In this post, we\u2019re diving into Godaddy\u2019s Website Builder. When we tested this CMS for the first time, we were\u2026 well\u2026 a little underwhelmed.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why we were particularly curious to see if GoDaddy had managed to improve its SEO functionality over the past 3 years.<\/p>\n
Read on to discover:<\/p>\n
- \n
- how well set up for on-page SEO GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder is out of the box in 2024,<\/li>\n
- how you can configure your GoDaddy Website Builder site to rank higher in Google,<\/li>\n
- the technical SEO issues we found on the platform<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Let\u2019s get started with a summary.<\/p>\n
Content<\/div>- In Summary: Is Godaddy\u2019s Website Builder good for SEO?<\/a><\/li>
- How we tested the SEO capabilities of GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder<\/a><\/li>
- GoDaddy Website Builder SEO: The good, the bad, and the ugly<\/a><\/li>
- On-Page SEO Fundamentals: How does GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder measure up?<\/a><\/li>
- In conclusion: GoDaddy Website Builder\u2019s SEO is seriously lacking<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n
In Summary: Is Godaddy\u2019s Website Builder good for SEO?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
We\u2019re sure you know GoDaddy. They\u2019re the world\u2019s largest domain registrar.<\/p>\n
But you might not know \u2014 unless you spotted the numerous upsells when you registered your domain \u2014 that they also have a semi-popular CMS you can use to build your website.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-website-builder.png\")
<\/p>\nWhy do we say semi-popular? Because according to w3techs<\/a> just 0.5% of sites run on GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder (as of June 2024). Which means that WordPress sites (with a usage percentage of 43.4%) outnumber GoDaddy sites by 87-1.<\/p>\n
But those numbers don\u2019t tell the full story.<\/p>\n
Because our guess is that when you consider the number of spam sites choosing WordPress, the percentage of \u201creal\u201d businesses running on GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder will be much higher than 0.5%.<\/p>\n
The bad news?<\/p>\n
Those businesses are going to be seriously hampered by the lack of control over their website\u2019s on-page SEO.<\/p>\n
Because the bottom line is, there\u2019s just not much you can do to optimize your GoDaddy site. And unfortunately, GoDaddy hasn\u2019t made any improvements to their SEO functionality in the last 3 years which suggests that SEO is just not a priority for them.<\/p>\n
Throw in slow load times and you\u2019ve got a platform that\u2019s definitely going to be holding back your efforts to rank your site higher in Google.<\/p>\n
Like pictures? Here\u2019s a summary\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"GoDaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/GoDaddy-SEO-Scoring.png\")
<\/p>\nHow we tested the SEO capabilities of GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder<\/strong><\/h2>\n
We set up a small site on a GoDaddy Website Builder Premium plan.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-website-builder-plans.png\")
<\/p>\nWe chose a popular theme and loaded the site with demo content.<\/p>\n
The tests included manual review, running the site through our own SEO audit tool<\/a>, and testing using third-party tools such as Google\u2019s PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix.<\/p>\n
GoDaddy Website Builder SEO: The good, the bad, and the ugly<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Before reviewing GoDaddy\u2019s control of on-page SEO factors, let\u2019s run through some of the SEO highlights (and lowlights) of the platform.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll start with the positives.<\/p>\n
Good:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Crickets chirp\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n
Ok, um\u2026 it\u2019s easy to integrate your GoDaddy site with Google Search Console.<\/p>\n
![\"google](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/google-search-console-integration.png\")
<\/p>\nMoving on.<\/p>\n
Bad: Slow load times<\/strong><\/h3>\n
With Core Web Vitals<\/a> being part of Google\u2019s algorithm since 2021, speed and layout stability have become even more important for SEO.<\/p>\n
![\"seo](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/seo-title-and-description.png\")
<\/p>\nOur test GoDaddy site had serious issues with both.<\/p>\n
For example, this super basic blog post\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"google](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/google-page-experience.png\")
<\/p>\n\u2026had a Google PageSpeed Insights score of just 41 and a total blocking time of 7000 ms.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-site-speed.png\")
<\/p>\nIt also had strange issues with layout stability (loading then hiding layers), which you can see in the timeline below.<\/p>\n
![\"layout](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/layout-stability.png\")
<\/p>\nThe slow load times were primarily caused by heavy script usage.<\/p>\n
![\"pagespeed](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/pagespeed-insights.png\")
