Webflow vs WordPress SEO

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Key Points 

• Webflow is a website builder offering intuitive design with a visual drag-and-drop builder. It has many built-in features to give you all you need to create a great website. 
• WordPress is a popular and flexible CMS that offers excellent customisation options with a wide variety of plugins to help you create the perfect website. Neither platform requires coding knowledge to build a site on their platforms successfully.
• Webflow is a great choice if you want lots of built-in features, want more design freedom, and have access to dedicated customer support.
• WordPress is excellent if you want to use plugins, want more design options, and enjoy great blogging features.
• There is no superior SEO option, as both Webflow and WordPress have excellent SEO capabilities. Webflow has built-in SEO features, whereas WordPress requires installing plugins to get the most out of your SEO efforts. The best option comes down to personal preference and how you utilise its SEO features.

Are you wondering whether Webflow or WordPress is better for your website-building needs? Both Webflow and WordPress are popular content management systems (CMS) for website building. However, they offer varying approaches to creating a site, so you must understand their differences to choose the best for your needs. This article compares Webflow and WordPress on key factors to see how they line up against each other so that you can choose the best option for your SEO needs. 

What is Webflow?

Webflow launched in 2013 and offers website-building services. It is designed to help you easily create a website, partly because there is no need for coding knowledge, as Webflow automatically generates code for you. But you can still edit code directly if you wish, unlike other similar SaaS site builders. It offers intuitive designing with a visual drag-and-drop builder (removing the need for coding expertise). While it is not the most popular website-building solution, this SaaS platform is a viable option for someone looking to easily build a website. Webflow is mainly self-contained and gives you all the resources you need to build a successful site for your business.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source CMS that launched ten years earlier, in 2003. Notorious for its flexibility, WordPress is seen as a platform virtually anyone can use. It was originally created as a blog-publishing platform but has since expanded to support other web content types. It is the most popular content management system (CMS) available. WordPress offers fantastic customisation options with the use of plugins to craft your perfect website. This is the main difference from Webflow, which is a complete SaaS application with everything built-in.

Please note: This article is focused on ‘WordPress.org’ and should not be confused with ‘WordPress.com’.

Webflow and WordPress: A Comparison

Webflow and WordPress are two fantastic website-building platforms. So, how do you split the hairs and decide the best choice for you, particularly in terms of SEO? This next section offers a detailed comparison of Webflow vs WordPress to help you decide.

Pricing

Webflow: You can sign up and build a site for no charge through its Free Starter Plan. However, you will need to subscribe to a paid plan to take your site live. Webflow offers two types of plans: Site and Workspaces. A Site plan is needed for every site you want to host on Webflow, and a Workspaces plan is needed when you want more than two site projects. The latter should be selected if you want to create and design a site but then host it elsewhere or hand it over to clients. Sometimes, a Site and a Workspaces plan may both be required. Webflow’s Site plans range in price from $14 to $39 per month, and its Workspaces plans range from $19 to $49 per month. For particularly large projects, users can choose a personally tailored Enterprise plan. Beyond these Webflow plans, you may wish to invest in a paid Webflow template, averaging at about $65.

WordPress: Its core software is entirely free to use. But you will need to pay for a custom domain name and a hosting provider to take it live. These costs are unavoidable if you want your website to be accessible and can vary considerably in price. Like with Webflow, you may also wish to invest in a premium theme for WordPress, most of which cost around $55. Many users also purchase numerous plugins to optimise their WordPress site. Therefore, there are numerous costs included with WordPress. 

Conclusion: While Webflow and WordPress have free options, both require paying for plans or services to make your website accessible online and unlock extra features. The one with better value for money depends entirely on what you want from a CMS.

E-Commerce Functions

Webflow: Webflow offers e-commerce-specific plans designed for e-commerce retailers. Once you select one of its e-commerce plans, e-commerce features are built into Webflow’s service. You are awarded total control and customisation on every page, including checkout and product pages, and can also customise transactional emails to ensure it is on-brand. All popular payment methods are allowed, such as Apple Pay, PayPal, and Stripe, and you can choose where and how to ship your products. Webflow’s e-commerce capabilities are easy to manage.

WordPress: You can add better e-commerce functionality on WordPress through plugins. The most popular WordPress e-commerce plugin is WooCommerce, which is free and the most used way of building an e-commerce shop (more so than focused e-commerce platforms!). However, while free, there will be fees involving factors such as credit cards, shipping, and payment portals. WooCommerce is very customisable, with countless paid extensions for it, ensuring you have everything you need to fulfil all your e-commerce needs.

