WordPress vs Joomla vs Wix vs Squarespace (2025): Which Website Builder Is Best for SEO and Growth?

Choosing the right website builder is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your online presence. Whether you’re a small business owner, blogger, creative professional, or developer, your platform will directly impact your site’s search engine visibility, design flexibility, and long-term scalability.

In this article, we compare the top four platforms: WordPress, Joomla, Wix, and Squarespace, focusing on their SEO capabilities, ease of use, and overall strengths. While each has its niche, WordPress stands out as the best website builder for SEO—especially when paired with powerful tools like Divi by Elegant Themes—for giving users total control over SEO and customization.

🔽 Jump to Platform Overview

Explore how each platform compares in SEO, usability, and design flexibility. Click below to jump directly to the detailed breakdown for WordPress, Joomla, Wix, or Squarespace.

🥇 WordPress: The SEO Powerhouse with Endless Flexibility

✅ Quick Overview

• Market Share: 43.2% of all websites (W3Techs, 2025)

• Type: Open-source CMS (self-hosted via WordPress.org)

• Best For: SEO-conscious users, bloggers, businesses, agencies, developers

🔍 SEO Advantages

WordPress is the gold standard for SEO because of its plugin ecosystem, developer access, and clean codebase. When properly configured, a WordPress site can outperform most drag-and-drop builders in organic search.

Here’s what makes WordPress the best website builder for SEO:

• Yoast SEO / Rank Math Plugins
  These free and premium tools provide fine-grained control over:

  • Meta titles & descriptions

  • Canonical URLs

  • Structured data/schema

  • XML sitemaps

  • Redirects

  • Breadcrumbs

  • Robots.txt and .htaccess access

• Complete Schema Markup Integration
  Easily add rich snippets for FAQs, reviews, articles, and more.

• Control Over Speed & Core Web Vitals
  Use caching plugins like WP Rocket or LiteSpeed Cache to optimize performance and pass Google’s Core Web Vitals.

• Open-source Ownership
  You own the code, design, and data. No lock-in.

• Scalability
  WordPress can run everything from a 5-page brochure site to a 10,000-product WooCommerce store.

🎨 WordPress + Divi = Beginner-Friendly Design

One common misconception is that WordPress is hard to use. While it can be technical, theme builders like Divi by Elegant Themes remove that barrier.

Divi turns WordPress into a visual drag-and-drop builder, making it just as easy as Wix or Squarespace, but with far greater control.

With Divi, You Can:

• Drag and drop sections, rows, and modules

• Use 2,000+ pre-made layouts and templates

• Customize mobile and tablet views

• Edit global styles visually

• Integrate with SEO plugins seamlessly

Combined with WordPress’s power, Divi gives both beginners and pros an unmatched website creation experience.

❌ Drawbacks

• Requires your own hosting and domain

• Needs regular updates and security measures

• Plugin conflicts can occur if mismanaged

🧩 Joomla: Developer-Friendly, But Less Beginner-Oriented

✅ Quick Overview

• Market Share: 1.7% of websites

• Type: Open-source CMS

• Best For: Technical users, multilingual sites, organizations with complex access needs

🔍 SEO Advantages

• Customizable URLs, meta data, and titles

• Built-in multilingual support

• Good control over content structure

• Extensions available for SEO (e.g., sh404SEF)

⚠️ Drawbacks

• Smaller community and plugin library

• Less intuitive backend

• Requires technical setup for many features

• Less SEO guidance for beginners

Joomla is a great option if you’re a developer building multilingual or structured-content sites, but for most users, it’s harder to manage than WordPress or Wix.

