Whether you have a business, a monetized blog, or a website for any business purpose, you need to find ways to reach the top of Google's and Bing's search engine results pages (SERPs). However, search engine optimization is a difficult skill to master, even without the never-ending changes in the search engines' algorithms.<\/p>\n
What can you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you're a small business owner, you may not have the money to pay a web designer and SEO expert on an ongoing basis. Even if you can, you should know some basics yourself, so you know how to find a reliable designer and SEO expert.<\/p>\n The easiest thing you can do is find an excellent website builder to help you develop the right SEO strategies and maintain your site in a way that keeps you at the top of the SERPs.<\/p>\n We've done a lot of research and have compiled a list of the seven best website builders for SEO.<\/p>\n WordPress<\/a> is the most popular website builder out there, so you get many customizable themes, features, and plug-ins. Beware, though. WordPress has two versions: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is free, but it's only suitable for bloggers. If you want a business site, you need to go with WordPress.org.<\/p>\n WordPress is scalable, easy to learn, and has some powerful features, including eCommerce features that are great for online sellers.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n You can learn WordPress reasonably quickly and easily, especially if you start with its basic themes. After that, you can do pretty much anything with a WordPress site with ease. You'll also find SEO plug-ins that do keyword research for you and teach you how to optimize every page of your site.<\/p>\n However, as mentioned earlier, WordPress takes some learning. If you don't have any website-building experience, you learn as you go, which you might find frustrating. Besides that, you also have to teach yourself how to use some of the plug-ins you want.<\/p>\n WordPress has an entire section of its website<\/a> dedicated to tutorials on everything you'll ever need to know about having a WordPress site. They have tutorials for beginners, intermediate users, and advanced users, along with help in design and layout, plug-in management, and multiple articles for troubleshooting.<\/p>\n The only major drawback to their help and support system is there's no way to call them. They have all their tutorials and troubleshooting articles, and they have support forums<\/a> for questions their articles don't answer, but you can't call them and speak to tech support directly.<\/p>\n WordPress bills you<\/a> annually regardless of which plan you choose.<\/p>\n You may have heard that Wix<\/a> is terrible for SEO. However, that's changed in recent years. If you're new to website building and SEO, you might find that Wix is best. It requires no coding or plug-ins for SEO because they build their SEO functions right into their platform.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n Because Wix has a simple drag-and-drop feature, you can quickly and easily build your website without having to learn much. In fact, Wix walks you through everything as you go, which minimizes confusion and frustration.<\/p>\n You'll find a large variety of plug-ins that work with Wix as well, making it easier to customize your site. As you gain experience and decide to upgrade your site past a certain point, you may begin feeling that Wix holds you back.<\/p>\n Like WordPress, Wix has an entire section<\/a> of its site dedicated to help and support. In addition to having articles for everything you can think of, they have a section on trending topics with articles on things that directly affect your site.<\/p>\n You have to go through their help section for support, but you can talk to someone live if you need to. Many people prefer speaking with someone to searching through tutorials.<\/p>\n Wix does offer a free plan<\/a>, but you get an assigned URL instead of the ability to create your own, and it places limits on your storage, bandwidth, and overall use.<\/p>\n Weebly<\/a> makes both website-building and SEO easy, even for beginners. Like Wix, it has drag-and-drop functions that allow you to build fantastic pages quickly and with minimal problems.<\/p>\n Everything from meta descriptions to page titles to alt text all come with the editor itself. Additionally, Weebly has dozens of SEO apps from which to choose, giving you extreme flexibility when it comes to optimizing your site.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n Weebly lets you create a basic site with some of its tools for free. You will have to pay if you want to upgrade, but since many platforms don't let you use any of their tools without a paid plan, you can start with Weebly's free plan and go from there.<\/p>\n They build things like contact forms, sliders, and photo galleries into their editor, making it easier for you to create these things. However, since their focus is SEO, you'll probably get more use from their SEO tools and apps.<\/p>\n Weebly has a comprehensive help center<\/a> with a prominent search bar where you can look for articles on your particular question or problem. Their articles cover everything from your first steps to custom tracking codes, and help for things like email marketing and eCommerce.<\/p>\n They also have inspiration centers, a blog, and discussion forums to learn how best to refine and update your site. If you need personalized help, you can contact them directly, and they'll get back to you as soon as possible.<\/p>\n Weebly is cheaper<\/a> than many other website builders out there, especially given their focus on SEO.<\/p>\n Another easy-to-use platform, Squarespace<\/a> works well for people who already have some understanding of SEO principles. With its pre-existing templates and simple editor, Squarespace gives you the ability to create a fantastic website with a minimum of hassle.