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Comparing The Pros and Cons Of Online Website Builders

We recently conducted a study of sites built with automated website builders and found that the vast majority scored poorly in Google Core Vitals Test. One such site that used one of the popular builders scored very poorly in the core vitals test, and had over 3500 lines of code on its home page. It actually crashed Chrome when we tried to view the source code. See graphic in the content below. Generally, unless you have a site that is branded by name, such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, then you need to consider how you want to build your site. The article below may help you decide. We also offer some very affordabe website development plans - click the link below for more information. Which when all is said and done may just be a very good choice for you.

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The Pros And Cons Of Web Builders
Code Quality, SEO, and Google Core Vitals

Pros and Cons Of Website Builders

Introduction

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) online website builders have revolutionized web design, making it accessible to individuals without coding skills. Popular platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly offer intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces that allow users to create visually appealing websites with ease. However, while these tools are convenient, they come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages, particularly in terms of code quality, SEO, and Google Core Vitals.



Code Quality

Pros

  1. Ease of Use: WYSIWYG builders simplify the web development process, allowing users to focus on design without worrying about coding.
  2. Speed of Development: Users can create and deploy websites without the lengthy process of hand-coding.
  3. Consistent Design: Templates and pre-built sections ensure a consistent look and feel across the website.

Cons

  1. Bloated Code: These builders often generate extraneous and redundant code, which can slow down website performance and complicate future maintenance.
  2. Lack of Flexibility: Customizing the code to fit specific needs can be challenging, as WYSIWYG builders may limit access to the underlying HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  3. Code Inefficiencies: The auto-generated code might not follow best practices, leading to inefficient performance and increased page load times.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Pros

  1. Built-in SEO Tools: Many WYSIWYG builders come with integrated SEO tools that help users optimize meta tags, alt texts, and URLs.
  2. User-Friendly: Simplified SEO settings make it easier for non-experts to implement basic SEO practices.
  3. Responsive Design: Many templates are mobile-friendly, which is crucial for SEO as search engines prioritize mobile compatibility.

Cons

  1. Limited SEO Capabilities: Advanced SEO tactics, such as schema markup and custom metadata, might not be fully supported.
  2. Poor Code Quality: As mentioned, the bloated code can negatively impact site speed, a crucial factor for SEO rankings.
  3. Dependence on Platform: Users are often limited to the SEO features provided by the builder, which may not be as robust as those available through custom coding.

Google Core Vitals

Pros

  1. Automated Optimization: Some WYSIWYG builders offer automated features to improve Core Vitals, such as image optimization and lazy loading.
  2. Monitoring Tools: Integrated tools can help monitor Core Vitals metrics, alerting users to issues that need attention.
  3. Responsive Design: Ensuring mobile-friendliness inherently benefits metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and First Input Delay (FID).

Cons

  1. Page Speed: The excessive code generated by these builders can slow down the website, negatively affecting LCP and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
  2. Inconsistent Performance: Automated optimizations might not be as effective as manual tweaks, leading to variable performance across different pages and devices.
  3. Limited Control: Users have less control over the fine-tuning required to meet Google’s Core Vitals thresholds, which can impact overall site performance and rankings.

Security

One area of concern with automated website builders is security.



  1. Database Generated: Most website builders use a backend app such as PHP (a scripting langauge that produces pages on the fly and stores the information in a database).
  2. Security Updates: These types of scripts require updates to patch coding vulnerabilities on a regular basis to protect the website from hacking attacks.
  3. Database Backups: Since these scripts store your site data in a database, the site owner must back up the database often.
  4. Data Storage: The way data is stored and handled by automated builders can be opaque, raising concerns about compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR or CCPA.
  5. Multi-Tenancy: Automated builders often host multiple websites on the same infrastructure, increasing the risk that a breach in one site could impact others.
  6. Ease of Use vs. Security: While ease of use is a key selling point, it can also lead to user errors and misconfigurations that compromise security.
  7. SEO Manipulation: Automated builders might be more susceptible to SEO manipulation techniques used by attackers to spread malware or phishing schemes. Sometimes SEO agencies use "black hat" techniques that can result in a website being removed from Googe's SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)


While automated online website builders offer numerous benefits, it's important for users to be aware of potential security pitfalls and take proactive steps to mitigate them where possible.

Conclusion

Online website builders offer a convenient and accessible way for individuals to create websites without in-depth technical knowledge. They excel in ease of use, speed of development, and consistent design. However, they fall short in areas critical for long-term success, such as code quality, SEO, security and Google Core Vitals.

Clean code is one very important reason to avoid automated website builders. A service like CMS Amigo can be used to edit just about any type of webpage, but pure code webpages provide so many distinct advantages. Such as ease of performing SEO, backing up and transferring your site, the ability to add critical plug-ins, speed and passing Googele's Core Vitals Test.

No matter what your decision with regards to the deployment and editing of your website, we wish you the very best in your adventure.

Below is the graph of the Google Site Speed test we conducted on the website mentioned at the top of this page. The numbers in red indicate failures of those core vitals. The score was below 35 and a good and acceptable score should be 90+. Needless to say we could not get a Google search result in the first 100 sites listed. This is just one example of how a poor score using Google Site Core test can affect a website. If you happen to have the name recognition of major Internet sites then you might just not need to optimize your site's performance, otherwise you should do all you can to have a site that passes all critical performance tests.

Google Core Vitals