Best Website Builders for SEO: My Top Choices To Boost Visibility

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Wix tops our list of the best SEO website builders because of its brilliant built-in tools, including AI features to help you generate SEO-optimized content and a beginner-friendly SEO Learning Hub to improve your general knowledge.

In our most recent round of website builder testing, we compared the top 12 website builders against 21 key SEO functions, including keyword support and schema markup. I’ve used these findings, along with my first-hand testing of each builder, to recommend the best solution for your business.

Key Takeaways 🔍

  • Wix is our top-rated SEO website builder thanks to its comprehensive built-in SEO tools, including automated schema markup and personalized tips
  • Squarespace is the best choice for creative websites, offering strong SEO features within a design-focused platform
  • Hostinger is the cheapest option, with plans starting at $2.99/mo, though you’ll need the $3.99/mo plan to access the AI SEO assistant
  • Shopify is our recommended choice for online stores because its SEO tools are designed with ecommerce businesses in mind
  • When choosing a website builder for SEO, prioritize those with free SSL certificates, mobile-responsive templates, fast loading times, and keyword support as standard features

Why should you trust us? Our research methodology

Our user-led testing process and 300+ hours of research has helped us determine the top SEO website builders. For this guide, we looked at six core categories: website functionality (35%), design features (25%), pricing (15%), user experience (15%), help and support (5%), and reputation (5%).

And, when researching website functionality, we paid close attention to SEO tools to ensure the builder follows best practices and provides suitable integrations, such as Google Analytics.

I’ve updated this page to reflect the latest features and pricing for each builder, such as GoDaddy’s recent price decrease and Squarespace’s built-in SEO scanners. I’ve also added pricing tables to provide a more detailed breakdown of each builder’s different pricing tiers, and how much you need to pay to access SEO features.

Quick Comparison: Find Your SEO Builder

You can compare our top SEO website builders side-by-side using the table below:

Swipe right to see more
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Wix

Squarespace

Hostinger

Shopify

GoDaddy

Today's best price
Today's best price
Today's best price
Today's best price
Today's best price
Free plan or free trial

Free plan

Free plan or free trial

14-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

14-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

3-day free trial

Free plan or free trial

Free plan

Free custom domain

Free for 1 year

Free custom domain

Free for 1 year

Free custom domain

Free for 1 year

Free custom domain

No

Free custom domain

Free for 1 year

AI website builder
AI website builder
AI website builder
AI website builder
AI website builder
SEO

Custom SEO checklist, Semrush integration, AI support, Google Business Profile, analytics, SEO Learning Hub

SEO

AIO Scanner, SEO Scanner, AI Site Scanner, SEO panel, search preview, Google Search Console integration

SEO

Fastest loading times, AI SEO assistant, SEO page settings

SEO

Shopify Sidekick, Shopify Magic, personalized title tags, Semrush integration, third-party apps

SEO

GoDaddy Airo, SEO Wizard, Google Business Profile, social media tools, SEO expert consultation

How Do I Choose an SEO Website Builder?

When choosing an SEO website builder, look for platforms that offer free SSL, mobile-responsive templates and elements, dependable performance, and customizable meta tags.

If you don’t tick those SEO boxes, search engines won’t be able to find and scan your pages, meaning visitors won’t be directed to your website.

Each platform in our list of recommendations includes the following benefits, but keep these factors in mind when choosing your builder:

  • Can tweak aspects of your site’s SEO – edit important SEO elements, such as meta titles, meta descriptions, and URLs
  • Website analytics – once your SEO strategy is underway, you’ll need to track your page’s analytics to see how it’s performing
  • Mobile-friendly designs – our top website builders will automatically optimize your site for mobile devices, but not all platforms will let you edit your mobile design directly
  • Optimized website speeds – slow load times can negatively impact SEO, so look for a builder with good servers and built-in support to optimize and compress content or images
  • SEO integrations – a good SEO builder lets you connect your website with tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or even Semrush (see if these are available as built-in integrations, or if you need to use a third-party plugin from the builder’s app market)

Learn more about SEO 💡

It’s also important to choose an SEO website builder that supports your learning as well, such as Wix with its online SEO resources. Alternatively, you can check out our guides on SEO below:

1. Wix: Best All-in-One SEO Package

  • SEO score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Cheapest price: $17 per month
  • Best for: Beginners and businesses looking to grow online
  • Read our Wix review for a detailed look at the builder

Wix is the best all-in-one SEO website builder because if offers built-in AI features for content and image generation, automated schema markup, and a dedicated SEO Learning Hub.

