Can I use webflow for my homepage and a Nextjs page as a sub directory?

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1

Hi there, I am currently building a website where users can search for locations to find tours and activities. The tours and activities are displayed via an API so the content does not benefit from any SEO -this is an issue for us.

A friend has recommended building the homepage in webflow so I can benefit from SEO with content and blogs, and have the tours search on a subdirectory eg website.com/tours

What I’m wondering is if it is possible to have Webflow as my homepage and another page built in Next.js on a subdirectory?

What would be the best way to set this up?

Cheers

2

Depending on the specifics of your search, your tour data, your SEO goals, and your plans for “building SEO” through the webflow landing area, you have a few directions you could take.

  1. Design the site on Webflow, and host the entire thing on your own servers. You’ll need your own CMS, sitemap.xml, form submission handlers, etc. but you get full seamless integration with your programmatic pages.

  2. Design and host on Webflow. Use the CMS for your blog content. Setup a reverse proxy to forward requests appropriately to either your Webflow site, or to your separately-hosted programmatic pages.

  3. Design and host on Webflow. Use the CMS. Use Wized as a programmatic front end for your searching, against your tour db. This depends heavily on what you’ve already built, what you need, how it works… but it would give you the easiest path to a more programmatic UX in a Webflow-hosted site.

There are a lot of other options too, but they generally head towards the AJAX route, and can be sluggish for your content delivery. Since the tour search is the primary CTA, that would likely work against your business interests.

4

Thanks for your details response - Option 2 sounds the simplest for our situation

Do you know if using a reverse proxy has effects on SEO?

Is this write-up what you’re referring to (SEO section) Reverse Proxy Server: What it is and SEO Benefits | Meaningful - Growth Marketing?

5

None of them are really simple, but the reverse proxy approach gives you the best 2-way integration while keeping access to the full set of Webflow-hosted-site features. That’s a pretty good strategy.

SEO is primarily about content, METAs, titles, and URLs.
A properly setup reverse proxy won’t impede any of that.

Search the forums here and you’ll find some guides and discussions on how to setup an RP for Webflow specifically. I’d recommend you practice using a “test” domain name and Webflow site first, to work out the precise RP config and webflow-side config before you apply it to your main production site.