<\/p>\nThat being said, GoDaddy Website Builder websites can<\/em> be optimized when sites are built the right way.<\/p>\n
In the Core Web Vitals Technology Report<\/a>, 78.4% of GoDaddy Website builder websites achieve a good Core Web Vitals score on mobile. This is up from just 40% mid 2021.<\/p>\n
![\"GoDaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/GoDaddy-SEO-Scoring-1.png\")
<\/p>\nSo, even though out-of-the-box, there are some issues, there are clearly steps you can take to improve the CWV of sites built with GoDaddy Website Builder.<\/p>\n
Ugly: There\u2019s just not much you can do to optimize your site<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Want to edit a page\u2019s title and meta description? No problem\u2026 unless you want to do it for a blog page.<\/p>\n
Some of the other basics, like optimizing alt tags and basic image optimization are possible too.<\/p>\n
Want to get more advanced?<\/p>\n
Time to switch to another CMS.<\/p>\n
In addition to the lack of advanced on-page SEO features, we also noticed that the things you can<\/em> do are sometimes hidden behind unconventional field names.<\/p>\n
For example, GoDaddy lets you set a title and meta description for each page on your site in the main editor.<\/p>\n
Only they don\u2019t call it a title. For some reason, they\u2019ve decided to call it a \u201cheadline\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"seo](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/seo-title-and-description-1.png\")
<\/p>\nSo why is this a problem?<\/p>\n
Well, consider a non-technical user who\u2019s just read an article (like our SEO audit guide<\/a>) telling them to create an optimized title tag. Isn\u2019t calling the field \u201cheadline\u201d just causing unnecessary confusion?<\/p>\n
Are we nitpicking? Perhaps. But this just seems illogical to us.<\/p>\n
On-Page SEO Fundamentals: How does GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder measure up?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Now let\u2019s turn our attention to control of some of the fundamental on-page SEO factors.<\/p>\n
Does GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder cover them all?<\/p>\n
Not even close.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s our summary again.<\/p>\n
![\"start](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/start-optimizing.png\")
<\/p>\nNote<\/strong>: having control of an SEO ranking factor is not equal to its optimization. SEO audit tools like Seobility<\/a> offer advice on how to properly optimize each element and find errors in optimization which may be holding back your site. See our SEO audit guide<\/a> for more information on how to fully optimize your website.<\/p>\n
SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: partial<\/p>\n
A page\u2019s title continues to be one of the most important on-page ranking factors. And a well-written meta description can help you get more click-throughs (although Google won\u2019t always use it).<\/p>\n
On a GoDaddy site, you can set a custom title and meta description for each \u201cpage\u201d.<\/p>\n
But if you want to do the same for a blog post, you\u2019re out of luck. It will automatically use your blog post\u2019s title.<\/p>\n
There are two ways you can set the title and description for a page.<\/p>\n
The first is in the main editor, under \u201cSettings > Get found on Google\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-seo-wizard.png\")
<\/p>\nThe second way is through the SEO wizard.<\/p>\n
To access the wizard, click on \u201cStart Optimizing\u201d<\/em> under \u201cSettings > Get found on Google\u201d<\/em> on any page (shown below), or choose \u201cSEO\u201d<\/em> from the \u201cMarketing\u201d<\/em> dropdown.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-keywords.png\")
<\/p>\nFrom there, you can choose to optimize your homepage, or any other page on your site.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-wizard-keywords.png\")
<\/p>\nOnce you\u2019ve selected a page to optimize, GoDaddy will ask you to pick a few keywords\u2026.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-page-titles.png\")
<\/p>\nYou can also add some of your own by clicking on \u201cEnter your own keywords\u201d..<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll then be asked to select a title for your page.<\/p>\n
![\"select](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/select-a-title.png\")
<\/p>\nYikes!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at that first title (which we suspect many small business owners may pick):<\/p>\n
Seobility Yoga \u2013 Yoga Classes, Yoga Instruction, Yoga, Yoga Classes<\/em><\/p>\n
Looks good right? Because stuffing keywords into your title and repeating the word yoga 5 times is a great way to boost your search engine rankings.<\/p>\n
*checks calendar<\/em><\/p>\n
Wait, it\u2019s not 1999 anymore?<\/p>\n
Sarcasm is hopefully obvious… But just in case, let\u2019s be crystal clear. This is not a good way to write your page titles for SEO.<\/p>\n
In fact, we don\u2019t really like any of GoDaddy\u2019s suggested titles. But as we\u2019re forced to select one before proceeding we\u2019ll choose the simplest:<\/p>\n
Yoga Classes \u2013 Seobility Yoga<\/em><\/p>\n
It\u2019s not good<\/em>. But at least it\u2019s not spammy.<\/p>\n
On the next screen, we can add our page\u2019s meta description.<\/p>\n
