When it comes time to pick a CMS platform for your new website, there’s quite a few things to consider. One factor that is often overlooked is how your choice in platform might help (or hinder) your SEO performance.
These days, the most popular CMS platforms, including WordPress, Drupal, and Kentico, all come packed with features that are designed to assist digital marketers achieve great results in the area of search engine optimisation. Half the battle is understanding what these features are and how to best capitalise upon them.
Enter Newpath Web. As a leading SEO company in Australia, we understand the inherent link between SEO and your choice in CMS platform. Our development and SEO teams can provide expert advice on how to optimise your existing platform for SEO success, as well as provide CMS recommendations for companies that are looking to build a new website. Continue reading to discover a little more about the link between web development and SEO as well as the web development services that our experienced team offers.
A little bit about SEO
There are a lot of factors that go into a successful SEO campaign. These can be broadly broken up into three categories: on-page, off-page, and technical.
On-page and technical SEO elements are closely linked and are primarily related to the way your website functions. On-page SEO practices include optimising title tags, creating keyword rich content, incorporating meta tags and descriptions, and optimising your images. Your Technical SEO checklist should include having a site map, fixing any crawl errors, ensuring you don’t have multiple URLs for the same page, having an SSL certificate, optimising site speed and making sure the website is mobile friendly.
Off-page SEO strategies, which typically include link building, guest blogging, and effective use of social media, are just as important but are not inherently linked to the performance of your own website.
Developing SEO friendly websites
As you can see, the performance of your website can have a significant impact on how effective your SEO campaign is. But why is this the case?
Well, Google wants to provide its users with the best experience possible. If the search engine recommends websites that are slow, confusing to navigate, or puts personal information at risk, users are unlikely to return. This is why the Google algorithms rank websites according to the on-page and technical SEO factors.
SEO performance should therefore be one of your top considerations when it comes time to build a new website.
Fortunately, the developers behind the world’s most popular CMS platforms understand the link between SEO and web development. WordPress, Kentico, and Drupal come with a range of features that make optimising for SEO purposes simple.
Here are a few of these features to look out for when discussing CMS platforms with your web development company:
Customisable page elements
The term ‘page elements’ refers to a number of different features, including the title, meta description, and alt image text. These all provide valuable information to search engine bots that crawl your website to gain a better idea about your business.
A CMS platform must offer you the ability to optimise these elements for SEO purposes.
URL settings
A URL informs search engine bots and real human visitors what a web page is about. Both parties will quickly become confused if your website URLs are a long, confusing stream of nonsensical numbers and letters.
You should aim to keep URLs short and to the point, ideally with the inclusion of targeted keywords. This can only be achieved if your CMS platform allows you to customise and change your URL settings.
Responsive themes
Google’s algorithms are constantly changing, in line with the evolution of web browsing. For example, over the past decade, mobile performance has become increasingly important as more and more of us choose to access the internet on hand-held devices.
Your site’s web design, therefore, needs to be responsive. That means it adjusts in relation to screen size and provides a good user experience regardless of what device you are using. Opt for a CMS platform that supports mobile performance.
XML sitemaps
One way that you can help search engine bots navigate your site is by providing them with a map! An XML sitemap lists every page on your website so these bots can easily crawl your content, gaining a better idea of what products and services your business provides.
XML sitemaps can be created manually, or you can select a CMS platform that creates it for you.
301 redirect management
Broken links are frowned upon by Google as they don’t provide a particularly good user experience. A 301 redirect can be used when you want to direct users away from old, irrelevant pages to pages that contain up-to-date content.
Deleting entire sections of your website can result in 404 — Not Found errors; a redirect, on the other hand, can be used to retain user traffic.
CMS platforms have many other built-in features that can be used to help your SEO campaigns succeed. The only real challenge is knowing how to use them. If you’re wanting to boost your digital presence, contact Newpath Web, a leading web development company. Our web developers and SEO experts work hand in hand to ensure your website is responsive, engaging, and optimised for SEO purposes. Get in touch today to find out more.