Wix also handles the SEO basics with its website builder, including customizable URLs and mobile-optimization. On top of that, you can create SEO logic and apply it to multiple pages, instead of working through them individually.

Wix SEO setup checklist personalized to our test jewelry website
Wix generated a personalized SEO checklist for my test website to help optimize my pages. Source: Website Builder Expert

What Wix Does Well

  • The custom SEO checklist suggests areas to improve and provides actionable tips, which is great for beginners
  • Wix supports Google Business Profile, offering valuable insights to improve your site’s visibility, build customer engagement, and manage reviews
  • The Semrush integration analyzes keywords and creates reports to help you create targeted and optimized content
  • Wix’s AI meta tag creator helps you generate title tags and meta descriptions, ensuring your pages follow SEO best practices
  • Understand and fix technical issues with Lumar (DeepCrawl) to prevent lost sales due to broken links, helping businesses protect their bottom line
  • The Wix SEO Learning Hub is a one-stop destination to help bring you up to speed on the SEO basics (there are 10 online courses available in this hub)

Where Wix Could Improve

  • Wix has slow load times and has continued to decline in our site speed tests, which could impact the user experience – I noticed a lot of lag when using Wix myself, and Wix achieved an average performance score of 73 out of 100 in our site speed testing (Google classifies anything below 90 as needing improvement)
  • Wix offers so many features that it can be difficult to locate all of Wix’s SEO settings, which isn’t ideal for beginners or SEO novices
Wix SEO Learning Hub
I loved exploring Wix’s SEO Learning Hub which offers a wide variety of resources, such as podcasts and video tutorials. Source: Website Builder Expert

Do I Need To Pay Extra for Wix’s SEO Features?

You can access Wix’s SEO features across all plans, including the free forever plan. Wix’s pricing ranges $17 to $159 per month (billed annually):

Plan Price with our discount TAKE10 Monthly price (paid annually) Monthly price (paid monthly) Ecommerce
Free $0 $0 $0 No
Light $15.30 $17 $24 No
Core $26.10 $29 $36 Yes
Business $35.10 $39 $46 Yes
Business Elite $143.10 $159 $172 Yes

2. Squarespace: SEO Support for Creatives

  • SEO score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Cheapest price: $16 per month
  • Best for: Creative businesses, portfolio sites, and beginners
  • Read our Squarespace review for a detailed look at the builder

Squarespace is the easiest website builder I’ve tested, and its SEO features are intuitive and accessible for beginners.

While there are plenty of built-in SEO tools, including automatically generated schema markup, I was most impressed by Squarespace’s new scanners, which help you track search mentions and optimize your site for AI search engines, as well as traditional search channels.

Squarespace SEO appearance settings
Squarespace made it easy for me to edit my test website’s SEO settings in the backend, offering handy links to resources too. Source: Website Builder Expert

What Squarespace Does Well

  • Squarespace has three built-in SEO trackers (the AIO Scanner, SEO Scanner, and AI Site Scanner) to help you monitor brand mentions in AI search results and audit your site so you can make strategic optimizations
  • Squarespace’s SEO panel offers detailed advice and guidance (like Wix’s personalized SEO checklist), providing the best possible foundation if you’re after results in the SERPs
  • The search preview tool shows you exactly how your site will appear to users searching online, allowing you to make tweaks if necessary
  • Squarespace was the first website builder to directly integrate with Google Search Console, helping you see what keywords customers and visitors use to find your site (so you can then optimize your content to target this audience)
  • Squarespace’s social media integration helps to boost the visibility of your website and content, since you can display social posts directly on your site and automatically share website content when published