![\"meta](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/meta-description.png\")
<\/p>\nAnd then after another couple of screens where we can choose to add our keywords to our page\u2019s content and heading, we\u2019ll get to a final review page\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-website-builder-review.png\")
<\/p>\n\u2026and we\u2019re done.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t find this SEO wizard particularly helpful. Notwithstanding the fact that the page title suggestions are poor, it\u2019s an incredibly slow way of updating some of the most basic SEO ranking factors.<\/p>\n
Ultimately though, that\u2019s just our opinion. And non-technical users may prefer to update their site this way.<\/p>\n
So we can\u2019t exactly call this a negative.<\/p>\n
But what we can say is a negative is that GoDaddy doesn\u2019t give you any way to set a custom SEO title and description for your blog posts. The title will always be the same as your headline, and there\u2019s nowhere to add a meta description.<\/p>\n
This has been the case for years now and we\u2019ve no idea why, but it\u2019s not good.<\/p>\n
Learn more about SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- How to write the Perfect SEO Meta Description<\/a> (Seobility blog)<\/li>\n
- Meta Title \u2013 Definition + Best Practices<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Page slug \/ URL<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: partial<\/p>\n
We recommend creating short, descriptive, 2-3 word slugs. These should include the primary keyword (or phrase) for each page and use hyphens to separate words.<\/p>\n
You can do it on a GoDaddy site, but again, it\u2019s pretty unintuitive. There\u2019s no field for editing your slug, but GoDaddy will base it on your page\u2019s title.<\/p>\n
And to layer on the confusion, we don\u2019t mean SEO title (remember, GoDaddy calls that \u201cheadline\u201d), we mean the \u201ctitle\u201d you choose when you create a new page:<\/p>\n
![\"canonical](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/canonical-urls-godaddy.png\")
<\/p>\nSo in the example above, we\u2019d get a slug that looks like this:<\/p>\n
yourdomain\/yoga-tips<\/em><\/p>\n
If you update this title, the URL will also update.<\/p>\n
Which is kind of fine we guess. But a field for slug\/URL might have made it a little simpler to grasp?<\/p>\n
As for the blog, you\u2019ll be stuck with a slug based on the title of the blog post itself. So if we have a blog post titled:<\/p>\n
Yoga Tips For Beginners: Here\u2019s How To Get Better At Yoga FAST<\/em><\/p>\n
We\u2019ll get a slug that looks like this:<\/p>\n
yoga-tips-for-beginners-heres-how-to-get-better-at-yoga-fast<\/em><\/p>\n
And there\u2019s nothing we can do to change it. Not ideal.<\/p>\n
Note<\/strong>: something we did discover is that if you change a published blog post\u2019s title, GoDaddy will keep the old URL. So we suppose you could initially create the blog post with a short, 2-3 word keyword-targeted title, then change it to a longer title afterwards if you wanted a workaround.<\/p>\n
Learn more about URL slugs\/permalinks<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- Permalinks \u2013 Definition and examples<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Canonical URLs<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: no<\/p>\n
On smaller sites, you probably won\u2019t need to worry about this.<\/p>\n
But if you have a series of similar pages on your site \u2014 i.e. targeting the same keywords, or with very small variations in content \u2014 there may be times when you\u2019ll want to set a canonical (master) URL.<\/p>\n
This helps to avoid duplicate content issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s certainly no obvious way to set canonical URLs in GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder. So potential fiddly workarounds excepted, we\u2019re going to say that this is not something you can control on a GoDaddy site.<\/p>\n
![\"canonical](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/canonical-urls-godaddy.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLearn more about canonical URLs<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- Canonical Tag \u2013 Definition + Best Practices<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Index control (robots meta tag)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: no<\/p>\n
The robots meta tag instructs Google to either index (1), or not to index (2) a page:<\/p>\n
- \n
- <meta name=\u201drobots\u201d content=\u201dindex, follow\u201d> \u2013 index this page please Google<\/li>\n
- <meta name=\u201drobots\u201d content=\u201dnoindex, follow\u201d> \u2013 ignore this page please Google (but follow the links on it)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
You don\u2019t actually need the first one as (assuming your page meets their quality standards) indexing is Google\u2019s default action. But it doesn\u2019t do any harm to have it in place.<\/p>\n
We couldn\u2019t see any simple way to noindex an individual page on a GoDaddy site.<\/p>\n
Learn more about index control<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- What is noindex and how do you implement it?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Heading Tags (h1, h2, h3 etc)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: no<\/p>\n
