How to Identify if a Website was Built Using BigCommerce

As a digital marketer or an SEO expert, it's essential to understand the underlying technologies that power the websites you manage or review. One such important technology to identify is BigCommerce, a popular e-commerce platform. In this article, we'll explore how to determine if a website was built using BigCommerce and why this information is valuable for your SEO efforts.

Identifying BigCommerce through Code Analysis

The simplest method to identify if a website was built using BigCommerce is to examine the head section of the website's HTML code. With most modern browsers, you can easily access this information by using the View Source feature.

Open the website in your preferred browser. Right-click anywhere on the webpage and select 'Inspect' or 'Inspect Element' (depending on your browser). Navigate to the 'Elements' tab, or click on the 'Sources' tab in newer browser versions. Locate the head section of the HTML code. It is usually found near the top of the document, enclosed by head and /head tags. Inspect the contents of the head section for references to BigCommerce resources. Look for links to BigCommerce's CDN (Content Delivery Network) and stylesheets containing 'bigcommerce' in the URL.

For example, you might see links like:

link rel"stylesheet" href"https://cdn_*YourStoreID*/themes/*ThemeID*/*ThemeVersion*/css/all.css"/

or

script src"https://cdn_*YourStoreID*/lib*ScriptVersion*/bigcommerce.js"/script

The presence of these specific URLs indicates that the website was indeed built on the BigCommerce platform.

Using Online Tools to Identify BigCommerce

In addition to manually inspecting the code, there are several online tools and browser extensions that can quickly and accurately identify the technology stack used by a website, including whether it was built on BigCommerce.

BuiltWith Technology Lookup

BuiltWith is a well-known online service that provides detailed information about a website's technology stack, including its content management system (CMS). To use BuiltWith:

Go to Enter the website URL you want to analyze in the search bar. Click the 'Go' button. Review the results to see if 'BigCartel' or 'BigCommerce' is listed in the CMS section.

These tools often provide additional details that can be useful for SEO optimization, such as which specific files and scripts are being used, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategy accordingly.

Wappalyzer Browser Extension

Wappalyzer is a popular browser extension for determining a website's technology stack. It is available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Here's how to use it:

Download and install the Wappalyzer extension from the respective browser extension store (e.g., Chrome Web Store). Open the website you want to analyze. Click the Wappalyzer icon in your browser's toolbar. Within the Wappalyzer sidebar, search for 'BigCommerce'. If it is listed, it means the website was likely built using BigCommerce.

Why Knowing if a Website was Built with BigCommerce is Important for SEO

Understanding whether a website uses BigCommerce has several implications for your SEO efforts, including:

Page Speed Optimization: BigCommerce sites often come with built-in optimizations that can improve page load times, which is a crucial ranking factor. Knowing this, you can tailor your optimization strategies accordingly. Mobile Optimization: BigCommerce provides robust mobile optimizations out-of-the-box. If the website is built with BigCommerce, you can expect it to have a mobile-friendly layout, which is beneficial for Google's mobile-first indexing. SEO-Specific Features: BigCommerce offers various SEO plugins and tools that can help you optimize your site's content, meta tags, and URL structure. If your website uses these features, you can leverage them to improve your SEO.

Conclusion

In conclusion, identifying if a website was built using BigCommerce is a valuable skill for any digital marketer or SEO professional. By using code inspection techniques, online tools, and browser extensions, you can quickly determine if a website uses BigCommerce and take advantage of the platform's built-in SEO features to optimize your site. This knowledge can significantly enhance your SEO efforts and improve your website's visibility in search engine results.