harder to determine why rankings change.
5. Preserve Category and Collection SEO
Category pages can rank for valuable commercial searches.
BigCommerce categories may need to be recreated as Shopify collections.
Review:
- Category names
- URLs
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Introductory content
- Internal links
For example, if an existing category ranks well for a valuable keyword, don't remove it without creating an appropriate equivalent.
Shopify collections can provide the new destination while a redirect connects the old URL to the new one.
6. Preserve Metadata
SEO metadata should be reviewed during migration.
Important elements include:
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- H1 headings
- Image alt text
- Canonical URLs
Titles should remain relevant to the page's search intent.
Avoid automatically generating identical metadata for thousands of products if unique information already exists on the BigCommerce store.
The migration is also an opportunity to improve obvious metadata problems, but major SEO changes should ideally be planned separately from the technical migration.
7. Check Canonical URLs
Canonical tags help search engines understand which version of a URL should be considered the primary version.
After moving to Shopify, review canonical behavior across:
- Products
- Collections
- Blog pages
- Content pages
Pay particular attention to products with variants and pages that can potentially be accessed through multiple paths.
The goal is to ensure that the canonical configuration accurately reflects the preferred indexable URLs.
8. Preserve Internal Links
Internal linking is often overlooked during ecommerce migrations.
Review links between:
- Products
- Collections
- Blog posts
- Buying guides
- Landing pages
Links should point directly to the new Shopify URLs rather than continuing to reference old BigCommerce URLs.
This reduces unnecessary redirects and helps search engines understand the new site structure.
9. Migrate Structured Data
Structured data can help search engines understand ecommerce pages.
Depending on the website, structured data may include information about:
- Products
- Prices
- Availability
- Reviews
- Breadcrumbs
- Organizations
After migration, verify that structured data is still present and correctly implemented on important page types.
Don't assume that simply installing a Shopify theme guarantees that all previous structured data has been preserved.
10. Review XML Sitemap and Robots Settings
Shopify generates its own sitemap structure.
After the migration:
- Check the XML sitemap
- Verify important pages are included
- Check robots directives
- Make sure important pages aren't accidentally blocked
The new sitemap should be submitted through Google Search Console after launch.
Also make sure the Shopify store isn't unintentionally left with settings that prevent search engines from crawling or indexing the site.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
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Google Search Console is particularly important after a platform migration.
Monitor:
- Indexed pages
- Search queries
- Clicks
- Impressions
- Average position
- Coverage
- 404 errors
- Crawl problems
Compare performance with the period before migration.
Some fluctuations can occur naturally, but significant traffic or ranking declines should be investigated quickly.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
1
SEO migration isn't only about redirects.
The new Shopify website should also provide a strong technical experience.
Check:
- Mobile usability
- Page loading
- Image optimization
- Core Web Vitals
- JavaScript
- Navigation
- Product page performance
Homepages and product pages often contain large images, applications, tracking scripts, and other elements that can affect performance.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
2
Backlinks pointing to old BigCommerce URLs should not simply disappear.
Use backlink analysis to identify important external links pointing to:
- Products
- Categories
- Blog posts
- Landing pages
Make sure those URLs redirect to appropriate Shopify destinations.
For particularly valuable backlinks, contacting the referring website and asking them to update the destination URL can also be useful.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
3
A staging or development version of the Shopify store should be thoroughly tested before going live.
Check:
Technical SEO
- Robots settings
- Canonicals
- Sitemap
- Structured data
URLs
- Product URLs
- Collection URLs
- Blog URLs
- Redirects
Content
- Titles
- Meta descriptions
- H1s
- Product descriptions
- Images
Ecommerce
- Products
- Variants
- Pricing
- Inventory
- Checkout
The goal is to identify problems before search engines and customers encounter them.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
4
SEO migration doesn't end when Shopify goes live.
Continue monitoring:
- Organic traffic
- Keyword rankings
- Indexed pages
- 404 errors
- Redirects
- Search impressions
- Click-through rates
- Conversion rates
Compare performance against the pre-migration baseline.
If an important page loses visibility, investigate whether the cause is:
- Incorrect redirect
- Missing content
- Changed URL
- Canonical issue
- Indexing problem
- Internal-link issue
- Technical performance problem
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
5
Launching Without Redirects
Old URLs can become inaccessible, creating broken links and potential SEO losses.
Changing Everything at Once
A platform migration is already a major change. Avoid making unnecessary changes to URLs, content, categories, and site architecture simultaneously.
Forgetting Internal Links
Internal links should point to the new Shopify URLs.
Ignoring Old High-Traffic Pages
Important pages deserve additional migration attention.
Not Monitoring After Launch
Some problems only become visible once search engines crawl the new website.
Redirecting Everything to the Homepage
Redirects should point to relevant replacement pages whenever possible.
2. Create a BigCommerce to Shopify URL Map
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A successful BigCommerce to Shopify SEO migration is about preserving the value that the existing website has already built while creating a stronger foundation for the future.
The most important steps include auditing the BigCommerce store, mapping URLs, implementing 301 redirects, preserving product and category content, maintaining metadata, checking canonical URLs, updating internal links, validating structured data, submitting the new sitemap, and monitoring Google Search Console.
Data preservation is equally important. Products, customers, orders, images, and other essential information should be transferred accurately and validated before launch.
The migration should also be treated as an opportunity to improve the website's technical foundation, mobile experience, navigation, and conversion performance.
The objective isn't to guarantee that rankings will never fluctuate. Search engines may need time to process the new site. Instead, the goal is to minimize unnecessary disruption and give search engines clear signals about the relationship between the old and new websites.
With careful planning, testing, redirects, and post-launch monitoring, businesses can move from BigCommerce to Shopify while protecting valuable organic visibility and creating a scalable ecommerce platform for future growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
URLs
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Create a complete URL map, implement relevant 301 redirects, preserve important content and metadata, maintain internal links, check canonical URLs, submit the Shopify sitemap, and monitor Google Search Console after launch.
URLs
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Rankings can fluctuate after a platform migration because URLs and technical signals may change. Proper SEO migration practices can help minimize unnecessary ranking and traffic losses.
URLs
2
Yes, when important BigCommerce URLs change during the migration, appropriate 301 redirects should be implemented to connect old URLs with their relevant Shopify destinations.
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3
Maintain relevant product content, map the old product URLs to the new Shopify URLs, implement 301 redirects, preserve metadata and internal links, and monitor individual product performance after launch.
URLs
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Some URL structures may be different because Shopify uses its own ecommerce architecture. Where URLs cannot remain identical, appropriate redirects should be created.
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Backlinks pointing to old URLs can continue to provide value when the old URLs correctly redirect to relevant Shopify pages. Important backlinks should be identified and monitored during the migration.
URLs
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There is no fixed recovery period. Search engines need time to crawl and process the new website, and the timeline can vary depending on site size, crawl frequency, redirects, technical implementation, and the number of URLs being changed.
URLs
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A redesign can be performed during migration, but businesses should be careful about changing too many SEO variables simultaneously. Separating major content and architecture changes from the technical migration can make performance easier to monitor.
