Posted: Aug. 17, 2021
Updated: May 4, 2022
CMS and Website Builders
Content management system (CMS) is a software used to create and manage websites. It’s similar to website builders such as Wix or Squarespace, the difference being that that CMS allows you to customize the backend code, providing more in-depth functionality. Some of the most popular CMS such as WordPress are open source, so the community can continue developing and adding to it.
In traditional CMS, the front and backend are tightly integrated through the technical architecture. Other traditional CMS include Joomla and Drupal. You will need a bit more technical expertise to use Drupal, but it offers more security and is commonly used for government or enterprise websites.
Headless CMS such as ButterCMS and Contentful, is a backend exclusive CMS without the frontend (thus “headless”) based on RESTful API or GraphQL API. Headless CMS are gaining momentum in recent years because it allows developers to use their preferred programming language (PHP, Java, Ruby, etc.) and create their own frontend without relying on proprietary software. Headless CMS also reduces operational time and expenses, and are more efficient in the long-run when you have issues like redesigning or rebranding.
The rest of this post will focus on Wix vs WordPress (the open-source WordPress.org, not Wordpress.com) for SEO.
As for my experience, this personal website is hosted on Wix because I wanted to learn a new platform after years of specializing in only WordPress.
Technical SEO
With WordPress, you can either choose a pre-existing template or edit the code directly to customize your website.
Wix has a gentler learning curve, which may be attractive for creative professionals who are unfamiliar with html/css. However, I actually found it frustrating that I can’t fully control the technical SEO.
Wix basically only offers templates, and does not allow you to directly edit the html, css, JavaScript, php file, etc. Wix sites tend to have a lot of code bloat, much of which is unused JavaScript that users are blocked from removing. This can increase your page load speed and negatively affect SEO, so you'll need to compensate in other areas such as limiting the number of apps used, using the same/common font, and reducing image file sizes especially on mobile.
The Wix editor has a feature for adding custom html code, but it’s pretty clunky and doesn’t let you adjust the format and placement of your custom component. Another solution is Wix Velo, which adds an open-development platform where you can add scripts to the front and back end of your website through the Wix editor.
Plugins and Apps
In the WordPress community, there is a saying "there's a plugin for that", and it's true. WordPress has thousands of free and paid plugins in the official WordPress plugin directory. WordPress plugins, written in php, can integrate seamlessly with WordPress to extend functionality and add new features to your site. As a site administrator, you can install plugins from the admin area or manually download and install them through an FTP client.
Here are some of the top WordPress plugins for SEO.
Autoptimize: WordPress plugin for optimizing your page speed. The free version has extensive options for optimizing html/css and JavaScript code to improve your site's performance, even when already on http/2. You can use the API to customize the features for your site's specific needs.
Speed Booster Pack: Good complement to Autoptimize, which is strictly an optimization plugin and does not do html caching.. In addition to optimizing your website's code, Speed Booster Pack also includes features for caching, preload assets, and core web vitals.
Insert Headers and Footers: A simple but excellent plugin, Insert Headers and Footers does exactly what the name suggests. Add tracking code like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook Pixel, etc.
W3 Total Cache: On the topic of page speed, W3 Total Cache (W3TC) is another recommended plugin that increases site performance and reduces load times, through features such as CDN integration and accelerated mobile support. Regardless of which plugin you choose, increased site speed can lead to higher rankings in SERPs, and even a boost in conversion rates.
WPML: By default, WordPress doesn't easily allow you to make your site multilingual, which can be a problem for global businesses. That's where WPML comes in. It's an easy-to-use, SEO friendly plugin for creating multilingual sites within WordPress. As a bilingual digital marketer, I've worked on several WordPress sites using WPML.
CHL-Change HTML Lang: A simple WordPress SEO plugin for changing HTML language attribute value in header, allowing you to use the WordPress interface in English for a non-English site.
Jetpack: Jetpack is the most popular WordPress plugin, with extensive features to supercharge your site in all aspects, from security to user experience. It's developed by Automattic, the team behind WordPress, so you can trust the plugin and know that it's backed by exceptional developers. Some popular features include CDN services, up/down time monitoring, and automatic XML sitemap.
Code Snippets: Code Snippets allows you to add custom code to your site, and toggle them on/off on certain pages. The code can be anything - html, css, JavaScript, XML, PHP, etc. For example, you can add snippets for Google Ads or Facebook pixel tracking if you are running PPC campaigns.
Rank math: Rank Math is another SEO plugin for WordPress, similar to Yoast SEO. This plugin also allows you to generate an XML sitemap, connect to Google Search Console, and control access to plugin features based on user roles. However, you only need one WordPress SEO plugin on your website. Using multiple can cause plugin conflict.
Hide Post: Most WordPress themes will show your latest posts in chronological order. However, sometimes you might want to hide certain posts from the top page. The Hide Post plugin lets you do just that, in only a few clicks. However, at the time of writing this post, the plugin has not been updated in 4 years. If the plugin is no longer working well, you can also hide a WordPress post from your top page manually by adding custom code to your theme functions.php file.
SEMrush SEO Writing Assistant: The SEMrush SEO Writing Assistant provides automated recommendations for content optimization based on the qualities of Google’s top 10-ranking pages. Content writers can check if their texts meet various content-quality requirements. If you prefer drafting in Google docs, there is also an add-on.
Yoast SEO: Great plugin for SEO beginners or copywriters who need to make sure they've checked all of the requirements for on-page keyword optimization. Yoast SEO is not only limited to on-page SEO, but also provides recommendations for internal linking, solutions for creating and submitting xml sitemap, and more.
To avoid plugin conflict issues such as duplicate meta description tags, only one SEO plugin should be installed. If you imported a WordPress theme that includes SEO settings, remove it from the theme file in functions.php
On Wix, you can download apps from the app marketplace, such as Wix Stores for building an online store, Wix Chat for instant messaging with site visitors, and Wix Bookings for scheduling appointments.
On-Page SEO
Wix has a bad reputation among SEOs, but it has improved features recently. Ahrefs did an extensive study of 6.4 million domains, and concluded that there is no causal relationship between the platform used and a site’s ability to rank in the SERPs. WordPress sites got more search traffic overall, but Wix had more search traffic on domains with 100+ monthly organic traffic.
Multilingual SEO
At the time of writing, Wix has a Multilingual App for creating translated versions of your site, but does not support the hreflang tag, and you cannot access the code to add it. For this reason, I would not recommend Wix for multilingual sites. On WordPress, the aforementioned WPML plugin is great for multilingual sites.
Mobile Site
If you use WordPress, your theme is most likely already responsive and can adapt to all screen sizes. Check this in Google Chrome's Developer Tools if you're not sure.
Wix also creates a mobile version of your site that complies with Google's requirements. You can edit the mobile version on mobile editor, without affecting the desktop version. There is an option to disable the mobile version as well, but I do not recommend that.
Migration from WordPress to Wix, or vice versa
Unfortunately, Wix and WordPress are competitors and not compatible with each other, so there’s no quick and easy way to migrate. However, Wix is getting better at helping their new customers migrate from WordPress and import exiting blog posts. If on the other hand, if you have outgrown Wix and want to migrate to self-hosted WordPress, the best way is probably to import your blog posts via RSS.
Customer Support
Personally, I’ve had a good experience with Wix customer support center on several occasions. I simply answered a couple of questions in the online customer support chatbot, and got a phone call back within a few minutes to resolve my issue.
WordPress does not have customer support, but since it hosts one third of all sites, the forums and social media are always active with WordPress developers asking and answering each other's questions.
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