11+ Best Website Builders for SEO

This is a comprehensive review of the best website builders for SEO.

You’re here because you probably understand the importance of making your website SEO ready. That’s what I want to help you with.

But first things first, why should you trust me?

Here’s the thing – I’ve been building websites for small businesses since the summer of 2016. You can check out my portfolio here.

And if you’d like to hire me to design your website – please shoot me a message right away.

Summary

Here are my top picks and why:

Back to the topic of the day, you first need to know how to choose a website-building platform for SEO.

Choosing the Best Website Building Platform for SEO

While there are many factors to keep in mind, I’ll only focus on the most important.

Robust SEO tools: The website builder should have features like meta tags, sitemaps, and alt text for images.

Fast loading speeds: Speed is one of the most important ranking factors. Google itself says so. Faster sites tend to rank higher in search engines, so make sure the platform is optimized for speed.

Mobile optimization. Your site should look great on all devices. While responsiveness is not necessarily a key ranking factor, about 96% percent of users access the internet via their mobile devices. So, it makes sense to put more effort where the money is.

Strong security features. Secure sites rank better. Look for SSL certificates, regular backups, malware scanning, and other security measures.

Good analytics integration: You need to track your SEO performance. Otherwise, you won’t be able to measure your progress. Choose a platform that works well with tools like Google Analytics.

Every tool I’ve covered below has these SEO-friendly features and so much more.

Best Website Builders for Small Business SEO

We’re still talking about SEO, but this time, it’s for small businesses. Here are the best website builders under this category.

Shopify 

Shopify is a great option if you’re running an online store. What makes it great for SEO is that it can automatically generate sitemaps and submit them to Google Search Console.  

Then there’s also the ability to optimize header and title tags, along with meta descriptions. You can easily tweak these elements to include target keywords. This trick makes your content more attractive to search engines.  

Shopify is also great at creating readable URLs that include target keywords. Clean, keyword-rich URLs are easier for search engines to crawl and also more user-friendly.  

With this platform, you can create descriptive alt text for images and set up internal links. Alt text makes images more searchable, while internal linking helps distribute link equity across your site.  

WordPress 

WordPress always has powerful SEO capabilities. No wonder it’s the world’s largest content management system (CMS) by market share. At the time of writing, about 67.2% of websites on the internet are powered by WordPress.

One of its biggest advantages is the sea of SEO plugins available, like Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack. And of them are free. These plugins make optimizing your website for SEO much easier by providing tools for meta tags, keyword optimization, and readability analysis. 

Another reason WordPress stands out is its customizable permalinks. You can easily create clean and descriptive URLs and also throw in your target keywords.   

This website builder with on page SEO is also great for content management. And if you didn’t know, content is still the king of SEO. Here, you can create and organize content efficiently, update and optimize your posts regularly, and improve your chances of ranking higher.  

One more thing–WordPress offers excellent mobile optimization. We have already seen that a responsive WordPress theme provides a seamless experience for all users. Remember, we also learned that most users access the internet on mobile.

Wix

Wix is known for its intuitive SEO Wiz tool. Even if you’re new to SEO, this tool makes it easy to understand and implement best practices to make sure your site is well-optimized from the start.

Wix also integrates seamlessly with Google Search Console, which allows you to easily submit your sitemap and monitor your site’s performance on Google. This allows you to track your site’s performance and identify what needs improvement.  

Like other website builders I’ve covered, Wix offers customizable meta tags and alt text options. You can easily edit your page titles, descriptions, and image alt texts to include target keywords.

Lastly, Wix websites look great and perform well on all devices. By now, I’m assuming you already know what responsiveness does to your SEO. 

Squarespace  

Squarespace comes with clean, professional templates that are automatically optimized for SEO. These templates are designed to make it easy to create a site that both users and search engines will love.

I probably sound like a broken record, but Squarespace also has a user-friendly interface for editing meta tags and descriptions. This level of customization is exactly what you need to tailor your SEO strategy to your specific audience and goals.

Additionally, this website builder includes built-in analytics tools that provide valuable insights into your site’s performance. For perspective, you can track key metrics such as traffic, page views, and user behavior.

Armed with this data, you can continuously refine your SEO strategy and enhance your site’s performance over time.

Best Do It Yourself Website Builder for SEO

If you’d rather design the website and handle SEO all by yourself, you still have options. Here’s what I recommend.

Shopify 

Let’s circle back to Shopify one more time. It’s one of the easiest-to-use DIY website builders for SEO out there. But there’s a catch – it’s only meant for eCommerce websites.

Lastly, this popular eCommerce platform provides excellent customer support and a wealth of resources. Whether you’re looking at guides, tutorials, or community forums, there’s plenty of help available to get your site off the runway.

Wix

My first ever web design project was on Wix back in 2018. At the time, I wasn’t so comfortable with WordPress and also didn’t know anything about coding.

One of the things that made me attracted to Wix back then was its user-friendly features and tons of templates to choose from (more than 900, to be specific). While I no longer use Wix to design websites, it’s still a great option if you just want to create a unique, polished website without needing any coding skills.  

The platform’s link-to-section feature improves site navigation, user experience, and SEO. By linking to specific sections of a page, you can guide visitors more effectively and ensure they find the information they need quickly. This ease of navigation helps keep users engaged and reduces bounce rates.