🎨 Wix: Great for Beginners, Limited for Advanced SEO

✅ Quick Overview

• Market Share: 10M+ websites

• Type: Proprietary drag-and-drop website builder

• Best For: Beginners, small businesses, portfolios

🎯 Strengths

• Wix SEO Wiz helps users set basic SEO settings step-by-step

• Easy drag-and-drop interface

• Secure hosting and SSL included

• No need for third-party plugins

🔍 SEO Capabilities

Wix has improved significantly in recent years. It now supports:

• Custom meta titles/descriptions

• Image alt text

• URL slugs

• Redirects (301s)

• Structured data (limited)

However, Wix still lags behind in advanced SEO:

• No server-level file access

• Limited customization of robots.txt

• Heavy page code can affect load speeds

• Less control over structured data compared to WordPress

❌ Drawbacks

• Hard to migrate away from Wix

• Limited design flexibility

• Can’t scale well for complex or content-heavy sites

🖼️ Squarespace: Beautiful Design, Less SEO Control

✅ Quick Overview

• Market Share: ~3%

• Type: Proprietary website builder

• Best For: Artists, photographers, creatives

🎯 Strengths

• Stunning, mobile-friendly templates

• Clean UI for blogging and portfolios

• Built-in eCommerce and marketing tools

• SSL, security, and updates included

🔍 SEO Features

Squarespace handles basic SEO well:

• Clean URLs

• Auto-generated sitemaps

• Mobile-optimized pages

• Built-in SSL and AMP support

But it lacks deeper SEO access, such as:

• Custom schema markup options

• Plugin flexibility for technical SEO

• Editable robots.txt and .htaccess files

• Control over caching or CDN settings

❌ Drawbacks

• Not suitable for complex, high-performance sites

• Less customizable for developers

• Paid plans only

🔎 SEO Comparison Summary

🔎 SEO Comparison Summary

WordPress + Divi

• Ease of Use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (with Divi)
• SEO Plugin Support: ✅ Extensive
• Schema Markup Control: ✅ Full
• Mobile Optimization: ✅ Theme-Dependent
• Custom Code & Flexibility: ✅ Full
• Hosting & Speed Control: ✅ Full
• Best For: Businesses, SEO, Blogs

Joomla

• Ease of Use: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• SEO Plugin Support: ⚠️ Limited
• Schema Markup Control: ⚠️ Partial
• Mobile Optimization: ⚠️ Manual
• Custom Code & Flexibility: ✅ Advanced
• Hosting & Speed Control: ✅ Full
• Best For: Developers, Multilingual Sites

Wix

• Ease of Use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• SEO Plugin Support: ❌ None (Built-in)
• Schema Markup Control: ⚠️ Basic
• Mobile Optimization: ✅ Built-in
• Custom Code & Flexibility: ❌ None
• Hosting & Speed Control: ❌ Closed System
• Best For: Beginners, Portfolios

Squarespace

• Ease of Use: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• SEO Plugin Support: ❌ None (Built-in)
• Schema Markup Control: ❌ Minimal
• Mobile Optimization: ✅ Built-in
• Custom Code & Flexibility: ⚠️ Minimal
• Hosting & Speed Control: ❌ Closed System
• Best For: Creatives, Portfolios

🏁 Final Thoughts: Which Is the Best Website Builder for SEO?

If you care about SEO performance, scalability, and ownership, WordPress—especially with Divi—is the best choice in 2025.

• For SEO professionals and serious site owners: WordPress + SEO plugins like Yoast or Rank Math give unmatched control.
• For designers and business owners: Divi offers an intuitive interface without sacrificing power.
• For developers: Joomla is viable but less beginner-friendly.
• For small portfolios or quick sites: Wix and Squarespace are easy but limited for SEO.

Sources

1. W3Techs. “Usage Statistics and Market Share of Content Management Systems for Websites, July 2025.”
   W3Techs: Web Technology Surveys, Q-Success, July 2025, https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management.
2. Elegant Themes. “Divi – The Most Popular WordPress Theme in the World and the Ultimate WordPress Page Builder.” ElegantThemes.com, https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/.
3. Yoast. “Yoast SEO: the #1 WordPress SEO Plugin.” Yoast.com, https://yoast.com/.
4. Rank Math. “Rank Math SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin.” RankMath.com, https://rankmath.com/.
5. Fishkin, Rand. “Wix SEO: 2023 Edition.” Moz Blog, 7 Feb. 2023, https://moz.com/blog/wix-seo.
6. Squarespace. “SEO Best Practices.” Squarespace Help Center, https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206541627.
7. Joomla Documentation Team. “Search Engine Optimization (SEO).” Joomla! Documentation, Open Source Matters, Inc., https://docs.joomla.org/SEO.