Even a slight delay can be enough for potential customers to click away in search of a better alternative. With this in mind, it’s vital that your WooCommerce store is fast, responsive, and fully optimized for easy navigation.

In this article, we’re going to explore how to optimize your WooCommerce store. These help to maximize your chances of conversion and turbocharge your store for quick and reliable performance.

These easy-to-implement tips range from choosing the right theme to streamlining your plugins and cleaning up your WooCommerce database.

How Does Website Speed Affect Conversions? 

But first, let’s look a little deeper into why speed matters when it comes to your WooCommerce store. We’ll learn how to measure your site’s current performance as every second is important for keeping visitors’ attention at your WooCommerce store.

Slow loading times increase your bounce rate, with each additional second bumping your bounce rate percentage up. Bounce rates are important because they indicate the percentage of visits in which users viewed only a single page before clicking away.

If bounce rates are high, search engines will lower your rankings. They are a strong indication that your website performance is poor or your content is not useful.

This matters because a low search engine ranking means that fewer visitors will find their way to your store in the future.

Ideally, you want to keep your WooCommerce store loading times no longer than around the two-second mark—that’s where bounce rates begin to increase exponentially. Research has found that one out of every four visitors abandons a website that takes more than four seconds to load.

What’s worse is that if potential customers have a disappointing experience with your store, they are unlikely to ever return again. 

Website speed becomes even more important on important eCommerce holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With competition at its highest and a whole range of tempting offers to choose from, customers are even less likely to stick around on clunky and inefficient websites in this crucial period.

Always make sure that your WooCommerce store is fully optimized before the holidays to maximize your conversions and gain an edge over the competition.

How to Measure the Performance of Your WooCommerce Store

So how to check the performance of your WooCommerce store? And how to measure if your adjustments are having the desired effects?

The next step is measuring the performance of your WooCommerce store. When you’re trying to check the performance or measure if any adjustments made are working out, you can turn to website speed tests. An example of such a site is Pingdom.

This free performance testing tool is one of the most popular among WooCommerce store owners. It’s often given praise for its ease of use and simple, graded results.

Pingdom also gives actionable insights on the areas that can be improved for faster speeds, making it easy for you to identify your problem points.

To test things like WordPress Plugins, themes, and other functions, use Query Monitor.

Query Monitor helps to quickly identify problematic plugins, as well as any themes or functions that are not compatible with each other.

It also enables:

• Debugging of database queries
• PHP errors, hooks, and actions
• Block editor blocks
• Enqueued scripts and stylesheets
• HTTP API calls
• And more

Query Monitor is free and saves time that you’d otherwise spend manually uninstalling and updating plugins while trying to search for the culprit.

The kind of technical information that Pingdom and Query Monitor provide is useful as it provides clear and actionable data on how to improve to boost site performance.

However, be careful not to rely on numbers alone—the actual user experience is far more important than your performance score. Always test the usability of your site by visiting it frequently yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for the opinion of other visitors too.

How to Optimize Your WooCommerce Store

We’ve gained some insights on how to measure your store’s performance—now we need to address improving it.

Naturally, there are quick and simple methods you can utilize to improve your conversions. For example, implementing cart abandonment measures that reach out to customers leaving your site early.

While this optimizes your customer’s journey and experience, there are other ways you can optimize your store in general. Let’s check out a few easy and effective tips that you can implement immediately.

Check Your WooCommerce Settings

The most obvious place to start is by ensuring that your WooCommerce settings are properly adjusted to the needs of your store.

A few effective changes you can implement here include:

• Disable pingbacks: Pingbacks are unique, automated comments that are created when you link to another blog post. While linking to other sites can be somewhat beneficial to your SEO, pingbacks are often abused by spammers and only serve to clutter your site with low-quality links and unnecessary queries that slow down your site.
  
  
• Limit the blog post’s number on your feed: Keep the blog posts on your feed down to a reasonable number. For example, 10—just like this article. While it might seem a small detail, fewer blogs to load leads to faster loading times. These kinds of small tweaks can add up to the better overall performance.
  
  
• Change login page URL: WordPress provides a site login URL by default, which is domain.com/wp-admin/. Bots, spammers, and other shady characters know this, so it’s a good idea to change it to avoid attacks.

Explore your WooCommerce settings and set limits for any unnecessary features that might slow down your loading times. As well as blog posts and pingbacks, you can also consider implementing limitations on your site. For example, how many reviews and images do you choose to display on your pages? 

Don’t Go Overboard With Plugins

There are thousands of WordPress plugins to choose from. Many of these are useful, which is why many WooCommerce merchants load up on plugins as the answer to all their store’s problems.

However, not all plugins are created with the same quality and compatibility. Some can cause problems and affect your store’s performance.

The more plugins you install, the more likely you’ll see conflicts arise. More plugins make it difficult to keep an eye on their functionality and whether they need any updates.

Think carefully when choosing plugins for a clear and specific purpose. Research plugins thoroughly beforehand and ensure that the benefits outweigh any potential negatives.

One way to lessen compatibility issues is by utilizing WooCommerce Extensions. These are tailor-made for your eCommerce store and are much more likely to work seamlessly together.

There are many different extensions for virtually every need. This includes:

• Marketing automation
• Shipping
• Inventory
• Analytics

These allow you the freedom to select the areas of added functionality that best fit the needs of your business.

Compress Your Images

High-quality images are vital for any ecommerce site that you should not compromise on. However, images are also your site’s largest element in terms of data. This means they drastically affect your performance if they aren’t properly optimized.

Start by choosing your images carefully, including only those that serve a clear purpose. When you’ve done this, reduce the file size of your chosen images using a tool such as Imagify, Optimole, or Shortpixel. These handy plugins compress your images without sacrificing too much in terms of quality.

