Best SEO website builders in 2024

In today's digital landscape, many website builders are designed to be user-friendly, but some are too simplistic and lack essential SEO features. This can make it challenging to rank well on search engines and attract organic traffic.

In this article, I'll share my insights on the key SEO features to look for and review the top website builders that excel in supporting SEO. I’ve collaborated with the professional Cybernews research team to identify the best options for SEO. I'll guide you through these top website builders to help your site achieve higher rankings and better visibility in search engine results.

Top 5 best SEO website builders

1. Wix – best SEO website builder overall with all SEO essentials
2. SITE123 – solid website builder with optimized SEO tools for businesses
3. Hostinger Website Builder – the cheapest website builder with solid SEO tools, starting at $2.54/month
4. Squarespace – powerful website builder with built-in SEO features
5. GoDaddy website builder – beginner-friendly website builder with SEO support

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What is the most important for SEO web builders?

When selecting an SEO-friendly website builder, several key features can significantly impact your search rankings. These elements help search engines crawl, index, and rank your site effectively, boosting its performance in organic search results. Here’s what’s most important when choosing an SEO web builder:

• Meta details. Customizable meta titles and descriptions are crucial for improving your website’s visibility in search engine results and attracting more clicks.
• Slug modification and automated XML sitemap. Control over your URL structure and an automated XML sitemap help search engines easily navigate and understand your site.
• Canonical tag support. This feature helps avoid duplicate content issues by telling search engines which version of a page to index.
• URL redirect support. Proper redirects preserve link equity and prevent broken links when URLs are changed.
• Mobile responsiveness. With Google’s mobile-first indexing, ensuring your site works well on mobile devices is critical.
• Access to code. This gives you the flexibility to add structured data and other custom SEO optimizations directly into your site.
• SEO tools integration. Seamless integration with tools like Google Search Console helps track your website’s performance and pinpoint areas for SEO improvement.

These features were my primary focus when evaluating the best SEO web builders. If you’re unfamiliar with the terms above, you can learn more about them in the Search Engine Journal.

Best website builders for SEO – detailed list:

I’ve assessed a list of website builders that focus on SEO or have tools that’d help to boost your site on search engines. All the builders reviewed below provide the option to add essential SEO elements like meta titles, meta descriptions, and alt text for images. Additionally, platforms such as Wix, Site123, Hostinger, and Squarespace allow for markup integration schemes through custom code, a crucial feature for enhanced SEO Learn more about each provider below:

1. Wix – powerful website builder with top-class SEO features

Visit Wix

Wix is an excellent SEO website builder that supports virtually every SEO feature you could need, making it the best choice for both beginners and experienced users. With beautiful templates and a full SEO suite, Wix makes it easy to optimize your site.

While Wix offers a robust set of SEO tools, some features may require paid plugins, so it's important to check if you need anything specific before committing. Let’s dive deeper into what Wix has to offer for SEO.

Wix SEO features. Wix provides a robust suite of SEO features that make optimizing your website easy, whether you're new to SEO or an experienced user. One of the standout tools is the flexible URL redirect manager, which allows you to maintain link equity by creating permanent 301 redirects for old URLs. You can manually redirect individual URLs or groups of URLs that share the same path.

Wix also integrates seamlessly with Google Search Console, enabling you to verify your domain and manage properties directly from the Wix dashboard. This makes it simple to inspect your site and access detailed reports. Additionally, Wix automatically generates dynamic XML sitemaps, optimizing your site for visual search by making images more easily discoverable by search engines.

For more advanced users, Wix offers SEO APIs via Velo, allowing developers to customize SEO settings from client-side code, adding flexibility for custom solutions. Moreover, the platform includes Wix Analytics, which provides integrated SEO reports based on data from Google Search Console, offering insights into how visitors interact with your site and how it performs in search rankings.

Using Wix and its SEO tools

Wix offers an intuitive, user-friendly interface that makes managing SEO a seamless experience. In the Tools and Settings section, the SEO Setup Checklist walks you through essential steps to enhance your site's visibility in search engines. From this dashboard, you can easily access SEO Settings to tweak meta tags, titles, descriptions, and set up URL redirects with just a few clicks.