Top tip: Read this article for SEO top tips for WooCommerce sites. 

Conclusion: You can create a great e-commerce shop on Webflow and WordPress. WordPress may require more setup than Webflow, but it may also be cheaper in the long term.

SEO Features

Webflow: This platform does not use SEO plugins as WordPress does, as it has many native SEO features. Here are some of the core SEO features built into Webflow:

• Ability to edit important SEO tags directly within your pages, such as meta titles, meta descriptions, and headings.
• Manage the appearance of previews when your page gets shared with Open Graph meta tags.
• Auto-generate a sitemap to help search engines find and crawl your pages.
• Control over 301 redirects.
• Excellent page speed.
• Ability to preview your site on mobiles inside the Editor to ensure you think mobile-first when creating a site.
• Cleaner code which is more attractive to crawlers.

Therefore, Webflow is excellent in terms of its built-in SEO features, and you do not need to splash the cash on third-party tools to enjoy excellent SEO for your site.

WordPress: WordPress is naturally search engine-friendly, although it has fewer built-in tools than Webflow. It is generally recommended that you use third-party SEO plugins to optimise your site. The most popular SEO plugin is Yoast SEO, although numerous other strong competitors exist. Another important factor is that you will likely need a site speed plugin to speed up your WordPress site, as it does not do this natively. A great tool to accelerate site speed on WordPress is WP Rocket. You can also use plugins for mobile optimisation purposes. Therefore, while WordPress is generally SEO-friendly, third-party plugins are required to get the most out of your SEO efforts. 

Top tip: Check out our complete guide to WordPress SEO.

Conclusion: Webflow, unlike WordPress, does not require third-party plugins to make SEO adjustments. However, WordPress’s impressive range of plugins makes customisation greater. 

Plugins, Extensions, and Third-Party Integrations

Webflow: This builder does not offer plugins, so you cannot add extensions that work directly on the Webflow platform. But you can extend your site by integrating code snippets from outside services. For instance, you can use a JavaScript snippet from a live chat service, but these snippet code integrations are not as native as WordPress plugins. Remember that while you can integrate your Webflow site with other tools, such as Zapier and Shopify, there are fewer native integrations than WordPress, meaning you will often need to rely on these code snippets.

WordPress: WordPress was designed for plugins, and you can use a wide selection of plugins (over 50,000) to add features to your WordPress site. You can also use premium plugs from an outside source. These plugins can enhance a range of site features, including SEO and site function.

Did you know? Both Webflow and WordPress easily integrate with Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

Conclusion: To extend your site on Webflow, you will generally need to integrate code snippets, whereas WordPress offers a plethora of plugins and extensions for adding features.

Themes and Design

Did you know? Both platforms allow you to use pre-made designs on your site. Webflow calls them templates, and WordPress calls them themes. 

Webflow: This platform offers a smaller choice of free and paid templates. Webflow allows you to create sites geared towards specific domains by offering categorised template options, such as ‘e-commerce’, ‘travel’ and ‘marketing’. Its designs are seen as clean and attractive, offering clarity and minimalism. The main con for Webflow against WordPress in terms of themes and designs is that Webflow’s options are much more limited. However, Webflow’s design is good because:

• Webflow uses ‘drag and drop’, making it straightforward to manage and add elements to your page wherever you wish.
• It eradicates the need for coding knowledge. 
• All elements are responsive and effective for any type of device used. 
• You can use any font you want, and it gives you full control over typography. 
• You can use Webflow’s Global swatches features to change the colour of your website quickly and consistently across your pages.
• You can create tailored interactions and animations visually without coding knowledge.

WordPress: WordPress offers thousands of themes on its platform, providing a greater variety of options. Once you have installed a theme, you can customise particular elements, such as font, size, colour, and images. You can also use plugins to add extra features not included in your theme. On the downside, you may require developer help for a fully customised site. If you want flexibility outside of a preset theme, you will probably need some coding know-how or expert help.

Conclusion: WordPress has more design options than Webflow, but Webflow offers more design freedom.

Ease of Setup and Use 

Webflow: This platform does not technically get installed as it is ‘ready-to-use’. You simply need to make an account and start a new project to begin. When you set up a Webflow account, it will ask you a series of questions to determine your level of expertise. The consequent onboarding tutorial is based on the answers you provide. This helps with ease of setup and a seamless experience. Once you get a grip on the basics, you can choose a blank canvas or a preset template and use the platform’s drag-and-drop builder to control every style decision and element on your site. Some users may initially find Webflow’s interface overwhelming, but its dedicated tutorials (resources in the Webflow University) can efficiently get you up to speed.

