Webflow vs WordPress: Which is Best for SEO?
No one builds a website so that it can't be found on Google, right? Well, maybe, but that's not the primary goal of most businesses building their company site. Companies want their website to be found by the right people, when they’re searching for the company’s products or services.
With Webflow becoming an emerging and popular website builder; people wonder, what is better for SEO - WordPress or Webflow?
The short answer is that both have advantages and disadvantages, and it depends on your specific needs when deciding between the two. So, let's compare the two for SEO purposes.
What is WordPress and Webflow?
Before I dive into a comparison between Webflow and WordPress, you should probably understand what they are and what their purpose is.
Webflow and WordPress are two popular content management systems, or rather website building platforms, each catering to different needs.
Webflow is like a sleek, designer’s playground where you can build a stunning website without getting tangled in code. It’s perfect for those who want total creative control with a bit of visual flair. Hosting is handled, so you don’t need to stress about the techy stuff.
WordPress, on the other hand, is the seasoned pro in the room. It’s super customisable, thanks to thousands of plugins and themes. But with this versatility there are also risks and responsibilities —you’ll need to manage updates, security, and hosting. It’s ideal if you want to build something more complex and don’t mind rolling up your sleeves - or paying a professional web developer to help build it
A Comparison Between Webflow and WordPress
Now that you have a basic understanding of what Webflow and Wordpress are, let's deep dive into a comparison so that you can make the right choice.
Ease of Use of Each
Let's kick things off with ease of use. Now, both platforms require some development know-how, but here’s where it gets interesting. Webflow might feel a tad more intimidating because you're dealing with CSS, JavaScript, and animations on a deeper level. WordPress, on the other hand, gives you themes, templates, and site builders like Elementor, which simplify things with a user-friendly interface. So, if you have a basic understanding of what padding and margin is, you’ll be fine on either platform.
But, with WordPress, you’ll also need to get familiar with your C-panel, learn how to use a file transfer protocol system like Filezilla, and have a handle on databases to get everything up and running. Many hosting companies offer an Express WordPress installation, but if they don't, you’ll have to figure this all out on your own.
You'll also need to sort out templates and navigate through the thousands of plugins available to find the ones that solve your specific problems. But the upside of the seemingly endless of plugins? Supreme customization. That’s one of the big perks—there’s so much you can build out.
Now, Webflow is still a bit of a beta product in many ways. What does that mean? It’s still being developed and fine-tuned. But for a basic marketing website with CMS collections (think databases of content that you can pull into pages by the thousands), it’s spot on. And if you’re an American-based supplier or online shop, its e-commerce function works like a charm.
They’ve also recently introduced membership features (yep, also still in beta), which means people can now register on your site via memberships to access specific content.
On the flip side, WordPress, being the seasoned open-source platform it is, has far more features to work with. Almost anything you can dream up can be done with WordPress.
Webflow SEO vs WordPress SEO
When it comes to SEO, comparing WordPress and Webflow, both platforms can be SEO-friendly—or at least, they can be with a bit of effort.
With WordPress, you will need to roll up your sleeves and get a technical to make things SEO-unfriendly. For instance, if you want to switch your blog posts’ headings from H1 to H2, you’ll need to dive into your theme files, tweak some PHP code, and hope that you haven’t broken everything. Sounds like a lot of work, right? It’s a job only a handful of developers have tackled, and I’m still scratching my head about why they’ve done that.
On top of that, everyone has their own development style when it comes to WordPress. This means that if an SEO expert or another developer inherits a WordPress site, they might find themselves wondering, “What on earth is going on here?” This also means that fixing the issues left by the previous developer can turn into a time-consuming task.
On the flip side, Webflow makes it easier to mess up your SEO, especially with HTML content structures and clean URLs. But the good news is, it's also much easier to fix. If someone with technical SEO know-how takes a look and finds that all your headings are in the wrong hierarchical order (say, everything is H2 when it should be H1), it's simpler to fix.
This is especially true for CMS collection items, where you build out one page structure (like a blog post), and all the content gets dynamically pulled into that structure through the Webflow CMS.
Whose Speed is Better?
A common issue with many WordPress themes is their bloat. What does that mean? Essentially, it means the theme has so many styling options and bits of JavaScript to make it user-friendly on the back end that your site’s loading speed can take a hit.
Remember, speed matters not just for Google but also for your users too!
Another factor influencing speed is your hosting company. I won’t name names, but there’s a hosting provider out there still using old-school hard drives for their servers. For those who aren’t tech-savvy, a hard drive is like an old disc that needs to spin to fetch data. It’s not exactly speedy.
In contrast, South African hosting companies like Xneelo use SSDs—fast, modern hard drives. Any tech enthusiast will tell you that if your laptop has a traditional hard drive instead of an SSD, your processor will be a bit grumpy because it can’t get data quickly enough.
PS. Xneelo offers a CDN hosting option for just R29, which is a steal for cutting a few milliseconds off your load times.
Build Speed is a factor too
Considering that website builds are quoted based on the work effort, it is usually a factor to consider when you consider Wordpress or Webflow as your CMS.
With a template on Webflow (since speed is built into the platform), you can whip up a website much faster than on WordPress.
Here’s the process on Webflow:
- Click “New Project.”
- Pick your theme.
- Blink, and voila, your site is ready.
It takes about 15 minutes, maybe longer if you take your time to pick the right theme and your card payment doesn’t process quickly.
WordPress, on the other hand:
- Download WordPress.
- Unzip and upload the files.
- Find your database credentials.