The Site Verification tool simplifies the process of verifying your website with search engines. Wix’s SEO Assistant shines by flagging SEO issues and providing clear, actionable recommendations to elevate your search performance.

For those who need more control, the robots.txt Editor allows you to decide which pages search engines can crawl. Plus, Wix integrates IndexNow, instantly notifying search engines like Bing and Google when you update your content, ensuring your site always stays fresh in search results.

Visit our Wix review to learn more.

2. SITE123 – easy-to-use website builder with optimized SEO tools

Visit SITE123

SITE123 is a website builder excellent for beginners that want to score high on search engines and build the best SEO sites. SITE123's unique block builder system lets you put together a big, custom, SEO-friendly website without requiring any design or SEO knowledge.

SITE123 SEO features. SITE123 offers a solid range of SEO tools, making it a capable platform for improving your website's search engine performance. One of its key features is the ability to add customizable meta titles and descriptions for each page, which are essential for helping search engines understand and rank your content effectively.

In addition, SITE123 automatically generates an XML sitemap, which can be submitted to search engines like Google and Bing to ensure that all of your pages are indexed correctly. The platform also includes a 301 redirect tool, which is crucial for maintaining SEO value when restructuring your site or moving content to new URLs.

SITE123 integrates easily with both Google Analytics and Google Search Console, allowing you to track website traffic and monitor your SEO performance with detailed insights. One standout feature is the built-in SEO Adviser tool, which analyzes your website and offers recommendations for improvement. It evaluates various SEO elements and provides a score out of 100, helping users understand where their site can be optimized for better rankings.

Using SITE123 and its SEO tools

SITE123 offers a clean and efficient interface, designed to simplify the management of your site’s SEO. In the SEO Adviser section, you’re given a real-time snapshot of any issues affecting your site’s performance, along with step-by-step recommendations to improve visibility. Key settings such as Homepage Meta Tags, Sitemap, and even Favicon are easily accessible, allowing for a smooth, hassle-free experience, no matter your level of expertise.

The SEO Pages – Audit tool conducts an in-depth scan of your pages, providing a detailed score and highlighting both successes and areas that need attention. It tracks keyword effectiveness and points out issues like failed tests, giving you clear insights to stay on top of your SEO game.

With its intuitive design and focused tools, SITE123 ensures that keeping your site optimized for search engines feels both manageable and rewarding.

Check out our SITE123 review to find out more information.

3. Hostinger Website Builder – cheapest website builder with SEO functionalities

Visit Hostinger Website Builder

Hostinger Website Builder is the cheapest website builder on this list and possibly in the entire market. The platform is modern, easy to use, and wickedly fast (which is always great for search engines). And while the SEO features are limited at best, they're super simple to use.

Hostinger SEO features. Hostinger comes equipped with a comprehensive suite of SEO tools aimed at enhancing your site's visibility in search engines. One notable feature is the AI-powered SEO Assistant, which streamlines the creation of optimized meta titles, descriptions, and keywords, making it easier to tailor your content for better search rankings.

Another useful tool is broken link detection, which helps you locate and fix any non-functional links on your site, improving user experience and avoiding potential SEO penalties. Hostinger also allows you to assign alt text to images, helping search engines better understand your visual content, with the added option of AI-generated suggestions for alt text.

Hostinger integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, providing in-depth insights into your site’s traffic and user interactions. Its mobile-responsive design templates further ensure that your site performs well on mobile devices – a critical factor for SEO in today’s mobile-first world.

Using Hostinger and its SEO tools

Hostinger’s SEO tools are thoughtfully designed to make optimizing your website straightforward and efficient. The AI SEO Assistant swiftly generates meta titles, descriptions, and keyword suggestions, reducing the time spent on tedious SEO tasks.

Each page has its own dedicated SEO section, allowing you to precisely target keywords that align with your content. The SEO Preview offers a real-time glimpse of how your site will appear in search results, ensuring you fine-tune everything before going live.

