10 Best Website Builders for SEO and How to Choose the Best One

Search engine optimization (SEO) enables your website to rank higher in the search results. Simply put, the more online visibility you get, the more organic traffic and sales you will make.

The good news is that you can find website builders with all the SEO features you need to maintain high search rankings. To illustrate, some website builders for SEO can auto-generate sitemaps, categorize web pages, and write optimized meta descriptions.

In this tutorial, we’ll dive straight into our list of the 10 best website builders with advanced SEO tools. We’ll also discuss the key factors to look for when choosing the right website builder for your needs, including pricing, scaling opportunities, eCommerce features, and more.

Top 10 Website Builder Options for SEO

Without further ado, let’s go over each website builder and their SEO AI tools, as well as other key features.

1. Hostinger Website Builder

Rating: 4.9/5

Best for: improving SEO with AI

Price: starts at £2.59/month

If you’re looking for a code-free tool that prioritizes SEO, consider Hostinger Website Builder. It comes with 150 SEO-friendly and customizable templates that look good on any device. Alternatively, answer three questions and let AI build your website from scratch.

As for creating content that ranks high in search engines, you’ll get advanced AI tools to write unique and SEO-friendly content. Besides text, you can create an engaging picture with AI Image Generator.

Other SEO services include generating customizable meta titles and descriptions to help catch users’ attention and writing alt text for images to make your website both more SEO-friendly and accessible.

You can even automatically create XML sitemaps for your website. This way, search engine bots understand your site structure and might rank your website higher and faster.

Finally, Hostinger Website Builder is ideal for new businesses since you’ll get a free domain name and a free business email with a yearly plan. This way, you can build your brand without spending a fortune.

Key Features

• 24/7 Customer Success – contact customer support anytime via live chat.
• eCommerce – accept over 20 payment methods and get the full profit, as we won’t charge any transaction fees.
• Easy editing – move elements with a drag-and-drop editor on a smart grid to make sure your design is proportional.

Drawback

Unfortunately, Hostinger Website Builder doesn’t offer a free trial. Luckily, every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

2. Squarespace

Rating: 4.6/5

Best for: responsive templates

Price: starts at $16/month

Squarespace is a user-friendly website builder that helps you grow your website audience with built-in SEO tools and social media integrations.

For starters, Squarespace provides automatic markup and mobile optimization. Additionally, you can utilize the search preview tool to see how your website will appear in search engines. Even though it doesn’t affect your SEO ranking directly, it can convince more users to click on the link.

You will also find an accessible SEO panel with useful suggestions to optimize your pages effectively.

Key Features

• Flexibility – build an eCommerce store, schedule appointments, or sell memberships.
• Drag-and-drop editor – move elements easily on your website.
• Compatibility – it works well with various marketing tools like Google Search Console.

Drawback

If you want to open an online store, you will have to opt for a higher-tier plan starting at $23/month.

3. Shopify

Rating: 4.3/5

Best for: eCommerce features

Price: starts at $9/month

As an SEO website builder, Shopify enables you to edit meta titles, descriptions, URLs, and alt text. Plus, it handles some SEO tasks automatically, like generating a sitemap and canonical tags to prevent content duplication.

You can also integrate your website with Google Search Console to improve your SEO strategy with data-driven decisions.

When it comes to your SEO ranking, Shopify enables you to categorize blog posts to facilitate easy indexing.

Key Features

• AI Builder – automatically generate store headlines, product descriptions, chat replies, blog posts, and more.
• Unlimited products – sell as many products as you want.
• Customization – extend your site’s functionality with over 8,000 apps.

Drawback

As Shopify relies heavily on apps and integrations, you may need to switch between different services when using it.

4. GoDaddy Website Builder

Rating: 4.1/5

Best for: membership websites

Price: starts at $10.99/month

GoDaddy has adequate SEO tools to achieve great results in search engines. With its SEO Wizard, you can edit your pages and get suggestions for further optimization with keyword research and meta descriptions.

