Website design is complex whether you use a CMS or write the script from scratch. Website builders have made a name for themselves as the simple alternative, but that simplicity comes not just at the cost of customisability but of SEO, too.
You can work to optimise any website, but some are much more likely to hit the top spots on relevant Google searches than others. Here’s what you need to understand about WordPress sites and how they perform on the SERP.
WordPress vs Website Builders
A lot of website builders work by making the process of creating a website incredibly simple. This is typically referred to as WYSIWYG – ‘what you see is what you get’ – and it represents their key selling point for anyone daunted by the process of creating a website from nothing.
But, with something like this, oversimplifying the process can have a really detrimental effect on the final product. While you don’t have to create a website from scratch and hand-write every line of HTML to get something strong at the end of the process, website builders generally take things too far in the right direction.
As a result, while the surface seems smooth and simple to users, what lies under the surface – i.e., the code – is often messy and complicated, like tangled pondweed and old roots under the serene surface of a lake.
This is awful for SEO for a host of reasons:
- Inefficiently stacked elements make pages slower to load
- Issues with HTML validation prevent important information from being signalled to Google’s algorithm
- Technical issues are harder (if not impossible) to fix because of the WYSIWYG philosophy behind these builders.
To name just a few!
WordPress isn’t bogged down by these same issues, but it also doesn’t leave the process of building, maintaining, and optimising a website totally within the developer’s hands. HTML doesn’t have to be written from scratch to get the best results – and, in plenty of cases, experience has taught us that the best results are often generated by a CMS like WordPress.
WordPress and SEO
What gives WordPress an edge over the alternatives when it comes to search engine optimization? A long list of features, including…
Clearer Metadata
As we mentioned, there are a lot of signals that websites send to Google’s indexing bots to demonstrate what exactly they offer to visitors – and the strength of that offering. A lot of this information is stored in the metadata, which refers to information that the average site visitor won’t see but which ‘speaks the language’ of the search engine algorithms.
Fast loading speeds
WordPress sites are generally much faster loading than WYSIWYG, and there are plenty of simple ways (compared with hand-coded websites) to speed it up even more.
Easy Responsive design
Building a webpage from scratch to work in your browser is one thing, but what about ensuring a smooth, responsive design for users accessing that site from their phones or tablets? Responsive web design is no longer an optional ‘bonus’ – it’s a prerequisite for any site looking to perform well on the SERP.
It’s incredibly simple to ensure that WordPress sites appear and perform just as well on a 6” screen as it does on a 14” laptop screen.
It works efficiently with analytics tools
If you want to get insight into where your on-site SEO strategy may be lagging behind, then industry-standard tools and platforms like Google Analytics will be your best friend. WordPress’s popularity and prevalence means that it works very efficiently with these tools, giving you a lot more oversight – and more actionable insights to work on.
Content
We all know how central good content is fundamental to a good SEO strategy, and keeping on top of regular updates and uploads is the best way to consistently chip away at the SERP and boost your visibility among relevant audiences.
Publishing with WordPress – or really making any minor updates or changes – is incredibly simple, even if you consider yourself a total novice. This is one of the things that makes WordPress sites so invaluable for businesses; while the initial design and creation should be trusted to the pros, maintenance doesn’t need to be outsourced.