WP Rocket is another handy option, especially if your site requires a lot of images. It allows you to introduce lazy loading, meaning that an image will only load when the user scrolls down to it, rather than downloading them all at once upon opening. This will make your initial loading time much shorter, as your site only needs to load the images at the top of the page.

A quick checklist for image optimization includes:

• Choose your images in the correct format (JPEG, PNG, etc)
• Compress your images using suggested plugins
• Make sure your images are responsive to fit mobile devices
• Use lazy loading on images that require scrolling to reach

Choose the Right WooCommerce Theme

There are thousands of different themes to choose from. It’s tough to settle on the one that best represents your personal taste and the character of your store.

Looks can also be deceiving—your chosen theme might look great, but it may come with several negatives. For example, it might come packaged with unnecessary functions and features that dramatically affect the speed and performance of your site.

The key is to choose a theme that looks great and fulfills your particular business needs, yet is lean and fast enough to keep your loading times down.

To help you make your choice, check out the 10 fastest WooCommerce WordPress themes in 2021 as tested by WP Rocket. Start by listing all of the features that you need for your store (multiple languages, one-click checkout, quick view functionality, etc.) and choose a fast theme that best meets your requirements.

These fast themes are flexible in terms of design, so you should have no problem customizing them to an aesthetic of your choosing.

If you can settle on a fast, reliable, and suitable theme from the very beginning of your eCommerce journey, you’ll avoid many of the most common website performance issues and will drastically cut down on the number of plugins you’ll need to install in the future.

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

We’ve looked at some pretty useful ways to directly optimize your store so far, but none of these things solve the problem of distance. If you’re based in the UK and someone is opening your page in Australia, there’s always going to be some performance lag.

This issue can be solved by delivering from a server that’s closer to the user’s location. That’s why it’s useful to invest in a WordPress CDN.

WordPress CDN is a global network of servers that can cache and deliver resources wherever your customers are located. This includes images and JavaScript for faster loading times.

A CDN automatically determines the closest server to the user’s location and delivers your site’s content from there. This results in decreased loading times of up to 50%.

It’s generally better to choose a CDN with a wide variety of server locations spread evenly across the world, especially if your store caters to an international audience. StackPath is a fast and popular CDN that has servers across the world, including:

• The United States and Canada
• Australia
• Spain
• France
• England
• Germany
• Poland
• Belgium
• Sweden
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• South Korea
• The Philippines
• Brazil

Investing in a CDN is essential for global eCommerce businesses. It helps deliver a fast, consistent experience for their customers—no matter where in the world they are located. However, if you have a very localized audience, your optimization efforts would be better directed elsewhere.

Cache Your WooCommerce Store’s Resources

You can temporarily store pages on your site that look the same to all users on the server or user’s device for quicker loading on the next visit. For example, with similar-looking product pages.

This is known as ‘caching’ and is one of the easiest and most effective ways to speed up your WooCommerce store.

Caching essentially reduces the amount of work that WordPress has to do every time someone browses certain static pages on your site. In fact, frequently visited pages with no dynamic content can be loaded almost instantaneously when they have been effectively cached, drastically improving the browsing experience for the user. 

You should try to use caching as much as possible on your WooCommerce store. It helps with load speeds and reduces the strain on your web server. Some hosting providers and CDNs provide caching capabilities, which automatically implement bytecode cache, object cache, and page cache at the server level.

However, if your hosting provider doesn’t handle caching, you’ll need to find third-party solutions in the form of plugins. Cache Enabler is an excellent free option for those on a budget, providing reliable and fast caching for a full range of image formats and with easy-to-use settings. For more advanced options, WP Rocket is again a premium service, but it does come with a price.  

Optimize For Mobile Users

With more than half of all internet traffic now shopping from mobile devices, it’s surprising to find (and annoying for consumers) that many eCommerce retailers have still not optimized their websites for mobile users. 

Check that your store is mobile-friendly by entering your URL into Google’s mobile-friendly test tool. This enables you to see your site as a mobile user would and will list any inconsistencies or issues that you might have. This is the ideal place to start when optimizing your store for mobile devices, in addition to exploring your store with your own mobile device.

A few tips to streamline your store for mobile users include:

• Choosing the right theme: Not only should your theme be fast, lean, and look great, but it should be responsive for mobile devices too. Take this into consideration when choosing your theme.
  
  
• Keep pages simple: Endless scrolling to find a product isn’t fun, so keep your pages as simple as possible. You can include an easy search function to help customers quickly find what they need.
  
  
• Make checkout an easy process: Checkout on mobile devices can be difficult if there are too many fields to enter, so eliminate steps where possible. Consider adding WooCommerce extensions such as WooCommerce Social Login and One Page Checkout to simplify the process.

Regularly Update Your Store and Plugins

Both WooCommerce and WordPress receive regular updates that improve speed and security, as well as all kinds of useful features. Keep an eye out for these updates and make sure that you install them when they become available. This is an easy and effective way to improve the performance of your site.

Your theme, extensions, and plugins will also receive updates from time to time, so keep on top of these too. If you find that one of these third-party additions to your store has become obsolete and is no longer supported by its developers, make sure you properly uninstall it and find a suitable replacement.

That being said, we’ve all had experiences with updates that were buggy, slow, or less useful than what came before. With this in mind, it’s useful to check out some reviews on WordPress forums first. This is especially true if you rely heavily on third-party plugins—it only takes one malfunctioning or incompatible element to disrupt your entire site.

Remember to keep a recent backup close at hand—just in case something goes wrong with your updates.

Keep Your Database Clean

Your WooCommerce database is growing all the time. It includes things like order history, user account data, product information, and much more. If you leave your database unchecked, all of this information can quickly begin to affect the performance of your site.