If your plan supports GoDaddy Studio, you will be able to create branded and SEO-friendly content for social media, emails, and more. This way, you can ensure brand consistency across various channels.

Additionally, you will get a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and a professional email address for easier launch of your business.

Key Features

• Customizable themes – choose from over 20 filters to adjust the layout, colors, and fonts.
• Functionality – sell products, schedule appointments, create members-only content, categorize your blog posts, and more.
• AI development – answer a few questions and get your website.

Drawback

GoDaddy isn’t the best web builder for SEO by default, as its advanced SEO capabilities are only included in higher-tier plans.

5. IONOS

Rating: 4.2/5

Best for: users on a budget

Price: starts at $1/month

Continuing with the best website builders, the next one on the list is IONOS. It provides plenty of built-in AI tools to help improve SEO. For example, you can automatically generate crawlable titles and descriptions.

You can also access automatic image optimization to boost website speed and user experience.

Should you need any help, its SEO Checker provides actionable tips to improve on-page SEO and website design. If you don’t have any images for that, IONOS has over 17,000 royalty-free images for you to choose from.

Key Features

• AI Text Improver – ensure that your content remains competitive over time.
• Website analytics – besides your own, you can also track your competitors.
• Advanced functions – schedule appointments, set up your own eCommerce store, or sell directly on social media sites.

Drawback

Even though you can start with paying just $1/month, the plan renews at $30/month, which is a steep jump after the introductory period ends.

6. Weebly

Rating: 4.3/5

Best for: lead generation

Price: freemium (with paid plans starting at $10/month)

Weebly is a powerful website-building platform that’s ideal for online stores or blogs. You’ll find a range of responsive themes you can customize using the flexible drag-and-drop editor.

You can easily create SEO-friendly websites. You will get a sitemap, HTML formatting, meta descriptions, and responsive templates. Additionally, you can write alt tags for images and page-specific descriptions to help search engines better understand your content.

Plus, there are tons of built-in SEO features to boost visibility in search engines.

Key Features

• eCommerce – get shipping labels and inventory management tools, ideal for selling physical products.
• Free plan functionality – even with the free plan, you can list unlimited items, enable Quick Shop, get a free SSL certificate, and display an Instagram feed.

Pricing Details

Even though you get eCommerce features in the free plan, it doesn’t give you a custom domain. As a result, there’s no way to remove ads from your site.

7. DreamHost Website Builder

Rating: 4.1/5

Best for: beginners

Price: starts at $2.59/month

The DreamHost SEO website builder offers a total out-of-the-box solution, with over 200 complete starter sites to choose from. Plus, you’ll be able to access a quick start wizard to help get you set up.

Like some other SEO website builders, DreamHost allows for real-time SEO editing. This means that you get SEO suggestions as you customize your WordPress website using the drag-and-drop editor.

This functions similarly to SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, helping you optimize your content with relevant keywords. Plus, you can write SEO-friendly titles and descriptions and view a live preview of your website as it appears in search engines.

Key Features

• Easy WordPress – tweak templates with a drag-and-drop editor.
• Additional tools – receive a free domain name, free SSL, 24/7 support, and automatic backups.

Drawback

DreamHost offers a simple website builder with basic SEO features. So, while it’s good for beginners and those looking to set up personal sites or blogs, it may not be the best option for large eCommerce stores.

8. Webflow

Rating: 4.5/5

Best for: websites with a global audience

Price: freemium (with paid plans starting at $14/month)

Webflow offers tons of SEO essentials like a Google Analytics integration and meta descriptions. But what sets it apart from other web builders is that you can edit almost every part of your website, including the ability to create sitemaps.

You can also automatically define meta titles and descriptions in your content management system (CMS) Collections. Plus, you can control all SEO markup in your page settings.

This way, you don’t need to rely on additional SEO plugins or third-party apps. Meanwhile, all plans except the free plan get auto-generated sitemaps and structured search support.

