Best Website Builders for SEO

When it comes to the best website builders for SEO, Wix comes out on top, scoring 5/5 for SEO in our recent round of website builder testing.

Starting at $16 per month, Wix has a host of useful SEO features, like mobile friendliness, social media integration, and SEO best practice prompts. In addition to this, Wix now integrates with SEO tools like SEMrush which is a brilliant tool for businesses. In terms of overall product scores from testing, Wix scores 4.8/5.

However, Squarespace (from $16 per month) is also a great option, and scores 5/5 for SEO features – but there's no integration to match Semrush, and Wix now provides keyword support. Just like Wix, Squarespace also scores 4.8/5 overall. However, this overall score is heavily skewed by Squarespace's fantastic design functionalities; it isn't as feature-rich in other areas and has no Wix ADI equivalent or Semrush integration, which gives Wix a slight edge when it comes to optimizing your content for search engines.

But there are other good website builders for SEO too, including WordPress. Read on to find out more about Wix and Squarespace's closest (and cheapest) competitors. In this guide, we'll cover:

• The Best Website Builders for SEO: Ranked
• 5 Best Website Builders for SEO: Reviews
• Why is SEO Important for Websites?
• Methodology: How we find the Best Website Builders for SEO
• Verdict: Best Website Builder for SEO Overall
• Frequently Asked Questions

Best Website Builders for SEO

These are the top website builder tools we'd recommend having a look at if you're wanting to optimize your website for Google Search and other search engines. Each one has a number of SEO tools that will help to improve the ranking of your pages.

You can also take our website builder comparison quiz, which will help you find the perfect website builder for your SEO needs. Just answer a few questions and receive a report with the best three website builder provider that fits your needs.

5 Best Website Builders for SEO

The best website builder for SEO overall is Wix, according to our research, but there are plenty of great website builders that will help you rank well on Google. Our independent research team compared site speed, usability, design functionality, marketing functions, SEO tools, guides and more, to find the best 5 website builders for SEO:

• Wix – best SEO features overall
• Squarespace – best for keyword support
• WordPress.com – best for bloggers
• GoDaddy – best for SEO beginners
• Hostinger – best for uptime reliability

What are website builders for SEO good at?

Now, all these website builders will help you optimize your content for search engines and, in turn, bring in more visitors. But in the terms of SEO, what are they actually good at?

• Wix is the best website builder for SEO and the best website builder money can buy overall
• Squarespace is packed with SEO features and is very mobile-friendly, offering unbeatable design functionality
• WordPress has added keyword support and SEO best practice prompts, keeping pace with Wix and Squarespace
• GoDaddy comes with a useful “SEO Wizard” (a tool that points out ways to improve your page for SEO)
• Hostinger is great value for money and is the most reliable when it comes to uptime

Wix – the best website builder for SEO

Best for: Overall SEO features, and Wix was the best website builder we tested overall
Pricing: from $16/month (billed annually)
Free plan: No
Free trial: Yes

Wix overview

Wix is the best website builder we tested regarding SEO, with  Squarespace close on its heels. Wix comes packed full of SEO features, including Meta descriptions, custom URLs, image Alt attributes, header code, social media integrations, canonical tags, and SEO-specific apps.

You'll also get SEO best practice prompts as you're building your website, so you can optimize at every step of the way – there's even a “get found on Google” section on your site's dashboard to take you through it, step by step. Overall, Wix scored full marks when it came to SEO features on our 2023 tests. 

One key thing that makes Wix stand out is the website builder's integration with Semrush, which will allow you to access Semrush's SEO keyword data directly from your Wix dashboard. Semrush is one of the best tools around for helping website owners determine precisely what keywords they should be targeting and, to top it all off, it's available at no extra charge to Wix users.

Wix used to have no native keyword support, which Squarespace and GoDaddy have had for a while. Now, with Wix, there's keyword support with an SEO checklist (called SEO Wiz), which will let you set up to 5 chosen keywords to it, try them out, and edit them.

Besides, it used to make up for this with its numerous other features and the Semrush integration mentioned above, which provides all the keyword support you need. Overall, Wix gained 15 points out of a possible 15 sub-scores on our last round of SEO-specific testing, higher than GoDaddy and Hostinger.

