Website builders are very popular ways of creating a website.
They can be used by individuals who aren’t familiar with coding, or businesses that need the flexibility to update their site without hiring an outside developer.
However, when it comes to SEO, I often get asked whether website builders hold back your website from ranking well?
In this article, we will discuss website builders in detail and whether website builders are good or bad for SEO.
What is a website builder?
- What is a website builder?
- What does a website builder do?
- Why some website builders can be bad for SEO?
- What is the best practice for website design in relation to SEO?
- Do website builders affect SEO?
- Is a custom website better for SEO?
- Need website and SEO advice?
A website builder is a platform or program that allows you to quickly and easily put together your own website.
Website builders are designed to be very easy and intuitive, allowing anyone to build a website in minutes.
Some of the more popular website builders include:
All of these website builders have their own unique functionalities but all are designed to make the creation and management of the website.
What does a website builder do?
The website builder is the perfect solution for those who do not have time to build their own site. You can create an online or offline version with this tool that will work in your browser without installing any additional software.
Website builders tend to use drag and drop functionality to allow you to have full design control of the elements you wish to include on your site.
They tend to use plugins and apps that use javascript to create custom elements that you can add to your website. There are issues that arise when a website builder is heavily reliant on javascript which is one of the reasons why some web designers say website builders can be bad for search engine optimisation.
Why some website builders can be bad for SEO
When it comes to website builders, some are definitely better than others but there are a lot of reasons as to why website builders can have a negative impact on your SEO efforts.
Some of the downsides to website builders include:
Poor code management
When using website page builders, you don’t have as much control over your code as you would building a fully custom website.
Most website builders rely on plugins and applications to help create the visual elements of your website which can lead to an increase in the amount of code your site uses.
This can lead to slower loading times which ultimately has a negative impact on site performance and user experience.
Limited in design capabilities
Some website builders such as Wix and Squarespace have limited designs to choose from.
With so many online businesses now reliant on unique designs to stand out, it is important to create a bespoke site that will stand out and represent your brand in the right way.
Creating responsive designs
Some website builders make it challenging to build a responsive website. Creating a mobile-friendly website is essential to building a good user experience and Google’s “mobile-first” approach to indexing means it is essential to any web design process.
What is the best practice for website design in relation to SEO?
When it comes to using website builders, there are some things that you can do in order to give your website the best chance to rank for the phrases in which you want to be visible for in Google.
Limit the use of Javascript
JavaScript and Flash are programming languages that search engine crawlers have a difficult time reading. While you can do interesting, creative design elements with these programs, don’t use it too often.
Create a responsive design for mobile
Making sure that your website is mobile responsive is essential to your online success. As more people are becoming reliant on their mobile devices, it is vital that your website is responsive to any sized device.
Make your website easy to navigate
Your site should be simple and easy to navigate. It shouldn’t take users long before they find what you have for them. Make your key pages discoverable to ensure that you create a positive user experience for your customers.
Do website builders affect SEO?
Web design is a powerful tool for marketers and companies. It can be used to build trust, increase conversions rates and improve user experience as well as SEO rankings but it also affects how search engines rank websites.
Whenever you are designing a website, you need to make sure that you are always keeping in mind the key things that are going to have the biggest impact on your rankings. Site speed, user experience and content are what is going to engage your audience and make your website easy to crawl for Google.
Is a custom website better for SEO?
Custom websites are designed to be search engine friendly, and because of this, will be rewarded with better rankings. Sites that are built poorly using website builders will be affected negatively and custom websites definitely perform better.
However, website builders can be built far quicker and if built sensibly can definitely perform well in the search results.
Website builders like Oxygen are very light on code and therefore sites built using this website builder are far quicker out of the gate.
Need website and SEO advice?
Search engine rankings are important to your business, and that’s why SEO-focused web design from the start is so critical. Combine SEO best practices with good old fashioned website development skills to ensure that your site performs at an optimal level.
If you have any questions relating to website builders, please get in touch and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
