In the course of the previous few months, we’ve been testing the Web optimization capabilities of the world’s hottest CMS programs in 2024.
We’ve been revealing the outcomes of our particular person exams as we go. And it’s secure to say that some CMS programs carried out higher than others.
This submit is an replace of the same check we did 3 years in the past, the place we additionally answered the query of which CMS is finest for Web optimization.
Again then, WordPress was the clear winner. However is that this nonetheless the case?
Now it’s time to get to the nitty gritty, as we:
- evaluate the CMS programs we examined head-to-head, and
- reveal the CMS we imagine would be the finest Web optimization alternative for content-based websites in 2024
If you wish to know why we got here to our conclusions, then we’ve received all the data you want arising…
However hey, we all know you is likely to be busy. So when you’re simply on the lookout for a fast reply, right here it’s!
Fast solutions
One of the best CMS for Web optimization proper now
One of the best CMS for Web optimization in 2024 can also be the world’s hottest: WordPress. This was the case once we examined them three years in the past too, so it’s not likely a shock.
Nonetheless, Joomla (significantly model 5) runs it shut. And though Joomla already did very effectively in our final check, it appears to have improved fairly a bit since then.
However when mixed with the YOAST Web optimization plugin, WordPress’s out-of-the-box velocity, full management over all on-page Web optimization fundamentals, and large neighborhood assist nonetheless give it the sting.
One of the best website-building platform for Web optimization
Whereas WordPress and Joomla might be categorized as fully-fledged CMS programs, the opposite three platforms we examined (Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy) are higher categorized into the subcategory “web site constructing platforms”. Wix was nonetheless the clear winner on this subcategory, providing a lot larger management over Web optimization fundamentals than its friends.
Wix has truly improved fairly a bit since our final check, which wasn’t the case for the opposite website-building platforms. So, in addition to awarding it the title of “finest web site constructing platform for Web optimization” we additionally really feel it’s the quickest enhancing CMS with regards to Web optimization fundamentals.
How we chosen the CMS programs to check
There are a ton of CMS programs on the market.
However we determined to focus our testing on the preferred content-focused CMS programs by market share (with one exception).
Why do we are saying content-focused?
Properly, technically Shopify is a CMS. Certainly, in accordance with w3techs it’s at the moment the second hottest CMS on the planet. However we’re certain most would agree that Shopify is best classed as an eCommerce platform.
So we skipped Shopify and chosen the opposite 4 hottest CMS programs in w3techs high 5:
- WordPress (62.6% market share)
- Shopify (6.5%)
- Wix (4.2%)
- Squarespace (3.1%)
- Joomla (2.4%)
For our last choice, we determined to deviate from utilizing recognition for choice.
The following hottest content-focused CMS system by market share is at the moment Drupal (1.3%). However we imagine that a lot of this share is prone to be made up of legacy websites. Google Tendencies reveals that its recognition has been on a critical decline ever since its peak round 2010.
So as a substitute we jumped the record a bit and selected to check GoDaddy’s Web site Builder.
Why we included GoDaddy’s Web site Builder in our testing
GoDaddy continues to be the world’s largest particular person area registrar.
And whereas their Web site Builder has a low general market share (0.5%), we really feel that it’s prone to embody a disproportionately excessive variety of small companies.
Why?
As a result of anybody who registers a site on GoDaddy (at the moment round 15% of month-to-month area registrations) goes to get bombarded with upsells to create their website utilizing GoDaddy’s Web site Builder.
They’re going to be getting their CMS in entrance of numerous small enterprise house owners, lots of whom shall be trying to launch an internet site shortly, merely, and fuss-free. That’s the proper buyer for his or her platform, and the extra focused advertising is, the more practical it’s.
So with GoDaddy chosen for testing, right here’s what our last record seemed like.
You possibly can click on the hyperlinks if you wish to learn the newly up to date particular person opinions.
Now let’s take a look at how we performed our exams.
How we examined the Web optimization capabilities of every CMS
We’ll begin this part by getting one thing out of the way in which.
The CMS system you select is barely a component — maybe even a small one — of whether or not or not your website shall be profitable in search.
