Can a Platform Change Influence SEO?

This is one of the less commonly discussed topics in the world of SEO, but it’s an important one. We
often look to tech gurus like Neil Patel for insights, but our own experience has also shown that a
platform change specially moving to something more powerful like a headless solution can significantly impact SEO, often in a positive way.

Case Studies: Honeycomb Constructions and Integrity Solutions

We worked with two businesses, Honeycomb Constructions and Integrity Solutions, both of which had sluggish WordPress interfaces with outdated themes, numerous plugin issues, and security vulnerabilities. Here’s what we did to transform their SEO performance:

1. Going Headless:
   • Why Headless? Due to high competition for keywords, we aimed to achieve the highest quality score and on-page SEO.
   • Implementation: We used Gatsby for the front end and a custom-built WordPress CMS for the back end, allowing clients to easily change content and images as they were accustomed to.
2. Performance Improvements:
   • Metrics Scores: Both websites consistently scored A on GTmetrix, with excellent mobile scores across all algorithms.
   • Quality Score: The quality score naturally increased, focusing solely on on-page SEO without any backlinks or off-page SEO efforts.
3. Basic SEO Enhancements:
   • Good Indexing: Ensuring all pages were properly indexed.
   • Internal Linking: Creating effective internal links.
   • Sitemap: Maintaining an up-to-date sitemap.
   • High-Quality Images: Using high-quality images that load quickly, enhancing usability and customer experience.

Results

Six months after the platform change, without any additional paid marketing efforts, many of their keywords moved up at least 30 places in search rankings.

Share Your Experience

Have you experienced a significant SEO improvement after a platform change? Or do you have examples of how a platform change has influenced SEO? Share your thoughts in the comments!