Implementing a Web CMS can help or hinder your search engine rankings, although done right, greater automation should ultimately improve your SEO performance. You should be suspicious of any vendor who says that their tool is uniquely better suited to optimization, since the devil always lies in the implementation details.

As such, I take a somewhat jaundiced eye to Sitecore's recent release of an "SEO module." You can develop a very search engine-unfriendly website in Sitecore, as you can in any other Web CMS tool. What's interesting and potentially useful, though, is the managerial reports Sitecore makes available, like in-bound link analysis and error alerts. I think web marketers want and need more metrics and analysis within their content management environments, and this is a good start.

There is a downside, however. The data will look scientific enough, but an emphasis on gimmickry (like "keyword density analysis") and attendant editorial tweaking to fool search engine algorithms can actually serve to take your eyes off the real prize. The best longterm SEO strategy is to publish fresh, useful content that other people want to link to. And therefore, the real question to ask your team is: how will our CMS -- or any CMS -- help us do that?