Your BigCommerce sitemap is one of the most important technical SEO tools for getting your online store discovered by search engines. It acts as a roadmap for Google, Bing, and other search engines to find and index your products, categories, and pages. When you properly submit your sitemap, it helps search engines discover and index your content more effectively, which creates the foundation for improved search rankings and more organic traffic to your eCommerce store.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about finding, understanding, and submitting your BigCommerce sitemap to search engines.
What is a sitemap?
A sitemap is essentially a file that lists all the important pages on your website in a format that search engines can easily read. Think of it as a table of contents for your online store. Your BigCommerce sitemap includes URLs for your product pages, category pages, blog posts, and other important content, along with helpful information like when each page was last updated.
While there are several types of Sitemaps available, BigCommerce uses XML sitemap formatting. This might look intimidating at first, but don’t worry – you won’t need to edit it manually. BigCommerce handles all the technical stuff for you.
Why is a Sitemap Important for SEO?
Without a sitemap, you’re asking Google to play hide-and-seek with your website pages. That’s not a game you want to play when you’re trying to rank higher in search results.
Here’s why your sitemap matters:
Faster Discovery: Search engines find your new products and pages much quicker when they have a clear roadmap to follow.
Better Indexing: Your sitemap tells search engine crawlers like Googlebot which pages are most important and when they were last updated, helping them prioritize what to crawl.
Improved Rankings: When search engines can easily find and understand your content, your chances of ranking for relevant keywords increase significantly.
eCommerce Sites: Online stores change frequently with new products, updated inventory, and seasonal content. Your sitemap automatically updates to reflect these changes.
Locating Your BigCommerce Sitemap
Accessing Your Store’s Sitemap
Finding your BigCommerce sitemap is straightforward. Similar to other platforms like Shopify, your sitemap lives in the root directory of your domain, and you can access it using this simple format:
For stores with custom domains:https://yourstorename.com/xmlsitemap.php
For stores using BigCommerce subdomains:https://yourstorename.mybigcommerce.com/xmlsitemap.php
Just replace “yourstorename” with your actual store name or domain. When you visit this URL, you’ll see your sitemap displayed in XML format. It might look like a bunch of code, but that’s exactly what search engines love to read.
Understanding the Sitemap Structure
BigCommerce creates what’s called a “sitemap index” – think of it as a master sitemap that points to several smaller, specialized sub-sitemaps. Here’s what you’ll typically find:
- Product Sitemaps: Every product in your store gets included here, complete with product images and key details.
- Category Sitemaps: Your product categories and subcategories are mapped out for easy navigation.
- Brand Sitemaps: If you sell multiple brands, each brand page gets its own entry.
- Page Sitemaps: Static content pages like your About Us, Contact Us, FAQs, and other custom web pages are included.
- Blog Sitemaps: All your blog posts and articles are cataloged here.
This structure helps search engines understand exactly what type of content they’re looking at, which improves how they index and rank your pages.
Submitting Your BigCommerce Sitemap to Search Engines
Submitting to Google Search Console
Google Search Console is your direct line of communication with Google’s search team. Setting it up might seem technical, but we’ll break it down into simple steps.
Step 1: Set Up Google Search Console
First, head over to https://search.google.com/search-console/ and sign in with your Google account. You’ll see two verification options:
- Domain: This covers all versions of your site (www, non-www, subdomains). It requires DNS verification, which is a bit more technical.
- URL Prefix: This is what most store owners should choose. It’s simpler and covers your specific store URL.
Step 2: Verify Your Website
For BigCommerce stores, the HTML tag method is usually the easiest verification option:
- Choose “HTML tag” from the verification methods
- Copy the meta tag Google provides
- In your BigCommerce admin, go to Storefront → Script Manager
- Click Create a Script
- Choose Header as the placement
- Paste your verification code in the script contents
- Set it to apply to All Pages
- Save your script
Head back to Google Search Console and click “Verify.” You should see a success message.
Step 3: Submit Your Sitemap
Now for the main event. In Google Search Console:
- Click Sitemaps in the left sidebar
- Enter “xmlsitemap.php” in the text box
- Hit Submit
That’s it! Google will start processing your sitemap, typically within a few days (though this can vary based on your site’s authority and Google’s crawl schedule). You’ll be able to see how many URLs were submitted and how many were successfully indexed. Keep in mind that submitting URLs doesn’t guarantee indexing – Google may choose not to index pages it considers duplicates, low-quality, or blocked by your robots.txt file.
Submitting to Bing Webmaster Tools
Don’t forget about Bing—it’s the second-largest search engine and still accounts for a significant volume of searches, especially on desktop devices. It’s worth the few extra minutes.
Setting Up Bing Webmaster Tools
- Visit https://www.bing.com/webmasters/
- Sign in with your Microsoft account (or create one)
- Add your website using the same URL you used for Google
- Verify ownership using the HTML tag method (similar to Google)
Submitting Your Sitemap to Bing
- In Bing Webmaster Tools, click Sitemaps under the Configure My Site section
- Enter your full sitemap URL:
https://yourstorename.com/xmlsitemap.php - Click Submit
Bing will start crawling your sitemap and provide feedback on any issues it finds.
