Best Website Builder for SEO: 5 Top Picks to Consider in 2023
Qhubekani Nyathi Using the best website builder for SEO to build your site can give you a headstart in the ranking race for the top spots in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
With up to 59% of shoppers revealing they start their in-store or online shopping journey by researching products or services on Google, the stakes to nailing your search engine optimization setup from the get-go couldn’t be higher [1]. If you get your SEO right, you will get a steady stream of leads and customers around the clock on autopilot.
Thankfully, most leading website builders take SEO seriously these days and include a bunch of SEO-related functionalities. This guide will give you the top five builders to consider, their major SEO features, and the criteria you can use to make the right choice.
Let’s jump straight into our best website builder for SEO discussion. 🦘
Criteria for choosing the best website builder for SEO
There are many factors to consider when picking an SEO-friendly website builder. Besides the essentials such as the ease of use and the convenient drag-and-drop functionality, you need a builder with many features that can help more people find your site organically on Google and other search engines.
Top website builders have many SEO functions, including:
- Keyword support. ⌨️ Targeting specific keywords is a vital part of search engine optimization. Top website builders allow you to target keywords on your pages with ease.
- SEO prompts. ⚙️ Prompts are invaluable if you are a beginner, as they give you suggestions on what to do next, so you don’t miss crucial SEO elements as you optimize your site.
- Customizable title tags and meta descriptions. ✍️ Title tags help search engines understand what a web page is about, while meta descriptions summarize the page’s content. Combined, title tags and meta descriptions boost clickthrough rates on your web pages.
- Image alt attributes. 🖼️ An image alt attribute, also known as alt description or alt text, describes what an image on a page is showing. Image alt text helps search engine crawlers understand what an image is about and enhances the chances of a photo appearing in image searches.
- Social media integration. 🧑💻 A social media integration feature is a must for your omnichannel marketing strategy. Social signals help SEO because the more shares, likes, comments, and higher visibility your content gains on social media platforms, the more likely Google will see them as valuable and rank them higher.
- Mobile usability. 📱 Since almost 60% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s crucial that your site renders correctly on mobile and gives users a delightful experience when they browse your site—the best builders for SEO support mobile optimization [2].
- XML sitemaps. 🗺️ An XML sitemap is a file that lists all of your website’s essential pages. This URL listing of core pages is a vital part of technical SEO. XML sitemaps help search engines understand your site structure and which pages to crawl. Leading builders have built-in XML sitemaps capabilities.
- Custom permalinks. 🔗 Customizable permalinks give you complete control of the appearance of your page URLs on search results. Excellent permanent links help search engines and searchers determine the relevance of a page.
In short, these are the essential features and SEO best practices to look when hunting for an excellent website buider for SEO.
Best website builders for SEO in 2024
With the above vital features in mind, let’s dig into the details of the five best website builders for SEO, shall we?
1. WordPress.com
WordPress.com is undoubtedly one of the best website builders.
Building an SEO-friendly with WordPress.com is easy. The WordPress builder allows you to create custom SEO titles, meta descriptions, and preview the appearance of your post or page on social media and Google search. You can also customize how your page and post URLs will be formatted.
Features ⚙️
- Auto-generated and auto-updated XML sitemaps to help search engines index your pages.
- Custom page titles and meta descriptions to boost clickthrough rates to your website.
- Clean URL structure so search engines and people understand your page content.
- WordPress AMP Integration (previously Accelerated Mobile Pages) for faster load times on mobile devices.
- Auto installation of SSL certificates to assure Google and users that your site is secure.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up your website and reduce bounce rates.
WordPress.com pricing 💵
WordPress.com has a free version. To unlock the platform’s full SEO capabilities, buy the Business plan for $25 monthly.
2. Wix
Another best website builder for SEO is Wix.
Wix stands out among top website builders for SEO because of its user-friendly interface. It has a simple user dashboard with a step-by-step checklist to guide website owners through the search engine optimization process. The best part? You can personalize the SEO checklist to suit your niche and special website needs.
Features ⚙️
- SEO prompts to help you edit your URL slugs, open graph tags, structured data markup, meta tags, and more.
- Automatically creates XML sitemaps to improve the discoverability of your site pages by search engines.
- Auto generates customizable structured data markups to enhance chances of appearing in rich search results.
- Editable URL slugs for all your site pages.