Key Features

• Global audience – leverage machine-powered translations or connect to a translation management system (TMS).
• eCommerce – benefit from automatic tax calculations and integrate with other useful tools like Shippo.
• Easy maintenance – with features like scheduled publishing, pre-built interactions, and logic flows, Webflow simplifies maintaining and managing your website.

Drawback

Webflow offers a limited free plan with basic SEO tools, but it only gives you two pages and 50 CMS items. You’ll need to upgrade to get a custom domain, and you’ll need the most expensive plan to remove page and item restrictions.

9. SITE123

Rating: 4.6/5

Best for: blogs and affiliate marketing websites

Price: freemium (with paid plan starting at $12.80/month)

SITE123 is an easy-to-use SEO website builder that provides an efficient editor and a selection of mobile-friendly templates. However, it’s important to note that it lacks the drag-and-drop functionality of other popular website builders for SEO.

On the other hand, SITE123 enables you to write your own meta tags and automatically generate your sitemap right within the editor to assist search engine crawlers.

You can also auto-generate 301 redirects to retain your old search engine rankings if you set up a new website. To boost your search engine rankings further, integrate Google Search Console tools through the site editor to improve your Core Web Vitals.

Key Features

• Brand identity – establish your brand with a free domain name and logo tools.
• Media – SITE123 offers a large library of free images, icons, and videos for you to use.
• CRO – improve your conversion rates with features like related products, promotion popups, custom forms, and schedule booking.

Drawback

SITE123’s free plan is very limited. For instance, you can’t set up a custom domain and you’ll have to display ads. An upgrade starts at $12.80/month.

10. Ucraft

Rating: 4.7/5

Best for: high-traffic websites

Price: freemium (with paid plans starting at $10/month)

Last but not least, the Ucraft website builder is great for your site’s SEO. It lets you choose from over 120 pre-made and mobile-friendly templates, over 100 saved blocks, and more than one million curated icons. You can also use custom domains and a logo maker to build brand recognition.

Ucraft provides a range of built-in SEO tools to set up meta tags like titles, descriptions, and more. Plus, you can add a sitemap and set an OG Image – which appears when people post content from your website on social media.

Additionally, unlimited bandwidth enables you to retain fast loading times even during website traffic spikes – which is important for SEO and your Core Web Vitals.

Key Features

• Marketing integrations – use with popular software like Zapier, Mailchimp, and Hubspot.
• Security – get free SSL to protect your client’s sensitive information.
• Beginner-friendly – reach out to support 24/7.

Drawback

If you want to sell more than 15 products, you’ll need the Shop plan, which costs $21/month.

How to Choose the Best Website Builder for SEO

Now that you’re familiar with some of the best website builders for search engine optimization, here are the key factors to help you choose the right option for your needs.

Meta Tags

Meta tags are used to offer more details to search engines, enabling them to correctly crawl and index your pages. However, these snippets of text don’t appear on the page, and instead are placed in the HTML code, often in the <head> section.

Implementing meta tags is one of the best SEO practices because they largely influence the appearance of your website description in search engines. Therefore, they can help improve your click-through rate. Google currently supports several meta tags, but the key ones are meta titles, descriptions, and robots.

As we’ve discussed above, many SEO-friendly website builders enable you to write custom meta descriptions, which you can optimize with relevant keywords. However, you can also find solutions to automatically generate meta tags like robots and titles.

Image Alt Text

Alt text, or alternative text, describes the appearance or function of images on your website. Typically, it makes websites more accessible to visitors with visual impairment who might rely on screen readers.

However, alt text is also indexed by search engines to better understand your content. Therefore, you can write alt text to help your images rank highly in the image-based search results.

Site Speed

Another factor to consider if you want to create an SEO-friendly website is speed. Since Google uses page speed as a ranking factor, designing a fast site is an easy way to boost your website’s visibility.

Unfortunately, many website builders come with lots of built-in tools you might not even use, making your website bloated and slow. Furthermore, site speed impacts your Core Web Vitals, which Google uses to indicate a page’s overall experience.

