From WordPress Woes to SEO Wins: The Tool That Turbocharged Our Client's SEO

• Why We Chose Docusaurus for Our SEO Client's Landing Pages

As a seasoned developer, I have seen my fair share of projects come and go. But every once in a while, a project comes along that changes the game. This is the story of how I stumbled upon an unexpected solution that not only met my client's needs but exceeded my own expectations.

Recently, a client asked me to create a landing page with exceptional SEO rankings, and I found myself at crossroads: which platform should I use? WordPress? React? Or something completely different? When I was a junior dev, I would dive head-first into coding such a site. I stuck with only the tools I knew then (ReactJS), and tried to fit React for every web dev problem. Now that I know better, my first step for the site was to look into SEO friendly alternatives to ReactJS.

Using the right tool is the difference between laboring for weeks, and being efficient - sometimes, it is not how fast you row, but which boat you are in. After some deliberation, I decided to use Docusaurus. I know, I know—it's probably not the first tool that springs to mind for landing pages. But let me explain: using Docusaurus was a pivotal moment for us. Here's why.

** (hammer+nail analogy)

Before we dive in, let's get one thing straight: Docusaurus isn't some rare dinosaur species. It's an open-source static site generator developed by Facebook. Think of it as a turbocharged documentation tool that can create websites faster than you can say "React."

1. The Setup: Easier Than Teaching My Gran to Use Facebook

Let's face it - we've all been there with WordPress especially. You start with enthusiasm and hope, but before you know it, you're drowning in a labyrinth of plugins and configuration files. In contrast, with Docusaurus, we had our first pages up and running faster than you can say "SEO optimization." It was like the tech gods smiled upon us. Its markdown-based content creation was a breath of fresh air. Our content team could jump in and start crafting SEO-friendly copy without waiting for us devs to finish tinkering. The markdown-based content creation was a huge step forward. Our content team was able to begin and complete tasks that would have taken much longer to finish if our development team were the only ones capable of making WordPress changes

2. SEO: Baked In, Not Bolted On

Here's where things got interesting. Docusaurus isn't just SEO-friendly; it's like it was built with SEO as its north star. Static site generation meant our pages loaded faster than a caffeinated cheetah. And let me tell you, search engines, like Google have a speed bias.

But it wasn't just about speed. Docusaurus came with built-in SEO features that made our lives so much easier. Automatic sitemap generation? Check. Easy meta tag management? You bet. It was like having an SEO expert built right into the platform.

3. Rockstar Performance

Now, I love WordPress as much as the next SEO developer. But let's be real—it can be a bit of a resource and memory hog sometimes. Our client needed pages that could handle traffic spikes without breaking a sweat. Docusaurus proved a worthy adversary to this problem. The static pages it generated were a paragon of static page virtues: lean, mean, lightning-fast. We saw load times drop dramatically compared to their old WordPress setup. They delivered on each and every one of our design goals - especially the performance ones - in spades.

To put it in perspective, we ran some tests using webpagetests.org. Here's what we found:

Feature	WordPress	React	Docusaurus
Setup Time	2-3 hours	4-5 hours	1 hour
Page Load Speed	2.5 seconds	1.8 seconds	0.8 seconds
SEO Features	Requires plugins	Manual implementation	Built-in
Ease of Content Updates	Moderate	Complex	Simple
Deployment	Requires server setup	Varies	One-click with GitHub Pages

WordPress: Chugged along at 2.5 seconds. Not great, not terrible. React: Better at 1.8 seconds. Not bad, kid. Docusaurus: Holy smokes, 0.8 seconds!

The client was impressed. It was like we'd just pulled off a magic trick, but with less rabbits and more coding.

4. GitHub Pages: Deployment Made Easy

Here's where we really scored points with the client. Deploying with GitHub Pages was a stroke of genius (if I do say so myself). It was free, reliable, has a built-in CDN, and fit perfectly with our workflow. With github pages' CI/CD, every time we pushed a change, boom - it was live. No more FTP nightmares or wrestling with server configs. Plus, the client loved being able to see the changes in real-time without any technical know-how on their part.

