The 5 Best SEO-friendly Website Builder Software for 2023
Did you know that the top pages on Google’s search engine result pages have an average of 32% of click-through rate?
And 75% of people never scroll past the first page.
Your best bet for getting searchers to visit your website? Be on page 1. But it has historically been believed that website builders are not SEO-friendly.
Don’t let website builder naysayers distract you though.
Ranking while using a website builder is possible. And easy too. But not all website builders are built alike. Some are more search engine-friendly than others. And thus, have an edge over others.
Which are those website builders? And how you can utilize their capabilities in the right way for the best results?
This guide right here will answer both of your questions.
We have found the 5 best SEO website builders for 2023.
Plus, expert tips to make the most of those site builders.
Read on.
What is a website builder?
For those living under a rock…
Website builders are tools, platforms, or programs for building a website without coding.
Website builder software can be online proprietary tools that come with hosting support. Or they can be free, open-source solutions that need independent hosting.
How did we find the 5 best SEO-friendly website builders?
When you search for the “best SEO website builders” on Google, you’ll see more than 138 million results.
A majority of these results are guide articles (like this one) telling you the top options.
So why should you trust this guide over the others?
There are 3 reasons why:
- We have actually tried the SEO website builder software that we are recommending. And we considered feedback that other users left on review websites. So we aren’t just talking about theory but have also seen the site builders perform in practice.
- We don’t get any affiliate income from the website builders mentioned on the list. Our opinions are our own and based on facts; not on who is sending us checks.
- This guide takes under 10 minutes to read and has all that you’d need to find the right SEO builder. A great point to get started, this guide is a one-stop solution. Unlike many others that confuse you more than help you out.
Without further ado, let’s quickly get to the top SEO-friendly website builders for 2023
According to Matt Cutts, from Google’s webspam team, WordPress takes care of 80-90% of Google’s crawling issues. Thus, it is ideal for ranking.
There’s no better testimony to the fact that WordPress should be your #1 choice if you need an SEO-friendly site builder.
WordPress SEO features
- You can create a template to autogenerate the Meta Title and Meta Description for all the pages of your site. The Meta Title and Descriptions can also be edited individually.
- WordPress websites load quickly, which is good for SEO. Plugins like WPRocket further help minimize CSS and Javascript to boost load speed.
- You can customize the user experience on the site using the drag-and-drop website builder.
- The heading tags (H1 to H6) on each page are customizable.
- You can add structured data, individually, in the code for each page.
- Most WordPress SEO features automatically create an XML sitemap for your site. You can edit these as well.
- You can add and edit the robots.txt file for your site, either using a file manager plugin or via FTP.
- There are a lot of mobile and SEO-friendly themes and templates that you can choose from.
- The default URL structure used by WordPress is as per Google’s guidelines. You can further edit the permalink manually to include keywords.
- WordPress allows easy integration with SEO tools (like Google Analytics and Google Search Console) as well as social media.
- The WordPress architecture is simple and crawlable. This allows for easy indexing of all the links and content on your site.
Bottom line: WordPress powers 40% of the web and many of those websites rank high on SERPs. You can achieve the same with WordPress’s broad spectrum of SEO capabilities.
Shopify is an eCommerce website builder par excellence. And it is also well-known in the SEO sphere.
In fact, more than 10% of US eCommerce sales in 2021 came from Shopify stores. That wouldn’t have been possible if Shopify wasn’t SEO-friendly.
Shopify SEO features
- You can edit the Meta titles, Descriptions, heading tags (H1 to H6), and Alt tags. Directly from the Shopify site dashboard.
- The robots.txt and sitemap.xml files are autogenerated as an in-built feature. So need for installing plugins or undertaking the tasks manually. If you know how to code, you can also edit these files in the theme files.
- Shopify allows added 301 redirects without code or the need for external APIs.
- Shopify has 17 free themes available on the Shopify App store. Plus, there are thousands of other options on various theme stores. Choosing one that offers a mobile-optimized, quick, and seamless user experience won’t be hard.
- For additional SEO features, the Shopify App Store offers plenty of free and paid apps.
- Shopify is a hosted website builder software. Thus, it takes care of website speed and security, while also offering maximum uptime.
- With Shopify monthly plans, you also get a free SSL certificate. This reinforces, in the eyes of Google and your visitors, that your store is secure.
- You can add basic structured data information for your website via the store dashboard. Advanced information can also be added. However, that would need coding expertise.
Bottom line: There is no SEO feature that Shopify doesn’t offer. Some might need expertise, but if you try hard enough, the top spot in SERPs is yours to claim with Shopify.
3. Wix
More than 450 000 users choose Wix for building their websites every day.
It is also the 2nd most popular website builder software among the top 3.8M websites on the web today.
