SEO for a Drupal website
Senior SEO-specialist
Building a website? There are then quite a few systems that offer this option. One of these systems is Drupal. What is Drupal and how easy is it for the beginner? We are happy to explain the concept to you on this page.
What is Drupal?
Drupal is a system developed for creating a website. It is a kind of Content Management System, like WordPress, but is developed as a Web Application Framework. The principle is the same: you are able to build a website with Drupal.
Drupal for beginner and expert
It is quite possible for beginners to use Drupal to create a website. The basic system does not require technical knowledge: it is therefore quite possible to develop a website as a beginner. There are dozens of plugins and thousands of modules available that make a website even better.
Optimizing a Drupal website generally requires more knowledge. The more advanced features in this system of also require more knowledge: with them it is possible to take a website to a higher level.
The impact of Drupal on SEO
Drupal itself does not have much impact on the SEO of a website or page. What is true, however, is that a website running on Drupal must contain the right content as well as be fast. A slow website running on this system has as little chance of ranking higher as a slow website in WordPress or another CMS. Therefore, it is important that your website meets the key requirements for good SEO.
SEO extensions for Drupal
| Category | Extension | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Meta tags management | Metatag | Allows adding meta tags for better SEO. |
| Open Graph & Twitter Cards | Manages website display on social media. | |
| Sitemap generation | Simple XML Sitemap | Facilitates crawling and categorization of the site by search engines. |
| XML sitemap | Automatically creates a sitemap according to industry standards. | |
| URL and redirect management | Pathauto | Automates the creation of user-friendly and SEO-strong URLs. |
| Redirect | Manages redirects to prevent dead links. | |
| Global redirect | Addresses duplicate content issues and improves user experience. | |
| Redirect404 | Monitors and manages 404 error URLs. | |
| Search engine and link management | Search404 | Redirects 404 error pages to relevant search results. |
| Hreflang | Important for multilingual sites, adds hreflang attributes. | |
| Link checker | Regularly monitors and manages broken links. | |
| Content and page optimization | SEO checklist | Provides a comprehensive checklist for SEO tasks. |
| Google Analytics | Provides insight into website traffic and user behavior. | |
| Google News Sitemap | Customizes sitemaps for Google News. | |
| Page title | Optimizes page titles for SEO. | |
| Site management | Robots.txt | Manages robots.txt files for search engine indexing. |
| Breadcrumbs | Improved navigation breadcrumbs for SEO. | |
| Site verification | Helps verify your site with search engines. |
Is Drupal suitable for SEO?
Drupal is a good choice for SEO for several reasons:
- WebP image support: As of Drupal 9.2, it supports WebP image format, which helps reduce image size without losing quality, an important factor for SEO.
- Responsive web design: starting with version 8, Drupal offers excellent support for responsive web design, which is essential for SEO as mobile-friendliness is a key ranking factor.
- Accessibility: Drupal puts a lot of emphasis on accessibility, which not only contributes to a better user experience but also has a positive impact on SEO.
- Site speed optimization: Drupal offers several ways to improve site speed, such as resizing images, using caching and optimizing code, all of which contribute to better SEO performance .
- SEO-friendly modules: There are numerous Drupal modules specifically aimed at improving SEO, such as MetaTag, PathAuto, Redirect, LinkChecker, and Yoast SEO.
- Usability and mobile-friendliness: With the increase in mobile Internet use, it is crucial for websites to be mobile-friendly. Drupal is designed to perform well on mobile devices.
- Security: Drupal is known for its strong focus on security, which is crucial to maintaining good SEO rankings, as security issues can hurt a site’s visibility in search engines.
- Multilingual support: Drupal offers built-in support for multiple languages, which is important for websites that want to reach a global audience.
Drupal is used by a wide range of organizations and is particularly suitable for large, complex Web sites with structured content and content publishing workflows. However, it is less cost-effective for smaller projects or one-page websites.
In general, Drupal is a strong choice for SEO because of its flexibility, powerful modules, and emphasis on essential SEO aspects such as mobile-friendliness, speed, security, and accessibility.
One score per item
Comparing Drupal and WordPress in terms of SEO is complex because the effectiveness of SEO depends on many factors, including how the site is set up and optimized. However, I can make a general comparison based on common SEO aspects. The scores are subjective and based on general features and capabilities of both platforms.
| SEO aspect | Drupal score | WordPress score | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flexibility | 8 | 7 | Drupal is very flexible with strong customization capabilities, while WordPress is more focused on ease of use. |
| Mobile-friendly | 8 | 8 | Both platforms support responsive design, which is essential for modern SEO. |
| Page speed | 8 | 7 | Drupal has extensive optimization techniques for page speed, while WordPress relies on plugins. |
| Ease of use | 6 | 9 | WordPress is known for its ease of use, while Drupal can be more complex, especially for beginners. |
| Safety | 9 | 8 | Drupal has a strong reputation for security, which is important for SEO; WordPress is also secure, but has more vulnerabilities due to its popularity. |
| SEO-friendly modules | 8 | 8 | Both CMSs offer a range of SEO modules or plugins, although the approach and availability of advanced tools may vary. |
| Accessibility | 8 | 7 | Drupal places strong emphasis on accessibility, while WordPress relies on themes and plugins for similar features. |
| Multilingual capabilities | 9 | 7 | Drupal offers extensive support for multilingual sites directly from the core, while WordPress offers it via plugins. |
| Community and support | 7 | 9 | WordPress has a larger and more accessible community, while Drupal’s community is more focused on professional and technical users. |
| Integration with third parties | 8 | 8 | Both platforms offer good integration capabilities with external services and APIs. |
These scores are indicative and may vary depending on specific requirements and user expertise. WordPress is generally more user-friendly and has a larger community, while Drupal is more powerful and flexible, with a higher learning curve. Both platforms can be very effective for SEO when properly configured and optimized.
My advice
The system Drupal is relatively easy to use, but for using more advanced features you may get stuck.
We recommend using Drupal in conjunction with a professional in this field. This way, you have the opportunity to get everything out of your website and are able to get the best results.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Drupal?
Drupal is a type of CMS that can be compared to WordPress, for example. It allows you to set up a website.
What is the impact of Drupal on SEO?
Drupal by itself has little impact on the SEO your site. Indirectly, a user-friendly website set up in Drupal with good and relevant content, provided the other SEO criteria have also been considered, will attract more visitors. This, in turn, is positive for your website’s position in search results.
