Webflow SEO: A step-by-step guide with 15 best practices in 2023

Webflow SEO offers an unparalleled solution to improve website performance in search engine optimization, conversion, sales, and brand awareness.

But before getting there, you still need to know a few things about Webflow SEO.

This guide will walk you through 15 best practices for Webflow SEO in 2023, offering insights to boost your site's performance.

Whether you're a beginner or an experienced user, these tips will provide a roadmap to Webflow success.

So let’s dive in !

15 SEO Best Practices to Optimize Your Webflow Website

1) Understand SEO and how it works in Webflow

Start by exploring Webflow University's extensive resources on SEO. Understand key principles such as how search engines crawl and index pages, the importance of keywords, and how user experience impacts SEO.

While you may already be well-versed in SEO principles, Webflow’s university is a valuable resource to comprehend the unique SEO approach taken by Webflow.

2) Start with a responsive, accessible design

Alright, time to get our hands dirty with the specifics!

Webflow's responsive breakpoints and flexible grid system are your trusty sidekicks, ensuring your design adapts to every screen size.

Webflow has four main breakpoints (desktop, tablet, mobile landscape, mobile portrait) that you can use to adjust your design for different device types. To change breakpoints, simply click the icons at the top of the Webflow designer.

Grids allow you to place and align elements on the page in a way that's easy to understand and control on all devices.

For accessibility, you should also add alt texts to images :

1. Click on the image you want to add alt text to.
2. Navigate to the 'Settings' panel.
3. Find the 'Alt' field and write your descriptive alt text.

Use ARIA roles and properties in the custom attributes section of the 'Settings' panel.

If all this sounds like Greek to you, don't worry. Just head over to this Webflow University lesson on Alt text for images to get up to speed.

3) Structure your site for effective navigation

Time to talk navigation - the road map of your website.

Use Webflow’s Navbar component for main navigation. Utilize Dropdown components for nested menus.

The golden rule? Make sure all navigation links are easy to understand and clearly labeled. No riddles, no mystery - just straightforward, easy-to-understand labels.

4) Implement proper use of heading tags

Headings should be used in a hierarchical manner (H1 for main headings, H2 for subheadings, etc.). This will guide your visitors, making sure they don't lose their way.

Use the 'Heading' element in Webflow to ensure proper use of these tags.

5) Establish SEO-friendly URL structures

Picture URL slugs as your website's street signs, guiding both users and search engines to the right destination.

In Webflow, URL slugs can be edited under the 'SEO' tab of the page settings.

Make them descriptive yet concise, using hyphens to separate words.

6) Use canonical URLs

In Webflow, you have the ability to easily specify canonical URLs for your pages to help with SEO.

A canonical URL is the URL that you want search engines to treat as the authoritative version for that page. This can help to prevent issues with duplicate content.

You can set a canonical link for pages in Webflow very easily :

1. Select the page you want to add a canonical URL to.
2. Go to the "Settings" panel.
3. Under the "SEO Settings" section, you'll find a field labeled "Canonical URL".
4. Enter the URL of the page that you want search engines to treat as the authoritative version.

Do not forget to save your changes and publish your site.

7) Optimize titles and meta descriptions

You sure understand how important titles and meta descriptions are for your SEO as they are often the first point of interaction between search engines and your content.

These can be customized in Webflow under the 'SEO' tab in page settings. They should be compelling, accurate, and include your focus keyword, and only your focus keyword.

In Webflow, customizing titles and meta descriptions is quite straightforward:

1. Select the page you want to edit.
2. Navigate to the "Settings" panel.
3. Scroll down to the "SEO Settings" section.
4. You'll find fields labeled "Title Tag" and "Meta Description". You can enter your custom title and meta description there.

8) Image optimization

Webflow's tools help in optimizing images for SEO, including automatic resizing, alt-text, and lazy loading.

If you have followed until here, you know by now how to edit alt-text of your images. If not go back to point 2).

You can also use tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh to compress images before uploading.

However, Webflow has an integrated function enabling you to compress your images in the webp format, which is by far the best format to upload your images on your website as it can significantly boost your website's loading speed. So we recommend you use that one instead.

Save your images in WebP format using an image editor of your choice before uploading. If you want to know more about this format and why you should use it, go check this lesson about image file types on Webflow University.

9) Integrate with Google Analytics and Search Console

Webflow provides a straightforward way of integrating your site with Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

Here is how you can integrate your site with Google analytics:

1. First, you'll need a Google Analytics account and your Tracking ID.
2. Then, in your Webflow dashboard, navigate to your Project Settings and click on the Integrations tab.
3. Simply paste your Google Analytics Tracking ID into the Google Analytics field, and click 'Save Changes'.
4. Voila! Your Webflow site is now connected to Google Analytics.

