Benefits of a Headless CMS
Listen on
Benefits of a Headless CMS
Table of Contents
If you’ve ever wondered what a headless CMS is and why it’s important, you’re not alone.
We get it. So many new buzzwords are being thrown around, it’s hard to know what they all mean. But when it comes to web development, your organization needs the best technology available.
That’s why we’ve put together this blog post on headless CMS software. We’ll explain how it works and how it can help your business scale!
What Is a Traditional CMS?
Before we dive into the advantages of a headless CMS, let’s backtrack quickly. To appreciate the differences, you need to understand what a “traditional” CMS is.
In a traditional CMS, the back-end and front-end of a website are interconnected. Meaning that a website or application has all its components (CSS, HMTL, media, etc) in one location.
This approach makes a traditional CMS very bloated and slow. It’s also difficult for components to be reused easily. Any CSS or Javascript changes affect several parts of your site.
CMS platforms such as WordPress have failed to keep pace with modern web development. Their framework makes it tricky to serve the same content across different devices.
Enter the headless CMS.
What Is a Headless CMS?
A headless CMS by definition:
The headless CMS is a back-end content management system (“the body”) that’s decoupled from the front-end (“the head”).
What’s one of the main benefits of a headless CMS? It can deliver content to any device without the need for much front-end code!
That means they’re agile.
They have a level of flexibility and scalability that a traditional CMS can’t match. Imagine being able to put content into your CMS and have it displayed on any device without lots of code. The content gets delivered to a device via APIs instead of heavy front-end coding.
Headless CMS vs. Traditional CMS
First, let’s put each CMS into context.
When the traditional CMS was developed, desktop computers were the only gig in town. Their goal was to make website blogging easy for everyone. They were never intended to be used across many devices at scale. CMS developers made a valiant effort to make them compatible with new devices. But the resulting code-bloat has slowed down websites and increased cybersecurity threats.
Conversely, the headless CMS was developed to be fast, easily scalable, and secure. Most importantly, it needed to provide an omnichannel experience. It’s become imperative for websites and apps to work on any device.
The differences between a headless CMS vs. traditional CMS are many, so here’s a quick summary.
Benefits of a Headless CMS
The main advantages of a headless CMS compared to a traditional one:
⦁ Facilitates real-time collaboration. Content delivered through APIs and webhooks. Increasing content delivery speed so marketers can be more agile.
⦁ Can be more cost-effective for businesses because a headless CMS doesn’t need hosting.
⦁ Manages content from one place, freeing up the presentation layer. Thus easier to reuse content and scale it across many platforms.
⦁ Served via APIs, allowing web developers to use their preferred front-end language.
Why Headless CMS Is Better Than Traditional CMS for SEO?
To have the best SEO for your website your content must be fresh and relevant.
The digital landscape moves quickly. You don’t want to be waiting for overworked developers to find the time to implement brilliant new ideas.
By using a headless CMS you get the best of both worlds:
⦁ Better SEO results thanks to superior content optimization across multiple devices
⦁ Shorter development times due to their use of APIs
Headless CMS Use Cases
A headless CMS can be the backbone of any website type, but here are a few that have the best headless CMS use cases.
Products & Services Websites
One of the best things about a headless CMS is that it isn’t geared toward a page-based content structure. Manage your digital kiosks, voice assistants, print, and websites, from the same place.
Web Apps
A headless CMS is popular among high-performing “Jamstack” sites. It works with static-site generators such as Next, 11ty, and Gatsby. They’re also popular with JavaScript frameworks like Svelte, React, Angular, and Vue.js.
eCommerce Websites
The immense flexibility and scalability of a headless CMS are a boon to any eCommerce site. They make SEO for product categories and filtering a breeze. And the best part? Seamless integration with inventory management systems and eCommerce platforms such as SAP Hybris and Shopify.
Headless CMS Is the Future
Now you have a better understanding of what a headless CMS is we hope you’re as excited about them as we are. With any luck, this article helped ease any confusion you had about these platforms. The benefits of a headless CMS will streamline web development and content management for your business.