Although it technically drew with Squarespace, with both providers scoring 5/5 for SEO and both scoring 4.4/5 for ease of use. That being said, Wix has a secret weapon: Wix ADI, an AI design tool that can do most of the initial design work for you if you're a beginner. What's more, Wix also got a better website features score than Squarespace (4.8/5 vs 4.6/5), which, along with the new Semrush integration, helps it clinch first place.

Impressively, Wix now caters to 180 languages, up from 100 the last time we tested the product.

Wix pricing

Wix's pricing recently changed dramatically, removing the free plan option and dedicated ecommerce plans. Luckily, you've got us to explain exactly what you're working with now. Here are the new pricing plans from Wix:

• Light Plan ($16 per month)
• Core Plan ($27 per month)
• Business Plan ($32 per month)
• Business Elite Plan ($159 per month)

Wix's value for money score is actually a little bit lower in 2023 (3.6/5) than it was the last time we tested the product last year. However, due to market-wide pricing increases, a lot of other website builders — Squarespace included — lost points in this assessment area too.

Squarespace

Best for: Keyword support, and the best option for businesses looking to grow
Pricing: from $16/month (billed annually)
Free plan: No
Free trial: Yes

Squarespace overview

Squarespace has a great range of SEO features – it also was awarded 5/5 for SEO features on our last round of research. Squarespace didn't use to provide SEO best practice prompts like Wix does, but now they do, and this was pretty much the only major downside in terms of core SEO features the last time we tested the software.

Another big plus is that Squarespace is super mobile-friendly, and there are SEO-specific apps, canonical tags, image alt attributes, custom URLs, and other features that will help you optimize your site for Google. 

Although it's strong for SEO, Squarespace stands out when it comes to design, and users we spoke to frequently commented on how aesthetically pleasing their websites became with minimal changes. This is impressive considering Squarespace's ease-of-use score increased 11% in our 2023 tests, with its grid-style layout helping it climb level with Wix (4.4/5) in this assessment area for the first time in five years of testing.

Squarespace definitely the most design-centric website builder on this list, which helped it score a high 4.5/5 for design functionality. So, if that's a priority for you, along with SEO, then Squarespace is the provider for you.

There are also a lot of related features Squarespace offers under the umbrella of visibility – including advanced social media and email support, ensuring that search engine rankings aren't the only way to spread the word about your website. Other highlights include the provider's knowledge center, which has some great SEO tips on it, including video guidance.

All in all, the reason Wix ranks higher than Squarespace, marginal as it is, is more in part down to the features the former offers rather than what the latter lacks. Wix now has keyword support and a Semrush integration, which just edges it over the line.

Squarespace pricing

Comparing Wix to Squarespace isn't easy, especially when they score so closely together and have exactly the same starting price point for paid plans at $16 per month. Here are the options for Squarespace paid plans.

• Personal ($16 per month): This Squarespace plan includes SEO and visibility-enhancing features, and mobile optimization. There are no website analytics or commerce functions, which means it is quite limited.
• Business ($23 per month): Along with the SEO functions included in the Personal plan, you'll be able to track traffic, site paths, popular content and, if you're running an ecommerce operation, how users with commercial intent interact with the sales-based functions of your page.
• Commerce Basic ($27 per month): Although the business plan has some ecommerce features, this is the plan you'll need if you want to sell online. It offers a variety of powerful merchandising tools and access to ecommerce analytics.
• Commerce Advanced ($49 per month): This is the most fully-featured plan on offer and, much like the name suggests, provides numerous advanced commerce features, like abandoned cart recovery and danced discounts, that aren't on other Squarespace plans.

WordPress.com

Best for: mobile-friendliness and for any budding blogger
Price: from $4/month (billed annually)
Free trial: No
Free plan: Yes

WordPress overview

WordPress.com is one of the most well-known website builders out there and has a great range of SEO features that put it alongside the best in the business, such as being mobile-friendly and supplying custom URLs and canonical tags.

Overall, it's a bit more basic than Wix. Although WordPress scores the same as Wix and Squarespace for SEO features (5/5) in 2023, a 25% increase on its 2022 result, its scores in other areas (such as design and ease of use) were far behind them. 

Although design functionality may not have as direct of an impact on the fate of your site in SEO terms as the actual SEO tools provided, the design of your website will impact the user experience, which will in turn impact how useful Google perceives your site to be. WordPress's 2.2/5 score in this assessment area leaves a lot to be desired.