Where Squarespace Could Improve

  • Some of Squarespace’s elements go against SEO best practices – for example, Squarespace set a testimonial element as a H2, confusing search engines about my test site’s page hierarchy
  • There are limited SEO plugins (I could only see one SEO integration in the Squarespace Extensions library, whereas Shopify’s app store contains 300+ SEO-specific apps)
  • Like Wix, Squarespace performed poorly in our site speed tests with one of the slowest average times – a slow website could severely harm the performance of your site
Adding alt text to an image on Squarespace
I could add alt text to my images in seconds with Squarespace, making the site more accessible and scannable. Source: Website Builder Expert

Do I Need To Pay Extra for Squarespace’s SEO Features?

Squarespace’s pricing ranges from $16 to $99 per month (billed annually), with SEO features available from the cheapest plan:

Plan Price with our discount WBE10 Monthly price (paid annually) Monthly price (paid monthly) Ecommerce
Basic $14.40 $16 $21 Yes
Core $20.70 $23 $32 Yes
Plus $35.10 $39 $48 Yes
Advanced $89.10 $99 $119 Yes

3. Hostinger: AI-Powered SEO Support

  • SEO score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Cheapest price: $2.99 per month
  • Best for: Side hustles and budget-conscious beginners
  • Read our Hostinger review for a detailed look at the builder

Based on our testing, Hostinger has the fastest loading times, so you can rest assured that your website is running optimally for both search engines and visitors. Plus, Hostinger is incredibly beginner-friendly and low-cost, with two very cheap website builder plans, meaning you can get key SEO features without breaking the bank.

Hostinger's website builder SEO settings sidebar
Hostinger flagged pages to me that needed further optimization. Source: Website Builder Expert

What Hostinger Does Well

  • Hostinger has the best site speed we’ve tested – this is a standout feature for this SEO website builder, helping your site run smoothly and reliably
  • You can use Hostinger’s AI SEO assistant to help create title tags, meta descriptions, and suggest keywords
  • Hostinger automatically manages select SEO factors, such as sitemaps and general performance
  • I could tweak the SEO settings for individual product pages, ensuring products are seen by the right customers

Where Hostinger Could Improve

  • Hostinger’s AI SEO assistant isn’t included on the cheapest plan – you’ll need to pay $3.99/mo for the Business Website Builder plan to unlock advanced SEO features and support
  • Hostinger’s SEO features are limited and basic in comparison to other builders, such as Wix (for example, you can’t add schema markup with Hostinger)
  • The SEO settings are hard to find when navigating the Hostinger dashboard – for a builder that does well at catering for beginners, this was disappointing to see
Hostinger pop up in its website builder editor showing keyword suggestions
Hostinger provided keyword suggestions based on my original prompt when using its AI builder. Source: Website Builder Expert

Do I Need To Pay Extra for Hostinger’s SEO Features?

SEO basics are available from Hostinger’s cheapest plan, but you’ll need the Business Website Builder plan to unlock the AI SEO assistant. Introductory pricing for Hostinger is low, ranging from $2.99 to $3.99 per month (for a 48-month term):

Plan Price with our discount WBE Monthly price (48-month term) Monthly price (paid monthly) Ecommerce
Premium $2.69 $2.99 $11.99 No
Business $3.59 $3.99 $18.99 Yes

4. Shopify: Best SEO for Online Stores

  • SEO score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Cheapest price: $29 per month
  • Best for: Growing small businesses and established online stores
  • Read our Shopify review for a detailed look at the builder

Shopify handles ecommerce SEO best practices for your online store, such as generating optimized product descriptions and creating canonical tags automatically to prevent duplicate content appearing in the SERPs.

In addition, Shopify’s sales features can’t be beat, meaning you can run your small business with ease, grow your inventory, and market your store, while also optimizing your site for search engines and your target audience.

