SEO and SilverStripe
Let me be honest: I don’t mind SilverStripe. It’s solid, it’s flexible, and the fact that it’s Kiwi-made? That’s cool.
But when you’re the SEO person trying to improve a site—and someone else is holding the keys to the CMS—it’s painful.
NOTE: “Silverstripe was born in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Our three founders developed the original product in a tech incubator in 2000, eventually naming it after a type of tropical bamboo. Those three founders are all still involved with the company today, as directors on our board.”
We’ve been in that situation more times than I’d like to admit.
A client calls up, excited to improve rankings or boost traffic, and we think, “great—we’ve got a solid roadmap.” Then we find out the site’s built in SilverStripe, but we can’t get in to change anything ourselves. That’s when the headaches start.
We’ll spot some technical issue—a page without a meta title, a weird redirect loop, no sitemap—and our hands are tied. We can write a doc. We can explain the issue.
But we’re reliant on someone else (a developer, a team, maybe even a freelancer from five years ago) to action the fix.
And it’s not like we’re asking for magic.
- Sometimes it’s a line of code.
- Sometimes it’s adding a field for us to edit titles.
- Sometimes it’s fixing something that’s hurting performance and user experience.
- But instead of being able to just… log in and fix it, we’re stuck playing messenger.
And here’s the real kicker: every SilverStripe site is different.
Seriously, every. single. one.
There’s no “default setup.” Some are built with a tidy CMS layout where you can edit SEO fields. Others? You need to be a developer—or have one on standby—just to change a URL.
So what happens is this:
- We end up writing a list of fixes.
- We send it to the dev.
- The client has to chase them up.
- Then we wait. Maybe a week, maybe a month.
That’s not what SEO should feel like.
Look, we’re not anti-developer. In fact, when devs and SEOs work together well, it’s magic. We just need access. Or a process that actually works.
Because SEO isn’t something you do once and forget about. It needs testing. Adjusting. Monitoring. If you can’t do that quickly, it’s like trying to race a car with someone else holding the steering wheel.
A few things we often get asked… about SilverStripe and SEO
Is SilverStripe bad for SEO?
Nope. But it’s not plug-and-play either. The problem isn’t the platform. It’s how it’s built—and whether we’ve got access to fix things.
Can you just give the dev a list?
We can, and we do. But real SEO involves reacting quickly. Lists and email chains don’t help much when you need to test and tweak.
What if I love my site but want better SEO?
That’s fine. But we’ll need to be in the loop with your dev or given permission to make changes ourselves—otherwise, we’re working in the dark.
Can SilverStripe sites be SEO-friendly?
Absolutely. But they have to be set up that way on purpose. And unfortunately, many aren’t.
If This Sounds Familiar…
If you’re running a business on SilverStripe and your SEO isn’t gaining traction, it might not be the strategy. It could be the setup. Or worse—the bottleneck between strategy and implementation.
We’ve seen it. We’ve worked through it. And if you need help navigating it, just give us a call.
We’re Net Branding, based in Auckland—but we work with businesses across NZ and beyond.
Our goal?
Helping you be seen, be heard, and be found online—no matter what platform you’re on.