- Link your database to your WordPress installation.
- Find a theme.
- Download the theme.
- Unzip and upload the theme files.
- Install plugins.
- And so on.
By the time you finally get to the back end, start configuring plugins, and get ready to design, you’re looking at a good 2 hours.
Their Level of Security
Here’s one thing where WordPress could take a lesson from Webflow: security.
With WordPress, you’re dealing with countless plugins and themes, which can introduce security vulnerabilities if you don’t keep your WordPress version, theme, and plugins up to date; if you slack off on updates, your site isn’t just at risk—it’s practically inviting hackers in!
- What does a hack look like? Picture a bot invading your WordPress site and churning out hundreds of thousands of spammy URLs with content ranging from Russian brides to Nike sneakers for sale.
- And why does this matter? Well, Google doesn’t like it one bit. Because “content is king” in the SEO world, some black hat SEOs used to churn t content like this to manipulate the search engine.
- As for why hackers do this? Maybe they’re after personal info, or maybe they’re just in it for the chaos.
Now, Webflow, on the other hand, is a security fortress. They offer built-in SSL and HSTS with just a flick of a switch, so their security is pretty top-notch.
Why does website security matter?
Because it means your user data—and your website—are well protected. Imagine spending a hefty chunk of your marketing budget on SEO for five years, only to have your site hacked because you didn’t invest in regular updates (or your developer didn’t do their job). Suddenly, you’re scrambling to recover your site while trying to maintain your hard-earned SEO rankings and leads.
To make matters worse, if your domain or website host doesn’t have backups going back far enough, you could be in deep trouble. Webflow, however, offers a 30-day backup, and since it’s so secure to begin with, it’s worth every penny of that monthly fee.
Who Wins in Pricing?
WordPress is free. It’s an open-source platform, so you only need to cover your domain hosting, which varies depending on the hosting package you choose. This is your basic monthly (excluding additional development fees), but there might be extra annual expenses depending on the plugins you use.
For example, Gravity Forms is a paid plugin at around $49 annually, while Contact Form 7 is completely free. Premium themes like Avada or Divi can cost between $69 to $89, but these are typically one-off payments, except for Gravity Forms which has that annual fee.
I also just want to mention that with WordPress, updates can be a bit tricky. Each WordPress version has a base number, like 6.0, and then there are incremental updates, such as 6.1.4. The first number (6) is the major version, the second number (1) is a minor update, and the third number (4) refers to smaller fixes or security updates.
When WordPress updates from one major version to the next—say, from version 6 to 7—some plugins may become incompatible and stop working. This could require significant adjustments or rebuilding parts of your site to ensure everything functions correctly, and this incurs additional development costs (either in time or money).
Webflow, on the other hand, is a bit pricier at first glance. It has various pricing tiers, starting with a basic package for static websites.
You don’t have to buy a theme, but as an agency, if you do, you can easily reuse elements across different projects—just copy and paste, tweak the colors in your CSS, and voila!
The cost for Webflow’s CMS plan, which is necessary if you want to run a blog, starts at $23 per month. In my book, this $23 is worth it for a basic marketing site designed to generate leads.
Why?
Because it includes hosting that’s super fast and efficient. Plus, Webflow offers content distribution networks (CDNs), which means your site’s content is delivered quickly to users. Google loves a speedy site! And since Webflow’s security is built-in, you’re not shelling out R650 to R750 per hour for a developer to handle updates.
If you’re a larger company with multiple users needing access to the site, you’ll need to upgrade to Webflow’s workspace plan, which costs $39 per month. Then, you’ll pay per user as well. This can add up for agencies and development teams, but if you’re a small business, it’s not a big deal.
Plugins, and Integrations
I’ve already mentioned that WordPress boasts millions of plugins and integrations. When it comes to building a more complex site—something beyond just a marketing website—WordPress really shines.
For instance, if you're setting up a directory site where businesses can register and list their info, WordPress is your best bet. It’s particularly good for sites with complex functionality and specific needs.
On the other hand, Webflow typically requires a third-party app like Zapier for integrations. While it’s possible to connect tools like Mailchimp, or ActiveCampaign, you’ll find it much simpler with WordPress. With Webflow, you’ll need to consider Zapier for tasks like managing newsletter subscriptions, which can add to your costs, especially if you’re using two-step Zaps.
Webflow vs WordPress for E-commerce
When it comes to building online shops, Webflow definitely has the upper hand. It’s great for setting up your ecommerce store with sleek design and functionality.
However, there's a catch.
Webflow currently only integrates with Stripe and PayPal. So, if you're looking to handle South African Rand transactions, you will hit a snag. For now, we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed for more payment options to come!
ClickOn's Opinion on Webflow vs WordPress for SEO
So, which one gets the ClickOn Marketing stamp of approval?
For me, it’s Webflow all the way!
I’ve got a personal hobby project on Webflow, and I pay that subscription with a huge grin because its SEO is thriving and I’m not worried about losing the great tracion I’m getting from my SEO investment. My ClickOn Marketing site is also on Webflow, and honestly, I couldn’t be happier.
I even built my brother’s passion project, the Chamber Music Collective, on Webflow as a donation.
It’s fast, user-friendly (once you get the hang of HTML and CSS), SEO-friendly, and super easy to expand as your needs grow. Plus, the security is top-notch. I don’t worry about my site being hacked five years from now because I forgot to update themes or plugins or worry about outdated versions of WordPress breaking everything. Webflow just takes care of those things for me!
Contact us at ClickOn Marketing to further discuss which website builder would be best for your next website project!
