Webflow and WordPress are incredibly popular website-building platforms, and search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most core concepts behind website development. After all, there is no point in building out a website if you cannot get users to see your content. In this article, we will discuss and compare both Webflow and WordPress in terms of their unique SEO capabilities.
Webflow vs. WordPress: At a Glance
Webflow and WordPress are both impressive platforms with unique SEO capabilities. Webflow is more of an all-in-one package that is designed for users with little to no coding experience while WordPress is a much more customizable and advanced option that is meant mainly for users that have experience coding and building/managing websites.
What is Webflow?
Webflow is a custom website builder that can be thought of as more of a hybrid between a content management system (CMS) and a visual design tool. Its key SEO-related features include generating clean code that is easy to crawl, automated sitemap generation, on-page SEO control, customized schema implementation, fast hosting, and alt tag editing.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that was once a popular blogging platform. Its key SEO-related features include customizable permalinks, powerful SEO plugins, on-page SEO control, mobile responsiveness, schema makeup integration, enhanced internal linking, and site speed optimization.
SEO Capabilities Comparison
Webflow
Webflow has many more built-in tools for search engine optimization than WordPress thanks to their inclusive packaging. Their on-page SEO tools allow users to easily generate high-quality code and directly optimize what is happening on each page. They also have the most essential customization options for SEO elements like meta tags, 301 direct, and structured data integration. Webflow is also renowned for their mobile responsiveness and built-in speed optimization.
WordPress
The free version of WordPress comes with customizable permalinks, but most of its search engine optimization capabilities come from plugins like the AI-enhanced Yoast SEO. WordPress allows for so much more flexibility and depth in SEO customization through their wide database of plugins and themes (both free and premium). You can even purchase that will reduce on site speed and help restructure each page and its various elements for fast loading times.
Ease of Use for SEO
Webflow
Webflow has a much more user-friendly interface for SEO management. Because it is not just a content management system (CMS), you can act as a visual editor and make real-time SEO changes. Regardless of past experience, users can easily set everything up in Webflow and begin designing their site. Making more complex and customized SEO decisions will however be slightly more difficult.
WordPress
WordPress has a much less user-friendly interface, meaning that there is a steep learning curve to set everything up. However, more complex and customized SEO decisions are easier and more intuitive to accomplish. WordPress offers much greater complexity and flexibility in managing SEO although the use of plugins is required for almost all SEO customization.
Customization and Flexibility
Webflow
Webflow centers on design-focused customization with an array of built-in tools because it is meant to be more of a basic but comprehensive platform. Webflow has thousands of different themes included from the very start, but there are some fairly significant limitations in advanced SEO customization depending on what your specific needs are.
WordPress
WordPress offers extensive customization options with so many themes and plugins. In fact, the content management system has more than double the number of themes that Webflow does and thousands more than that if you are willing to pay for premium themes. There are also over 60,000 plugins available in total. However, you will need a lot of technical knowledge for deeper SEO customization through these added tools.
Pricing and Value for SEO
Webflow
Webflow comes with five different pricing options. Their Starter option is free, includes a webflow.io domain, and up to 50 CMS items. Their Basic option is 18 per month and includes just enough CMS for the simplest site. Their CMS option is $23 per month and has up to 2,000 CMS items and three content editors for a non-professional blog.
The Business option is $39 per month and provides up to 10,000 CMS storage items, 10 content editors, and 2,5000 monthly form subscribers. The fifth and final option, called Enterprise, is even more advanced and has greater storage bandwidth but has a price that must be discussed with their team.
WordPress
WordPress’ pricing is a bit more complicated than simple pricing option levels. The whole platform is free until you add in the cost of various plugins. As a result, the prices of all the SEO plugins can range from around $50-75 annually to several hundreds of dollars per year. Premium themes and plugins will always increase the monthly and annual price you pay. You could also take advantage of WordPress’ cheaper model but have a B2B SEO agency manage your site for you.
Security and SEO
Webflow
Webflow has much better automatic security measures built into their system, and the lack of plugins or purchased themes means that your site is less vulnerable to security issues. This will inevitably boost your SEO by increasing site credibility and user trust.
WordPress
WordPress has more significant security challenges, and the necessity of plugins for most SEO capabilities makes your site potentially less credible and trustworthy. Better security is available through integrations and plugins, but you do have to be on top of it yourself. Most security plugins also come with extra cost.
Conclusion: Which is Better for SEO?
WordPress is harder to set up, much more customizable, and cheaper until you start including the cost of various plugins. Weblow is meanwhile easier to set up, less customizable, more expensive (at least at first), and has much better built-in security. WordPress is ultimately the better overall platform for SEO if you have sufficient coding experience and the right team or agency to support you, but Webflow is the better choice for users who are newer to coding and website-building in general.