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Google’s John Mueller: WordPress is no better for SEO

Google search advocate John Mueller says WordPress isn’t inherently better for SEO than coding a website from scratch.

In response to a thread on Reddit, Google search advocate John Mueller says there is no inherent SEO advantage to using WordPress compared to coding a website yourself.

A thread on the r/SEO forum asks a familiar question that many practitioners face in their careers.

Is WordPress better for SEO than coding your own website?

Other variations on that question include: “is WordPress better for SEO than Wix” or “is WordPress better for SEO than [insert CMS here]?”

No matter how you ask him, the answer is always the same.

WordPress is not inherently better for SEO than any other option. It is one of the many ways to create a website that ranks in Google.

Mueller On WordPress For SEO

When asked if using WordPress is better for SEO than coding your own website, Mueller states:

“It’s not for SEO, but you can focus more on content if you’re not spending all your time creating a new CMS for yourself. (some people prefer to build a CMS, so YMMV).”

As Mueller says, the most significant advantage WordPress offers is ease of use compared to writing code by hand.

However, this is only an advantage for the website owner. Google doesn’t care if a website is built using WordPress.

This question comes up a lot and is worth revisiting because of the misinformation circulating around WordPress and SEO.

For example, take the second most voted comment in the Reddit thread just below Mueller’s.

The individual claims, “Google knows WordPress well,” as if Googlebot can index WordPress pages more efficiently than other CMSs.

This is a lie, although the myth that WordPress is better for SEO persists.

Screenshot from reddit.com/r/seo, December 2022.

For more information on the SEO capabilities of WordPress compared to other content management systems, check out this article by SEJ founder Loren Baker.

Baker lists the 25 best SEO-friendly WordPress alternatives and the pros and cons of each:

Featured Image Melisa Parlak/Shutterstock

Matt G. Southern

Senior News Writer at Search Engine Journal

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Matt G. Southern, senior news writer, has worked for Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, …

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How to write for SEO 2022?

Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu and DuckDuckGo are popular search engines. Google is one of the most used search engines in the world, which is used with the Chrome browser. So, almost everyone is familiar with it.

  • Writing for SEO: Top Tips from Technical Writers
  • Understand the KPIs of your writing. …
  • Create a structure based on strategy. …
  • Find SEO keywords with a keyword research tool. …
  • Make sure your headers are in order. …
  • Write in a tone that suits your industry. …

What is the most popular search engine?

Include relevant internal and external links.

What is SEO example?

1. Google. With more than 86% market share in search, it is hardly necessary to introduce readers to Google.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of getting targeted traffic to a website from organic search engine rankings. Common tasks associated with SEO include creating high-quality content, optimizing content around specific keywords, and building backlinks.

What is SEO and how it works?

What is SEO in simple words? Search engine optimization is the science of improving a website to increase its visibility when people search for products or services. The more search engine visibility a website has, the more likely a brand will land a job.

What is the best search engine and why?

Well, SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization’, which is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial or natural search engine results. Its goal is to improve your website’s position on the search results pages. Remember, the higher a website is listed, the more people will see it.

1. Google. Apart from being the most popular search engine covering more than 90% of the world market, Google boasts of outstanding features that make it the best search engine on the market. It boasts cutting-edge algorithms, an easy-to-use interface, and a personalized user experience.

Which of the top search engine is best Why?

Is there a better search engine than Google? Bing. Bing is Microsoft’s search engine and is the second largest market share after Google. It was launched in 2009, and traces its origins to earlier search engines offered by Microsoft, such as MSN Search and Live Search. You can perform the same type of search on Bing as on Google.

Why Google is best search engine?

The best search engine in the world: Google Search is so popular that it is many times bigger than all other search engines in the world combined. More specifically, Google currently holds a whopping 92.18 percent of the world’s search engine market share.