As a result of in case your content material sucks, you disregard Web optimization fundamentals, and also you don’t pull in some high-quality hyperlinks, then…
…you ain’t going to rank.
In different phrases:
A website working on the “worst” CMS for Web optimization may nonetheless outrank a website working on the “finest” one.
However what we will say is that the CMS you select will both assist or hinder your Web optimization efforts.
Which is why we determined to give attention to measurable, platform-specific metrics. Primarily:
- The out-the-box velocity of a CMS (and Core Internet Vitals efficiency)
- Assist for Web optimization fundamentals (i.e. are you able to do X, Y, Z on the platform)
Now we should always level out right here that velocity can also be going to be theme and (in some instances) hosting-dependent.
For that motive, we once more used recognition to select themes to check.
And for self-hosted websites (WordPress and Joomla) we used equivalent server setups/internet hosting.
Every website was arrange with related content material.
And we stored exterior plugins/extensions to a minimal to get as near an “out-of-the-box” configuration as doable.
Though we did set up an industry-standard Web optimization plugin on each WordPress (YOAST) and Joomla (Route66), and really useful a few picture compression plugins.
As soon as our demo websites have been arrange, the testing course of for every CMS included:
- handbook evaluation
- working the location by way of our personal Web optimization audit instrument, and
- utilizing third-party instruments resembling Google’s PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix
So let’s dig into how our CMS platforms carried out. We’ll begin by reviewing velocity.
How briskly (or gradual) was every CMS?
Velocity issues for rankings.
It’s one of many few alerts that Google has confirmed influences rankings.
We measured the efficiency of every of our check websites utilizing Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
Right here’s a abstract of the outcomes…
It’s not even shut.
The self-hosted websites (Joomla and WordPress) considerably outperformed the websites constructed with platform-hosted CMS programs.
Our WordPress check website was quickest general. However Joomla ran it shut. Each CMS programs have been tremendous fast out-the-box and handed Google’s Core Internet Vitals (CWV) exams with flying colours.
Squarespace, Wix, and GoDaddy however all suffered velocity points and our check websites could be prone to fail CWV (though the efficiency of real-world web sites improved considerably for all three CMS in contrast to a couple years in the past).
So what was slowing our check websites down?
Properly, whereas all of them had their very own little quirks (you may learn the person opinions for extra element), there was a standard denominator:
Blanket loading of scripts and types.
Don’t want the script for that fancy homepage carousel? Robust. You’re getting it on each web page of your website regardless.
Though this appears to have gotten higher through the years, the core of the platform-hosted CMS programs remains to be fairly heavy and bloated, and there’s no easy method to flip issues on and off.
That is clearly lower than very best, and results in this…
A bunch of warnings and inefficiencies that would, for probably the most half, be prevented..
That individual check is from our Squarespace website. However the identical challenge affected Wix and GoDaddy Web site Builder.
For instance, on our GoDaddy Web site Builder website, script execution took nearly 11 seconds..
It is a LOT.
Might the velocity points be resolved?
Briefly: sure (most likely).
Whether or not you’re on Wix, GoDaddy Web site Builder, or Squarespace, you ought to be capable to velocity up your website with some technical data, time, and (most likely) some spare money for an extension or two.
We’ve actually seen some quick Wix websites on the market.
Plus, a superb share of websites utilizing any of those CMSs carry out fairly effectively in accordance with the Core Internet Vitals Know-how Report.
However for the non-technical consumer who simply needs to make use of the platform to select a theme, launch a website, and work on content material, velocity points are doubtless going to hinder rankings.
And in our opinion, that kind of consumer is prone to make up most of Wix, GoDaddy Web site Builder and Squarespace’s consumer base. In any case, launching a website quicklyand not requiring technical data are the promoting factors of these platforms, proper?
So we hope that future builds proceed addressing the out-of-he-box points with velocity.
We also needs to level out right here that this was the out-of-the-box velocity of our WordPress and Joomla websites. With some web page velocity optimization, we’d actually be capable to get them to run even sooner and/or proceed working quick with extra content material/options on the location.
