Why your agency’s website builder should double as an SEO tool

December 30, 2024
0 minute read

There is a centuries-old philosophical question: 'If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ In today’s digital world, the modern equivalent might be: “If you build a website and it doesn’t rank on Google, is it actually on the internet?”


This question highlights why the global SEO market reached $68.27 billion in 2022, according to Emergen Research, with no signs of slowing down. With the ever-growing number of tools promising to boost rankings and drive traffic, agencies have access to powerful features like keyword research, competitor analysis, and rank tracking through third-party SEO platforms.


Third-party tools excel at tasks such as:


  • Discovering which search terms, keywords, and topics a business can rank for, using platforms like SEMrush or Ahrefs.
  • Creating content targeted at these terms
  • Monitoring rankings and iterating strategies through rank tracking and platforms like Google Search Console.


These are robust capabilities, but they rest on one crucial foundation: the website itself.


The case for built-in SEO


Modern website builders increasingly include built-in SEO features, providing agencies with the tools to manage optimization without leaving the platform. This is especially relevant for self-service platforms, where users need intuitive tools to manage optimization directly within the website builder. However, not all website builders are created equal. Some offer only basic features, leaving a gap in depth and support that agencies need to ensure long-term performance.

This is where Duda steps in.


How Duda doubles as an SEO tool


Duda doesn’t just help you build stunning websites; it equips agencies with integrated tools to build, monitor, and optimize sites for SMB clients. Duda prioritizes built-in SEO alerts, and seamlessly integrates optimization processes into the design workflow.


With Duda, SEO isn’t a separate task—it’s part of the website-building process. Here’s what that means:


1. Effective optimization


Duda provides built-in tools to identify key SEO elements like metadata, indexing settings, and broken links during the design process. By catching these issues before publishing, Duda helps ensure that every site is optimized to perform well in search rankings from the outset.



SEO overview gif in action


2. Streamlined workflow for time savings


Integrated SEO features simplify the optimization process by keeping everything within the same platform.
Duda’s AI SEO assistant, for instance, generates metadata and alt text instantly based on page content. This integration keeps your workflow efficient, eliminating the need for extra steps or external solutions.




3. Proactive error prevention


Duda’s tools detect potential SEO errors during the site-building process, ensuring they’re resolved before launch. This proactive approach prevents avoidable issues from affecting site performance or damaging client trust, as every page is ready for search engines the moment it goes live.


4. Lower costs


With Duda, essential SEO tools are part of the platform, allowing agencies to manage optimization for SMB clients without additional expenses. This bundled approach helps agencies allocate resources more effectively while maintaining high-quality results.


So, what SEO alerts does Duda include?

Duda monitors several critical SEO elements and alerts you when issues arise: 


  1. Missing meta tags - You will be notified when important meta tags are absent from your pages as they're crucial for search engine understanding of your content.
  2. Meta tags too long - Alerts when your meta descriptions or titles exceed recommended character limits, which could lead to truncation in search results.
  3. Missing alt text - Notifications for images lacking alternative text descriptions, which are essential for accessibility and SEO.
  4. Alt text too long - Warnings when image alt text becomes too lengthy and needs optimization.
  5. Google My Business profile not connected - Alerts if the Google My Business profile isn't properly linked to the website.
  6. Schema not enabled - Notifications about missing schema markup, which helps search engines better understand the content.
  7. What pages are indexed - Alerts about which pages are currently indexed by search engines and which aren't.
  8. Open Graph is missing - Warnings when Open Graph tags are absent, affecting how the content appears when shared on social media.
  9. Favicon is missing - Alerts about missing favicon, which contributes to the site's professional appearance and branding.
  10. Broken links - Notifications about any broken links to your site that need to be fixed.


Having these alerts built into your website builder helps maintain good SEO health and ensures you're alerted to issues before they significantly impact your client’s search engine rankings. The key is to have a system that not only identifies these issues but also provides clear guidance on how to resolve them.


And of course, the infrastructure itself needs to be SEO-optimized!


Duda’s SEO-optimized infrastructure


Duda’s infrastructure is designed with SEO at its core, ensuring that every website built on the platform is primed for search engine visibility and performance. From fast loading speeds to mobile-friendly, Duda provides an environment that enhances SEO across the board. Here’s how:


  • Built for speed: Duda’s infrastructure prioritizes page load times, ensuring that websites load quickly and perform optimally. Faster sites are favored by search engines, helping you achieve better rankings.
  • Mobile optimization: With mobile-first indexing becoming the norm, Duda’s websites are responsive, ensuring they look great on all devices. This mobile optimization plays a crucial role in SEO, as Google ranks mobile-friendly sites higher in search results.
  • Structured data and schema markup: Duda allows you to easily implement structured data, providing search engines with more detailed information about your content. This can result in rich snippets in search results, enhancing visibility and CTR.
  • Core Web Vitals optimization: Duda’s infrastructure is optimized for Google’s Core Web Vitals, ensuring that websites meet the performance benchmarks that influence rankings. This includes metrics like loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, all of which contribute to a positive user experience. Moreover, Duda has become the first CMS to achieve an impressive 80% Core Web Vitals (CWV) pass rate. 
  • HTTPS and security: Duda automatically provides SSL certificates for secure HTTPS connections. Security is a ranking factor, and Duda ensures that every site is protected from the start, giving search engines confidence in the website’s safety.


Click here to learn more about Duda’s complete SEO toolkit.


Third-party SEO tools: Still valuable


While Duda provides an all-in-one solution for building and managing sites, including site optimization for SEO, third-party tools remain valuable for advanced strategies like competitor research and keyword-driven content creation. Platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz excel at delivering granular insights, making them essential for agencies running advanced SEO strategies at scale.