Another notable downside of WordPress is that many of the advanced SEO tools are only accessible if you purchase one of the two most expensive plans WordPress offers – SEO features are cheaper from builders like Hostinger.

One thing it's worth noting is that we're currently talking about wordPress.com, the website builder that would suit bloggers and writers working solo, or in a very, very small team. WordPress.org, on the other hand, is more of a content management system/web hosting platform that would suit a larger team of people working on a website that publishes thousands of pieces of content a year.

WordPress pricing

WordPress has a free plan, but you won't get much SEO support and you'll have to run ads on your website. WordPress's four paid plans are:

• Personal ($4 per month): This plan will let you create a free custom domain for a year, and remove ads from your site. However, it's missing important features that let you track how your content is performing, like a Google Analytics integration, but you will get Live Chat support and be able to earn ad revenue.
• Premium($8 per month): The Premium plan has a Google Analytics integration, so you'll be able to check if your SEO techniques are resulting in better traffic outcomes.
• Business ($25 per month): This WordPress plan comes with advanced SEO features and is the first plan that will allow you to install plugins from WordPress's famous plugin and add-on ecosystem.
• Ecommerce ($45 per month): As the name would suggest, this plan is geared towards users who want to start an online store. With this plan, you'll be able to accept payments in more than 60 countries, integrate your site with Top shipping carriers, and there are dedicated design options for online stores.

Impressively, WordPress scores 4.4/5 for value, tied with GoDaddy, thanks to those cheap first plans. The Premium plan, for instance, is cheaper than Squarespace's first paid plan.

GoDaddy

Best for: SEO Beginners and those who like a quick setup
Price: from $9.99/month (billed annually)
Free plan: Yes
Free trial: Yes

GoDaddy overview

GoDaddy, overall, provides a quick and efficient experience, and not everyone is patient enough to sit for hours to perfect their website design, as many perfectionists using Squarespace or Wix may end up doing. GoDaddy scores 4/5 for SEO, an improvement on last year's 3/5, but still comes in just behind Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.

Our research team found GoDaddy's SEO Wizard really handy. “It does almost everything for you and picks out various elements of your site to optimize,” one of our researchers said. They did note, however, that  GoDaddy doesn't provide “some of the more advanced SEO functions, like Squarespace or Wix”, such as canonical tags.

Recently, GoDaddy added custom URLs and header code, which pushed its SEO score up from the 3/5 we awarded it in 2022 to the 4/5 it achieved in tests we conducted in 2023. That 33.33% increase was the biggest increase in SEO score across all of our website builders.

Other additional features, such as the incorporation of a logo maker and the ability to add customer testimonials to GoDaddy websites, helped the provide achieve a 7% improvement in overall performance score.

Overall, GoDaddy does the basics very well, isn't an intimidating software program, and really embodies the no-frills approach that many people may prefer over a website builder that has a seemingly endless stream of functions and features.

We would, however, like to see it hand over mobile site editing to customers, as currently, this is controlled by GoDaddy rather than the end-user building the website.

Check out our GoDaddy review for more information

GoDaddy pricing

Along with GoDaddy's pretty limited free plan, the pvorider offers four pricing plans, with the latter two focused on commerce and selling products online.

• Basic plan ($9.99 per month): GoDaddy undercuts Wix and Squarespace's starting prices but, unfortunately, there's no built-in website optimizer. So, if SEO and getting your site seen is your priority, you'll have to try one of the pricier plans GoDaddy has on offer. There are, however, a number of limited, but useful, marketing tools.
• Premium plan ($14.99 per month): This is the plan we'd recommend if you're looking to optimize your site for search engines but aren't too focused on selling products or services via your site. You'll be able to send more social posts and responses as well as marketing emails, too.

GoDaddy also has two ecommerce-focused plans which cost $16.99 per month and $29.99 per month, respectively. Like the premium plan, both these plans have a built-in website optimizer for Google and other website search engines, as well as a number of other tools to aid with visibility, such as social post boosting and the ability to launch paid search campaigns.

Hostinger

Best for: Uptime reliability
Price: from $2.99/month + 2 months free, $6.99 per month thereafter
Free plan: No
Free Trial: No

Hostinger overview

Hostinger is probably best known for its web hosting service, but the company has now taken over Zyro and offers a serviceable website builder. Hostinger scores 3.6/5 overall and doesn't have the vast feature sets of providers like Wix and Squarespace, but if you're looking for a cheaper option, it's certainly worth considering.