Assist for On-Web page Web optimization fundamentals
Now let’s flip our consideration to manage of among the elementary on-page Web optimization elements.
And since an image tells a thousand phrases, we’ll begin with a visible abstract, which incorporates an general rating (out of 21) for every CMS.
And to offer you an concept of how every CMS carried out in our final check a couple of years in the past, listed here are the outdated check outcomes:
Not a giant distinction.
As you may see there’s nonetheless a big disparity within the capabilities of the platforms, with the self-hosted CMS programs (Joomla and WordPress) providing way more management. Some platforms improved, however enchancment appears to be fairly gradual for the more serious performing CMSs like GoDaddy Web site Builder and Squarespace.
Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at how every platform helps (or doesn’t assist) a few of these on-page Web optimization fundamentals.
Notice: Having management of an Web optimization rating issue just isn’t equal to its optimization. Web optimization audit instruments like Seobility provide recommendation on the way to correctly optimize every ingredient, and discover errors in optimization which may be holding again your website. See our Web optimization audit information for extra data on the way to absolutely optimize your web site.
Web optimization Titles and Meta Descriptions
A web page’s title continues to be one of the vital essential on-page rating elements. And a well-written meta description will help you get extra click-throughs (though Google gained’t all the time use it).
What have been we on the lookout for?
Naked minimal? The power to create customized Web optimization titles and meta descriptions for every web page.
However we additionally needed to see search snippet previews (cell and desktop) and a method to template titles and meta descriptions.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
WordPress (with YOAST) was the one CMS that gave us the whole lot we needed.
YOAST makes it tremendous easy to manage your titles and meta descriptions, preview how your snippets will look in search, and create templated title/description codecs.
Joomla (with Route66) was shut however lacked a easy method to create templates. Though it may be completed with some primary code.
And Wix and Squarespace additionally carried out moderately effectively, with solely cell snippet previews lacking from our guidelines.
How about GoDaddy?
Yikes…
It’s not even doable to create a customized title/description for every web page in your GoDaddy website, as the choice is lacking on weblog posts. This was additionally the case once we final examined GoDaddy Web site Builder, though it looks like a fairly straightforward characteristic so as to add.
They get slightly credit score for desktop snippet previews (no cell), however aside from that, it was a giant fats fail with little to no enchancment prior to now 3 years.
Study extra about Web optimization Titles and Meta Descriptions
Web page slug / URL
We suggest creating brief, descriptive, 2-3-word slugs, together with the first key phrase (or phrase) for every web page. And use hyphens to separate phrases.
What have been we on the lookout for?
The power to set a customized, Web optimization-friendly URL for every web page.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
All of the CMS programs we examined allowed full management over URLs, apart from…
…you guessed it, GoDaddy.
These outcomes have been the identical because the final spherical of exams we did.
Once more, whereas it was doable (though extremely unintuitive) to set a customized URL for normal pages, on weblog posts the choice was utterly lacking with no unusual workaround.
Study extra about URL slugs/permalinks
Canonical URLs
On smaller websites, you most likely gained’t want to fret about this.
However you probably have a sequence of comparable pages in your website — i.e. focusing on the identical key phrases, or with very small variations in content material — there could also be instances whenever you’ll need to set a canonical (grasp) URL.
This helps to keep away from duplicate content material points.
What have been we on the lookout for?
The power to set a customized canonical URL for every web page.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
On our WordPress, Joomla, and Wix websites, we have been in a position to set a customized canonical URL for every web page.
On Squarespace there was a protracted, difficult workaround with customized code which implies it’s technically doable however in no way intuitive.
On GoDaddy Web site Builder, it’s not doable so as to add canonical tags.
So, briefly: No modifications because the final time we examined this.
Study extra about canonical URLs
Index management (robots meta tag)
The robots meta tag instructs Google to both index (1), or to not index (2) a web page:
- – index this web page please Google
- – ignore this web page please Google (however comply with the hyperlinks on it)
You don’t really need the primary one as (assuming your web page meets their high quality requirements) indexing is Google’s default motion. However it doesn’t do any hurt to have it in place.