<\/p>\n Overall, Squarespace can save you some time and money over other platforms as long as you're comfortable with basic SEO since it comes with SEO tools, but not a built-in function.<\/p>\n Pros:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n For simple websites, Squarespace is quite easy to use. However, if you're looking for an enterprise-grade website, you have some learning to do. As stated above, Squarespace is for people who already have some understanding of SEO.<\/p>\n You can experiment with its options and teach yourself how to use its tools, though. You can also rest assured that Squarespace provides a quality platform since major companies like Target use it.<\/p>\n Unlike platforms like WordPress and Wix, Squarespace's help center<\/a> is simple and easy to navigate. It has written guides, discussion forums, video tutorials, and even webinars. Those last two might work better for you than anything else.<\/p>\n If you can't find the help you're looking for, they make it easy for you to contact them directly or have a professional build your site for you. You might find these things especially useful if you're building a complex business website.<\/p>\n Squarespace gives you<\/a> a free trial, plus, if you go with their annual payment plans, you can save some money on your monthly costs.<\/p>\n GoDaddy<\/a> doesn't have the greatest reputation as a hosting platform, but as a website builder, they're among the best for professionals who want strong SEO. Their SEO team gives you help with targeted keywords and the ability to track your progress over time right on your account dashboard.<\/p>\n Their best feature is the SEO wizard. You answer a few questions about your site and receive your targeted keywords to help optimize your pages.<\/p>\n Pros:<\/b><\/p>\n Cons:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Depending on what you want, you'll discover that GoDaddy does a lot of work for you. As one of the most well-known domain registrars, they know how to provide an excellent experience without a lot of complications.<\/p>\n The best part is that their personalized SEO services take all of the guesswork out of SEO. Whether you use their wizard, their outside personal support, or a combination of the two, they pretty much do all the work for you. Building a website is a little harder than with other builders, but SEO is quite simple.<\/p>\n GoDaddy's online help center<\/a> lets you browse articles by topic or by product. One particular section they have that others don't deals with SSL certificates. If you're a business or any kind of website where people can contact you, you need an SSL certificate.<\/p>\n Also, they call you regularly to see how you're doing, at least with SEO. They also allow you to contact them 24\/7 for help.<\/p>\n For its features, GoDaddy's prices<\/a> are pretty good. However, each of these prices requires annual billing.<\/p>\n If you've never heard of Ghost<\/a>, you're not alone. But just because you don't know who they are doesn't mean you shouldn't consider them. Ghost might appear too basic for your needs upfront, and you might want to dismiss them out of hand because of that.<\/p>\n If you take a closer look, you'll find a lot of great features, like built-in social sharing and SEO functions. While other website builders, like WordPress, require plug-ins for those things, Ghost does not.<\/p>\n Pros:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Cons:<\/b><\/p>\n For people who don't like an ocean of features through which to navigate, Ghost is perfect. It's simple, straightforward, and gives you a great website. You can lose all the hassle of many other website builders, and you shouldn't have to worry about hiring a developer.<\/p>\n Ghost is so easy to use that it works for anyone regardless of their level of experience in SEO and website building.<\/p>\n Ghost's help center<\/a> mostly consists of an extensive FAQ section. However, you can find answers to your questions under several topics, including for errors, self-hosting, and even just using the builder. You can also email them if you can't find an answer to your question in their FAQs.<\/p>\n Besides that, they have their own comparisons to other website builders, although you'll have to take them with a grain of salt since they have a vested interest in explaining why they're better.<\/p>\n Ghost's pricing plans<\/a> include custom domain support and automation. Things like SSL certificates will cost you extra under some plans.<\/p>\nWhat Is the Best Website Builder for SEO?<\/h2>\n
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Builder Summaries<\/h3>\n
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1: WordPress – Best Overall<\/h2>\n
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Ease of Use<\/h3>\n
Help and Support<\/h3>\n
Pricing<\/h3>\n
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2: Wix – Best for SEO Beginners<\/h2>\n
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Ease of Use<\/h3>\n
Help and Support<\/h3>\n
Pricing<\/h3>\n
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3: Weebly – Best for Those Who Prefer to Use SEO Applications<\/h2>\n
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Ease of Use<\/h3>\n
Help and Support<\/h3>\n
Pricing<\/h3>\n
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4: Squarespace – Best for People Already Confident with SEO<\/h2>\n
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Ease of Use<\/h3>\n
Help and Support<\/h3>\n
Pricing<\/h3>\n
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5: GoDaddy – Best for People Who Prefer Outside Help with SEO<\/h2>\n
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Ease of Use<\/h3>\n
Help and Support<\/h3>\n
Pricing<\/h3>\n
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6: Ghost – Best for Those Who Have No Time or Tolerance for Frills<\/h2>\n
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Ease of Use<\/h3>\n
Help and Support<\/h3>\n
Pricing<\/h3>\n
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7: Shopify – Best for People Just Getting into eCommerce<\/h2>\n