What are the Best Website Platforms for SEO

SEO Sydney Experts also offers a web development service, and many Sydney businesses ask us to either implement changes on their current web platform or build a completely new website.

Herein lies the conundrum. What is the best website builder platform to use for better SEO purposes?

The platform you choose can seriously impact your current or future SEO rankings and web traffic, so choosing the best and most functional platform is wise. Some web platforms suit specific businesses as they have certain add-ons that can be handy, but overall, each has pros and cons, which we will soon find out. As a business owner, making this vital decision can be challenging unless you’ve used a specific platform before and love it. Having said that, most people can’t tell one from the other and just want their website built to give them the best chance of higher organic rankings. As an SEO agency, we want to give you the very best foundation for your website, and we also want you to know the difference between the most common and popular web builders out there online so you can at least make some type of informed choice. Most people will have heard of them, but we will drill down to give you a much clearer understanding of each.

1: WordPress

For the most incredible statistic, WordPress is used by 45.8% of all websites on the internet, according to HubSpot. If that figure doesn’t make an impression, then nothing will. Imagine that over a billion websites are on the WordPress platform, and yours is most likely a WordPress site. The reason it’s so popular is that there are always add-ons and security patches, and it’s super SEO-friendly. WordPress can be used for all types of sites, from small business brochure-style sites, blog sites, and eCommerce sites to complex data-driven sites. WordPress is excellent for SEO and has two plug-ins: All In One SEO Pack and Yoast. In the site’s backend, these plug-ins will allow you to understand better your web pages’ SEO strengths and weaknesses based on the keyword you’re trying to rank for (in the focus used keyword area) and make changes according to their recommendations. Yoast has been peer-reviewed and is a more popular SEO feature, so implement this. Yoast also has a gimmicky feature that tells you the writing quality of the page, including the ‘ease to read’, which is essential for encouraging people to stay on your site and helps reduce bounce rates. Obviously, you can’t just build your website on WordPress and expect it to rank on page 1. It takes a lot of work, both on-page and off-page, but having WordPress is an excellent solid foundation for building your SEO.

WordPress as an SEO Platform

PROS

• It has many plug-in options to suit your business needs – we love Yoast for SEO
• Highly customisable so you can create some stunning designs on WordPress – not just a boring template
• Over 35% of the world’s top websites are hosted on WordPress
• Most SEO agencies prefer WordPress
• Free, open-source content management system – you don’t have to pay anything
• You can choose who hosts the website and are not locked into some proprietary hosting, which can be expensive.
• Great security

CONS

• Like any platform, your website is not automatically optimised for better SEO practices.
• Every plug-in you decide to add can cost money.
• Most beginners will find creating a WordPress website complex and will more than likely have to use a web design agency.

Do We Recommend WordPress?

110% definitely YES. At SEO Sydney Experts, WordPress is our ‘go-to’ website builder for SEO. We highly recommend it for all our clients, and if they are not currently on a WordPress platform, we encourage them to change it over.

2: Shopify

Shopify is an excellent option if you have an online e-commerce store. It is one of the world’s most popular web builder platforms and is used by many SEO Sydney Experts businesses because of its simplicity and easy set-up process. Plus, it’s OK for SEO purposes. A few of it’s great SEO features. Include meta descriptions and keywords for all pages, including specific product pages, which is great for labelling products so they get indexed by Google and eventually appear in the search results. So, for example, if you have a well-known product that people search for by brand name, then this page has the opportunity to rank. You can also measure and analyse your results as Shopify allows you to incorporate Google Analytics. One issue that I do find is that with Shopify, the URL string (your URL web page) must have the string with the work /products, which could be better. It’s not a deal breaker, but there are better options for SEO.

Let me explain further.

The URL string would be

/products/red-tennis-shoes

and it should be

companyname/red-tennis-shoes

Another issue for SEO purposes with Shopify is their on-page optimisation. The good news is that some SEO apps exist, but you must do your homework first and see what works best for you. Their titles and descriptions are OK and as good as WordPress, so that’s one thing going for it.

Shopify as an SEO Platform

PROS

• Built-in blog platform, which is vital for SEO as creating content is essential
• Basic SEO functions
• Built-in redirects in case you want to change, add or delete products.
• Has options for advanced SEO apps

CONS

• Only for e-commerce sites – but that can be good if you intend to sell products.
• Need to install apps for anything more than basic SEO, which can be a hassle
• Some limited URL options are not always as SEO-friendly as, let’s say, WordPress.

Do We Recommend Shopify?

If you plan to have an online store, then sure, it’s a basic low-cost option for a start-up. But only for very basic E-commerce sites. If anything elaborate, I’d not use Shopify. 

3: Wix

Wix is a basic web builder platform that works well for small businesses wanting a small website that can be built in a few hours. A considerable SEO advantage for SEO rankings is a feature called Wix SEO Wiz. Over the past couple of years, I have recommended clients to shy away from Wix, but they have definitely improved their SEO plug-ins recently. With Wix, you can add customised titles, descriptions, and alt images, which are the basics for SEO. One huge drawback of Wix is that it can sometimes add random symbols to blog posts, affecting SEO performance. Having the correct URL string is super-important for SEO, so if Wix decides to play around with the URL and add random symbols, this is NOT a good sign, especially if it starts stuffing up your URL structures. Also, Wix doesn’t have advanced writing features that show you the quality of your content like WordPress does. Not a deal breaker for many small businesses, but if you rely on SEO for generating new leads, this writing feature can be the difference between average and outstanding Google rankings.

Wix as an SEO Platform

PROS

• Already has Wix SEO Wiz installed, so you can start crafting unique titles and descriptions
• Simple and easy to access most SEO features
• Built-in email marketing so you can keep in touch with clients
• Customise design to make your site more appealing
• 100% free for some Wix versions

CONS

• Templates are not entirely responsive, so with Google Mobile-first indexing, this can harm your rankings.
• There are no switching templates, so you have to stay within a certain design constraint.
• Does not have advanced option plug-ins
• Can have non-SEO-friendly URL strings
• Blogs are an issue, so if you rely on blogs to generate leads, Wix can prove problematic.
• Cannot export blog posts

Do We Recommend Wix?

Most small businesses like that Wix is free to a certain extent (remember you have to pay for hosting and add-ons), but as a web builder platform for SEO, I’d steer clear of Wix!

4: Weebly

Weebly is less known than Wix but offers the same features as a DIY website builder. There is a free option that is super-appealing for many businesses, but the issue is that these options won’t allow Google to index the site, so you have to buy the SEO add-ons. Most free web builders are like this. They offer a free option but then make you pay for every little add-on, including the must-have SEO feature. With Weebly, you can add metadata, alt-images, custom URLs (essential) and some level of page title customisation. I would have to say that Wix and Weebly are pretty much the same in terms of design ability and SEO features, so it’s really up to you which you prefer to use.

Weebly as an SEO Platform

PROS

• Many design and SEO functions are inbuilt, ready to go
• Options to add extra apps to use on the go based on your business requirements
• Most design elements are customisable

CONS

• It does not have the same advanced SEO options as WordPress
• Some limited use of headlines
• It can get costly once you start adding SEO features, etc.

Do We Recommend Weebly?

It’s the same as Wix, but as an SEO expert, I’d prefer to use something other than Weebly. Great for a small business, but give it a miss for anything else.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it’s really about the quality of content you produce and your backlink profile that will determine how well your Google rankings are. The web builder platform is just a tool to support your website. However, when all’s said and done, I would say WordPress knocks everyone else out of the ballpark. It’s by far the best CMS platform for SEO purposes.