Heading tags (h1, h2, h3, etc) help Google understand the structure, and topic(s) of your page.<\/p>\n
They should be properly nested.<\/p>\n
For example, an h1 tag would generally be the main topic (level 1), an h2 could be a subtopic (level 2), and an h3 could be a sub-sub topic (level 3), etc:<\/p>\n
<h1>Pets<\/h1> (topic of the page)<\/em>
\n<h2>Goldfish<\/h2> (subtopic)<\/em>
\n<h3>Caring for your goldfish<\/h3> (subtopic of goldfish)<\/em>
\n<h4>Clean your fish\u2019s tank regularly<\/h4> (subtopic of caring for your goldfish)<\/em>
\n<h2>Cats<\/h2> (subtopic)<\/em>
\n<h3>Caring for your cat<\/h3> (subtopic of cats)<\/em><\/code><\/p>\nGoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder fails miserably here. You\u2019ve got pretty much zero control over headings.<\/p>\n
At first glance, we thought perhaps they were doing their funky naming convention trick again and calling heading tags \u201cStyles\u201d or converting them to sizes like \u201cXL\u201d and \u201cXXS\u201d. But we were wrong.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-headers.png\")
<\/p>\nTurns out the dropdowns in the image above are literally for controlling the style and size of the heading. There\u2019s no way to change the actual heading tag itself.<\/p>\n
So you\u2019re stuck with whatever GoDaddy feels is the best fit for a particular heading tag. Which wouldn\u2019t be quite so much of an issue if they were choosing the right ones\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026but (at least in our tests) they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
In the example above, we\u2019ve skipped straight from H2 to H4.<\/p>\n
How about on a blog page?<\/p>\n
Well, all you can do is select \u201cT\u201d in the text toolbar.<\/p>\n
![\"blog](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/blog-header.png\")
<\/p>\nWhich turns the highlighted text into an H4. Want a subheading? Tough, you\u2019re getting another H4.<\/p>\n
(H4 wasn\u2019t even the right tag here, it should have been an H2)<\/em><\/p>\n
So there\u2019s just no way to create a properly structured page.<\/p>\n
Poor.<\/p>\n
Learn more about heading tags<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- How to use headings \u2013 SEO Best Practices<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Schema Markup<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: no<\/p>\n
Schema markup is a type of structured data that can help Google understand:<\/p>\n
- \n
- the type of content on a page (i.e. recipe, review, product, article),<\/li>\n
- the entity behind the website (i.e. organization),<\/li>\n
- and can also be used to show additional search features (rich snippets)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If you\u2019re not familiar with structured data and its impact on SEO, we recommend reading our rich snippets guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no simple way to add schema markup to a page on GoDaddy.<\/p>\n
Learn more about structured data and rich snippets<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- Rich Snippets: Everything You Need To Know<\/a> (Seobility blog)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Image SEO<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: yes<\/p>\n
The three most important elements of image SEO are:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Alt text (description of the image for screen readers and search engines)<\/li>\n
- File size (smaller = faster = better)<\/li>\n
- File name (we recommend using descriptive file names)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder performs reasonably well here.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to add alt text\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"alt](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/alt-text.png\")
<\/p>\nAnd when you upload an image GoDaddy will create (and serve) a WebP version – a lightweight image format that\u2019s recommended by Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n
They will change the filename of the webp (we\u2019d rather they kept it the same), but overall we\u2019re pretty happy with how GoDaddy handles image SEO.<\/p>\n
Learn more about image SEO<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- Image SEO: How to optimize images for SEO<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n
- Alt Attributes \u2013 Purpose + Requirements<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
HTTPS<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Do GoDaddy sites run over HTTPS<\/strong>? yes<\/p>\n
HTTPS has been a confirmed Google ranking signal since 2014.<\/p>\n
And today there\u2019s really no excuse for any site to still be running over HTTP. Notwithstanding any SEO benefits, it\u2019s unsecure.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019re pleased to say that every GoDaddy site (whether on a custom domain or not) runs on HTTPS.<\/p>\n
Learn more about HTTPS<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- What is https and why is it important for you?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Robots.txt file<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Control in GoDaddy<\/strong>: no<\/p>\n
A robots.txt file allows you to stop search engine bots from accessing certain areas of your site.<\/p>\n