5. Just Enough React.JS to Keep Things Interesting

ReactJs is a great framework for many things. But for landing pages? That is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Docusaurus provides a React-ish framework that is plenty powerful for landing pages and is much quicker to work with (and to debug) than a full-blown React application. Docusaurus gave us just enough React power to add some custom pizzazz where we needed it, without the overhead of a full React app. We could focus on crafting killer landing pages instead of battling webpack configs. hat's a win in my book.

6. Content is King, and Docusaurus Knows It

At the end of the day, our job was to create landing pages that converted. And boy, did Docusaurus deliver. Docusaurus let us focus on what mattered - the content. We iterated rapidly, A/B testing different layouts and fine-tuning our copy, all without losing any needless time to technical details.

The Not-So-Rosy Parts (Because No Tool is Perfect)

Alright, let's remove the rose-colored glasses and take a real look at Docusaurus. It isn't without its quirks. And surprisingly, it isn't without its problems. Here's a list of the major things I see when I look at Docusaurus:

1. Learning Curve: If you're coming from anon-technical background, or a pure WordPress background, there's a bit of a learning curve. Not Everest-steep, but definitely not a walk in the park either.
2. Limited Themes: The theme options aren't as vast as WordPress. We had to roll up our sleeves and do some custom styling. It's not a dealbreaker, but it's something to keep in mind.
3. Plugin Ecosystem: It's growing, but it's not as rich as WordPress. Luckily for us, the available plugins were plenty enough, but you might have to whittle your own tools sometimes.

The Verdict: A Win for Us and the Client

Despite these minor hiccups, choosing Docusaurus for our SEO client's landing pages was a slam dunk. It gave us the speed and SEO benefits we needed, with a simplicity that let us focus on crafting killer content and its presentation.

The proof was in the pudding - or in this case, the analytics, which showed a delightfully steep improvement right after the launch:

• A 40% decrease in bounce rate
• A 25% increase in average time on page
• A 15% boost in organic search traffic

Not too shabby, if you ask me.

So, next time you're pulling your hair out over a landing page project, give Docusaurus a shot. It might just be the SEO dark horse you're looking for.

In the end, our unexpected choice of Docusaurus turned out to be a game-changer for both us and our client. Sometimes, thinking outside the box can lead to surprising results. Who knew that a tool we initially overlooked would become our secret weapon for SEO success?

Have you ever stumbled upon an unexpected solution that changed the game for your projects? Share your experiences in the comments below!

---

1. "How a 2 AM Coffee-Fueled Decision Led to SEO Gold"

2. "Docusaurus: The Underdog that Saved Our SEO Project"

3. "From WordPress Woes to SEO Wins: Our Accidental Love Affair with Docusaurus"

4. "Confessions of a Sleep-Deprived Dev: How We Stumbled into SEO Success"

5. "The SEO Tool That Made Our Client's Jaw Drop (Hint: It's Not WordPress)"

6. "Ditching WordPress: Our Surprising Journey to Faster Landing Pages"

7. "How We Turned a Late-Night Gamble into a 40% Bounce Rate Decrease"

8. "The Accidental SEO Wizards: Our Unexpected Journey with Docusaurus"

9. "Beyond WordPress: The Tool That Turbocharged Our Client's SEO"

10. "Coffee, Code, and Conversions: Our Docusaurus Success Story"

11. "From Skeptics to Evangelists: How Docusaurus Won Our SEO Hearts"

12. "The 'Aha!' Moment: Discovering Docusaurus and Revolutionizing Our SEO Game"

13. "Faster Than Dave's Pizza Sprint: Our SEO Breakthrough with Docusaurus"

14. "Breaking the Mold: How We Accidentally Became SEO Rockstars"

15. "The SEO Experiment That Paid Off: Our Love-Hate Relationship with Docusaurus"

These titles capture the casual, humorous tone of the article while highlighting key aspects like the accidental nature of the discovery, the SEO success, and the comparison with more traditional tools like WordPress. They're designed to pique curiosity and encourage clicks on the Medium platform.