As for Google Search Console:

1. After you've created a Google Search Console account, you need to add your Webflow site as a 'property' in Google Search Console.
2. Select 'URL prefix' as the property type and enter your site's URL.
3. Google will ask you to verify your ownership of the site. One method is by using the 'HTML tag' under 'Other verification methods'. Copy the meta tag.
4. Go back to your Webflow dashboard, and navigate to your Project Settings, then the 'Custom Code' tab.
5. Paste the meta tag you copied into the 'Head Code' section, and save changes.
6. Back in Google Search Console, click 'Verify'. Google will look for the meta tag on your site and, if found, will verify you as the owner.

Remember to always hit 'Publish' in Webflow after making any changes, to make sure your settings go live.

10) Generate and submit an XML sitemap

Webflow automatically generates a sitemap for your published site helping search engines to find and index your content.

You just have to enable it in the 'SEO' tab of your project settings, then submit it through Google Search Console.

11) Use robots.txt file

Having control over the robots.txt file is important because it contributes to how effectively search engine bots can crawl your website, which in turn, can influence your website's SEO performance.

You can modify your robots.txt file in your Webflow project’s SEO settings, which means no coding is required. And that's quite a game-changer !

You can easily add and remove directives, giving you the ability to specify which parts of your site search engines should crawl and which they should ignore.

For instance, if there's a specific page on your site that you don't want to be indexed by search engines (maybe a private page or a work-in-progress), you can add a 'Disallow' directive for that URL.

You can customize your robots.txt file within the project settings, on the "SEO" tab. Scroll down the page until you find the "Robots.txt" section.

12) Leverage Webflow's native SEO controls

Even though we have mentioned few of them already, I wanted to insist on that point.

Webflow comes armed with a suite of powerful, inbuilt SEO controls designed to help your website scale the SEO ladder. Its features are not just fancy add-ons but integral mechanisms built to help you achieve your SEO goals within the platform.

All in all, Webflow is powerful SEO tool, so make good use of it.

In addition to using meta titles and descriptions and adding alt text to images, you can also use semantic HTML elements (available in the 'Add Elements' panel) throughout your site. Those will make it easier for both search engines and humans to understand the purpose and context of your content.

13) Create contextual links and apply heading tags

Alright, time for some real talk about links. Now, creating links in Webflow is as easy as pie. But here's what some people always miss out - choosing the right anchor text and making sure the linked content is relevant.

Remember when you wrote those essays in school and had to cite your sources? Think of anchor text like that - it needs to point to something relevant and meaningful. No "click here" or "this" - we need meaty, context-rich anchor text that actually tells people (and Google) what they're going to get when they click that link.

And the linked content? It better be relevant. Nothing feels like a bigger letdown than clicking on a promising link only to land on a page that has nothing to do with what you expected. It's like expecting to bite into a juicy apple and getting a mouthful of onion instead. No one wants that.

So, with Webflow's text editor, make sure you're creating those links thoughtfully. Choose your anchor text wisely, ensure the linked content is related and - voila! You're not just making your site more navigable; you're also making Google and your users happier.

14) Choose your subdomain responsibly

To get my point here, you need to understand the dynamics between subdomains and the root domain.

First let me remind you of the purpose of a subdomain. Subdomains can be used to segregate specialized sections within your website, and there’s nothing wrong with that! But what does it mean concretely?

From Google's perspective, it means that a subdomain is treated as a separate entity or website, distinct from the root domain.

Hence, it's important to be aware that a subdomain's SEO value doesn't directly contribute to the SEO of the main website (root domain). Instead, any potential SEO benefit from a subdomain comes through the links that connect the subdomain to the main website.

So before using a subdomain, be aware of what it does imply, and think of the consequences on your SEO strategy. Also be sure to choose a name that accurately reflects your site's content.

15) Create and publish high-quality content regularly

Last but not least, use Webflow’s CMS to add, manage, and publish content consistently and on a regular basis. Ensure it is valuable, engaging, and includes your focus keywords where appropriate.

Bonus tips

While these points aren't directly connected to Webflow's specific SEO features, they're still worth mentioning.

• Regularly Audit and Adjust Your SEO Strategy: Use Google Analytics and Search Console data to continuously assess and improve your SEO strategy.
• Optimize for Featured Snippets: Create concise, clear answers to common questions in your content to increase your chance of being featured in these snippets.
• Keep User Needs at the Center of Your SEO Strategy: Always consider your target audience's needs, preferences, and search intent when optimizing your site. Regularly test and refine your site based on user feedback and behavior data.

Conclusion

Webflow, with its powerful capabilities, provides an excellent platform for companies to build SEO-friendly, high-performing websites.

With the 15 best practices for Webflow SEO shared in this guide, you're well-equipped to optimize your site's performance, increase conversions and sales, and enhance brand visibility. The future of your online presence is bright with Webflow!

Also remember to revisit your SEO strategy regularly, keep user needs at the center of your plans, and optimize your content for featured snippets.

Applying these principles, you'll have a website that not only looks great but also works effectively to meet your company goals.

For further insights on the Webflow CMS, explore our suite of articles about Webflow vs. other CMS: Webflow vs. Wix, Webflow vs. Squarespace, Webflow vs. WordPress.