The magic of a CMS involves some underlying technology that we will not go into (such as PHP and SSI). Instead of managing individual files, a CMS manages content. You input pieces of content into the CMS, and it presents the content on any number of web pages. A CMS is also (typically) database driven. This means that content, along with settings and other pieces of metadata, are kept in a database instead of individual files. The CMS will fetch the data from the database and display it in a predefined manner.

With a CMS, managing a full website is as easy as sending an email or creating a Word document. Instead of hiring someone to make changes to you web pages, you can do it. It also makes creating large websites more cost efficient. A CMS will also make changing site structure easy. For instance, if you once had a page called “Services” that listed every service you offered, and you decided you needed to separate “Services” into “Landscaping Services” and “Home Repair Services”, the CMS would make that possible without requiring a developer.

So how does this all fit together? Search engines display results in order of the most popular. Since roughly 80% of pageviews come from search engines, you want your pages to rank high. That is where SEO comes in. The purpose of SEO is to optimize a website or webpage for search engines in order to achieve higher ranking in the SERP. This is a complex game of cat and mouse as search engines are constantly changing criteria by which they rank pages. It’s no wonder that webmasters and owners of websites are turning to professionals to have their websites optimized for search engines.