Can you rank well with a CMS?

Search engine friendly url's will get me indexed but what then?

[HeyJim]

I'm toying with the idea of using a cms (Plone? Wordpress?) for what is basically an informational/educational site that will also contain links to products I sell.

Using a CMS with search engine friendly url's will get me indexed but it seems like I'd give up a lot in terms of a custom meta description for each page, maybe limitations on what I can do with page titles(? - no experience here with CMS), linking structure, clean code, etc.

My question probably boils down to: if one uses a CMS is it even more difficult to get a high ranking for one's keywork phrases than something built in Dreamweaver? I'm hardly an SEO expert but I've done ok with a couple of sites and I'm wondering if I'd be giving up too much flexibility in site design if I go with a CMS for some of my sites.

Opinions and insight greatly appreciated.

[encyclo]

Sites produced with a good CMS are as flexible as sites produced by hand - what's more, the code tends to be cleaner, they are easier to manage, the look and feel of the site is easier to control, you can have content editors who can't alter the design, you can have custom titles for each page - basically, there is no downside unless the database is slow or you aren't producing search-engine friendly URLs.

I would highly recommend using a CMS for any site with more than a few pages.

[seth_wilde]

It really depends on the cms you use. Some are horrible for seo, and some work great. It sounds like you have a pretty good grip on what access/control you'll need for seo, now you just need to find a cms to meet those needs.

[arrowman]

SE friendly URLs are very important. Plone does this well AFAIK.

All other issues (title, link structure, meta, ...) should be fine with any reasonable generic CMSs, since you typically design the templates yourself.

[d_stew]

OK, checking the glossary, I find no definition for a CMS. I'm sure I'll know what it is when someone tells me, but could someone please define CMS?

[karmov]

A CMS is a Content Management System. It's a tool you can use to manage the content of your site without needing write/edit HTML for each and every page. You do the HTML part once, in a template and then just start working on your content. Changes to the HTML can easily be propagated through the entire using these types of systems as well.