Not all CMS are created equal for SEO

Being known above their competition is always top of mind for marketing executives, getting more leads is top of mind for sales executives, and all of the above is of the upmost importance to business owners and company directors. The one tool that can meet all these business objectives is a high ly effective and targeted SEO program, ensuring your website is being found more often, for more relevant keywords by more potential customers more often than your competition.

It may surprise you to know that when it comes to SEO , not all Content Management Systems (CMS) are created equally

Below are a top 10 to be aware of when looking for a CMS that will deliver your SEO  results to drive leads and ultimately deliver sales .

How mobile friendly is the CMS? Mobile search isn’t a “trend” it’s a fact that more and more people are going to be searching your site via mobile – so ask your provide how the CMS performs for mobile.

How often is the CMS platform updated ? Some CMS platforms were developed prior to the major changes made by Google that have made a huge impact on SEO.

Open Source vs Proprietary CMS – Open Source CMS platforms means that millions around the world are working with it and therefore more innovation of the platform is coming more often within the active developer community. The issue with Proprietary CMS is that they are often not being updated often and therefore not taking advantage of new innovations or technologies.

Page Titles & Header Tags – the proper use of page titles and header tags are of vital importance for good SEO practice and for this reason you would think all CMS allow you to control and update these to ensure they are the right keywords and phrases for your business. However in reality not all CMS allow you access to control these elements. Look for a CMS where you have complete access.

Choose your own host – Hosting is the monthly cost you pay to keep your website on the internet. Choosing an open CMS means you can choose your host – as it should be. But beware the companies who lock you in to their hosting and don’t allow you o move your website. Remember, its your website, demand complete control and ensure that if you want to move away from a company, you can take your website with you.

Are sitemaps automatically updated when I add new pages or content? Ask the question of your CMS provider. Google loves XML sitemaps, it eats them up and next thing you know your site in indexed and in the listings. Make sure you can build HMTL sitemaps too, these are vital for your site users and the search engines.

Intelligent organisation of your content – Category structure is an important factor in SEO, your CMS should allow you to easily categorise your pages and content so it’s a natural structure. This is great for SEO and for people looking for information on your site.

Should CMS limit the pages I can add to my site? This is a problem we see with many proprietry Content Management Systems, the company selling them to you want to charge for any additional pages. When in truth, an open source CMS system allows to unlimited pages on your website. After all, you need a CMS that will grow with your business.

Integration with Social Media – We know about the rise of Social SEO, how your social media marketing can affect your overall SEO. So look for a CMS system that easily integrates Social media content sharing.

Should be able to fully access my site? YES – don’t believe companies who lock you out of adding pages, editing text, adding images. You should have access to all this. The only area of some caution that we advise is that customised coded areas should really only be updated by developers as the potential for things going wrong it too huge.
So, look for a system that you can easily use, allows you full control and is beneficial for your company's SEO program