Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for driving web traffic. It helps your website rank higher in search results. Better online visibility leads to more organic traffic and increased sales.

But be careful – the tools you use to build your site can impact SEO. That’s why selecting the best website builders for SEO is important.

There are many website builders available, each with unique features. Choosing the right website platform for SEO will help you implement your SEO strategies effectively and create a high-ranking website.

To help you, we’ve compiled a list of the 5 best website builders for SEO. Let’s dive in!

Best Website Platform for SEO

Along with SEO capabilities, we’ll also cover the key factors to consider when selecting a website builder, such as pricing, ease of use, scalability, and more.

WordPress

Best for: Customisation potential
Price: Domain and hosting cost

WordPress is one of the most popular website builders. It powers over 800 million websites as a content management system (CMS).

There are two versions of WordPress: .com and .org.

WordPress.com provides a free basic CMS with additional paid plans for extended features like eCommerce functionality. On the other hand, WordPress.org is software you host on a third-party web host.

WordPress has long been a leader in search engine optimization. It offers unparalleled flexibility and customization potential. This unlocks its full SEO power.

From controlling permalinks to creating custom taxonomies, WordPress allows you to structure your website in a way that optimizes how search engines understand content.

While WordPress offers deep customization, you don’t need to be a tech expert. Themes and plugins can handle many technical SEO aspects, such as code optimization, mobile responsiveness, and fast loading speeds.

The extensive WordPress community has developed numerous SEO-focused plugins. Tools like All in One SEO and Rank Math guide you through the optimization process step-by-step.

This allows you to focus on creating great content while the platform manages the technical details.

WordPress also offers drag-and-drop page builder plugins like Elementor. You can use them to create beautiful, professional-looking websites.

Squarespace

Best for: Ease of use
Price: Starts at $16/month

Squarespace is a user-friendly website builder. It’s designed to help you grow your audience with built-in SEO tools and social media integrations.

Squarespace’s dashboard offers detailed control over your site’s SEO. You’ll find an easy-to-use SEO panel with helpful suggestions for optimizing your pages effectively.

If you’re comfortable with coding, Squarespace can be a powerful tool. It allows for advanced SEO techniques by letting you inject your own code.

One neat feature of Squarespace is its search preview tool. It shows how your website will appear in search engines. While it doesn’t directly affect your SEO ranking, it can encourage more users to click on your link.

The ease of use is a major advantage of Squarespace. Even novice internet users can build stunning websites using its intuitive drag-and-drop builder and easy-to-navigate backend.

Squarespace’s pricing ranges from $16 to $52 per month (billed annually). It doesn’t offer a free plan, but it does provide a 14-day free trial.

Shopify

Best for: eCommerce features
Price: Starts at $19/month

Shopify is unparalleled when it comes to eCommerce features and capabilities. As an SEO website builder, Shopify allows you to edit meta titles, descriptions, URLs, and alt text.

Additionally, Shopify handles several SEO tasks automatically. It creates canonical tags, your website’s sitemap.xml and robots.txt files, and custom title tags for your store.

You can also integrate your website with Google Search Console to enhance your SEO strategy with data-driven insights.

Like WordPress, you can install many apps from the Shopify app store to enhance the SEO capabilities of your website. 

One fantastic feature of Shopify is Ecommerce Booster. It’s not Shopify’s own app. It has partnered with SEO app Semrush to offer the Ecommerce Booster, which provides a clear optimization plan for Shopify stores. This even includes an AI description editor and an image tool that audits images and generates alt text.

Shopify offers three plans, ranging from $19 to $299 per month (billed annually). While these plans are on the pricier side compared to other website builders, Shopify’s extensive features provide a solid foundation for eCommerce success.

Wix

Best for: Growing businesses
Price: starts at $17/month

Wix offers a comprehensive suite of free SEO tools you’d expect from a website builder. It offers a solid infrastructure, customizable URLs, and automatic mobile-friendly site creation, and more.

Wix has all the SEO features built directly into the dashboard. You don’t need to install any separate tools. You can use these built-in features to optimize every aspect of your on-page SEO.

Wix has integration with some fantastic tools. Semrush integration analyzes keywords and creates reports on the best words and phrases to target. Integration with Lumar helps you identify and fix any technical SEO issues on your site.

One downside of Wix is that all these features are built into the dashboard. This results in an interface that can feel overwhelming at times.

Wix also offers a diverse range of template options. While it doesn’t have as many templates as Shopify or WordPress, it offers more variety than Squarespace.

Wix’s pricing ranges from $17 to $159 per month (billed annually). There is a free plan you can use indefinitely. It gives you access to basic SEO features, such as a personalized checklist. However, upgrading to a premium plan removes ads from your site and unlocks additional features, including eCommerce tools.

Webflow

Best for: Fast, customisable websites
Price: Starts at $14/month

Webflow is a website builder tailored for designers. It offers advanced customization and power for those who know how to use it. Like the other builders on this list, Webflow covers SEO essentials such as meta descriptions and Google Analytics integration.

What sets Webflow apart is the ability to edit nearly every part of your website, including creating sitemaps. This makes it an ideal choice for those who want complete control over their site’s SEO.

There’s no need to rely on additional SEO plugins or third-party apps.

One standout feature of Webflow is its speed. Webflow websites tend to be very fast. It offers customization and ease of use comparable to WordPress but without the extensive time required for speed optimization.

Webflow offers a free plan, a great way to familiarize yourself with the builder. However, to unlock advanced SEO tools like sitemap controls and structured search support, you’ll need a premium plan.

Premium plans range from $14 to $39 per month (billed annually).

Conclusion

When choosing the best website platform for SEO, remember also to look for responsive templates, reliable hosting, customisation options, and advanced AI features.

Most importantly, consider the pricing. While some platform offer cheap or even free plans, you may need to pay more to access the features you truly need.

Selecting the right platform is crucial, but it’s also important to understand SEO fundamentals, create high-quality content, and stay updated with changes in the SEO landscape.