Finding a Search Engine Friendly Content Management System

[rockcoastmedia]

What is a Content Management System?
A Content Management System (CMS) is a third party software application which allows web site administrators to add, update or delete content, photos, and documents to their web site in "real time". Many web sites are modified using these web-based tools as they require little to no knowledge of HTML or web scripting languages. CMS programs make it easy for a webmaster or site owner who does not know HTML or have access to a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML Editor, such as Macromedia's Dreamweaver, to update their site.

In today's high paced web world, a good CMS is integral to the efficient operation of a web site. Many webmasters and web site developers are building database driven, or dynamic web sites, which require a third party solution, such as a Content Management System, to update the content that lives in the database. In addition, a CMS allows the web site owner to outsource content development remotely to contract copywriters and other willing contributors. With built in access level hierarchies, webmasters can allow various users to register as authors and start submitting articles and news to be published on their site.

How do Content Management Systems Work?
Content Management Systems create a dynamic web site environment, where all the content is stored in a database or XML file. Using a web-based interface, the webmaster can select which page they want to update and then can modify the web content in a text editor, with many of the familiar formatting keys that can be found in a word processing program. Once the content has been updated, with the simple click of a button, the CMS will turn their text into HTML code and publish the content to the web site.

Problems Between Search Engines and Content Management Systems
Historically, search engines have had difficulty indexing dynamic pages. While their ability to index and rank dynamic pages has improved dramatically, there are some basic things to avoid. One of the greatest enemies of search engines is URL strings that contain many URL parameters. URL parameters are variables that are passed to the CMS through the URL, which tell it what information to retrieve from the database. URLs with too many parameters generally make little logical sense to the average user and may also scare off search spiders. For example see:

http://www.mysite.com/mg/vbclass/sea...TH&cat=M ens&
subcat=ID&displayTarget=Subcategory
It is suggested to limit the number of URL parameters to two or three per URL to ensure that that search spiders will not have difficulty indexing pages deep within the web site.

Certain URL parameter names may automatically flag a filter on the search engine. One example is the URL parameter names that contain 'ID', such as 'sessionid', 'sid' or 'userid'. Historically, search engines detect the term "ID" and assume it is associated with a session dependant variable. As a result, search engines have learned to flag these parameter names and it can cause problems with page indexing. Passing session dependant variables through the URL is a problem for search engines because the spider essentially sees a unique URL each time they visit the site because the session dependent variables change with each visit. For example, on one visit to the site, a page URL may be http://www.mysite.com/page.asp?sessionid=12345. The next time the spider visits the page, the URL may be http://www.mysite.com/page.asp?sessionid=56789. This creates a situation where a spider may think that there are multiple URLs with duplicate content, resulting in penalties which will negatively impact search rankings.

Based on the above, it is imperative to employ a CMS that does not pass session dependent data, such as session variables, through a URL string. Doing so will not only create potential usability issues for the end user, but will also result in indexing problems for the search engine spiders.

Finally, search engines gather understanding from your web site's content by filtering through the HTML code. For this reason, it is extremely important that your CMS generate HTML code that adheres to the latest requirements of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Use the W3C Code Validator to determine if your code meets the W3C standards. Be aware that some CMS's add in many lines of proprietary code or JavaScript at the top of the file, which can choke search spiders. This violates a cardinal rule of SEO; 'To always have more content then code'.

Finding a Search Engine Friendly CMS that will Work for You
Now that we have explored many of the potential problems with Content Management Systems, lets look at how to go about finding one that will be both search engine friendly and suit your specific needs. First you will need to determine what server platform you will be using. Many Content Management Systems use scripting languages and databases that are platform dependant. If you are married to a particular platform, it may limit your CMS options. Ideally, you will want to find a CMS that is platform independent, which can run on any server.

There are many search engine friendly CMS's that will allow the web site owner to generate a URL structure that is both meaningful to their users and digestible by search engine spiders. Instead of having a URL that is packed with parameters, you can create a URL structure that looks like this: http://www.mysite.com/children/hats/prodid/121576. Your next step is to check whether your CMS builds HTML pages to the latest standards established by the W3C. Most CMS providers will be able to tell you if their solution generates valid code. If they can't, then ask for a sample page and run it through the W3C Code Validator. In order to rank effectively in organic results of the search engines, it is imperative that your CMS allows you to update your title tags, meta data and alt tags on a page-by-page basis.

The most important aspects of a good CMS are the ease of use and richness of content formatting features. This one is a no-brainer because the very reason that you are looking for a CMS is that YOU DON'T WANT TO CODE. Any good CMS should provide an editing stage that is similar in feature and function to a standard word processing program, such as Microsoft Word. The technical term for this is a WYSIWYG Editor or a Rich Text Editor. This important feature will allow you to type and format your content using standard buttons and keyboard shortcuts. When you publish the content to the live web site, the CMS will write the HTML, CSS and scripting to display your content as it was formatted during the editing stage. Many Content Management Systems are offering additional technologies, such as RSS feed, shopping cart solutions, forums and live chat integration, which can really enhance the functionality of your web site. The key is to find a CMS that will suit your core needs and then determine what add-ons would be beneficial. The ends result will be a web site that is easy to manage and usable for both your customers and the search engines.

This Article was written by Mike Goldstein. Mike is the SEO Manager at Rock Coast Media, a Boston-Area search engine marketing firm that provides results-driven custom search marketing solutions.

[specialtymed]

I like the article but what CMS do you suggest. We are currently using miva and it isn't doing what we would like it to do.

thanks

[rockcoastmedia]

It all depends on the server you are running as well as if you are a non profit. If you are a non profit, I suggest looking into Kintera.org.

