As WordPress continues to evolve, one of the newest trends is headless WordPress, where the back-end content management system (CMS) is separated from the front-end, i.e., the part the users see and interact with. In this post, we’ll explain what headless WordPress is and the benefits of using it.
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How headless WordPress works
Traditionally, when you create a WordPress website, you use WordPress to manage both the front-end and back-end of your site. While this is a simple and convenient way to do things and remains the most effective approach for most website owners, a headless set-up can be more advantageous for businesses that want to create dynamic sites and offer faster, more engaging user experiences.
When you separate the front-end and back-end in a headless setup, you’ll still use WordPress to create, store and manage your content. However, you’ll use other systems to manage how the content is displayed online. What’s more, when you use this method, your content isn’t limited to being published on your website, the act of separation means it can also be used on your mobile app, as well as on smartwatches, voice assistants and other user-facing interfaces.
Why use headless WordPress?
There are several reasons why businesses may wish to use headless WordPress. One important reason is its potential to improve website speed and performance. Some of the popular JavaScript frameworks that handle the front end of applications, like React and Vue, can do so far more efficiently than WordPress itself, helping to dramatically reduce page loading times. For instance, during busy periods scaling can take place quickly and content can be cached and distributed more efficiently, especially when used in conjunction with a content delivery network. As a result, you can offer a better user experience, slash abandonment and bounce rates and boost your SEO.
Looking to enhance your SEO? Read: Hosting with SEO in Mind: Essential Features to Consider
The fact that WordPress website content can also be published to other channels and devices using a headless set-up makes it ideal for businesses that want to offer omnichannel customer experiences. It means you can create content in one place but deliver it consistently across a much wider range of platforms and thus more customer touchpoints. This not only widens your content’s scope; it also reduces the amount of effort required for content creation – you only need to do it once.
While WordPress enables website owners to design virtually any kind of site and do so uniquely, especially with the advent of the Block Editor and Full Site Editing, headless WordPress offers even greater flexibility in terms of front-end development. The ability to choose from a wide variety of front-end JavaScript frameworks means you can create one-of-a-kind user interfaces designed especially for your company’s needs. However, while you will no longer be reliant on a WordPress theme to create your site’s look, the level of complexity involved in using a headless set-up means you will need a developer to build the front end for you – which has obvious cost implications.
Headless WordPress can also help to strengthen security. With the front-end and back-end uncoupled, the back-end has less exposure to the internet, which can minimise the risks from brute force, code injection and DDOS attacks.
Learn more about Full Site Editing, Read: How Full Site Editing is Changing WordPress Customisation for Non-Coders
Is headless WordPress right for you?
Headless WordPress, while an evolution of the platform, certainly isn’t a solution for every website. Businesses that will find it useful include those who publish content on multiple platforms, like websites, apps and voice assistants; those that need exceptional website speed and performance, particularly with high traffic; and those that need to offer highly customised front-end experiences to their users, such as websites with integrated customer-facing apps.
Given the complexity of creating these unique front ends, businesses will also need to consider whether they have the in-house capacity to build them or whether they have the financial freedom to invest in development. For most businesses, at present, you’ll find the traditional way of using WordPress will be more than adequate for your needs.
How to set up headless WordPress
If you are considering building a headless WordPress website, there are a number of steps you will need to follow. The first thing you will need to do is choose your front-end framework. There are numerous options available, but the most popular include React, Vue, Svelte and Angular. The choice here will probably be down to your developer, who may pick one depending on their familiarity with it or its usefulness to your requirements.
The second step in the process is to set up and configure the API that allows your separated front-end and back-end to communicate with each other. This is essential in a headless setup as it allows the front-end to retrieve the content it needs to display from your CMS.
Another important part of the setup is to ensure you have the correct hosting solutions in place. Solutions is deliberately plural here as it is often better to have separate hosting for the front and back ends. Managed WordPress Hosting continues to be the most beneficial solution for the WordPress back-end, however, the front-end of the site should really be hosted on platforms that are optimised for modern JavaScript frameworks.
Once the headless site has been developed, your developer should test its performance before going live. This will ensure that the API calls are working effectively and that the front end is loading content quickly.
For more information about hosting, read: How to Choose the Right WordPress Hosting Plan for Your Business
Conclusion
Headless WordPress is a new and perhaps radical way to operate a WordPress website by separating the content management system from the front-end display. While it is ideal for businesses that need the flexibility to build fast-loading, highly customised websites and who wish to publish content to a variety of platforms, it requires the input of a developer and additional hosting requirements. As a result, it is likely to be more expensive to build and operate and will need more extensive management, having two distinct parts working together.
If you are considering headless WordPress and are looking for Managed WordPress Hosting for the back-end of your website, check out the extensive range of features available with our WordPress Hosting Plans.
