For years, WordPress has been the go-to platform for website owners and SEO professionals looking to improve their search engine rankings. But as new platforms emerge and Google’s algorithm is constantly evolving, you might be wondering: Is WordPress still the best choice for SEO in 2024? Spoiler alert: yes.
Let’s break down why WordPress has remained a top player in SEO and whether it still holds that position today.
1. SEO-Friendly Infrastructure
To begin, one of the many things that has always made WordPress stand out when it comes to SEO is its built-in-SEO-friendly structure. What do we mean by that? This platform makes it incredibly easy to create clean, customizable URLs (permalinks), optimize meta descriptions, and structure your content in a way that’s ideal for search engines like Google. In simple terms, it’s designed to give your site a head start in search engine rankings from the get-go.
Another big bonus? WordPress automatically supports XML sitemaps, which helps search engines index your site more efficiently. Plus, with over 50% of web traffic now coming from mobile devices and Google’s mobile-first indexing, most WordPress themes are mobile-responsive. (Google)
2. Great SEO Plugins
Another strength WordPress has over other CMSs is its plethora of SEO plugins. These are tools that make anything and everything related to your SEO easy and efficient. Yoast SEO and Rank Math, for example, make optimizing your site a breeze, even if you’re not an expert. They also let you tweak meta tags, improve your content’s readability, and fine-tune internal linking, all without needing to touch any code.
3. Content Customization and Updates Made Easy
Put yourself in your users’ shoes for a moment: you’re searching for something on Google and find an article that seems to answer what you’re looking for, great! But upon clicking on it, you find that the information is incredibly outdated and, therefore, useless. This is a big no-no for SEO. Google has one job and one job only: to give people what they’re searching for and to make sure that content is 100% true and valid, which is impossible without updating it once in a while.
In short, fresh content is crucial because search engines like Google prioritize websites that are updated regularly. Luckily, WordPress once again shines at making content management – like updating content – simple.
Whether you’re publishing blog posts, updating static pages, or optimizing alt texts for images, WordPress’s user-friendly system makes it really easy. And it’s not even necessary for you to create a whole new article! Bloggers, for example, usually prioritize updating old content over writing new content, and 43% of them confirmed that their traffic or rankings improved after doing so. (WP Beginner) That’s a huge benefit for anyone who wants to maintain or improve their search rankings, and with WordPress making it easy to keep your site fresh and engaging it’s a win-win situation.
4. Scalability and Flexibility
43% of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress, and it’s not just because of the points we’ve made so far. (W3Techs) This CMS is incredibly versatile, which makes it ideal for any type of business you may have, regardless of size or goals. As a business that has worked with WordPress for over 12 years, we have seen it grow alongside multiple businesses – aka handling more traffic and content as they grow – without sacrificing performance.
Whether you’re in a niche industry or need a site that can do it all, WordPress’s thousands of plugins, themes, and customizations make sure that it can meet your needs while staying optimized for SEO.
5. Built-In Security
Since WordPress is one of the most popular options out there for building websites, this also makes it a popular target for cyberattacks. In 2022 alone for example, Wordfence – a leading security plugin for WordPress – blocked over 159 billion password attack requests (Wordfence). This is a staggering number if you think about the implications of having your site hacked and, chances are, you’re probably not making enough of an effort to keep this from happening to your website.
But it’s not just about getting your data leaked or content erased, security is also crucial for SEO. Why? Search engines actually penalize sites with security vulnerabilities, and frequent security breaches can lead to a drop in rankings. Luckily, WordPress has a massive community that regularly updates the platform to address and fix any security concerns. Plus, there are a ton of plugins designed to improve your WordPress’ site security.
6. Lightning-Fast Sites
Do you remember ever seeing the “study” that showed humans have an 8-second attention span, less than that of a goldfish, and how it’s getting shorter? Well, turns out that was fake. A more recent study actually showed that the average time a person spends focused on one screen dropped from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds today. (University of California, Irvine) This is nothing short of concerning for those websites that take ages to load, but not just from a UX point of view.
Speed is also a huge factor for SEO, as Google tends to favor those websites that deliver content faster to its users.
Plus, B2B sites that load in 1 second have a conversion rate 5x higher than those that load in 10 seconds. (Portent) And, as always, WordPress doesn’t disappoint here either. You can use plugins like W3 Total Cache to improve caching, and Smush to optimize image sizes in bulk, which are just some of the ways you can make sure your site loads faster.
So, Is WordPress Still the Best for SEO in 2024?
Without a doubt, this CMS continues to lead the pack in 2024, as WordPress helps everyone – even non-tech-savvy people – build fast, efficient and SEO-friendly websites with just a couple of clicks.
And, while platforms like Shopify, Wix, and Webflow are gaining ground, WordPress still is holds the #1 spot for users who want full control over their SEO and the flexibility to grow.
If you’re ready to take your WordPress site’s SEO to the next level, EpicDevs can help. We are a one stop shop for all your development and design needs, and our team has the expertise to make sure your site is ready to thrive in 2024 and beyond. Contact us today to get started!