What have been we on the lookout for?
The power to manage indexing (by way of a robots meta tag) for every web page.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
Once more, WordPress, Joomla, and Wix had this coated.
Squarespace allowed us to noindex common pages, however for some motive didn’t give us the choice on weblog posts.
However a minimum of this was higher than GoDaddy’s Web site Builder, which didn’t give us a straightforward method to noindex any of our website’s pages.
You might discover a theme right here…
Study extra about index management
Heading Tags (h1, h2, h3 and so on)
Heading tags (h1, h2, h3, and so on) assist Google perceive the construction, and subject(s) of your web page.
They need to be correctly nested.
For instance, an h1 tag would typically be the primary subject (stage 1), an h2 might be a subtopic (stage 2), and an h3 might be a sub-sub subject (stage 3), and so on:
(subject of the web page)
Goldfish
(subtopic)
Caring to your goldfish
(subtopic of goldfish)
Clear your fish’s tank commonly
(subtopic of caring to your goldfish)
Cats
(subtopic)
Caring to your cat
(subtopic of cats)
What have been we on the lookout for?
The power to set a full vary of headings from H1-H6.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
No points with WordPress, Wix, and Joomla, we received the total vary from H1-H6.
It is a optimistic change from final time, as Wix has added extra heading tags. Previously, it might restrict you to h1, h2 and h3 on weblog posts, which is not the case.
Squarespace restricted us to H1-H4 sitewide.
How about GoDaddy?
One other sizzling mess.
On common pages, there’s no method to set the heading tags you need, GoDaddy will simply select one for you. They usually selected incorrect.
And on weblog posts, hit the “T” button and also you’re getting an H4 whether or not you prefer it or not.
(It’s H4s all the way in which down)
Study extra about heading tags
Structured information (aka schema)
Structured information (also called schema) will help Google perceive:
- the kind of content material on a web page (i.e. recipe, evaluation, product, article),
- the entity behind the web site (i.e. group),
- and may also be used to point out further search options (wealthy snippets)
Should you’re not acquainted with structured information and its affect on Web optimization, we suggest studying our wealthy snippets information.
What have been we on the lookout for?
The power so as to add customized schema to pages and weblog posts.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
Each YOAST for WordPress and Route66 for Joomla have wonderful assist for schema.
So as to add customized schema to a web page on Wix or Squarespace, you’ll must generate your markup externally, then copy and paste it into the platform.
Wix makes it apparent the place so as to add your code and has improved its UI when in comparison with the final time we ran this check…
…however for including schema to a web page on Squarespace you’ll nonetheless want to make use of the “Web page Header Code Injection” setting beneath superior web page settings.
We suggest this free instrument for producing schema in JSON-LD format.
There is no such thing as a easy approach so as to add schema markup to a web page on a GoDaddy website. Shocked? By this stage, most likely not.
Study extra about structured information and wealthy snippets
Picture Web optimization
The three most essential components of picture Web optimization are:
- Alt textual content (description of the picture for display screen readers and search engines like google and yahoo)
- File dimension (smaller = sooner = higher)
- File title (we suggest utilizing descriptive file names)
What have been we on the lookout for?
Typically, we have been on the lookout for the platform to assist alt textual content, and never mess with picture filenames. However some type of picture compression was a pleasant bonus.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
Out-of-the-box, all platforms assist alt textual content.
Sure, even GoDaddy.
In truth, we’ll go additional and provides a hats off to GoDaddy on compression as they’ll robotically create and serve optimized WebP variations of uploaded photos (as will Wix).
However earlier than we get forward of ourselves…
…we should always level out that they’ll additionally fiddle with filenames. Once more, ditto Wix.
WordPress and Joomla gained’t robotically compress your photos. However Imagify for WordPress, and Picture Recycle for Joomla are broadly used and can do the trick properly.
Study extra about picture Web optimization
HTTPS
HTTPS has been a confirmed Google rating sign since 2014.
And lately there’s actually no excuse for any website to nonetheless be working over HTTP. However any Web optimization advantages, it’s unsecure.
In case your website is hosted by Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy, you’ll get HTTPS by default.