Hostinger scores a commendable 4 out of a possible 5 for SEO features, just a little off the pace of Squarespace, WordPress, and Wix, who all got perfect 5/5 scores for SEO.

You'll be able to edit the meta descriptions of pages and the alt attributes of images as you can with most website builders, but the provider also lets you have control over things like canonical tags and header code, which not all website offers.

Hostinger also has SEO best practice prompts built into its website builder, as well as an SEO-specific guidance page, something GoDaddy doesn't actually offer. However, there's no SEO-specific app for Hostinger or any native keyword support, which is why it dropped a couple of marks.

When testing Hostinger, several members of our team remarked on how easy it is to use. Hostinger scores 3.9/5 for ease of use, which is only bettered by GoDaddy (4.1/5), Wix (4.4/5) and Squarespace (4.4/5).

We liked the fact that we could view how our website would look on a mobile and desktop while editing, which was vital for making it SEO-ready for both types of devices.

Check out our Hostinger review for more information

Hostinger pricing

Hostinger is primarily a website hosting service, so it only provides a single website builder plan conveniently called “Website Builder & Web Hosting”.

This plan is currently available for just $2.99 per month, and you'll get 2 months free on top of that – making it one of the cheapest website builders to get going with right out of the box. However, Hostinger notes that the price will increase to $6.99 per month if you'd like to renew.

Hostinger's standard price is $11.99 per month. A very affordable platform, particularly at the moment with the above deal on, Hostinger scores 3.7/5 for value, which is a little bit better than Wix (3.6/5) but admittedly not as good as Squarespace's value-for-money score (4/5).

Why is SEO important for Websites?

A beautifully designed, super useful website is no good to anyone – owner or audience – if it's only being viewed by users on page 134,345 of Google Search. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.

In a nutshell, SEO makes your site more visible on search engine results pages. This will increase the volume of traffic arriving on your page and, if you're in the ecommerce game, how many you'll subsequently be able to sell.

When deciding which pages to show a reader searching for a specific term, Google will take lots of things into account before showing you their page – including the keywords you have on your page, the experience readers have on your page, and much more.

There are lots of techniques you can use to optimize your content and, luckily for individuals and very small businesses on a budget, website builders like Wix and Squarespace have built-in SEO features tol help you avoid outsourcing the task for a price.

A really good way to understand the benefits of SEO for a website is the concept of “mobile-friendliness”, which Wix and Squarespace both do automatically. Over 60% of all Google searches come from mobile, and having a website that only looks good on a desktop, but has usability issues on mobile, will mean users will behave negatively on your site and, ultimately, not spend a lot of time on it.

This will tell Google that your website isn't very useful or providing a very good experience, so it will knock you down the search engine results in favor of more useful sites – and the result this can have on your business or personal page is drastic.

This is just one example of why SEO is important – and why most web builders will consider SEO in their offering.  However, it's crucial to look at how these offerings differ before you hand over any hard-earned cash.

Methodology: How We Find the Best Website Builders for SEO

Here at Tech.co, we do all of our own research and some members of our team are exclusively here to help us to user-test all of the products we write articles about, as full-time researchers. We have devised a stringent testing criteria to accurately analyze all aspects of the software, services, and products we cover, and website builders are no different.

For our latest round of website builder testing, the team looked in detail at six core subcategories:

• Features: SEO, blogging, and assistance tools
• Design functionalities: Design factors like themes, mobile editors, and general flexibility
• Value for money: Ratio of plan costs to features included with each plan
• Help and support: Type of support and hours offered
• Customer score: Customer feedback and user testing notes
• Ease of use: How easy, simple, and flexible is the software to use?

Marketing functions, ecommerce features, and design capabilities impacted our scoring algorithm more significantly in 2023 than last year. These assessment areas increased in importance as more businesses look to expand their operations, promote growth and improve the user journey on their sites.

The conclusions we draw in articles on our site are based entirely on our own research and, although we have commercial partnerships with some of the providers we write about, this never, ever impacts Tech.co's editorial independence (and it never will)!

Here are the full final scores our team found for all the best website builders:

FAQs

Here are some quick and simple answers to your most-asked questions about website builders for SEO.