What makes Hostinger stand out is its SEO Adviser, which not only flags issues but provides clear steps to fix them, ensuring your site remains optimized. With seamless integration to Google Search Console, Hostinger supports a smooth connection to essential tools while balancing ease of use and SEO control.

Visit our Hostinger Website Builder review to learn more about the features.

4. Squarespace – best website builder with built-in SEO tools for small businesses

Visit Squarespace

Squarespace is an excellent website builder for smaller businesses. This all-in-one platform offers built-in features for eCommerce, blogging, advertising, and SEO. The provided tools and checklists are rather simple, but for a beginner user looking to take on the world, this can be the best website platform for SEO.

Squarespace SEO features. Squarespace offers a range of SEO tools designed to simplify optimization for your website. Each site comes with an automatically generated XML sitemap, so you don’t need to create one manually, streamlining the indexing process for search engines. The dedicated SEO panel gives you control over important elements such as your site title, description, and page title formats.

To help users stay on track, Squarespace provides an SEO checklist, guiding you through the best practices necessary to improve your site’s rankings. You can also modify SEO titles and descriptions specifically for search engines and social media, without affecting the visible content on your site.

Additionally, Squarespace includes automatic markup for products, events, and other site content, ensuring proper indexing by search engines without requiring extra effort on your part. With these tools, Squarespace covers all the essentials to keep your site SEO-friendly.

Using Squarespace and its SEO tools

Squarespace is known for its elegant, easy-to-navigate interface making SEO management easy for most users. The SEO Appearance section allows for quick updates to page titles and descriptions, ensuring your content is optimized for search results. The SEO Checklist is particularly useful for beginners, guiding them through basic SEO tasks without much hassle.

However, Squarespace doesn’t offer more advanced SEO features like custom robots.txt editing or extensive control over technical SEO, which could limit users seeking more in-depth optimization. While its tools are helpful for getting the basics right, it may feel limited for those who need advanced functionality.

In summary, Squarespace is a solid choice for users looking for simplicity and ease in SEO. But for those who need greater flexibility and control over their SEO strategy, other platforms might be more suitable.

Visit our Squarespace review and start building your website.

5. GoDaddy website builder – business solutions for busy SEO experts

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GoDaddy is an easy-to-use website builder, complete with advanced marketing and SEO tools. This is a busy person's builder: everything here on this platform is made to save you time and give you the easiest, most concrete route to make a perfect business website.

GoDaddy SEO features. GoDaddy simplifies SEO for its users with a range of accessible tools. The platform’s standout feature is its SEO wizard, which walks you through every step to optimize your website for better search rankings. GoDaddy also offers keyword optimization, allowing you to easily integrate relevant keywords into page titles, headers, and meta descriptions using a guided process.

For tracking success, GoDaddy includes performance monitoring, giving users insights into how their SEO efforts are paying off over time. If you choose GoDaddy's Managed SEO Service, a dedicated account manager will handle your SEO strategy and implementation, providing a more personalized approach.

Additionally, GoDaddy goes the extra mile by submitting your site directly to Google, Yahoo, and Bing after optimization, ensuring your site gains maximum visibility across major search engines.

Using GoDaddy and its SEO tools

GoDaddy's SEO tools are designed with simplicity and guidance in mind, making them approachable even for users who aren’t SEO experts. The platform leads you through the process of optimizing your site step-by-step with its SEO Wizard, which begins by helping you identify important keywords. The tool asks you about your business and services and then suggests relevant keywords to target. This approach is especially useful for beginners who may not be sure where to start with SEO.

Once you've selected your keywords, GoDaddy ensures they are applied to the right areas of your site, like titles, descriptions, and headers. The interface is clean and focused, with minimal distractions, so you can focus on getting the fundamentals right.

While GoDaddy’s tools cover basic optimization needs well, they lack the depth and flexibility that more advanced users may want. Still, for those looking for a guided and straightforward SEO setup, GoDaddy offers an easy-to-follow solution that doesn’t require much technical knowledge.

Check out our GoDaddy website builder review for more information.