Manually removing certain aspects of your database is time-consuming and risky—you could quite easily delete vital information and cause all kinds of problems for your store. Fortunately, there are some handy database optimization plugins that can do the job for you, keeping your database lean and efficient by safely removing unnecessary clutter.

Check out WP Sweep and WP Optimize for database optimization, these are both great options that deliver results quickly and easily.

WP Sweep is the simpler of the two. It’s a smaller plugin that is focused only on cleaning your database. WP Sweep focuses on old revisions, expired transients, and database tables, as well as disabling non-essential features that can slow down your store’s performance.

WP-Optimize also offers these cleaning services as well as a few other optimization features. These include regular scheduling and more granular control of which items you’d like to remove. 

Invest in Quality Hosting

You can optimize everything from your side, but things can still run slowly. With so much of your site’s performance depending on the quality of your server, it’s time to check your hosting provider to make sure that it’s up to scratch.

Shared hosting arrangements, which divide a server’s resources between a number of users, are popular and cost-effective, particularly for eCommerce retailers who are just beginning their journey. This is a reasonable solution if you have relatively low traffic to your growing store and are hosted by a well-known and reliable provider.

However, as your business grows, you’ll need to upgrade your hosting to manage the higher number of visitors to your store. A common step up from shared hosting is via an optimized eCommerce hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS), which allocates server resources to each individual user according to their needs, rather than sharing a common pool. This gives you more control and customization of your settings and allows you to pay for better plans with faster speeds if needed.

Taking it a step further, dedicated hosting enables you to have exclusive access to your own server. This is a much more expensive option but gives you the best flexibility in terms of choosing your own configuration and enjoying the best possible performance.

High-traffic stores that experience considerable spikes over busy periods should consider dedicated hosting, but most other businesses should manage well with a high-quality VPS arrangement. Whichever you choose, make sure you do your research and choose a reputable provider—good hosting is one of the best investments you can make for your WooCommerce store.

Wrap Up

With website conversion rates dropping by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time, time is literally money when it comes to the speed of your WooCommerce store.

By taking the time to test, adjust, and optimize your website, you’ll maximize your chances of conversions. Ideally, it should load within two seconds. This way, you’ll make sure that users are getting the shopping experience that they expect.

Not only that, but search engines are much more likely to give you a high ranking if your site is quick, responsive, and has relatively lower bounce rates. 

Run through the tips provided in this article to find areas of your store’s performance that you might be able to improve. Remember, good technical scores and percentages aren’t the only goals here—test your results on real-life users as well as the testing tools suggested.

Ultimately, there are all kinds of different things to consider when running a successful eCommerce business. However, by getting the basics right and offering a fast, reliable WooCommerce store, you can move forward with confidence—safe in the knowledge that you are building on firm foundations.

Are you looking for the perfect WordPress BackUp plugin? With many options available out there with different use complexity, we have selected a list of well-tested WordPress Backup plugins that we have used personally over the years on our WordPress centric projects.

So, without further ado, here are the top backup plugins you can try out for your new or existing WordPress projects.

Top Backup WordPress Plugins for 2022

●     UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin

●     Duplicator Backup Plugin

●     BlogVault – Backup & Staging

●     BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin

●     Backup Guard – WordPress Backup and Migrate Plugin

●     All-in-One WP Plugin

UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

When it comes to free backup plugins, none of the other options mentioned in this article come close to what UpdraftPlus has to offer.

Image Source: WordPress.org

With over 3 million active installs and a 5-star rating, you don’t have any reason not to use this plugin for your backup needs.

UpdraftPlus is a WordPress Backup plugin that makes backing up and restoring websites as easy as pie.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It integrates with top cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, UpdraftVault (Their personalised cloud storage), Rackspace Cloud and much more to allow Website to Cloud Storage Direct Backups.

Image Source: WordPress.org

UpdraftPlus even supports direct backups via FTP which makes it one of the most extensible Backup plugins available for free on the WordPress Repo.

Another extra feature which you would expect to pay for is Scheduling Backups. With UpdraftPlus, you can automate backups daily to any selected storage location for absolutely no cost.

UpdraftPlus also has a premium version (with pricing starting at $70 for two site licenses) which extends its functionality, even more, features like Incremental backups, a powerful add-on for smooth migration (Migrator), an option to backup non-WP files, database encryption and

More storage destinations.

You can download UpdraftPlus from here.

Duplicator Backup Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

Duplicator is a WordPress Backup/Migration plugin that enables WordPress owners to Backup their site for absolutely free.

With more than 20 million total downloads since release and 1 million active installs, this is amongst the most popular WordPress Backup you can consider.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Duplicator works by creating a package that contains parts of your website you want to backup; you have the option to backup your database, site plugins, files or your entire installation.

The free version of the plugin allows you to backup and download your site to your local machine as frequently and much as you want.

Image Source: WordPress.org

You can restore a backup using their wizard (Quite complicated for beginners) or install on a new server if you want (migration).

To Backup your site to cloud storages like google drive & dropbox, you would need to upgrade to the Pro version which pricing starts from $59 & comes with some extra advanced backup features as well.

With the Pro version of Duplicator, you can schedule backups daily, weekly or even monthly and Duplicator will automatically store each snapshot to a selected cloud storage location.

This feature gives complete peace of mind as you always know your site is secure with several backup snapshots arranged by date.

All for a one-time fee of $59 (license for three websites)

Even without the Paid version, it is still considered one of the best plugins to backup your website with

BlogVault – Backup & Staging

Image Source: WordPress.org

If you are a total non-tech-savvy WordPress user, then you might most likely run into problems trying to use the other BackUp plugins on this list. Well, not except BlogVault.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Blog Vault is a backup plugin that takes out all the complexity in backing up your WordPress website and restoring them.

Image Source: WordPress.org

We included this plugin because it does not require any technical skills to use; you simply install it and follow the setup wizard and voila; it does all the work for you.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It comes with many premium features (provided for free) like incremental backups, free offsite storage, one-click backup restore, migration, etc.