For example, you might have a section with user-generated content that you don\u2019t want crawled or indexed by Google.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, while GoDaddy will create a default robots.txt file for your site, there\u2019s currently no way to edit it.<\/p>\n
Learn more about Robots.txt<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- What is a robots.txt file and how do you create it?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
XML Sitemaps<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Generated by GoDaddy<\/strong>: yes<\/p>\n
An XML sitemap helps Google find (and index) all the pages on your site.<\/p>\n
GoDaddy automatically sets up and maintains an XML sitemap for your site (pages, blog posts, etc), however, there is no way to edit it.<\/p>\n
Learn more about XML Sitemaps<\/strong><\/h4>\n
- \n
- XML Sitemap \u2013 What is it and how to create one?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Are GoDaddy sites mobile-friendly?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
One word answer<\/strong>: yes<\/p>\n
When designing your site on GoDaddy, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll be focusing on how it looks on desktop.<\/p>\n
But mobile traffic overtook desktop traffic in 2017<\/a>. And Google now prioritizes<\/a> the mobile version of your site for crawling and indexing.<\/p>\n
The good news is that GoDaddy sites are fully responsive, and (speed issues notwithstanding) work well on mobile.<\/p>\n
Just make sure to preview how your site looks on both desktop and mobile. And remember it\u2019s the mobile version of your site that Google will index and rank. So if you have a feature that displays on desktop but not mobile, then Google likely won\u2019t take it into account for rankings.<\/p>\n
GoDaddy will give you a preview of how your site looks on mobile.<\/p>\n
![\"godaddy](\"https:\/\/www.seobility.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/godaddy-mobile-preview.png\")
<\/p>\nBut we\u2019d still recommend testing on your own device after going live.<\/p>\n
In conclusion: GoDaddy Website Builder\u2019s SEO is seriously lacking<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Our mother told us that if we don\u2019t have anything positive to say, then don\u2019t say anything.<\/p>\n
But if we stuck by that rule\u2026 well, you\u2019d be looking at a blank page here.<\/p>\n
Because it\u2019s pretty hard to conclude anything other than GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder is poor for SEO.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re on the platform, you\u2019re going to be hampered by the lack of options for optimizing your site\/content. And unfortunately, this hasn\u2019t changed in years, so we don\u2019t have much confidence that GoDaddy will improve their SEO functionality anytime soon.<\/p>\n
But with that being said:<\/p>\n
If you currently have a GoDaddy site and don\u2019t want to switch to a more advanced CMS \u2014 an action we actually found GoDaddy support engineers recommending in many of their own help threads! \u2014 our advice would be to:<\/p>\n
- \n
- run a full SEO audit (you can follow this guide<\/a>),<\/li>\n
- allocate time to fixing issues and optimizing your site (where possible),<\/li>\n
- focus on creating high-quality content that helps your users and fully answers their search queries,<\/li>\n
- build your site\u2019s authority by earning high quality backlinks (check out our recommended link building tactics here<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note: This CMS review has originally been written in 2021 by David McSweeney and has been updated for 2024 by Bram Vergouwen. Bram is a SEO specialist with more than 6 years of experience working with companies across different countries and industries, providing customized SEO solutions and strategies that increase online visibility.<\/em><\/p>\n
In the other parts of this series, we reviewed the on-page SEO of <\/em>Wix<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Squarespace<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>WordPress<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Joomla<\/em><\/a>. And we\u2019ve compared the <\/em>SEO pros and cons of each CMS in a final roundup post<\/em><\/a>, where we also revealed the best CMS for SEO.<\/em><\/p>\n
- run a full SEO audit (you can follow this guide<\/a>),<\/li>\n
- XML Sitemap \u2013 What is it and how to create one?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- What is a robots.txt file and how do you create it?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Alt Attributes \u2013 Purpose + Requirements<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Image SEO: How to optimize images for SEO<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n
- Rich Snippets: Everything You Need To Know<\/a> (Seobility blog)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- How to use headings \u2013 SEO Best Practices<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- What is noindex and how do you implement it?<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Canonical Tag \u2013 Definition + Best Practices<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Meta Title \u2013 Definition + Best Practices<\/a> (Seobility Wiki)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- How we tested the SEO capabilities of GoDaddy\u2019s Website Builder<\/a><\/li>
- In Summary: Is Godaddy\u2019s Website Builder good for SEO?<\/a><\/li>