As such, you’ll want to pay attention to speed-focused features like optimized code, content delivery networks, built-in caching, and image compression.

Mobile Responsiveness

It’s important to create a mobile-friendly website, as nearly 60 percent of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. What’s more, since Google switched to mobile-first indexing, your website’s mobile version is predominantly used to determine your search engine ranking.

Therefore, it’s critical to look for website builders that provide mobile-ready templates so that your content looks good on all screens. Additionally, it can be a good idea to find a tool that provides mobile previews so that you can check this first.

Structured Data

Structured data is a standardized format that enables search engines to better understand your content and classify pages. It can also make your website look more engaging in search engines, which can drive more organic traffic to your pages.

For example, if you run a recipe blog, you can create structured data snippets that contain information about the recipe ingredients, cooking time, nutrition facts, and more. Meanwhile, eCommerce stores might include details like product prices, star ratings, and reviews.

User-Friendliness

User-friendliness is crucial when selecting a website builder. You’ll want the interface and features to be intuitive and easy to navigate. This way, you can increase productivity by setting up your pages quickly.

The best SEO website builders should provide an easy way to edit key web pages, usually via a flexible drag-and-drop editor. At the very least, you’ll want to make sure you’re able to edit layouts visually.

Domain and Hosting Pricing

A domain name is the web address that represents your website. Visitors use it to find your content online. You probably noticed that many of the best website builders for SEO offer custom domain names.

This is very important for branding purposes. However, it also enables you to implement relevant keywords in the main part of your domain – the section before your domain extension, like .com or .net.

Additionally, to make your website publicly accessible, you’ll need a web hosting service – although lots of website builders host your website on their own servers. But, it’s important to be aware of hosting prices since this will impact your overall website cost.

What’s more, you’ll also want to consider pricing in relation to the tools you’re getting. For instance, you can find packages that may initially seem pricey but that provide plenty of essential add-ons like free domain names, free SSL certificates, and 24/7 support.

SSL Certification

When speaking about website’s SEO, you must address security. It is especially important for eCommerce stores – or any website that accepts sensitive data like credit card details – as you will need to protect your client’s sensitive data.

You can encrypt data using SSL, so that even if someone intercepts it, it’s completely unreadable. Plus, SSL certificates verify ownership of your website, which helps prevent malicious actors from creating fake versions of your site to trick customers.

Page Categorization

If you categorize your pages, you make it easier for users to navigate through your website. It also provides more detailed information to search engines, helping them comprehend, index, and serve your pages to relevant users.

You’ll find that many website builders offer page categorization for this purpose. This way, you can assign pages to specific categories. For example, one of the best eCommerce SEO practices can be categorizing products by type, like clothing and accessories.

Meanwhile, blogs can categorize pages by topic like travel, beauty, or lifestyle. Some website builders may even let you add tags to your pages, which are keywords and phrases that enable you to match the search intent accurately.

Customization

If you’re looking to design a website that reflects your branding, it’s important to choose a website builder that offers plenty of customization options. Even though you may use templates, you should be able to apply your own color schemes and fonts.

For brand consistency, opt for website builders that enable you to upload your own logo. Naturally, you should also be able to upload your own images easily.

Finally, the best platform for SEO should come with access to royalty-free images and icons or AI image generation.

Conclusion

Website builders enable beginners with no technical expertise to create professional-looking websites. However, bulky website builders can lead to poor SEO performance and bad user experience.

When selecting the best website builder with SEO tools, remember to look for responsive templates, reliable hosting, customization options, and advanced AI features.

Most importantly, be sure to check the pricing – even though some website builders offer very cheap or even free plans, you might need to pay more to unlock what you really need.

With Hostinger Website Builder, you’ll get a free domain, free email, and 24/7 customer support. Plus, you’ll find plenty of built-in SEO tools and 150 mobile-ready templates.

Best Website Builder for SEO FAQ

To help you understand the topic even better, we’ve answered the most common questions about the best website builders for search engine optimization.