Shopify Magic generating a product description for a vanilla candle
I loved that Shopify Magic would generate keyword-optimized product descriptions for me. Source: Website Builder Expert

What Shopify Does Well

  • The AI assistant, Shopify Sidekick, supports your business 24/7 – you can ask the AI chatbot for SEO advice or insights into your site’s performance
  • Shopify’s suite of AI tools (Shopify Magic) helps your online store convert more customers with SEO-friendly product copy, email subject lines, headings, and more
  • Get titles tags personalized to your store so search engines understand your site’s content and relevance
  • Shopify automatically handles SEO basics, such as canonical tags, your site’s sitemap.xml, and robots.txt files
  • Shopify integrates with SEO giant Semrush to provide merchants with a clear optimization plan (this includes an AI description editor and an image tool that can generate alt text)

Where Shopify Could Improve

  • Shopify relies heavily on third-party apps – you’ll need to browse Shopify’s app market for advanced SEO tools, meaning you’ll also have to navigate between apps to oversee all of your SEO settings
  • You can’t edit your sitemaps manually – these are automatically generated by Shopify, which is great for beginners, but not ideal if you want full control
  • I found it tricky to find Shopify’s SEO settings, since they’re tucked away in your account settings
  • Shopify performed poorly in our site speed tests, sitting just ahead of Squarespace
Shopify's app market showing recommended SEO apps
While Shopify relies heavily on third-party apps, it gave me many SEO app recommendations. Source: Website Builder Expert

Do I Need To Pay Extra for Shopify’s SEO Features?

Every plan includes SEO support, with Shopify’s pricing ranging from $29 to $299 per month (billed annually):

Plan Monthly price (paid annually) Monthly price (paid monthly) Ecommerce
Basic $29 $39 Yes
Grow $79 $105 Yes
Advanced $299 $399 Yes

5. GoDaddy: Quality SEO for Socials

  • SEO score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Cheapest price: $9.99 per month
  • Best for: Beginners and time-sensitive businesses on a budget
  • Read our GoDaddy review for a detailed look at the builder

GoDaddy is the best SEO website builder for beginners on a tight schedule, since it offers an automated SEO Wizard for support, integrated Google Business Profile management, and AI-powered social media tools.

That said, while GoDaddy provides the SEO basics you need to boost your traffic and visibility in the SERPs, it lacks the agentic commerce features provided by Wix and Shopify, which is critical for businesses selling in 2026.

Keywords suggested by GoDaddy by its SEO wizard
Like Hostinger, GoDaddy suggested a range of related keywords when setting up my site's SEO. Source: Website Builder Expert

What GoDaddy Does Well

  • Use GoDaddy Airo to generate an SEO-optimized website, as well as content, emails, and social media posts, helping your business engage with its target audience and boost visibility (the content calendar and AI social post creator is especially good for social media SEO)
  • The Google Business Profile integration syncs opening hours, your business contact number, and directions to Google Search and Google Maps – this is hugely beneficial for small businesses looking to build a personalized local presence
  • GoDaddy’s SEO wizard is very straightforward – you’ll be asked questions to optimize your site, such as where your customers are located, and the feature even suggests industry-relevant keywords to target
  • Get a free consultation with an SEO expert – this is a premium service offered by GoDaddy (pricing is determined during your consultation, based on your budget), where experienced SEO professionals can help you optimize your site and offer onsite recommendations

Where GoDaddy Could Improve

  • After testing GoDaddy, clearer SEO guidance is needed – the SEO wizard is useful but quite basic, and GoDaddy doesn’t offer any tooltips or advice when tweaking your SEO settings
  • There’s a risk of keyword stuffing (overusing keywords in your content) – after setting my keywords, I couldn’t mark one as my primary keyword, and GoDaddy requested I add all three of my keywords throughout my copy, which felt a bit unnatural at points
  • It was difficult to find all of GoDaddy’s SEO settings, since broad site tools are located under GoDaddy’s “Marketing” tab, but if you want to list your business on Google, you’ll have to navigate to the “Social” tab
GoDaddy social post creator
I could easily optimize my social post captions with GoDaddy's social post creator. Source: Website Builder Expert

Do I Need To Pay Extra for GoDaddy’s SEO Features?