Final note


Let’s be clear: Website builders do not replace traditional SEO tools for most use cases. These tools, like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and others, play a critical role in advanced SEO strategies, offering in-depth analysis, competitor research, and rank tracking that go far beyond what any website builder provides. In fact, Duda itself relies on these tools, demonstrating their importance in crafting a comprehensive SEO strategy.


However, when it comes to building and managing websites for SMB clients, agencies often need a more direct, streamlined approach to site optimization. This is where Duda excels—by integrating essential optimization features directly into the website creation process. With built-in tools for monitoring and enhancing SEO, Duda allows agencies to efficiently deliver results while staying focused on what matters most in the web design context: creating high-performing websites that drive value for their clients.



Did you find this article interesting?


Thanks for the feedback!
A computer screen with a graph on it and a purple background.
By Santi Clarke April 24, 2025
Learn how platform ecosystems drive revenue and why they are essential for the growth of SaaS businesses.
By Santi Clarke April 24, 2025
One of the greatest challenges for SaaS platforms is keeping users engaged long-term. The term “stickiness” refers to a product's ability to retain users and make them want to return. In the context of SaaS platforms, creating a sticky product means that users consistently find value, experience seamless interactions, and continue using the product over time. The following are 7 practical strategies you can take to improve the stickiness of your SaaS solution. 1. Offer websites that help customers build their digital presence One of the most effective ways to make your SaaS platform sticky is by offering websites to your users. Many businesses today need an online presence, and by providing a platform where your customers can easily build and manage their websites, you increase their reliance on your product. When you offer users a website-building solution, you’re helping them create something foundational to their business. Websites, in this case, aren’t just a tool—they become a part of their identity and brand. This deepens their engagement with your platform, as they need your product to maintain and update their site, ultimately making them less likely to churn. Plus, websites naturally encourage frequent updates, content creation, and customer interactions, which means your users will return to your platform regularly. When you can give your users the tools to create something so essential to their business, you make them more dependent on your platform. This creates a higher barrier to exit, as migrating a fully built website to another service is no small task. In fact, websites are some of the stickiest products you can sell, so adding them to your product portfolio can be one of the best decisions you can to keep your customers using your technology for the long haul. 2. Deliver continuous value through product innovation The key to keeping users coming back to your SaaS platform is ensuring that they consistently see value in it. This means not only meeting their immediate needs but also evolving to address their growing demands. Constant product innovation is essential for keeping your users satisfied and invested in your platform. One way to achieve this is through regular updates that add new features or improvements based on user feedback. A SaaS platform that evolves with its users will keep them engaged longer, making it harder for competitors to steal their attention. Encourage user feedback and prioritize updates that create tangible improvements. This creates an ongoing relationship with your users, which boosts stickiness. 3. Offer a multi-product solution Another powerful way to increase your platform’s stickiness is by offering a suite of products or features that integrate well together. When your users adopt multiple products, they are more likely to stay because they become embedded in your ecosystem. The benefits of this strategy are clear. Research shows that once users adopt more than one product, especially when they integrate >4 tools into their workflow, their likelihood of churn decreases significantly. This happens because the more a user integrates into your suite of products, the harder it is for them to switch to a competitor. These users have invested time in learning your ecosystem and rely on it for their day-to-day operations, making it much harder for them to make the switch. 4. Create a personal connection with your users Human connection is one of the most powerful drivers of user retention. People don’t want to feel like they’re using a cold, faceless platform. By offering exceptional customer support, personalized communication, and community engagement, you build a relationship with your users that goes beyond the product itself. Make sure your support team is responsive, knowledgeable, and empathetic. You can also consider offering tailored onboarding experiences to ensure users understand how to make the most of your platform. When users feel like their success matters to you, they are more likely to remain loyal. 5. Leverage data to personalize the user experience Using data to drive personalization is another strategy that can significantly increase the stickiness of your platform. By tracking user behavior and usage patterns, you can tailor the experience to each individual user’s needs. This could mean recommending features they haven’t yet explored or sending them reminders about tools they may not be fully utilizing. Personalization gives users the feeling that the platform was designed specifically for them, making it harder to walk away from. By demonstrating that you understand their unique needs, you can build a stronger connection and ultimately increase retention rates. 6. Focus on seamless integrations and API capabilities To further increase stickiness, consider expanding your product’s ability to integrate with other tools your users already rely on. Whether it’s email marketing software, CRM systems, or social media management tools, seamless integrations add tremendous value by making it easier for users to incorporate your platform into their existing workflows. The more your product can work in tandem with other popular tools, the more indispensable it becomes. In fact, users who depend on integrations are less likely to churn since their entire ecosystem is tied to your platform’s functionality. 7. Encourage user advocacy and community building User advocacy is another powerful tool in building a sticky product. When users feel a sense of community or even ownership over the platform, they become your most passionate promoters. Encourage your users to share their success stories, join community forums, or contribute to product development through beta testing or feedback loops. A thriving user community not only increases user engagement but also creates a sense of loyalty. When users are part of something larger than themselves, they are more likely to remain committed to your platform, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value. Create deep, lasting customer relationships Making your SaaS platform sticky is all about creating a deep, lasting connection with your users. This requires building a platform that continuously delivers value, creating a seamless and personalized experience, and integrating features that keep users coming back. By focusing on product innovation, offering a multi-product ecosystem, and fostering strong user relationships, you’ll be well on your way to reducing churn and boosting user retention. Stickiness isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential for long-term success. Focus on creating a platform that users can’t imagine living without, and you’ll see them stick around for the long haul.
By Shawn Davis April 24, 2025
Your team is likely pretty familiar with the products they built, but what about the ones they didn’t? Integrated tools can throw a wrench into your support operations, but they don’t have to.
Show More

Latest posts