Is there a visibility difference between a template site and custom design?

Short answer: In the visibility layer, no: schema layer, llms.txt, semantic HTML and bot accessibility are built to the same standard on a template site and on a custom design. The difference lies not in the visibility layer but in design freedom, page capacity and the scope of canon setup.

Claiming that templates are bad and custom design is good would not be honest. A well-built template site can carry the same readability signals for crawlers as a custom design.

Where the real differences are

• Design freedom: a template adapts a ready layout to the brand; custom design develops brand-specific structures and components.
• Scope: the Starter package works with template adaptation up to 12 pages; the Business package extends to up to 25 pages with custom design.
• Canon setup: BrandLock canon setup is included from the Business tier onward; the multilingual canon belongs to the Enterprise tier.

The choice should follow need, not visibility worries: page count, language scope and the depth of the brand build. In both cases a baseline is measured at handover and later reports are read against that line.