Wix’s AI SEO metatags feature is another major advantage if you want to build your website from scratch and have it optimized for search engines. This tool instantly generates optimized meta titles and descriptions for each of your pages. You can then fine-tune these metatags with prompts and customize them directly from your SEO Panel.

Feeling stuck? No worries – the Wix SEO Learning Hub provides a wealth of resources to help you learn and master SEO. Here, you’ll find in-depth guides, original articles, tutorials, webinars, and podcast episodes created by industry leaders.  

Weebly 

Weebly enters the SEO scene with a concise and understandable sitemap. This automatically generated sitemap helps search engines index your site more efficiently.

With Weebly, you’ll have access to basic SEO features like meta descriptions. But if you want more control, you can always opt for advanced SEO settings, such as customizing your URLs to make them more readable, including relevant keywords and Alt text for images.

Editing meta titles and page descriptions is also pretty straightforward on Weebly. This level of customization ensures that your content is tailored to your audience and search engines alike.  

Best Free SEO Website Builders

In this section, we’ll look at website builders that are 100% free. But there’s also a catch here. These platforms are usually self-hosted, so in order to unlock more powerful features (which are beneficial for your site’s SEO), you may need to upgrade to a paid plan.

Squarespace

Squarespace is an excellent choice for creating a professional, optimized site. One major benefit is the lack of unwanted branding. Unlike other platforms that plaster their logos all over your site, Squarespace allows you to remove branding. This option makes sure that your site focuses entirely on you and your brand.

Another great benefit is the free domain for a year. When you choose an annual website plan, you get a custom domain at no extra cost for the first year. This makes it easy to establish a professional online presence without the additional expense.

Squarespace also offers unlimited bandwidth, which means you’ll never have to worry about extra charges for high traffic or storage needs. This is particularly beneficial for growing businesses and content-rich sites, as you can scale without being nickel and dimed for bandwidth or storage.

Lastly, Squarespace’s e-commerce plans come with no transaction fees. You pay one set monthly or annual fee, and that’s it—no hidden costs or added fees for transactions. This straightforward pricing model helps you manage your budget more effectively and ensures that all your earnings go directly to your business.

Wix

Wix is a fantastic DIY website builder with SEO functionalities, especially for individuals with limited technical knowledge. It comes with a 14-day free trial which you can utilize to explore and test all the features without any initial commitment. 

The free trial is a great way to see if Wix fits your needs before making a decision. Even better, there’s no Wix branding on your site during the free trial period. So you basically get the features premiums users have access to without a long-term commitment.

You can think of the free trial as a money-back guarantee. In fact, it actually is.

Here’s how it works: you sign up and pay for a Wix plan, and if you’re not satisfied within the first 14 days, you can cancel and get a full refund. This guarantee gives you peace of mind, knowing you can try out Wix risk-free and get your money back if it doesn’t meet your expectations.  

Webflow 

Webflow offers a balance of simplicity and power. For those just starting, the entry-level site option provides a great way to get your feet wet. This plan includes up to two pages, which is perfect for a simple landing page or a basic informational site. You also get 50 form submissions over the site’s lifetime. 

On top of that, it this plan features one GB of bandwidth and support for up to 1,000 visitors. I know this isn’t much if we’re talking about powerful resources, but for very small projects or testing purposes, it should work just fine. 

If you’re serious about building a more robust website, Webflow’s basic plan is a great option. It supports up to 150 pages, giving you plenty of room to expand your content. Also, with 500 form submissions per month, you can actively engage with your audience and gather valuable insights regularly.

The basic option comes with 50 GB of bandwidth and supports up to 250,000 visitors. This is what you need for larger audiences and more complex projects.  

GoDaddy 

GoDaddy offers a quick and easy setup process. For instance, to get started, all you need to do is answer a few questions and get a customizable site up and running fast.  

The AI assistant helps you create your free website in minutes. This AI-driven process allows you to focus on your content and design rather than the technical details.  

GoDaddy also offers a unified dashboard to manage everything from reviews and orders to social media. This all-in-one management tool is accessible on any device, making it easy to keep track of your website’s performance and updates wherever you are.  

About the free plan, GoDaddy won’t charge you a dime to use their platform to design your website. On top of that, you get to experience the premium features of their paid plans free for seven days. If you choose not to upgrade after the trial ends, you won’t lose any of the work you’ve done on your free site. 

Which Website Builder is Best for SEO?

The truth is, it all depends on many different factors.

If you’re a beginner, for example, I recommend starting with Wix. That’s because it’s user-friendly and much easier to optimize. 

WordPress is my favorite, but it’s not so beginner-friendly. You’ll learn to learn a thing or two about this popular CMS before you even decide to head this direction.

The best thing about WordPress is that it’s open-source and very popular. You’ll have access to tons of plugins, including SEO-focused ones like Yoast and Rank Math. 

Looking Beyond Website Builders for SEO

Before I wrap things up, it’s important to mention that a website builder’s suitability for SEO is a good starting point, but not all it takes to have your website rank higher in search engines. There are many different SEO considerations when building a website you need to learn to even start noticing results. 

So, take your time to learn, come up with a strategy, and implement it. Or better still, you can always contact us if you need help optimizing your website for search engines. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that for best results, you’ll need some form of optimization tool to guide your campaign. Don’t just focus only on website builders for SEO–you’ll be wasting your precious time and energy. 

Not sure where to started? I’ve covered some of the best SEO software for small businesses to get you started.