Content Management System (CMS)

Software that lets you create and manage website content without coding, like WordPress or Shopify.

A content management system (CMS) is software that lets you build and manage a website without writing code from scratch. WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow are all popular CMS platforms. They provide templates, editors, and plugins so you can focus on content instead of code.

WordPress powers about 43% of all websites. Shopify dominates e-commerce. Each CMS has its own strengths and SEO capabilities. Some make it easy to optimize for search engines, while others require workarounds.

From an SEO perspective, your CMS matters because it controls things like URL structure, page speed, meta tag management, schema markup, and how your HTML is generated. A CMS that produces bloated code or doesn't let you customize meta tags will hold you back.

Modern headless CMS options (like Contentful, Sanity, or Strapi) separate content from presentation, giving developers more control over the frontend while content teams get an easy editing interface.

Why It Matters for SEO

Your CMS determines how much control you have over technical SEO elements. A good CMS makes it easy to manage titles, meta descriptions, canonical tags, redirects, and structured data. A bad one can create SEO problems that are hard to fix.

🔍 How to Check This

Audit any CMS-powered site with AuditMySite to find SEO issues specific to your platform.

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