Should you’re on WordPress or Joomla, then setting it up shall be your accountability.
Study extra about HTTPS
Robots.txt file
A robots.txt file permits you to cease search engine bots from accessing sure areas of your website.
For instance, you may need a piece with user-generated content material that you simply don’t need crawled or listed by Google.
What have been we on the lookout for?
The power to edit a website’s robots.txt file, both through FTP or by way of the admin space.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
As WordPress and Joomla are self-hosted you may entry your website’s robots.txt file by way of FTP.
And there are a number of free and paid plugins accessible to make this simpler, like this one for WordPress and these for Joomla.
Wix admin additionally provides you full management of your robots.txt file.
Nonetheless, sadly, there’s no method to edit the robots.txt file on a Squarespace or GoDaddy website.
This looks like a fairly straightforward characteristic so as to add, but no modifications have been made since our final check.
Study extra about Robots.txt
XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap helps Google discover (and index) all of the pages in your website.
What have been we on the lookout for?
Firstly for an XML sitemap (or sitemaps) to be auto-generated and maintained by the platform, and secondly for the power to cover/take away noindex pages from the sitemap.
How did the CMS programs carry out?
Whereas all of the CMS programs we examined created a sitemap, solely Joomla and WordPress allowed us to manually management which pages have been included. Wix and Squarespace robotically take away noindex pages from the sitemap, and GoDaddy provides you no management in any respect.
Study extra about XML Sitemaps
Cellular pleasant
When designing your website, there’s a superb probability you’ll be specializing in the way it appears on desktop.
However cell site visitors overtook desktop site visitors approach again in 2017. And Google now prioritizes the cell model of your website for crawling and indexing.
Whether or not or not your website is cell pleasant is extra prone to come right down to theme alternative, relatively than CMS.
So when you spot any cell usability errors
the very first thing to examine ought to be your theme.
As a result of all CMS programs are (nonetheless) completely able to internet hosting a mobile-friendly website.
Notice: HTTPS and mobile-friendliness are each confirmed Google rating elements, which is why we included them in our exams. Nonetheless, we didn’t issue them into the general scores as they don’t actually present extra Web optimization management for customers — they’re both coated by the platform or not. In any case, each elements are coated by all of the CMS programs we examined and wouldn’t affect the ultimate positions.
301 Redirects
301 Redirects can be utilized to inform search engine crawlers and browsers {that a} useful resource (e.g. HTML file) has been completely moved to a distinct URL. From an Web optimization perspective, they’re essential as they’ll cross on the relevance and hyperlink juice of a web page to its new URL.
4 out of the 5 CMS programs we examined can help you arrange 301 redirects on the platform itself or through the use of an apparent extension…
…however as soon as once more, GoDaddy (nonetheless) dares to be totally different.
Study extra about 301 redirects
Further options and enhancements
Though it’s not a part of our essential exams, this time round, we additionally checked out among the additional options and new additions the CMSs provided.
In fact, self-hosted CMSs like WordPress and Joomla have third events growing and enhancing on plugins continually. There’s no actual method to cowl all of them right here, nevertheless it’s secure to say that there’s regular improvment and new options being added commonly.
Nonetheless, with regards to the web site constructing platforms, including new options is as much as the businesses behind them. So, seeing new/additional options and enhancements being made commonly is essential.
Web optimization guidelines
Each Wix and Squarespace have an Web optimization guidelines to stroll newbies by way of primary optimizations. Now, granted, following these checklists will solely get you to date, nevertheless it’s good to see them making an effort.
Wix’s guidelines is extra intensive than Squarespace’s and it has a very simple integration with Google Search Console which is a helpful addition. That being stated, each give newbies a guidelines to comply with to get probably the most primary Web optimization duties completed.
So, though Wix will get additional credit score right here, we really feel that each Wix and Squarespace deserve an additional level.
Multilingual assist
Though not very important for many websites, working with a platform that helps the creation of multilingual websites might be essential for some. Not solely does it can help you enter into new markets, however it will probably additionally show you how to drastically improve your search site visitors.
