Do I Need a WordPress Blog for SEO? The Answer’s “Yes.”

“Do I need a WordPress blog for SEO? Really? Why can’t I just use [Wix, Squarespace, Kajabi, Webflow, Weebly] for my website and my blog?”

I get these questions every day. The questions are good ones, and I appreciate the opportunity to answer them. The short answer: Yes. Yes, you do need a WordPress blog if SEO is important to you. (And, yes, SEO should be important to you.)

“Do I need a WordPress blog for SEO?” is also a super common question in the myriad online content marketing forums to which I belong. You won’t be surprised to learn that I’m troubled by many of the forum responses. Just this morning, various people gave these answers:

• You don’t need a WordPress blog. 😉
• No need for WordPress!
• Why use WordPress when [Wix, Squarespace, Kajabi, Webflow, Weebly] is better, cheaper, and/or easier to use?
• [Wix, Squarespace, Kajabi, Webflow, Weebly] has a great blog, and I teach a course on how to maximize it. In my opinion, you do not need a WordPress blog.

Bad Advice About SEO Is Dangerous

“In my opinion, you do not need a WordPress blog.” Yikes. Who are these respondents? Misguided experts? Randos who don’t know what they don’t know? People more interested in giving a sales pitch than in sharing information that’s in any business owner’s best interests?

WordPress is the undisputed SEO champion. Period. That’s right. I threw down the gauntlet. Here’s why WordPress is the real SEO deal:

1. WordPress does a better job of focusing on user experience than any other content management system or website builder.
2. You can create keyword-optimized permalinks, which — wait for it — improves your SEO.
3. You can easily manage metadata and “alternative text” image tags, which Google loves.
4. Yoast SEO plugin is possibly the best (and most user friendly) plug-in on the planet. The WordPress/Yoast combo will give you the tools you need to outrank the competition.
5. WordPress is easy to integrate with a bazillion other tools. That’s right. A bazillion.

But Do I Need a WordPress Blog If I Don’t Care About SEO?

Nope. You can simply email your list or tell your social media followers about your blogs. (For the record, you should still email your list and share your blogs on social even if you’ve optimized those blogs.)

I’ll go one step further. Let’s say you don’t have much of an email list and your social pages have a few hundred lackluster followers AND you don’t care about SEO. That’s what I’d call a triple whammy. In the case of a triple whammy, why bother writing a blog in the first place?

However, I’d argue the following:

• If you don’t have much of an email list, it’s because you don’t recognize the value of having a list of people who  gave you some of the most valuable things in their possession — their email addresses — and said they actually want to hear from you.
• If you don’t have active social media pages with thousands of followers, it’s because you don’t get how those platforms can help you build credibility and reach.
• If you don’t care about SEO, it’s because you don’t understand how SEO can help you grow your business.

SEO Is an Engine That Runs in the Background

SEO can help you capture the attention of qualified leads without remortgaging your home and handing all your cash to Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-paid ads. I myself have been known to give cash to Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn. However, I don’t give them wads of cash to do the heavy lifting that organic SEO should be doing. (But then, I don’t like wasting money as a general rule.) Think of SEO as an engine that hums along in the background. If you want to go the paid ads route, use those ads strategically to unlock some extra horsepower and increase your exposure, NOT to build your presence from scratch.

“But I’ve heard that the blogging capabilities of [Wix, Squarespace, Kajabi, Webflow, Weebly] are better than those of many other platforms! And [Wix, Squarespace, Kajabi, Webflow, Weebly] is super easy to use!”

That’s great. Usability is key, so I get it. However, WordPress is easy to use as well. More to the point, these capabilities, particularly when it comes to SEO, simply pale in comparison to those offered by WordPress in conjunction with a high-value, free SEO tool like Yoast.

Period.