What Type of CMS Does Your Website Use?

A Content Management System (CMS) is the platform your website is built on. Examples include WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Joomla, Drupal, and many more.

Knowing which CMS your website uses is important because it affects how you edit your site, apply SEO best practices, and implement technical fixes. Each CMS has different features, flexibility, and limitations.

Why it matters

• SEO tools & plugins – Some CMS platforms (like WordPress) offer robust SEO plugins, while others are more limited.
• Control over SEO factors – CMS choice influences how easily you can edit titles, meta descriptions, URLs, and add schema.
• Technical flexibility – Some CMSs let you fine-tune technical SEO (site speed, redirects, indexability), while others lock you into what the platform provides.
• Scalability – If your business grows, your CMS may help or hinder your ability to expand content, add features, or integrate tools.
• Support & community – Popular CMSs like WordPress have huge support communities, so finding fixes and tutorials is easier.

By identifying your CMS, you’ll know what SEO capabilities you have and where you might need extra tools or workarounds.

How to check which CMS your website uses

We’ll use a free tool:
👉 WhatCMS.org

Step-by-step instructions

1. Go to https://whatcms.org/
2. Enter your website’s domain (e.g. yourbusiness.com).
3. Click Detect CMS.
4. Wait a few seconds — the tool will display the detected CMS (e.g. WordPress, Shopify, Wix).
5. Repeat for competitor websites you want to analyse.
6. Record your findings in your SEO Training Log.

Apply this to your own website

• Note down which CMS you use.
• Research (or ask me in the course) what SEO options your CMS provides. For example:
  • WordPress: SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math), full flexibility.
  • Shopify: Great for ecommerce, but SEO customisation is more limited.
  • Wix/Squarespace: Easy to use, but limited technical SEO control.
• Check competitor sites too — knowing their CMS can explain why they might rank better (e.g. more robust SEO tools) or worse (limited customisation).

Interpreting the results

• If your CMS is SEO-friendly (like WordPress), you have maximum control and can apply nearly all the strategies we’ll cover in this course.
• If your CMS is limited, you’ll need to:
  • Work within its constraints.
  • Use any SEO tools or add-ons available.
  • Focus harder on content quality and off-page SEO (reviews, backlinks), since technical fixes may be harder.

Note for Participants

From this point forward, the examples and demonstrations in this course will be focused around WordPress, since it’s the most common CMS for small businesses and gives us the widest range of SEO options to work with.

That said, the SEO principles remain the same across all CMS platforms. Whether you’re on Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Joomla, or another system, the strategies you learn here — creating quality content, optimising titles and headings, improving site speed, earning links, and building trust signals — all apply.

If your CMS works differently, you may just need to adapt how you carry out the tasks, or look for equivalent tools or settings in your platform. The foundations of SEO don’t change.