Is JAMstack better for SEO than WordPress
13 July 2022
The main goal of having an SEO-friendly website is to improve a website's visibility (ranking) on the search engines.
A website that ranks high on the search engine's first page often has the advantage of receiving free traffic. Free traffic from search engines has proven to be more effective in revenue generation for a business.SEO is so much talked about, and its importance cannot be overemphasised. It is one of the most effective marketing strategies you can invest in. And this is why SEO is a relevant discussion in the digital marketing space. But, to be sincere, what we have in mind when we talk about SEO is Google SEO.
From the chart above, Google is leading; if you get Google SEO right, your business is automatically on the right trajectory to getting a constant stream of free monthly traffic.
With the fierce competition and Google's constant search algorithm change, SEO is no longer a 'do-once-forget-it' thing. These days for a website to rank higher in Google search, the website or people managing it has to get the following right:
1. On-page SEO: optimising the contents of your website.
2. Off-page SEO: everything that happens outside your website.
3. Local SEO: optimising a website for local searches.
4. Technical SEO: helping search engine bots crawl and index your website.
For this article, we will look at the Technical SEO part of the puzzle. We will examine how Jamstack websites stand a better chance to perform in search engine rankings against WordPress (.org and not headless) sites.
Is WordPress so bad in SEO?
Short answer, NO. SEO does not depend wholly on the platform but on the collective team effort in constantly pushing, tweaking, and optimising content to address searcher's queries sufficiently.
We can't just write off WordPress from the SEO game as technical SEO is not the only criterion to rank on search engines. Of course, Google's latest search algorithm modification favours fast websites (technical SEO), but we know WordPress websites can be fast, like in the case of Techcrunch.
Long answer in terms of technical SEO; Yes, WordPress websites are so bad in SEO. Here's why:
1. Speed: Google favours speed. WordPress is fast but not great when compared to Jamstack websites. We know it's a lot of debate, but Jamstack websites are fast by default – no backend database server burden, lightweight, and thus blaze fast.
2. Security: with Jamstack architecture, no database, no worry. But with WordPress and its heavy reliance on databases prone to exploits, site security is a significant threat. Google has over 200 ranking factors, and site security is one of them.
3. Site-Structure: Indexing a site for Search engine crawlers is easier with Jamstack as the Jamstack developer has complete control over the architecture and flow of all pages on the website.
Speed as the main SEO criteria
A faster site load time translates to a better search engine ranking assuming all other ranking factors like the on-page factor are appropriately done.
Jamstack sites, by its methodology, favours pre-rendering over server-side rendering, and also, its ability to control site and content structure gives it a headstart to higher ranking.
How is Jamstack good for SEO?
Site speed can not be overemphasised when discussing Technical SEO as a general site ranking factor requirement.
Jamstack excels at speed; being serverless allows Jamstack websites to experience a blazing fast speed upon request.
Speed is not the only factor that makes Jamstack good for SEO. Other factors make using Jamstack architecture favourable when building your website: one good example; is structured site data.
Structured site data is a good SEO practice as Jamstack developers exercise complete control of the site structure.
JSON-LD is a schema developed by a joint effort of many search engines in 2011 that is used to disambiguate site elements and establish connections surrounding a webpage, which is then associated with creating a more organised, better web overall.
Adding JSON-LD to a static website is straightforward. You have to inject the necessary data directly into the HTML codes without worrying about creating a schema for search bots and users individually.
Decoupling Jamstack
JAMstack is a web development term used by web developers to describe a modern web design architecture. Its goal isn't just to build web apps but to improve web development processes.
Jamstack websites, by design, are fast to load, easier to maintain, and search engine friendly.
How Jamstack handles SEO
Jamstack architecture provides the best optimization suited to rank high on the search engine first page for websites of any size.
Google ranks sites with good content they think will provide a satisfactory result to user queries. And as such, Google favours sites with good content, which can be delivered fast and ensures user security is not breached.
These factors are what Jamstack stands for; deliver fast static contents with serverless backends and no databases (entry point for attack).
Fast webpage rendering is excellent for user experience and ultimately decreases bounce rates. Also, Google bots index Jamstack sites quickly as they are pre-rendered web pages without many moving parts.
Closing thoughts; what the future holds
Although the vast majority of the websites alive today are built on the highly monolithic-clunky WordPress open-source tool, more developers are testing Jamstack as a suitable replacement for their current tool stack.
With more and more people and businesses adopting the serverless web architecture for personal and business purposes, Jamstack is positioning itself at the forefront of web development due to the heavy emphasis and competition in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
To make your site rank higher on search engine pages, Jamstack, by design, gives your site an unfair advantage in achieving your SEO goals.
Want to find out how your business can enjoy incredible free monthly traffic with technical SEO being 100% marked off on the SEO factor checklist? Talk to us now.
We don't only build you a site positioned to rank higher; we also stay with you for a long time, ensuring Google's incredible dynamic SEO requirements are met in the technical department. That is to say; we will be your long-term partner while you focus on other aspects of your business.
Other Press Releases By This Company
- 09/06/2022 - The Business Advantage Of Static Websites in 2022