Blogvault is not just a Backup plugin, but more of a Backup service just like hosting backup tool notably “CodeGuard” that is used by Bluehost among its package addons, Blogvault is actually used by some of the largest web hosting companies out there.

From WPEngine, Pantheon, FlyWheel to many more and aids their free migration services.

It comes with several other features like migration and staging, with Backups being the main focus.

The premium version of the plugin (starting at $89 a year) provides backups in real-time as well as being completely compatible with WooCommerce with a Backups Archive period of 90 days.

If you just want an easy way to backup your WordPress website, you can try out Blogvault, but I would advise you combine this plugin with another as your backup data is stored on an external server that can go offline anytime any day.

You can try BlogVault out by downloading from the WordPress Repo.

BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

One good alternative to UpdraftPlus you could consider if run into issues with it is BackWPup.

Image Source: WordPress.org

This plugin shares many similar features with UpdraftPlus and allows you to backup your WordPress Website for free.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It also allows Cloud storage locations with a few services like Google Drive being limited to Premium users only.

Image Source: WordPress.org

You can back up just individual parts of your websites like the Mysql database or your WordPress installation with ease.

With a 4.5 star rating and regular plugin updates every month, this could be the best option for your backup needs.

You can download the BackWPup plugin from your WordPress plugin repo.

Backup Guard – WordPress Backup and Migrate Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

Backup Guard is a Backup/Migration plugin that provides you with an easy way to backup, restore, and migrate WordPress Website.

What we like about this plugin is its simple and easy to use User interface, especially the dashboard.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Backups are sorted by date of creation and you the option to either download them to your local machine or Dropbox for free.

Image Source: WordPress.org

To add more Cloud Storage services, you would need to purchase the premium version of the plugin, but by default, the free version allows you to move your backups to dropbox.

It also has BackUp scheduling, Notifications, and migration features just like the other plugins on this list but only for Premium users.

Image Source: WordPress.org

The only thing free about this plugin is creating unlimited backups and restoring them.

You can download the Backup Guard plugin from your WordPress plugin repo.

All-in-One WP Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

All in One WP plugin is actually a migration plugin that can be used for backing up your WordPress website.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It provides functionality to backup (in an export file) your entire WordPress website, including the database, media files, plugins, and themes without any technical knowledge.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It is also quite extensible and does support cloud storage locations like Dropbox, FTP, Google Drive, Amazon S3, OneDrive Box, MegaNZ, DigitalOcean, Microsoft Azure Storage, etc. on purchase of the extension.

With each extension having a starting price of $50 50 $99, this is considered pricy compared to the other plugins on this list.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It provides an easy Drag & Drop backup restoration wizard which makes this ideal for backing up small sites with minimal content if you consider going for the free version.

You can download the All in One Plugin from your WordPress plugin repo or the WordPress.org plugin page here.

Our Personal Favourite (Recommendation)

UpdraftPlus no doubt, has the best to offer when it comes to backing up WordPress website.

Not only is it a powerful plugin, but it’s also free with several premium features you would otherwise pay for to use on other backup plugins.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Duplicator is also a good option but only when you have plans of migrating your backup to another server at a later date as it’s straightforward to do that with the duplicator.

Finally, a tip that’s worth mentioning, if you prefer to minimize the plugins installed on your site, then in that case, then you should know that there are some hosting companies out there that offer Automatic Backups feature. So you might want to keep that in mind

Conclusion

Each Backup plugin has there advantages and disadvantages, it up to you to test them and find the one that works best for what you’re trying to achieve.

You might need to upgrade to a premium version to get what you want but at the end of the day, you should have a well functioning Backup Plugin working smoothly.

Also, make sure you have more than one backup location, never put all your eggs in one basket, i.e. storing backup files in the same server as your website.

Anything can happen, and at any time, so you have to be ready.

That’s all for this article. We hope you found it useful, If you have a question about any of the plugins on this list, please do not hesitate to add a comment below and we would respond as soon as possible

This is a common showdown among users who are confused as to which to pick. Whether you’re a beginner or long-term user, looking at redesigning your website or want to commence a bandwagon for your product or content. Then stick around till the end and know how much impact the right platform can do on your site.

We are going to dive in deep, strategically covering up the necessary points that would aid your knowledge and reading. 

So, if you’re in search of a simplified yet detailed understanding of both platforms. Then stick around, read to the end, and let us know what you think in the comment section. 

What is WooCommerce?

So, for the better understanding of readers, most especially newbies who are inexperienced with the whole concept of WooCommerce. Or are wondering why they come across the word so much but have no idea what it means. Long-term users, on the other hand, can just follow the overview in a like-mind.

WooCommerce is not exactly an eCommerce site but the significant feature it offers as an open-source plugin for all sites to make it function properly as an eCommerce site.

WooCommerce kicked off in 2011, but now, it is the most popular eCommerce platform utilized by over three million users on their WordPress site. This plugin is installed and activated on the website. 

One distinguishable feature between WooCommerce and Shopify is that the former is distinguished to be a natural platform for WordPress and it is flexible and convenient for users to modify their site to their discretion since it is self-hosted. By self-hosted, it means the store files remain in a single server that is embedded in it, unlike Shopify. 

What is Shopify?

Shopify was launched in 2004, but unlike WooCommerce, the former is not an open-source platform but runs powerful features provided to its user at a monthly fee and commission. But aside from this, it makes up for this by providing users with reliable and user-friendly components that are variously employed to run their eCommerce store.

Another notable feature is the fact that Shopify employs a user-friendly nature that gives room for beginners and individuals with no technical skills. However, the utilization means that your store would run by Shopify software which although is wide but limited. Therefore, you can only make modifications that are permitted by the software, unlike WooCommerce which is self-hosted. 