- Add and customize title tags and meta descriptions to improve clickthrough rates on your site.
- Social sharing optimization to personalize images, titles, and descriptions of pages for a custom look when shared on social media.
Wix pricing 💵
Wix has a free version, but to get decent SEO features, you should upgrade to the Unlimited plan, which costs $12.50 per month, or the VIP plan, which goes for $24.50.
3. Squarespace
Squarespace is another formidable contender for the title of the best website builder for SEO.
The Squarespace builder comes with an array of built-in SEO tools straight out of the box. This carefully chosen suite of features improves your website ecommerce store’s visibility in the search engine results pages so you get more visitors and customers.
Notably, Squarespace was the first website builder to integrate directly with Google Search Console. You can view your site’s top keywords click rates, impressions, and average positions on the SERPs.
Features ⚙️
- SEO checklist to help you optimize your site using the latest search engine optimization best practices.
- Automatically add SEO page titles and descriptions that you can edit easily.
- Automatic markup of your content and product pages to enhance indexing by search engines.
- Clean page URLs that are easily readable by search engines and people.
- Edit how your page image looks when sharing your content on social media platforms.
- Automatic XML sitemap generation so you don’t go through the hassle of creating one manually.
- Google My Business optimization to help you stand out in local search results.
Squarespace pricing 💵
Squarespace offers monthly plans that vary from $16 to $49 (US prices; available plans may vary based on your location). They also have a 14-day free trial if you want to take the builder for a spin first.
4. Weebly
Next up in our best website builder for SEO showcase is Weebly.
It’s a highly regarded platform that prides itself on giving website owners everything they need to rank organically in search engines. From sitemaps to alt tags, from meta descriptions to mobile, responsive design, and more, Weebly has it all.
In particular, their handy step-by-step SEO guides deserve special mention. They’re excellent resources, especially if you are new to SEO and want straightforward guidance on the essentials.
Features ⚙️
- Google Search Console and Google Analytics integration for deep SEO analytics and insights.
- Customizable SEO settings for individual pages and posts for complete optimization control.
- Personalized URLs for short, descriptive, and pretty links that tell search engines and browsers what your page is about.
- Integrated XML sitemap to speed up search engine indexation of your site’s pages.
- The meta description feature is available for all pages and posts.
- Customizable image alt tags give search engines the content and context of your images.
- Mobile-friendly pages that automatically adapt to the screen size of any device.
Weebly pricing 💵
Weebly has a free plan. Paid plans start at $10 monthly and up to $26 for the highest tier.
5. Shopify
With over 70 store templates and 6,000+ apps, Shopify is a famous website builder for building online stores.
Shopify is arguably the best website builder for SEO for ecommerce websites. So if you want to create a digital store, look no further than Shopify. Shopify allows you to create an SEO-optimized ecommerce website in minutes. You can customize every element of your store like the homepage title and meta description and fine-tune its SEO attributes so customers searching for your products online find your store easily.
Features ⚙️
- Edit the page title and meta description to encourage more people to click your store’s links in the search results.
- Set and edit image alt text for all product photos and blog post featured images.
- Edit the robots.txt file to tell search engines which pages to include/exclude when crawling your ecommerce website
- Built-in site structure optimization so your content follows a logical hierarchy of categories.
- Social media marketing automation for sharing product pages and content on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. and more.
Shopify pricing 💵
Shopify has a 30-day free trial that allows you to take the fully featured builder a spin without a credit card. After the three days, you can continue enjoying the builder for $1 monthly for three months before picking a paid plan. Paid plans start from $32 a month.
Best website builder for SEO conclusion
Choosing the best website builder for SEO is simple if you have a yardstick to guide you.
To sum up, which is the best builder for search engine optimization? Honestly, best is relative. It all boils down to your website needs and business goals.
👉 That said, each builder has its strengths and I’ve summed them up as follows:
- WordPress.com is best for bloggers or publishing sites and people with a good grasp of SEO.
- Wix is best for SEO newbies because it has a simple user interface.
- Squarespace is best for portfolio sites and online stores and experienced SEO practitioners.
- Weebly is best for small businesses and startups looking for a cheap SEO builder.
- Shopify is perfect for building SEO-ready online stores.
The good news is all these website builders have a free plan and/or a free trial, so you can try them out before you commit to a paid plan.
Which builder impressed you the most? Share your answer in the comments section below.