WordPress: This CMS allows you to install it either automatically or manually. Automatic installation is recommended for beginners, but if you wish for more control, you should opt for manual installation. Also, bear in mind that you do need to pay for a hosting provider and a custom domain name. WordPress does offer a tutorial for installation, but it is a one-size-fits-all version that lacks the tailored touch of Webflow. In terms of ease of use, you can create a website on WordPress without needing code. However, you can still access your site’s code if you are more advanced. Overall, users tend to find WordPress easier to use once it has been set up. 

Conclusion: Webflow is generally considered easier in terms of initial setup, whereas WordPress is considered easier to use once the installation is complete. However, both should still be suitable for a beginner, especially if their provided resources are used.

Help and Support 

Webflow: This builder has a dedicated support team for its users, and Webflow customer service is excellent. You can get free and fast email support on paid plans, prioritised assistance for team accounts, and community support for free accounts. Users highly rate this support service. You can also access Webflow University, a resource section filled with courses and tutorials to help you get proficient with Webflow. 

WordPress: There is no dedicated customer support on this platform. However, you can rely on the WordPress community for help. There are community-based forums which answer questions and provide help, but because there are so many articles, it can take a while to find the answers you are looking for.

Conclusion: Webflow has excellent dedicated customer service, while WordPress requires you to rely on its community for help.

Blogging

Webflow: Blogging on this platform is not as simple as on WordPress, though it does include all basic blogging needs. Unlike WordPress, Webflow does not have a native commenting feature. But you can still create high-quality blogging content on this platform.

WordPress: WordPress started as a blogging platform, so naturally, it has excellent blogging features. It is simple and easy to control the publishing process. 

Conclusion: Both Webflow and WordPress offer good blogging features, although WordPress is the ultimate blogging platform.

Marketing Teams

Webflow: This CMS limits the number of content editors depending on your chosen plan. For instance, the CMS plan allows three, and the Business plan allows up to ten. This can inhibit and restrict your marketing team. But, a plus for marketing on Webflow is its capacity for on-page editing.

WordPress: In regards to marketing teams, WordPress caters better. This is because there is no limit on how many users you can add, so endless people can work on a project. 

Conclusion: WordPress caters better to marketing teams as there is no limit imposed on the number of users. 

Security

Webflow: Security is completely handled on Webflow. It automatically generates an SSL certificate on each installation, securing the connection to your site. It does not fall prey to non-secure hacker plugins as the platform does not use them. Furthermore, Webflow automatically backs up your website.

WordPress: The platform itself is secure, but vulnerabilities in security can occur from using poor third-party plugins and themes. However, there are some plugins you can install to enhance your WordPress site’s security. You also need to ensure you regularly update your site, and the best way to do this is to turn on the automatic updates option.

Did you know? A Content Delivery Network (CDN) serves your site files to a visitor’s device from the closest server to them. This is important if you have worldwide visitors and it will improve their website experience. Webflow has Amazon Cloudfront CDN natively integrated, unlike WordPress.

Conclusion: Webflow has better security as it handles it for you and does not use third-party plugins, which can be susceptible to hackers.

Final Takeaway

Webflow and WordPress are two excellent options for website building. But deciding the best option comes down to what you want to gain from a platform. For instance, Webflow may be preferred if you are looking for built-in features, more design freedom, access to dedicated user support, and stress-free security. On the other hand, WordPress may be the best option if you want to use plugins, have more design options, use great blogging features, and have excellent marketing team support. Both platforms have excellent SEO features, and their efficiency depends on how well you use them. Ultimately, it is wise to take the time to evaluate each platform on the factors listed to help you make the best choice.

Conducting SEO on a website is a time-consuming and arduous process. It requires constant work and adjustments to ensure your site is as optimised as possible. Many businesses, therefore, choose to hire third-party SEO services for help. 

NUOPTIMA is a professional SEO agency that conducts SEO best practices on a website to improve its organic ranking on Google. We have assisted many clients in the past and have witnessed great success stories. You can view some of our outstanding results by looking through our case studies. We know precisely the steps that need to be taken to get your website sitting comfortably on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). So if you are looking for an SEO agency to help flood your website with relevant traffic, book a free strategy call with our SEO experts at NUOPTIMA today.