Trend Overview

Although this is not a major factor for you to decide which is best for your site. But since we are looking at a lot of grounds in this article, we are going to cover the market share trend and figure out the popularity level of both platforms.

As claimed by BuiltWith, it states that as of 2018, 21% of websites employ the use of WooCommerce compared to Shopify that uses 18% of users’ websites. And this research was carried out on the top one million sites on the web.

But with more critical analysis, the research done with other top ten thousand websites stipulates that WooCommerce is 17% behind Shopify and it is greatly utilized by top authority companies. WooCommerce is seen as one of the top alternatives to Shopify but the differences give room for both platforms to grow and perhaps outgrow. 

You should remember that WooCommerce was earlier launched compared to Shopify that has been established for quite a while. The milestone Woocommerce has reached should not be overlooked. 

Let’s take a look at Google Trends as well.

WooCommerce being blue and Shopify being red. We can see the steady growth between both platforms as it gradually passes over the years. And at the end of the trend, there’s a slight increase by Shopify.

And though this is not a reason to choose one over the other. It’s preferable you gain more insight into the features they provide and choose the one comfortable and convenient for your eCommerce store.

However, before moving into the features comparison, let’s take a look at this breakdown. 

What to look out for when choosing between WooCommerce and Shopify? 

Picking the best from both eCommerce platforms can be herculean because both platforms provide users with lots of indisputable features. These features are best used by users to improve their eCommerce store, promote awareness, and obtain a better rank on the search result page. 

So most users are either eager to choose the best for their store or would just want one that perfectly suits their taste, budget, and convenience. 

Therefore if you want to know which to pick between WooCommerce/Shopify, stick around, and let’s discuss the factors or grounds you should consider before deciding the one that best satisfies your needs. 

1. Installation Process

Due to popular opinion, yes, the installation process of both platforms does matter. 

For WooCommerce, it takes the process of installation and activation and a level of knowledge on WordPress sites (this is pertinent where you have barely any knowledge as to the connection of your site to WooCommerce). 

The WooCommerce installation, fortunately, comes with a guide to take you through the whole process of connecting your site to it. So, don’t feel discouraged because it’s straightforward and only takes a few minutes of your time. And in addition, there are provisions for blogs, tutorials, and the WordPress Site community who would come up with discussions as solution to issues on one’s sites. 

However, you have to go through the process of installation and activation of the plugin, installation and configuration of WordPress, and other basic information such as the tax payment, payment gateway, shipping features, and a host of others. This has to be done accordingly before you can use WooCommerce on your eCommerce store. 

A step-by-step guide on the installation process of WordPress sites with other related plugins can be found here.

For Shopify, this is undoubtedly more simple compared to the WooCommerce installation process. All you have to do is create a Shopify account, sync an existing domain name or buy a new one, and finally set up the payment getaway or if you already have an existing Shopify payment gateway process, then it’s easier for you to evade that step. 

2. Practicability

This is also a good factor to consider when comparing both platforms. Now, we would want to figure out which is practical enough for your understanding, that is, easy to use and manage. 

With the aim of giving your visitors the best website experience, you would want to choose a platform that can be easily managed and operated to suit your convenience. Here, you are tasked with making online deals, managing customers feedback, vendor issues, and a host of others. You should ascertain that the platform suits your eCommerce store and can therefore match your work line. 

Here, WooCommerce wins this round because it provides features that help users to simplify their site’s setting to fit their convenience. For example, the eCommerce payment processing feature. 

3. Level of control over site’s functionality

Another thing to look out for is the level of control you would have over your website over time. You would want to choose that which is flexible and administer a level of website control to the user. 

Here, we have WooCommerce as the clear winner. 

Shopify gives its user some level of control of the website functionality but it is a limited variation, meaning that it’s not a self-hosted site and can not assert the same flexibility that WooCommerce provides.

With WooCommerce, you can;

• Customize your theme. There are unlimited themes to choose from(both free and paid).
• Customize your domain code 
• Extend your WooCommerce feature with additional plugins designated particularly for WooCommerce. Amazing right! There are lots of WooCommerce extensions that can aid your WordPress site. To mention a few, we have; WOOCS – Currency Switcher, Stripe and/or PayPal, Custom Product Tabs, Fancy Product Designer, Beeketing, WooCommerce Memberships, and a host of others. There are thousands of them out there. 

You can visit our blog site for more tips on how you can effectively employ WooCommerce to increase sales on your site. 

In comparison, Shopify offers limited flexibility to its users. This does not imply that it has no flexible content that it provides to its users but is limited. Like the product variation restriction placed in Shopify. Unlike WooCommerce that has no restriction, Shopify restricts its product variation to 100 variations for each product and three total product options. And this is not defined by the plan you are on. 

Apart from that, Shopify allows users to customize their HTML but only applies to their homepage and not all pages. 

So, Shopify allows a measure of control of the website functionality by the user but in comparison, it is unlike WooCommerce. 

4. Extension to Third Party Platforms 

Another factor to consider is if the eCommerce platform you want to set up for your store is not limited to just its features but can extend its thrilling features to external platforms. Things you have to consider here are things like if the platform allows the extension to other social media tools, and email marketing tools as well. 

These tools are to run side by side with the platform chosen in your eCommerce store. You might not be able to get it all with WooCommerce/Shopify but with the extension, you can get it all.

WooCommerce, like earlier discussed, there are over 50,000 extensions made available for WordPress websites to add. And we also have MailChimp; a third-party integration of WooCommerce that further aids email marketing. You can find more third-party extensions of WooCommerce here.

Shopify runs an app store with about 500 applications but if you want your eCommerce store with more admissible extensions, WooCommerce is a better choice.