[grnidone]

I like Drupal. It can be found at drupal.org. It's free and robust and search engine friendly.

[Justilien]

A few people recommended Textpattern.com to me. It is open source. I have been using it on a site for a few months now with great success. They are quick to reply to questions in their forums!

Another open source CMS is CivicSpaceLabs.org. It is based off of Drupal. This one is more complex and difficult to modify.

[rockcoastmedia]

Hi All,

I wanted to update my orginial posting, with some new info on friendly URL's for search engines. If you are not on an Appache Server there is no built in function to to a modrewrite. I have recently found a software, which many shared hosting providers are willing to install, which allows for a Windows based solution, similar to that of the Appache solution. The program is IISRewrite - http://qwerksoft.com/products/iisrewrite/.

The program runs on ASP and makes the change on the server side prior to the server parsing the ASP code and serving it up, so it is SEO safe.

[grnidone]

Rockcoast, that deserves its own post. I've looked FOREVER to find a rewrite solution to Microsoft servers.

[rockcoastmedia]

I will start a Post just for this thread.

[pokersearch]

Originally Posted by grnidone

Rockcoast, that deserves its own post. I've looked FOREVER to find a rewrite solution to Microsoft servers.

I am writing (rewriting) my sites in dot.net 2.x. You can do URL rewriting if you are using .aspx (in net 1.x or 2.x) I did one site in it and it worked reasonable well, if you interested add dot com to my user name and take a look.

The basics of it take place in the global.asax file
this is what the one I am working on looks like:
Sub Application_BeginRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Dim ReWrite As New VirtualDir(HttpContext.Current.Request.Path, HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString.ToString)
If ReWrite.redirect Then
HttpContext.Current.RewritePath(ReWrite.NewURl)
End If
End Sub
The key line of code is:
HttpContext.Current.RewritePath(ReWrite.NewURl)

The Rewrite.newURi is my own custom class that decides what the requests means. The advantage to this is that you can do anything in your class to figure out what the request means. The downside is that only .aspx requests reach the global.asax file and the coding of the whole thing is rather funky, for example I get 404 errors then run the same code through the debugger and it works fine. if you are on shared servers there may be some issues. It is worth looking into, just do a google search on "RewritePath" and there are a few technical items on it.

[sue]

Hi all,
There are nice points mentioned here to be taken into consideration when choosing a CMS. Thanks for the nice article.

1) I need to know, if websites created with a Content Management System are really search engine friendly. Is there a famous website that rank good on search engines and use CMS at the same time?
Cauese, i always find websites that use plain static, rich contents pages have good ranking on serps. So am worried about using a CMS and at the same time rank good on search engines.

2) I learned about a good CMS called Mamboserver, I checked they have a search engine friendly option to generate search engine friendly URLs. Is there anybody who tried this tool, any experience to share.

Appreciate your advice ,

[sue]

Wished to find some help here
Any advice

thanks

[Carlos Chacón]

Originally Posted by sue

Wished to find some help here
Any advice

thanks

Hello Sue

1) Yes they are. I’ve been fighting with the SE some years ago and last year I’ve found an excellent CMS developed here in my country called PHPBeast for the creators. Do not get worried to work with CMS and rank well on the SE. Of course, choose the best SEO friendly you can.

2) I’ve worked with mambo just one time, and against the odds to get some good rankings…I did. But this is my case and it was just one site. Before do this, analyze your competition and get some real stats on the key phrases you are looking for.

[sue]

Hi Carlos,
Thank you very much for your reply and nice advice.
I really appreciate your great tips and sharing your experience. That was of a great help. Will do as u suggested and will also have a look at that other CMS you mentioned there.

thanks once again

[laoloup]

Drupal is a nice open source CMS that works with different platforms and generates clean URLs. The system does have a steep learning curve but it's also as powerful. Once you're in control, it's very easy to manage and produces great websites and nice ranking too.

[nina723]

Does anyone have an opinion on the pros and cons of Joomla versus Drupal? I've heard the latter has a higher learner curve, but that it's more search-engine friendly. I'd appreciate any feedback on which would be the better platform for a small e-commerce site that features handcrafted art from New Mexico artists. (wesstartisans.com) It's operated by a non-profit so the budget is small and the staff is even smaller. It's in desperate need of a redesign and update to make it easier to add new products and artists. If one is easier to learn and fairly search engine friendly, that would be a big plus. Thanks in advance for any feedback. Nina

[jasonmun]

Hi All,

Firstly, thank you rockcoastmedia. You have written a very good and detailed post.

I have been working with CMS for 5 years now. I have used both open-source (Mambo & Joomla) and proprietry CMS. I have to agree, at times it is hard to find a Search Engine Friendly CMS that fits all SEO requirements and would be able to maximise your SEO efforts.

If you are non-technical person, having to deal with an open-source CMS can be overwhelming. You will need to know which addons to install, how to install it and most importantly how it works. I also found it hard to maintain the CMS in the context of bug fixes & security patches.

I personally find proprietry CMS to be more user friendly, stable and better user support. I am always testing and trialling different CMS and have finally found one that fits all criteria and requirements. It not only gives you the design flexibility, it also fits all the SEO requirements. I run a web studio and building 100% search engine friendly websites for my clients are always a priority.

I believe a CMS should help you reduce time and effort to update your site with minimal technical knowledge. If you find yourself having to crunch through code and fix bugs, you could be potentially wasting precious time. There are so many CMS in the market. Take your time and shop around. Having the right CMS in place from the very beginning will most definitely reduce cost.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers...

[insidearm]

The site that I work for currently uses a ColdFusion based CMS (FarCry). Has anyone run across any problems with a CF based CMS? I have little experience dealing with a CF environment.