Comparison of the best SEO website builders

Check out how each of the website builders for SEO compares in terms of features, speeds, prices, rankings, and more:

	Wix	SITE123	Hostinger Website Builder	Squarespace	GoDaddy
Brand
Rating	4.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4.3 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆	4.6 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆	3.8 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Best for	SEO-optimized business site, blog, beginners and advanced users	SEO-optimized blogs (beginners)	SEO-optimized blogs and websites (beginners and advanced)	SEO-optimized business site	SEO-optimized business site (small businesses)
SEO features	Customizable meta titles, Alt attributes, sitemaps, URL Redirect Manager	SEO Pages – Audit tool, sitemaps, meta tags, 301 redirect tool	Google Analytics and Tag Manager integration, URL structures, customizable meta titles and descriptions	Keyword support, customizable meat titles, Alt attributes	Customizable meta titles, Alt attributes, keyword support, SEO Wizard
eCommerce	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Social media integrations	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Free domain	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Templates	900+	160+	130+	110+	22
Free plan	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
Starting price	$10.50/month	$11.88/month	$2.54/month	$16.00/month	$9.99/month
Custom email	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

SEO website builders testing methodology

I, with the help of the Cybernews research team, tested and evaluated 26 website builder providers to identify the best SEO website builders. We focused on several key factors that directly influence both SEO performance and usability. Here’s how I determined the final rankings:

1. SEO features (40%). I prioritized the depth and range of SEO tools offered. Builders with customizable meta tags, XML sitemaps, alt text, and URL redirects scored highest. Advanced features like schema markup and Google Search Console integration were also considered.
2. Ease of use (20%). A good SEO builder should be easy to navigate. I tested how simple it was to implement SEO changes and the overall user experience, especially for beginners.
3. Page speed and performance (15%). Page load speed impacts SEO, so I checked how well each platform optimized website performance, including features like image compression and built-in CDN support.
4. Mobile optimization (10%). With mobile-first indexing becoming the norm, I examined how each builder ensured mobile responsiveness and optimization out of the box.
5. SEO tool integrations (10%). The ability to integrate tools like Google Analytics or SEMrush is crucial for tracking SEO. Builders that allowed seamless integration scored higher.
6. Value for money (5%). Finally, I compared the pricing against the features offered, looking for builders that provide strong SEO functionality at a reasonable cost.

This thorough process helped me identify which platforms truly deliver in terms of SEO, usability, and value.

What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving a website's visibility and ranking on search engine results pages like Google to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic. It involves making your website more search engine-friendly so it appears higher in search results when people search for relevant keywords or phrases.

To make this happen, SEO involves several key elements. First, it focuses on researching and selecting the right keywords that your target audience is likely to search for. Then, it involves optimizing your website's content, including titles, headings, and text, to incorporate these keywords in a natural and relevant way.

Additionally, SEO involves optimizing technical aspects of your website, such as its structure, navigation, and load speed, to ensure search engines can crawl and index your site easily. It also involves building high-quality backlinks from other reputable websites, which can increase your site's authority and credibility.

Generally, SEO is an ongoing process and requires regular monitoring, analysis, and adjustments. Having built-in SEO tools in your website builder is just another great way to have a consolidated place to track your site’s progress and improve it.

Best website builder for SEO – conclusion

To sum everything up, achieving good SEO on a website builder is not only possible but also offers multiple excellent options to choose from. The most important factors to focus on include customizable meta tags, XML sitemaps, alt text for images, mobile optimization, and the ability to integrate with key tools like Google Search Console. After careful evaluation, we have selected the best website builders for SEO.

Our top recommendation is Wix, which stands out as an incredibly well-rounded platform. It caters to both professionals seeking advanced SEO options and beginners looking for simple solutions. Additionally, SITE123 offers a straightforward and minimalist approach to building solid, SEO-friendly websites.

By selecting the right website builder and investing some effort, you can increase your chances of landing on the top pages of search engine results and take your website's SEO to new heights.

More website builders guides from Cybernews:

Best website builder for SEO – FAQ