5.  Customization

For this category, it’s hard deciding which is the winner in the WooCommerce vs. Shopify showdown. You should know that the theme and design play a major role in attracting your website visitors. Some visitors use the website theme and design as a reason to stay on the site. 

So, you have to buckle up and figure out the theme that matches your product and is capable of driving sales to your site. 

Shopify offers over sixty curated themes that can match your product website. In comparison, WooCommerce has lots of thrilling themes, and therefore, the user has a wide range of choices to pick.

Storefront is the official store for WooCommerce themes. 

To know exactly what you want, there is a detailed blog that discusses WooCommerce themes and picking that which you need for your eCommerce store. 

6. Payment method 

A major factor to also consider. Although both eCommerce platforms support lots of payment methods and even the popular ones. 

WooCommerce has a lot of support for major payment methods and even minor ones as well. They have over seventy payment gateway options made available for you.

The major difference between WooCommerce vs. Shopify in the payment option is the fact that Shopify charged up to 2% extra charge on external payment gateway in addition to the normal payment gateway fee. 

7. Hosting Option

You should also try looking at the hosting features in Woocommerce and Shopify.

For Shopify, you don’t get the alternative of choosing another host, unlike WooCommerce. Here, your site would run under the Shopify server.

This is unlike WooCommerce where you get to pick the hosting provider of your site from a wide variety of host providers and subsequently you get to choose the host features such as the size or the bandwidth and other considerable things.

You have to determine the host plan you want to go for, pick the one suitable for your website and matches your budget size. You don’t want to pick a host that might fluctuate on days when you’re running a sale or special event on your website. This is why the option to choose your server is a good thing which is admissible only under WooCommerce.

And you can see how to improve the speed of your site and what may cause the slowness here. 

8. Maintenance Option

For this category, maintenance is wholly operated by the users unlike Shopify since it is not a self-hosted platform.

WooCommerce gives control and ownership to the user, therefore, the job to secure and maintain your website is given to the users. This is why the web host provider you choose has a great role to play in your website’s maintenance.

Your eCommerce store should have a good hosting provider because this decreases the level of maintenance you have to uphold on your site. This does not delimit the level of security and reliability which WooCommerce provides for its users.

9. Cost of Operation

Another factor to consider is the cost of operating WooCommerce or Shopify. The thing is, it is hard to ascertain which has a higher cost of operation since it depends on the package run by the user. For instance, the premium theme and plugins for WooCommerce, as well as the premium theme and apps for Shopify. This varies accordingly and can affect the cost of operation differently.

WooCommerce has a static price for the domain, hosting, and payment gateway. Shopify is also accountable and has a static monthly payment price that covers most activities done on your site. But this can also be affected by extra fee charges like the one placed on the external payment gateway on Shopify.

10. Multilingual Support

You would be surprised to find out that Shopify is not a great option for a multilingual store. So if your eCommerce store requires communication or connectivity with the world outside your location then you have to restrategize.

To enable Shopify multilingual support, you have to install Langify but have to pay $17.50 every month to continue enjoying its functionality.

Pretty high right! In a year, you would have spent over $200 just to enable the multilingual feature of your site with Shopify. This is aside from other charges you’re still going to make for your site with Shopify.

A preferable alternative is WooCommerce. It provides a multilingual feature with the installment of WPML.  And it is priced at $29 for the first year and $21 for the preceding years, or you can pay once at a commendable fee of $195.

Do the calculations.

11. Support system

Another factor to examine is the support system of WooCommerce and Shopify. Although they are versatile, there might come a time where you would need the support system for any issues.

For WooCommerce, it’s an open-source platform with no formal support system. But this is supplemented with a host of other mediums such as blogs, tutorials, and even the WordPress active community where various issues are collectively discussed and solutions are given.

There is no official support channel indeed but this does not seem to be a hassle because there are other means by which users can easily obtain information on a certain WooCommerce issue smoothly.

For Shopify, there’s provision for an official support medium. There is provision for emails, chats, or you can even try to get hold of their social media handle to communicate with them, and of course there’s the option of hiring a Shopify specialist to help with an issue in your eCommerce store.

12. Dropshipping Feature

For people who are new to the dropshipping feature, it allows eCommerce stores to be an intermediary between the actual supplier and the buyer. This permits the retailer to hold no inventory but displays the goods or product on the site and acts as an intermediary between the buyer and the actual supplier.

Both WooCommerce and Shopify make provision for the dropshipping features. This is to the level that they allow add ons and extension plugins and apps that support the drop-shipping feature on your site.

So I guess both platforms win this round.

Our top Pick- WooCommerce vs. Shopify

There are various reasons as to why we should pick WooCommerce over Shopify and vice versa. But it is pertinent for you to note that Shopify can be termed to be a storefront with product pages, so if you want more classical pages about your store, then WooCommerce should be your top pick.

We are choosing WooCommerce because of its;

• Flexibility
• User’s Controllable features
• Customization
• Multilingual support at a low-cost range, and
• Reliability. Some products are banned from the Shopify product page. You can find more information here.

Conclusion

Our top pick is in no way degrading the excellent feature that Shopify provides to its users. The various factors discussed are a way of showing how much impact both platforms have on the world. But we are picking WooCommerce for the top five reasons stipulated in the preceding subheading.

If you have other reasons, do let us know.

However, choices in this showdown may differ, there are other blogs out there that pick Shopify over WooCommerce, this shows how both platforms provide excellent features to cause such an uproar.

So, take a step back, check the factors discussed again and figure out the one that would best suit your site.

You can also take on a trial period for each platform. But decide this knowing fully well that it is technical going through the migration process of your website for both sides.

If you’re in search of simplicity, Shopify is good for you, whereas if you seek ownership plus flexibility, then WooCommerce is the best option for you. But at the end of the day, it’s all up to you.

