An SEO-friendly CMS is seen by some SEO experts as the be-all and end-all and crucial to the optimization of your website.
If you are looking to update your website content more than once a month, then it is likely that you will require a content management system. Choosing an SEO-friendly CMS isn’t always an easy task if you don’t know what to look for.
Let us walk you through the essentials to help you select a CMS that is going to give you all the editorial functions you need, while optimizing your website and enhancing your search engine visibility in the process.
10 things to consider when selecting an SEO-friendly CMS
Keyword-rich URLs
An SEO-friendly CMS should include custom URL creation. An automatically generated and dynamic URL may look like this http://www.mysite.com.au/blog-articles/thread.php?threadid=12345&sort=date but an SEO-friendly CMS will allow you to create a keyword-rich, static URL such as http://www.mysite.com.au/blog-articles/seo-friendly-cms. Static URLs make it easier for both search engine spiders and the end-user to understand what the page is about.
Title tag customization
Each title tag must be able to be edited or customized on a page-by-page basis. It can be helpful to also create rules so that all meta titles end with your brand name, depending on the page.
Meta tag customization
Meta descriptions and robot tags must be editable via the CMS for them to be considered SEO-friendly. The meta description is a guide for search engines to use as an accurate summary of a page’s content when a website is listed in the search engine results.
Custom HTML tags enabling
A search engine-friendly CMS should offer the function of putting <hx> tags or “nofollow” tags on links. These features can be built into the menu or allowed through manual editing of the HTML in a text editor window.
Anchor text editing
Optimization of the internal linking anchor text is critical for your SEO. An SEO-friendly CMS will allow you to customize the anchor text of all internal links.
Sensible site structure
Poor category or site structure can be a killer for your site’s performance in search engines. When designing your site’s architecture, there shouldn’t be any limits on your structure based on your CMS’s inflexibility. A good content management system will offer customizable navigation.
301-redirects
An SEO-friendly CMS should allow the proper re-direction of content where necessary. 301s are a valuable asset when new page versions are created, content expires, or you are moving to a whole new website.
RSS / XML
The ability to add an RSS feed to your website can boost site optimization efforts, whether it’s feeding off your website content or refreshing content on your website from another source. Just like HTML web pages, with an SEO-friendly CMS, RSS feeds can be optimized to perform better in Search Engine listings.
Image handling and alt tags
Search engines cannot read images, so all images should be optimized and alt tags are a must-have from a SEO perspective. The alt tags serve as the anchor text and allow you to add keyword-rich text. Google Images is starting to be a large referrer of traffic to websites, so image SEO should not be neglected.
Ability to access all areas
A search engine-friendly CMS will allow you to edit all parts of the website including the footer and sidebars and allow you to add cross-link paragraphs. Be wary of content management systems that say they automatically do that for you.
Contact us to find out about what CMS we recommend and how we can help you implement the system on your new or redesigned website. Choosing the right CMS allows you to easily add, edit and delete content on your website, add extra plugins to enhance the design and functionality and allow basic optimization of your website without having to be an SEO expert.