None of that would have been possible without Wix’s ever-improving SEO features.
Wix SEO features
- With Wix, you can set the Meta Data for each page on your site. Also, heading and Alt tags can be set individually. Further, these attributes can be edited later on as well.
- All SEO functionalities offered by this SEO-friendly website-building platform are available via the dashboard itself. You don’t need to install any plugins or apps.
- In terms of URL optimization, Wix has come a long way. The automatically generated hashbang (#!) URL structure, which was an SEO nightmare is now gone. You can now customize the URL of every page. Plus, you can add canonical tags and 301 redirects where needed.
- Wix allows integration with Google Search Console and Google Analytics. This lets you get your site verified and monitor the traffic from the dashboard itself.
- Integration with social media channels is also possible and easy enough to set up in a jiffy.
- Like most hosted site builders, Wix automatically generates the sitemap.xml and robots.txt files for your site. What’s more, it also lets you edit these files. With considerably higher ease compared to contemporaries.
- If your Wix website’s pages follow a consistent pattern, the same SEO settings on each page would work. You can do that with a simple click and make the SEO settings global. This reduces effort while still ensuring complete search engine optimization.
- Wix comes with an SSL certificate which ensures security and SEO bot.
- You can customize the layout for your site’s pages for mobile devices as well to ensure cross-device SEO.
- Wix also has a lot of friendly guides that you can use to learn SEO and implement the best practices.
Bottom line: Wix has not been SEO-friendly historically. But in 2022, the platform has overcome its shortcomings. And now it is a great pick for SEO-conscious site owners.
Squarespace is the website builder platform with the highest emphasis on aesthetics. And while that does help SEO by making the user experience better, there’s a lot more in Squarespace’s SEO arsenal.
Squarespace SEO features
- Headings and all Meta Data are easily editable from the default Squarespace dashboard.
- Squarespace has a special Analytics menu in the dashboard where you can see what keywords your site ranks for. You also get tips on improving the search engine findability of the ranking pages. This is a unique feature that no other site builder tool offers.
- Most website builders stay focused on Google alone. But Squarespace takes care of Bing and Yahoo! SEO as well. You can get your site verified for both these search engines as well via the Squarespace dashboard.
- Squarespace automatically reads the names of the images you upload and uses them as Alt tags. These can also be customized as per need.
- Squarespace offers a 99% uptime and a server response time of 0.5 seconds. Hence, it takes care of the speed and accessibility of your site.
- Squarespace themes are mobile-optimized by default. So you get responsiveness without any additional effort.
- Canonical tags and structured data are autogenerated in Squarespace. But they cannot be edited.
- Other than Google Search Console and Google Analytics, Squarespace allows integration with 30+ social media platforms.
Bottom line: A form-first website builder, Squarespace, is equally loaded with SEO features.
Weebly is a site builder specializing in developing single-page sites and portfolio sites. And it takes adequate care of their SEO requirements too.
Weebly SEO features
- Weebly lets you edit Meta Data for each page either via a global setting on the dashboard or the in-page editor. Don’t use both ways though to avoid getting incorrect Meta Data.
- Alt tags, heading tags, and canonical tags are easy to add with Weebly. You won’t need to ask around or read guides.
- The Weebly Help Center has a rich collection of SEO guides which can help you become an SEO pro.
- Weebly lets you customize your SEO strategy for each page with customizable structured data. Adding the structured data code is also a simple process.
- Every Weebly theme is responsive by default. This takes the burden of mobile optimization off your head.
Bottom line: If you have a small site with minimalistic SEO needs, look no further than Weebly for a hassle-free website development experience.
Choosing an SEO-friendly site builder for your needs
All the SEO-friendly options mentioned so far seem amazing, right? Well, we can understand that the choice is tough for you.
And to save you from decision fatigue and confusion, we have mentioned the 4 key factors that you can use to pick one from the top 5 SEO website builders.
1. Price
Money matters. There’s no denying the facts. The simplest way to pick a website builder is to check their price. Buy what fits your budget.
But don’t just look at the starter pack prices. If you expect to grow your site in the future, you might also want to check out the cost of higher plans. This will ensure that your growth doesn’t come with a hefty price tag.
2. Ease of use
If you are here, looking for website builder solutions that aid your SEO efforts, it is obvious that you are looking to go DIY. So make sure your website builder or choice is easy to use.
No matter how many features are available, unless you know how to easily use them, they are a waste for you.
3. Scope for customization
It is great to get automatic search engine optimization. But Google’s algorithms keep changing. And so do your SEO needs. So it is always best to have enough scope for customizing the SEO.
With that, you have learned all the fundamentals of finding the best SEO website builder software.
All that remains is for you to start evaluating the top 5 options based on the 3 key factors. And soon you can be on your way towards buildings an SEO-friendly website of your own.