Built-in SEO is available from GoDaddy’s cheapest Basic plan. You can get started with the free forever plan, before upgrading to one of GoDaddy’s premium plans, ranging from $9.99 to $20.99 per month (billed annually):

Plan Monthly price (paid annually) Monthly price (paid monthly) Ecommerce
Free $0 $0 No
Basic $9.99 $21.99 No
Premium $14.99 $39.99 No
Commerce $20.99 $44.99 Yes

How We Test SEO Website Builders

We carried out in-depth research into the top 12 website builders on the market so we can bring you the freshest rankings and insights.

We’ve used each website builder ourselves to experience its pros and cons, and to deliver first-hand insights within our reviews. Our research team also analyzes each platform against six core categories, with unique weighting for SEO builders:

  • Website functionality (35%): What features are available to market your site, boost online visibility, generate content, and engage with your audience?
  • Design features (25%): Is there AI design support? Are the templates good quality?
  • Pricing (15%): How much do you need to pay for good SEO tools? Is there a free plan or trial?
  • User experience (15%): How easy is the builder to use and navigate?
  • Help and support (5%): Can you get in contact with the builder 24/7, and which support channels are available?
  • Reputation (5%): Is the builder popular in your market? How do existing customers feel about it, and can it compete with other SEO builders?

When determining the best SEO website builders, our ranking focuses on the 21 SEO tests within the website functionality category (making up 20% of this research area).

For this, we review the SEO features on offer and check to see if the website builder follows best practices, such as sitemap management, the ability to add metadata, and mobile-friendliness. We also carried out site speed testing across desktop and mobile to measure overall performance.

Which Is the Best SEO Website Builder?

Wix is our top SEO website builder if you want the best range of built-in SEO tools, such as Semrush keyword support and an AI meta tag creator.

Of course, Wix won’t be ideal for everyone. Want AI to handle the bulk of the SEO work? Choose Hostinger. Looking for strong SEO support for your online store? Choose Shopify. Whichever builder you pick, remember to make the most of available free plans or trials to test out their SEO features before you commit to a subscription.

SEO Website Builders: FAQs

Wix is better for SEO overall, though both builders offer great SEO tools, especially for beginners. With Wix, you’ll receive a personalized SEO checklist with actionable tips to improve your site, plus there are built-in integrations, such as Semrush. The SEO Learning Hub is also a great knowledge center to help you brush up on your SEO skills, with tutorials, online courses, and videos.
Based on our latest round of research, Wix has the best SEO and blogging features. You can easily optimize your blog pages for Google search with meta tags, blog-specific analytics, and keyword support from Semrush.
It’s possible to retain your site’s rankings if you migrate website builders, but it’s a complex process and one you need to plan for in advance. It’s also very hard to predict the behavior of the SERPs, so you might take all the right steps and still lose rankings.

To minimize a hit to your site’s performance, it’s best to keep your domain name the same, maintain your URL structure (or set up redirects where appropriate), and avoid changing your content immediately. Google also needs to recognize that your site has moved location, so make sure to submit a new sitemap to Google once you’ve transferred builders.

Written by:
Headshot of Emma Ryan
Emma is Lead Writer at Website Builder Expert, having first joined the team in 2022. She manages the website's topical content strategy to help website owners navigate the highs and lows of being online. Emma also specializes in following the development of leading website builders Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify, through hands-on testing and research. Her work and expertise have been featured in Startups.co.uk, Digiday, TechRound, Industry Today, and Digital Information World.
Researched by:
Headshot of Ollie Simpson
Oliver Simpson is a Senior Research Executive at Website Builder Expert, providing objective, in-depth research and ratings on website builders and ecommerce platforms that underpins the recommendations we make across the website. Every website builder review and recommendation you read on Website Builder Expert has been informed using Oliver’s unique research methodology. Whether running first-hand testing with writers or conducting in-depth research into audience needs, industry trends, and product features, Oliver is driven by a relentless pursuit of improvement and results.

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