This was formerly known as “Google Webmaster Tools”. It is an effective tool for users ranging from SEOs, bloggers, marketing professionals, designers, and many other internet users. The name has only changed but the application still offers the tools, even with more advanced features. 

With the Search Console, users can know how their site visitors view their site, which page has the most views, as well as, if their visitors are viewing their site from a desktop device or mobile device, how the visitors got into the site, and many more. These pieces of information additionally help the user understand how to conveniently use his or her site to help the visitor find more glamour; which in this case, satisfies both the user and the visitor. 

It is pertinent to get your site verified if you want to add your site to Google, present sitemaps, and a host of others. And it’s advisable for every site owner to get their site verified. It would save users a whole lot of trouble and would make it easier to promote your site accordingly on the Google Search rank. 

Let’s begin with how we can make life easier with the verification for site owners. 

5 reasons why you need to get Google Site Verification 

Majorly, site owners whether beginners or long-term owners, do not see the persisting need to get their site verified, especially the ones on WordPress site. It is once again advised and recommended that you get your site verified by the Search Console. 

This comes with a lot of great benefits, which is why it is highly recommended for site owners who would yearn for a better searched ranked website or a verified and owned website. These are among the varying benefits. 

The reasons why you should get your site verified are;

Now that we have discussed the various reasons why you need to get your website verified. We can move on to different ways to verify your website. These ways have been broken down and explained to aid your understanding. 

So sit back and let’s move on to the main course of action!

9 simplified ways to verify your site by Google Search Console

The importance of verifying your site has been explicitly discussed. However, you might think it is a herculean task verifying your site. We want to reassure you that it is not difficult at all, it is simply strategic, that is, with just some steps you can get your site verified. 

There are numerous ways to get your site verified; either manually or through some SEO tools or plugins. You just have to choose the one easy and workable for you, follow the steps appropriately, and verify your site. 

To get started on these steps or ways, you need to have a Google Search Console account. You can sign up or log in here. Follow the instructions given, proffer information demanded, open your account, and get started on the following ways to verify your site.

1. HTML Tag Method

This information is in accordance with the WordPress verification format. Therefore this method dictates ways to verify your site on WordPress by Search Console.

Once you have opened your account, it would request for the site’s URL to ensure Property type.

Note, there are distinct methods to verify your site. You can take up the URL prefix verification method or the domain name method. Either way, it is recommended to take up the URL prefix method because of its flexibility and it creates more options for users.

So you need to proffer your WordPress URL prefix details. If you’re not quite sure of it or do not have the information at hand, move into your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate between Settings>General.

You should note there’s a difference between;

https://www.wordpress.com and https://wordpress.com

They are two different entities on Google. So ensure you proffer the right ‘Site Address URL’ or copy and paste it into the property type of the Google Search Console account.

Afterward, select continue and move to verify your website’s ownership.

You can achieve this through different means. Here, we would discuss the HTML tag method.

This is by copying the HTML meta tag code and pasting it on WordPress.

Here, you can make use of any WordPress plugins to link the HTML tag to your WordPress site. But more details on this would be explicitly discussed later in this guide.

You should note however that the archaic style of copying the HTML tag to the heaader.php of the theme on your website is not advisable because in most cases, the HTML tag gets deactivated or does not get connected to your website anymore, upon an update or change operated on your website.

Coupled with this, Google periodically runs a check on websites for the HTML tag, and this could lead to restriction to the site’s data if the tag is not found on your website, and subsequently states that your site is not verified.

2. HTML Verification File

After following the steps enumerated for “HTML Tag Method ” up to the point of confirming ownership; this is where both methods differ.

Successfully verify your site through this method by downloading the Verification file of the HTML and uploading it through a cPanel file software or if you can conductively navigate your way with FTP or SFTP which would permit you to connect the HTML file to the root directory of your site.

To achieve this, you need to access the HTML File on the Search Console dashboard, this would however be shown after you include your site, it would bring it to your screen as a recommendable method to download in order to give effect to the verification.

Download and upload it to the root directory of your website through either method as discussed above.

Once you’ve accomplished the preceding step, that is uploading the downloaded file to the root folder of your site, revert to the Search Console, and turn your site “Verify”. You would see it if you complete these steps accordingly. The Google Site Verification process would then look for the file in your server, and subsequently verify your site.

3. Verification by DNS 

Another great option is verification by the Domain Name Provider. This is a great advantage for website owners with large varsity to claim verification which subsequently covers their main domain, subdomains, as well as other associated domains linked to their website. 

Users can verify their site through this method by navigating through the Search Console dashboard > Manage Site. From here you would locate the place to verify the site, click on it, and locate verification by “Domain Name Provider” either under recommendable or alternative methods. 

Either way, when you click on it, you should have something like this.

Following the steps, now all you should do is input the DNS TXT record, you can copy and paste it to your site on WordPress. 

To do this, locate the DNS record on your site through My sites > Upgrades > Domains > Change Name Server > DNS record.

Once you’ve located it, copy the TXT record to your site and save changes. 

Come back to DNS on Google Search Console and “Verify” as stipulated in the image. 

Take into account that these methods may vary depending on your Domain Provider. Therefore, you might not have a word-for-word guide for this method. 

4. Google Analytics Method

Another impressive option to verify your site by Google is by getting your site connected to Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is a great web analytic tool generated by Google. It bestows users with so many benefits if it is installed on their site.

Moving on, to verify your site through this method, you have to have the asynchronous tracking code already connected to your site. This can be added through a plugin or manually,  whichever the user chooses to use. And you also have to make sure that the tracking code is at the “Head” section of your homepage, not the ‘body’.

Once all this has been confirmed, move into the Search Console dashboard, and click on Google Analytics under any method. But you would most probably find it in ‘Other Verification Method’.

And simply “Verify”.

This method is one of the easiest for users. It immediately verifies your WordPress site after following these simple steps.