Wix is the one web site constructing platform that has full multilingual assist. This works through a brand new app known as Wix Multilingual.
Wix Multilingual permits you to both manually translate your content material or use AI to do it for you. It additionally permits you to modify the Web optimization settings for every language, which is a vital additional characteristic.
Squarespace does have the Weglot Multilingual extension, nevertheless it solely permits you to translate 2000 phrases in a single language pair on the free tier. That is the equal of about half of this weblog submit…
The plans get fairly costly after that, with websites of over 50.000 phrases already costing $87 per 30 days!
That is round 10-30 lengthy kind weblog posts, plus maybe a couple of common pages like your homepage, about web page and related. Small websites might fall beneath their $17 or $32 per 30 days plans, however even then, we really feel it’s fairly costly in comparison with paid WordPress or Joomla plugins.
You can also make your Squarespace website multilingual manually, however that is removed from very best given the quantity of labor and the actual fact you may solely translate sure components of the location.
GoDaddy doesn’t have a straightforward approach of making multilingual websites, however you may technically create a number of websites on a number of (sub-)domains in several languages.
Different notable mentions
- Wix Web site Inspection: A brand new Wix characteristic that gives customers with a straightforward approach to make use of Search Console information immediately in Wix. It offers an summary of the location’s indexing standing in addition to page-by-page stories.
- Wix’s Web site Velocity Dashboard: This new dashboard permits you to get Google PageSpeed metrics immediately in Wix, permitting you to observe your website velocity.
In abstract: Self-hosted platforms nonetheless lead the Web optimization approach
Let’s end by summarizing our findings.
There’s a clear divide between the Web optimization capabilities of the self-hosted CMS programs (WordPress and Joomla) and the platform-hosted programs (Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy).
Not solely are you getting a working begin out-of-the-box by way of velocity and performance, however you’re additionally free to tinker to your coronary heart’s content material.
The code is open-source, and you are able to do what you want with it. Whereas with Wix et al, you’re not going to have the ability to fiddle an excessive amount of ‘beneath the hood’.
Which is why we felt it’s higher to subdivide our outcomes into 2 teams:
- Self-hosted CMS programs: WordPress and Joomla
- Web site constructing platforms: Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy
Whereas WordPress is the general finest CMS for Web optimization, Wix is the clear winner within the “web site constructing platforms” class
As we stated at the beginning in our fast reply, WordPress is the general finest CMS for Web optimization, a minimum of out of the field. However when you’re technically minded you’re going to have the ability to optimize a Joomla website each bit in addition to a WordPress one.
Are you able to optimize a Wix website to the identical stage? Maybe, maybe not. However both approach, when you’re tech-savvy sufficient to try this, we’d query why you’d need to. You’re finally locked into Wix’s underlying code and their server config.
However that’s to not put Wix down. Whereas nonetheless affected by numerous points, we have been impressed by how a lot Wix has matured prior to now couple of years. It’s actually not the Web optimization horror story it as soon as was.
In truth, it’s the clear Web optimization winner within the “web site constructing platforms” subcategory and likewise the CMS that has improved most since our final spherical of testing. So when you don’t need the trouble of managing your personal code/server, and simply need a platform the place you may shortly launch a website, give attention to content material, and management most Web optimization fundamentals, then it might be a strong alternative.
Apart from, if Wix retains enhancing as shortly as they’ve been so far, we’re certain that you simply’ll be having fun with new nifty options quickly.
Squarespace lags Wix by way of Web optimization performance. However it’s what it’s, and also you’ll actually be capable to optimize numerous essential on-page elements.
Should you’re on GoDaddy’s Web site Builder…
…good luck!
Right here’s our general scores once more.
And right here’s an summary of the ultimate scores solely if you wish to share our outcomes:
You possibly can learn our full opinions of every CMS system by clicking the hyperlinks under.
Notice: This CMS evaluation has initially been written in 2021 by David McSweeney and has been up to date for 2024 by Bram Vergouwen. Bram is a Web optimization specialist with greater than 6 years of expertise working with corporations throughout totally different international locations and industries, offering personalized Web optimization options and methods that improve on-line visibility.
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