Key Takeaways

Learn more about why WordPress websites continue to grow in popularity after two decades of being used. Compare the many features and benefits of WordPress to other content management systems like; Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy Website Builder, Webflow, and Shopify. 

*The statistics included are based on current industry data showing WordPress powers approximately 42-43% of all websites and controls roughly 60% of the CMS market.

Why People Continue to Choose WordPress

If you’re considering a new website for your business, you’ve probably encountered dozens of website-building platforms including Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy Website Builder, Webflow, Shopify, and many others. While these platforms certainly have their place, one platform continues to dominate the internet year after year: WordPress.

But after all these years why is WordPress still the world’s most popular website platform? More importantly, why do so many businesses and professional web designers continue to choose WordPress over proprietary website builders? Let’s take a closer look.

WordPress Powers Nearly Half of the Internet

WordPress has grown from its humble roots as a simple blogging platform into one of the world’s most widely used content management systems (CMS). According to industry tracking firm W3Techs, WordPress currently powers approximately 42-43% of all websites on the internet. Among websites using a known content management system, WordPress commands nearly 60% of the global CMS market share, that’s more than all the competing CMS platforms combined. In other words, nearly one out of every two websites you visit today is likely running on WordPress. This remarkable growth backed by the many built-in benefits has made WordPress the undisputed leader in website publishing.

Why Is WordPress Growing in Popularity?

1. Complete Ownership and Control

Unlike many other website builders, WordPress is an open-source software. This means you own your website, your content, and your data. You can host it yourself, or with your marketing agency. With proprietary builders such as Wix or Squarespace, your website exists entirely within their ecosystem. If you decide to leave, migrating your site can be difficult, costly or impossible. WordPress gives businesses true ownership and flexibility.

2. Unlimited Customization

WordPress offers over 65,000 plugins and thousands of themes, allowing businesses to customize virtually every aspect of their website. In need of advanced SEO tools? Appointment booking? Membership functionality? eCommerce? CRM integration? Custom forms? Shipping Calculators? There is likely already a WordPress solution available.

3. Scalability

Many globally-recognized organizations rely on WordPress because it can grow alongside their business. WordPress works equally well for many types of organizations including:

• Small local businesses
• Professional service companies
• Large corporate websites
• Membership sites
• Online stores
• Multi-location businesses

4. Massive Community Support

Since WordPress is open-source and used worldwide, businesses benefit from a vast ecosystem of developers, agencies, designers, educators, and support communities. Finding help, updates, security patches, and new functionality is significantly easier than waiting on hold with the larger niche website builders. There is rarely, if ever, a problem facing evolving business website functionality that hasn’t already been solved by the WordPress community. 

Why Do WordPress Websites Often Rank Better in Search Engines?

It is important to clarify that Google does not automatically rank WordPress websites higher simply because they are built with WordPress. However, WordPress provides far more control over the factors that influence search rankings. The ability to influence Google search rankings and fully optimize the site is one of the many reasons SEO professionals love working with WordPress.

Superior SEO Flexibility & Greater Technical SEO Control

WordPress gives developers access to virtually every technical aspect of a website. This level of control is often restricted on proprietary platforms such as Wix, Squarespace, etc. Professional SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and All in One SEO give you precise control over these critical elements: 

• Meta titles and descriptions
• XML sitemaps
• Canonical URLs
• Schema markup
• Open Graph tags
• Robots directives
• Redirect management
• Breadcrumb navigation
• Server configurations
• Structured data implementation
• Core Web Vitals optimization
• Advanced redirects
• Alt text
• Header optimization
• HTML, CSS & PHP access

Better Site Architecture

Strong site architecture helps both users and search engines understand website content. Experienced web designers can build highly optimized site structures using WordPress, including:

• Clean URL structures
• Strategic internal linking
• Content silos
• Optimized navigation
• Custom post types

Faster Performance Potential

Website speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor. Many drag-and-drop builders generate bloated code that can negatively impact page speed. A professionally developed WordPress website hosted on quality infrastructure can achieve exceptional loading speeds through:

• Advanced caching
• Image optimization
• CDN integration
• Code minification
• Performance-focused themes

WordPress vs Popular Website Builders

When Is WordPress the Best Choice?

WordPress is always the best choice! If your business is serious about lead generation, search engine visibility, and long-term digital growth, WordPress remains the best choice. There is a reason WordPress has remained the world’s most popular website platform for more than two decades. Its unmatched flexibility, scalability, ownership, and SEO capabilities make it the preferred choice for professional web designers and growth-focused businesses alike.

While platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy Website Builder may work well for simple websites or businesses on a budget, those looking to maximize their online presence often discover that WordPress provides the greatest long-term value. When professionally designed and optimized, a WordPress website becomes far more than an online brochure, it becomes a powerful marketing and lead-generation tool capable of growing alongside your business.

Hear it from the WordPress Experts in Virginia Beach

Marc Bethel, Co-Owner of Commonwealth Creative Marketing in Virginia Beach has been providing professionally built WordPress sites to businesses and organizations for over 15 years. 

“When you started the business, why did you choose WordPress as the only content management system you use for the websites you build?” 

“So, when we started in 2010, we actually built in HTML/CSS from scratch for a while, then we began using Joomla for a year or two, but that’s when WordPress really emerged as the new and best overall option. It was easier to use than Joomla, from both a developer and client standpoint. I love WordPress because the developer community is so huge with all the plugins that are vetted by WordPress. It can connect to just about anything you would ever need – UPS, USPS, FedEx, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Stripe, Authorize.net, Hubspot, GoHighLevel, all the major CRM’s, you name it, there’s a plugin for it. The massive number of themes and site-builders make it easy to build and customize sites for many specific needs that a business might have. It’s great for SEO, with many amazing SEO plugins that streamline the process from schemas to meta descriptions to analytics, code snippets and more. WordPress gives you access to optimize essentially every part of a website whereas other platforms do not. Wix and Squarespace and even Shopify for example, only give you a few basic options for SEO. Those other platforms operate on more of a DIY landscape where they’re essentially protecting you for what they deem as “your own good”.  But really, they’re quite limiting.  With WordPress, the sky is the limit in terms of SEO and customization. And perhaps the best part of all, is that WordPress sites can be hosted by anyone. This is an attractive feature for us as an agency because it gives our clients true freedom with their hosting and website ownership, while it also gives us the ability host and manage sites under our own packaging which generates recurring revenue for us as an agency while also offering our clients peace of mind with continuing management and all-inclusive services. We’re able to not only offer hosting to our clients, but full-on management of WordPress, themes, plugins, security and overall site health. WordPress’ builders such as WPBakery Page Builder and Beaver Builder make it easy for us to train clients on how to make basic edits to their sites as well. Overall, WordPress is a clear winner for our clients and for us.”

Learn more about how important the WordPress platform is and how it can potentially affect your search rankings even with SEO services in place. Click the button below to view our latest case study and learn more.