5.  Google Tag Manager 

Verification is also attained in the same likeness to Google Analytics. Your site would immediately be verified once you’ve performed all that needs to be done accordingly. 

This method has been found to be more complex than Google Analytics because some users do not even have to properly implement it before it functions properly on their site, most especially paid advertisers who utilize Tag Manager widely on a single web property. 

All you have to do here is expand the “Google Tag Manager” under “Other Verification Methods”.

And simply “Verify” afterward. 

6. SEOPress

This is an easy, efficient, and powerful SEO plugin provided for users to harness for the improvement of their WordPress site. And in addition, it can also be a great implementation tool to get your site verified appropriately. 

Here, all you need to do is go into your WordPress dashboard, and navigate through the SEOPress > Advanced > and thereafter, you should be able to locate the Google Search Verification section at the bottom of the page. 

As we have earlier discussed, get your Google Verification code, and enter it into the box as indicated in the “Google Site Verification” box, as provided in the image sample.

Afterward, click on ‘Save Changes’. 

You can add any other information if required. 

After you’ve saved the changes made, SEOPress would automatically link your pages with the HTML tags. 

And finally, verify once completed appropriately. 

7. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is also an easy way to verify your site on Google Search Console. It’s a popularly known and used plugin for the majority of WordPress users. 

To execute this method, you should first attain your Google site’s verification code under ‘HTML tag’. This has been discussed earlier under the HTML tag method.

Above all, get the meta tag and move into your WordPress dashboard. 

When this is completed, manage your website by navigating through SEO > General. If these steps are properly followed, you should be able to view the Webmaster Tools Section. 

Input the verification code into the highlighted box and save changes. 

After you’ve completed this, go back to the Search Console Account and Verify your site. 

At this stage, you have successfully connected your WordPress site with Search Console and can now enjoy all the gains that come with it as well. 

8. Site Kit by Google Plugin

This is an official and free tool powered by Google. And this can also serve as a medium or way to verify your site accordingly with Google Search Console. 

First things first, download and install the plugin on your system.

After activation of the plugin, sign in to your Google account. You can select which account to use for the sign-in, this applies to cases whereby users have more than one account.

To achieve the preceding step, navigate through Site Kit and then Dashboard

Reaching this stage, Google would give rise to a connection of your site to Search Console to properly verify ownership. 

Utilizing Site Kit, however, gives rise to some access to things on your website which Google would inform users before proceeding with the setup. 

Click on allow. 

So, it subsequently verifies your website ownership through the site’s HTML code. 

Proceeding, it seeks access to some website or account data. All you have to do is allow/proceed. 

After completing these steps appropriately, you should see this congratulatory message on your screen confirming the verification of your website, and other information would be provided. 

These steps are simple to implement. If you do not see the congratulation page, then you must have missed a step or not have followed it appropriately. Either way, you can just go back and repeat these steps.

And if you see the congratulation page, you can move to your WordPress dashboard, you should be able to see the Search Console tab among other tabs. This further aids your confirmation. 

9. Rank Math SEO Plugin

Also requires a simple strategy to verify your website using this plugin. This plugin helps create distinct optimization techniques for numerous WordPress sites. 

In this case, to use this method, you have to have your Search Console verification code. 

After installation and activation of this plugin, you can verify your website by logging into the dashboard and navigating through the General Settings > Webmaster Tools.

At such an instance, you should be able to see the highlighted boxes on your screen. 

 Now, all you have to do is input the verification code into the box provided for it.

And save the modification. 

Finally, go back to Search Console and verify your website under ‘HTML tag’. 

And done!

Your website is equally verified and verified by Google Search Console. 

Conclusion 

A detailed guide on ways in which users can utilize appropriately to verify their site right from the comfort of their home. These steps are straightforward and to some extent, easy to implement. 

However, you can ponder on which method to use. Here, we are considering using the manual method to verify your site, or to use the easier method- through plugins. You should remember that some of these methods require some items or code or HTML or some sort for its implementation. 

Therefore, go over the lesson, and pick that which suits you while also considering your website, convenience, accessibility, and implementation. 

Once verified, it can not be changed. Therefore whichever method you decide on, leave it like that because Google conducts a periodic check for Google Site Verification. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Is Google Analytics and Google Search Console the same?

Although they are both powered by Google and offer immense benefits to users, they’re however not the same. In simpler terms, Google Analytics is a tool that shows the data account on a user’s visitor activities on the user website. This is mostly used for marketing purposes. 

Whereas, Search Console depicts information and data on your site’s performance and how it is indexed. Therefore, how search engines see your site. 

2. How long does the verification on the site last?

The verification, once done, lasts for as long as Google can confirm the verification because periodic checks are most times operated on the website. 

If Google can not confirm the verification, the affected user would be notified and within a specified amount of time, if not fixed, then the verification would expire. 

3. Which method is the best for Google Site Verification?

There is no particular method that is the best. It is up to the user to decide on which method can be effectively performed on the WordPress site. And with other things considered, users should be able to take up one of the methods and appropriately apply it on the site. 

For more information on this, check Search Console help.

4. Do I need to verify my site as a blogger?

As long as you own a website, this verification is for you. Regardless of whether you’re new or a long-term site owner, a generalist or a specialist, google verification is advantageous to every site owner. So whether you’re a blogger or site administrator or WordPress developer, your site should be equally verified by Google. 

5. Does the Search Console keep my data?

Yes. Google Search Console stores users’ data for sixteen months.

6. Does the Search Console help with SEO?

Definitely! That’s the whole point of the data-driven information and statistics. It is automatically designed to help you rank higher for the Search engine results.

7. Is HTML meta tag compulsory for every method of verification? 

There are few methods that do not require the HTML tag before the verification can be performed. We have the Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Domain Name Provider (DNS).

You can read the article for more information on the process of implementation.