The answer to "why" SEO is important is straightforward: You do not want to end up on page 2 of SERPs. Heck, nobody even wants to be #2. Most web traffic comes from the first page, and consequently, an ever-increasing number of websites take SEO seriously.
But that has always felt limiting, has it not?
After all, an SEO-optimized website would require a highly paid, experienced web developer who knows how to code, right? Well, not anymore. Because Webflow.
Note: This post is not sponsored by Webflow despite how it may seem (trust me, it will seem like that). I have just been using it for a while and loving it, that’s all.
Why Webflow for SEO?
Webflow offers the best of both worlds. You don't have to be a developer to make a totally awesome SEO-optimized website.
Responsive design made easy – A responsive website that remains engaging across various screen sizes means great user experience, and great user experience, in turn, means a higher ranking on the SERP.
Webflow Audit – A useful little feature offered by webflow to keep your website's alignment with good SEO practices in check, improving accessibility and, ultimately, user experience.
Fast and reliable hosting infrastructure—Webflow hosts Fastly, one of the fastest CDNs in the world. This means your websites load faster and are ranked higher!
Localization—Fine-tuned control over localized content, catering to customers in a specific target location. This comes with the implementation of the hreflang, which means your website is now served according to your audience's preference as per their location.
Webflow and Technical SEO
Webflow does the majority of the heavy lifting behind the scenes when it comes to technical SEO.
For example, images are set to lazy-load by default, keeping loading times low by loading the images only when they are on the screen as opposed to loading all the images during page loading.
Webflow also supports advanced SEO tactics through its custom code integration capabilities. While providing built-in SEO features, it allows injecting custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for techniques like schema markup, server-side rendering, and connecting to enterprise SEO tools via APIs and third-party integrations.
1. Robots.txt
Webflow allows you to add Robots.txt, a set of rules that lets you keep some pages off the crawling territory.
To configure Robots.txt on your webflow site:
- Navigate to the SEO page in the site settings
- In the indexing section, look for "Robots.txt."
- Fill in the required directives
2. Minifying HTML, CSS, and JS
"Minification" is exactly what it sounds like: compacting your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code, removing comments and unused code, and optimizing white space usage to ensure that it doesn't slow down your website's loading times (Google doesn't like that).
To minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code in webflow:
- Navigate to the publishing page in the site settings
- Scroll down to the advanced publishing options section
- Click on Minify HTML, Minify CSS, and Minify JS
One click is all it takes ~
3. Add a Global Canonical Tag
Let's say you're running ads and email campaigns and tracking the traffic from each one. You're going to use UTM parameters for the respective URLs, right? That leads to a teeny tiny problem of duplicate pages (again, Google doesn't like that).
To fix the problem of duplicate pages ranking your website lower, webflow allows you to set a "Canonical tag" for your website, which tells the search engine which is the original URL to be indexed.
To set a global canonical tag in webflow:
- Navigate to the SEO page in the site settings
- Scroll down to the Global Canonical Tag URL section
- Add the URL of your website.
And that's it; you're no longer going to be punished for the innocent act of promoting your website. Do NOT add a global canonical tag in your webflow site settings using google tag manager.
4. Server Handling
Webflow handles the backend for you. Unlike open-source CMS like WordPress, you don’t have to worry about the servers at all with Webflow. They're going to give you the best so you reach your best potential.
On-Page SEO with Webflow
Webflow provides in-built and easy-to-access solutions for on-page SEO needs like titles, headings, meta descriptions, and image alt texts. That's not all; with webflow, you get easy access to open-graph settings to hand-pick the look of your social media shares.
These tools can be found in the page settings menu and are easy to use.
1. Title Tag and Meta Description
Adding proper title tags and relevant meta descriptions is crucial to improving your chances of appearing on page 1 of Google SERPs. The advised character limit for your title is 50-60; keep it concise.
To add a title tag and meta description to a page in webflow:
- Navigate to the required page in the pages menu
- Click on the small gear icon beside your page name to access page settings
- In the SEO settings section, look for "Title Tag" and "Meta Description."
- Fill in those fields and publish your site to see the changes
In the little preview box, you can see a live preview of how your title and description will look on the SERP.
2. Open Graph Title, Description, and Image
Open Graph is the markup used to display your site's rich data on social media shares. Just like adding appropriate titles, good open graph titles and descriptions can score you a lot of clicks.
To add a set-up open graph for your page in webflow:
- Navigate to the required page
- Go to page settings
- Scroll down to the Open Graph settings section
- Fill-up the Open Graph Title, Description as well as image URL fields.
Or you can simply use the check-boxes to copy the Title and Description from your title tag and meta description. Yes, you get an open graph preview as well!