Troubleshooting Common Sitemap Issues
Sitemap Not Found Errors
If search engines can’t find your sitemap, here are the most common culprits:
Wrong URL Format: Double-check that you’re using the correct format. Remember, it’s /xmlsitemap.php, not /sitemap.xml or /sitemap.html.
HTTPS vs HTTP: Make sure you’re using the same protocol (https or http) that your store actually uses.
Custom Domain Issues: If you recently switched to a custom domain, your sitemap URL will have changed, too.
Server Issues: Occasionally, BigCommerce might have temporary server issues. Try again in a few hours.
Indexing Issues
Sometimes search engines find your sitemap but have trouble indexing all your pages:
Too Many URLs: If you have thousands of products, search engines might take longer to process everything. This is normal – just be patient.
Duplicate Content: Search engines skip pages they think are duplicates. Review your product descriptions and page content for uniqueness.
Blocked by Robots.txt: Check your robots.txt file (yourdomain.com/robots.txt) to make sure you’re not accidentally blocking important pages. Look for lines like “Disallow: /products/” that might be preventing search engines from accessing your product pages.
Page Quality Issues: Search engines might skip pages they consider low-quality or thin content.
Updating Your Sitemap
The great news about BigCommerce is that your sitemap updates automatically. Every time you:
- Update your product catalog with a new item
- Create a new category or subcategory
- Publish a blog post
- Add a new page
Your sitemap gets updated automatically, typically within a few hours (though timing can vary). You don’t need to manually resubmit it to search engines – they’ll discover the changes on their own during their regular crawling.
However, if you make major changes to your site structure, it’s worth resubmitting your sitemap manually to speed up the process.
Can you manually edit your BigCommerce sitemap?
No, you cannot directly manually edit the XML sitemap that BigCommerce automatically generates. The sitemap is automatically created and updated by the platform. Any changes to your products, categories, web pages, or other content are automatically reflected in the sitemap.
However, you can influence what is included in the sitemap by marking pages as visible or not visible within your BigCommerce control panel. You can also use your robots.txt file to disallow search engine bots from crawling certain pages, which effectively prevents them from being included in the sitemap for indexing.
Is there a limit to the number of pages in your BigCommerce sitemap?
Yes, the BigCommerce platform has a technical limit of 50,000 URLs per sitemap file. This is actually a limit of XML sitemap technology and Google’s preferred standard.
If your store has more than 50,000 pages, BigCommerce will split the sitemap into multiple smaller sitemap files based on content type (e.g., products, categories, blogs). When you submit your main sitemap to a search engine like Google, it will automatically follow the links to these sub-sitemaps to ensure all of your content is indexed.
Maximizing Your BigCommerce SEO Beyond the Sitemap
Optimizing Product Pages
While your sitemap helps search engines find your pages, you still need to optimize those pages to rank well:
Product Titles: Use descriptive, keyword-rich titles that customers actually search for.
Product Descriptions: Write unique, detailed descriptions for each product. Avoid manufacturer descriptions that appear on dozens of other sites.
Image Alt Text: Add descriptive alt text to all your product images. This helps with both accessibility and image search rankings.
URL Structure: Use BigCommerce’s SEO-friendly URL options to create clean, readable URLs.
Enhancing Site Speed
Search engines consider page speed as a ranking factor, and faster sites provide better user experiences:
Optimize Images: Use BigCommerce’s built-in image optimization or compress images before uploading.
Choose a Fast Theme: Some themes are more optimized than others. Test your site speed with different themes.
Minimize Apps: Only use the apps and integrations you actually need – each one can slow down your site.
Leverage Built-in Caching: BigCommerce automatically handles caching at the platform level – you don’t need to enable anything. The platform uses server-level caching, a global CDN for your images and files, and browser caching to keep your site fast. Your job is to optimize what you upload (compress images, choose efficient themes, and minimize unnecessary apps).
Leveraging BigCommerce SEO Features
BigCommerce includes several built-in SEO tools that work alongside your sitemap:
Automatic Schema Markup: BigCommerce adds structured data to your pages, helping search engines understand your products better.
Mobile Optimization: All BigCommerce themes are mobile-responsive, which is crucial for search rankings.
SSL Certificates: Every BigCommerce store gets a free SSL certificate, which search engines prefer.
Canonical URLs: BigCommerce automatically handles duplicate content issues with proper canonical tags.
Your BigCommerce sitemap is working behind the scenes to help search engines discover and index your online store. By finding your sitemap, submitting it to Google and Bing, and following the optimization tips in this guide, you’re setting your store up for better search rankings and more organic traffic.
Remember, SEO is a long-term game. It might take a few weeks or even months to see significant results, but the foundation you’re building with proper sitemap management will pay dividends for years to come.