There are many companies out there offering very attractive hosting and website solutions. They promise to give you 99% uptime and tools to build your own website in minutes for a low monthly fee. Many of these services are focused on certain niches such as golf courses, churches, hotels, etc. These are great solutions for businesses who just want an online presence and a url to put on their business cards. However, these template type systems generally have some huge seo drawbacks for those looking to attract and gather leads online.
These content management systems often advertise seo tools, search engine submission services, meta tag generators, etc. The truth is, I have yet to see a template based system that can rank as well as a stand alone site. Please comment below if you have an example, but my guess is you will have trouble finding one. Here are a few potential drawbacks, from a search engine optimization perspective, of template based websites. (Please remember this does not encompass all template CMS type systems and is only a list of potential issues.)
1) Coding. These systems are generally very heavy on the coding, because the system needs to accommodate a variety of users and applications. The code to content ratio is important and a stand alone system will generally have less coding.
2) Duplication. If 1000 other golf courses are using the system for their websites, there must be some similar, if not exact, aspects of the coding. Duplication of content is a big issue with search engines…..they don’t like it.
3) Ownership. Do you own the code? Do you own the content? Do you own the domain? If not, look for problems down the road.
4) Control. This means more than just adding title and meta tags. Footer links? Additional pages? XML feeds? Google map integration? There are hundreds of potential applications you may want some day, but can’t have.
5) Domain handling. This is a very important aspect of SEO and, if not done properly, can lead to major indexing issues.
These are just a few of the potential issues. These systems are good for some…not all. If you are looking to increase your business, I suggest you look for an experienced web development company to meet your website needs.