3. Image Alt Text in Webflow
The internet is a place for everyone, and we must keep our websites accessible to all users. To make your website more accessible, you must design it in compliance with the ADA.
Alt text is a description that appears on the screen when an image fails to load. Adding relevant alt text is important for making your website more accessible to those using screen readers and is also a ranking factor in Google image searches.
To add alt text to your image in webflow:
- Navigate to your image in the asset library
- Hover over your image and click on the gear symbol to access asset details
- Select descriptive and type your alt text into the alt text field
Hereafter, the asset will always be added with the provided alt text. However, you can also change up the alt text on individual instances of the said asset:
- Click on your image to highlight it
- Click on the gear symbol at the top left of the image
- Click on the drop-down beside the alt text section and select "custom description."
- Type your alt text into the field
Here's one last on-page SEO technique we'd like to discuss: Schema Markup. Simply put, schema markup helps the search engine understand the structure of your website and sometimes features your page as a special search result.
Although it's not a ranking factor per se, the special search result feature vastly increases visibility.
4. Redirection
Webflow also has a built-in 301 redirect feature, which is important for maintaining link equity when restructuring or migrating content. Properly implementing 301 redirects ensures that existing backlinks aren't lost. So, any backlinks pointing to old URLs are redirected to the new, relevant pages.
It also allows regex formatting so you can easily redirect entire folders and custom URLs using variables. It’ll help you automate your redirections and keep your site clean.
Webflow's Limitations in SEO
Webflow is an amazing tool but it’s not without its limitations.
1. Weak Rich Text
Webflow’s website builder and CMS far outclasses the other no-code builders but its rich-text suffers from what I call the “iOS problem.”
Apple has made the most amazing smartphones with their iOS software - most of your tasks can now be done much quicker with relative ease. That’s their CMS builder - absolute perfection.
But sometimes, you need to go into the nitty gritty and not have the software define everything for you, which is why most developers run towards Android smartphones. That’s Webflow’s rich-text editor.
It simply doesn’t allow you the freedom you get on open-source alternatives such as WordPress’s Gutenberg.
How does this affect you? Well, it won’t have any particular impact on your site unless you want to build a blog. And even then, our dev team has found ways around it to help you deliver the best site possible to your customers.
2. Limited Control Over Backlink Building
Webflow does not provide built-in tools or features specifically designed for backlink creation. You'll need to rely on external strategies and tools to build high-quality backlinks to your Webflow site.
3. Reliance on Third-Party Integrations
To fully leverage off-page SEO tactics like social media marketing and influencer outreach, you'll certainly need to integrate Webflow with various third-party tools and platforms, which might add complexity to your workflow.
Webflow offers in-built integrations for popular tools like Google Analytics; webflow university has a great lesson on integrating Google Analytics with your webflow site.
Tip: Use Zapier for app integrations.
4. No 410 Redirects
One of the drawbacks of webflow is the inability to implement 410 redirects; the "410 gone" page shows up when a user clicks on a link whose content was intentionally removed; this is a way to notify Google of the same so that they can remove it from their index ASAP.
To do so, you’ll need to set up redirects from your CDN services such as Cloudflare or Cloudways.
Mobile SEO and Responsiveness with Webflow
Webflow allows users to make fully responsive websites that provide an optimized experience across devices, including mobile. While not strictly mobile-first, Webflow's responsive design approach and speed optimization make it well-suited for achieving good mobile SEO results.
The developers of webflow have put a lot of thought and effort into making SEO accessible and useful for all kinds of users, beginners and professionals alike. Fast hosting service, a robust set of tools to keep up with modern SEO practices, and an intuitive approach to SEO make webflow a good choice for SEO.
The many useful features added to webflow are often suggested by users just like you! Head over to the webflow wishlist and express your ideas for improving webflow development!
The Ultimate Web Stack: Webflow + LoudFace
As a leading Webflow and marketing agency, LoudFace understands the intricacies of Webflow's SEO features.
We've helped numerous businesses optimize their Webflow websites for search engines, improving their online visibility and driving more website traffic.
- Expertise: In our over five years in the business, we've launched over 100 Webflow projects and served clients in more than seven countries across 11 different industries.
- Quality Assurance: We pride ourselves on delivering high-quality work. Our team is among the most creative and brilliant in the industry, and we're committed to delivering nothing less than masterful results.
- Fast Turnarounds: We understand that time is of the essence. That's why we strive to deliver fast turnarounds without compromising on quality.
- Transparent Communication: We believe in maintaining open and transparent communication with our clients. You'll always be kept in the loop about the progress of your project.
- Scalable Solutions: Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, we offer scalable solutions that can be tailored to your specific needs.
