SEO-friendly content management systems

Wouldn't es be nice if a content management system took the website optimization work off your hands? To create an SEO-friendly website, content and technical aspects must be taken into account. Here we present - after purely arbitrary selection - some CMS tools, with the focus on search engine optimization.

The choice of CMS software and helpful plug-ins influences the search engine friendliness of web stores. This is connected with the ranking in the organic search. Today we present the most common CMS and their associated SEO functions. Because work is still being done on the egg-laying willy-nilly: Roll-out unclear.

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Popular CMS & their SEO features

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WordPress

The currently most widely used CMS tool can be extended by a variety of plug-ins. Thus, with a corresponding add-on, broken links can be quickly tracked down, Canonical URLs can be assigned or page user behavior can be analyzed. SEO plug-ins for WordPress manage metadata and indexing options. However, beginners might be overwhelmed by the mass of available add-ons and should consult an SEO professional in case of doubt.

"Talking URLs", that is permalinks, are set directly in WordPress. The blog area takes up a lot of space, links to social media sites are also common practice in this CMS.

Fazit: WordPress ist ein Open-Source Content Management System (CMS) für unterschiedlichste Anwendungen. Die CMS Software hilft bei der Administration von technischem und inhaltlichem SEO. Im Umkehrschluss müssen Websitebetreiber die aktuellen SEO Updates kennen und eine klare SEO-Strategie entwickeln.

Ideal eignet sich WordPress für Blogs und Websites. Kleine Onlineshops werden ebenfalls über WordPress – z. B. mit dem Plugin WooCommerce - betrieben. Aus unserer beruflichen Praxis mit großen Onlineshops tendiert unsere Empfehlung zu anderen Systemen.

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Shopify

The URL structure of Shopify with its subdirectories is not considered very SEO-friendly. On the other hand, many important SEO functions are available. For this, a separate section "Website SEO" is integrated in Shopify. A preview of entered metadata in search engine view is also offered there. However, to change indexing options, you have to enter code manually. Those who want to automate certain SEO processes will find various marketing and SEO tools that can be installed in the Shopify App Store. Practical: Instagram, Facebook and similar pages can be directly integrated as sales channels.

Conclusion: Shopify is a popular content management system (CMS) in online retail. First of all, the platform is characterized by ease of use. To play out the full SEO potential, more comprehensive SEO fine-tuning is necessary. And this is where beginners should consult the Shopify or SEO expert.

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Wix

Wix is a typical homepage builder and known for appealing design. Only a few SEO plug-ins can be found in the associated Wix App Market. Wix can be an inexpensive solution for small to medium-sized stores, since an online store is already integrated in the Business Basic rate. However, especially with a high number of pages, the loading time with Wix is not optimal. In terms of SEO, this has a disadvantageous effect. It is good that page title, meta description and alt tags can be entered individually. However, Wix assigns unfavorable names to image files, which makes it more difficult for search engines. The blog function of the homepage builder is SEO-friendly and convinces with functions like RSS, categories or tags.

Conclusion: If you plan your website as a business card with few additional functions in the long term, Wix is a good choice. For more individual adjustments of templates and functions, es can get complicated. This is because access to the source code is not possible directly.

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Magento

As one of the most comprehensive CMS, Magento has numerous features to increase the visibility of a website on Google. Among the thousands of installable extensions in the Magento Marketplace, es has many SEO features. Beginners can easily change the web architecture: URLs can be entered page by page, as well as meta descriptions and the sitemap are changed in a simple way. So that no two URLs have the same content, the option "Set canonical link URLs" can be selected in Magento. By default, es is possible to add rich snippets like rating stars, price or currency to the online store. If the multitude of possible settings in Magento and its plug-ins overwhelms you, it is best to contact an SEO agency

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PrestaShop

In this popular online store software, the SEO-friendliness strongly depends on the theme used. Among others, the well-known "Warehouse" is considered to be an SEO-friendly PrestaShop theme. Besides that, PrestaShop 's add-ons marketplace contains over a hundred modules with various SEO functions. Those who want to create a blog area can download a corresponding add-on. But even in the basic version of PrestaShop you can find various modules to increase traffic in webshops. The CMS offers various setting options for product and information pages. Interfaces are available for connecting the store with social networks.

Conclusion: PrestaShop has all the essential features to do the SEO optimization of a website independently - provided you know the current Google updates. Basic settings, such as meta data, optimal URL naming, etc. are a standard. Ideal are customizability for meta robots tag and robots.txt file and the integration of structured data.

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Joomla

The well-known open source CMS Joomla includes per se SEO basic functions in areas such as metadata, URL structure and text and image markup. The content management system itself is free of charge and can be individualized with partly paid add-ons. The question of which add-ons improve the search engine ranking in a specific case and which modules are compatible with each other can often only be answered by an expert or agency employee. Incorrectly combined plug-ins can lengthen the loading time of the page or unnecessarily complicate the operation of the homepage.

Conclusion: Some special features can be configured in Joomla, such as the setting of Unicode alias or GZIP compression to improve the loading time. In addition, one can find further SEO-friendly extensions, such as sitemap extensions. Further optimization options can be set under "System > Configuration".

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Drupal

In its default version, Drupal is not considered very SEO-friendly. However, Es gives various options for changes and extensions. For example, the Pathauto extension can automatically generate SEO-friendly URLs. A metatag module enables better page descriptions. As an extremely scalable CMS, which has been used for over twenty years even by very large companies, Drupal offers very profound customization options. Therefore, a consultation with a specialized SEO agency is recommended. Expert help will mitigate Drupal's learning curve, which is often described as steep.

Conclusion: Drupal and SEO do not immediately go hand in hand. For tinkerers - or with the help of the expert - an SEO friendly website can be created and search engine ranking optimized. Who has a precise SEO plan, integrates the necessary, SEO-friendly modules, in Drupal. Then es also works with the performance.

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Summary: These are the minimum requirements for SEO-friendly content management systems

So far, we have not been able to work with any CMS software that meets all SEO needs. Depending on the type of website (online store versus blog) the choice of the system should be made. But these features must be met:

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• 1. customizable meta titles & descriptions
• 2. configurable headings and other text elements
• 3. possibility to edit robots meta tags and robots.txt file
• 4. configuration of canonical tags
• 5. automatable XML sitemap
• 6. maintenance of redirects
• 7. configurable ALT attributes for images
• 8. bulk upload for accelerated processing of e.g. meta data, alt tags, etc.

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Addendum: We have only taken a close look at a few content management systems, because es offers an uncountably large selection. Our selection is purely random. The fact that we have chosen this CMS software described above has no valuation and should not be a recommendation for one of the CMS.

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Author: F. Baer / Image: istockphoto | tumsasedgars