A 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 and 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.
Here are 10 things to consider when selecting your SEO friendly Content Management System(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 are 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 pages end in “mysite.com.au” or “mysiteblog.com.au” depending on the page.
Meta Tag customization: Meta description and robots tags must be editable via the CMS for it 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 which (beneath the title) when a website is listed in the Search Engines 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 sites performance in the Search Engines. When designing your sites 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. 301’s 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 a 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 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. Choosing a SEO friendly CMS is one of the most important decisions of your design process and can make or break the Search Engine Optimisation of your website.
