Are HTML sites really as much of a pain that they seem to be? I'm hearing that it's actually quite easier to rank HTML sites than it is to rank WordPress sites. Does anyone run both? Which one is easier to maintain and set up?
WP sites are by far easier to maintain and setup. Where'd you hear this? Would be very interesting if true.
I run both... Html sites are generally more difficult to create as with wordpress - most of the work has already been done for you, especially if you use templates. I can spot a wordpress site from miles away though so if you want something a little different then plump for html. Generally html sites have far fewer lines of code and don't include libraries that aren't necessary which i think makes them faster and rank higher. Saying that, i've never compared the two in a split test.... I might if I have a spare couple of hours / domains somtime. Posh.
I know that the difference between the two used to be that Google basically rewarded those that used Wordpress Blogging, but really it isn't about either one. As far as I understand it, it is about SEO, Content, Linking within the site, and linking to other sites, and compliance with W3C rules and speed of loading the pages, among other things that really have nothing to do with HTML or Wordpress as the platform. WP is easier to use, but for the average html user, HTML is actually not that hard once the site structure is developed. The rest is just adding pages, just like wordpress. I think the main difference as far as ease of use is that WP is more out of the box and easily added upon, where HTML needs to be designed, and then added onto (as far as plugins) manually.
WP ranks better because of its default interlinking structure which is superior to a random coder 's HTML site. That 's all about it. Regarding maintenance, it depends on the number of changes you want to do. Generally, WP is a breeze to deal with.
I was addict to html sites for years but since I've discovered the advantages of wp now I only start a site on wp. Advantages are numerous, from seo - to updating, managing, changing design, great plugins... The only advantage of html sites is that is very easy to move on another server, and of course there are no errors related to plugins, themes or mysql database (in rare cases).
WordPress sites can slower not due to the WordPress code or the theme code but usually due to the plugins. Speed is a minor ranking factor for Google but more importantly users may leave your WordPress site if they perceive it to be a dog.
As a developer, I find html sites easier to optimize for search engines and it's also easier to create a unique design. But if you want a big website or be able to write articles daily/weekly, wordpress is definitely the way to go.
I have only received results from hand made html sites, but i'm gonna try to mess up my view of site building in next project which will be done with WP, i miss SEO plugins...<3
Then tell us why you are a good developer and why do you think that html sites are harder to optimize or create a new design with...
business card site = html so no pain to update anything anything like constant content growing site = wordpress so no pain to update each page separately every time you make new page/update so on .. thats why its called content management system cms
For ranking purposes, both HTML & wordpress do the job. Ultimately, content is the king again. As far as customizing, it depends on how familiar are you with the language you're using. Personally I build html5 sites on my own. I don't rely on wordpress or whatever because in HTML you have control over every line of code and customize it extensively. I am not going to argue that you cannot do it with wordpress. But with html its less time consuming. At the end of the day, use whichever you feel comfortable with.
wordpress sites get indexed fast too the only problem with WP in my opinion is that you shouldn't make more than 10-15 pages /day because of over pinging danger and can get penalized.
Well, I think that it has nothing to do with Wordpress or static HTML sites. Nobody ever told that Wordpress ranks better just because it is Wordpress. What most people mean is that Wordpress is easier to construct to get better rankings. My experience shows that it all depends how you structure your site and how you construct the settings of your Wordpress blog.
Wordpress is king, you can optimize it in several ways, update constantly with no effort and download a lot of plugins to make the website like you want. If you have PHP and Mysql skills it's 100% custom.
Wordpress is easy to optimize when you have the right theme. SEO plugins will allow you to enter meta tags, description etc without requiring any technical knowledge. With html sites, you will have to know how to use Dreamweaver and other programs. But, if you know how to use Dreamweaver, I think you will like the customization options that a html site has to offer. You can create any design that you want. I am not good with Dreamweaver. So, I paid to have a main html page designed according to my wishes and then installed a wordpress blog inside in the website, that links out from the html. Both kinds of URL's do well in the SERP's.
