Technical SEO and indexing

Articles

• The status of AMP for Google search

  Reference guide

  AMP is no longer a ranking factor or required for Top Stories since 2021, and here is what that means for existing AMP pages.

• Add breadcrumb structured data (BreadcrumbList)

  Tutorial

  Add BreadcrumbList structured data correctly: ListItem, position, name and item, the desktop-only rich result note, and how to match the visible trail.

• Canonical vs redirect vs noindex

  Reference guide

  Compare canonical tags, redirects, and noindex for duplicate content. Learn why a 301 beats a canonical, when they conflict, and the audit order.

• Canonical tags explained (rel=canonical)

  Reference guide

  Canonical tag guide: what rel=canonical does, why duplicate pages need one, and how to handle self-referencing and cross-domain canonicals.

• Canonicalization edge cases

  Reference guide

  Canonicalization edge cases: conflicting signals, WWW vs non-www, trailing slash, parameters, pagination and hreflang interactions.

• Crawl budget and site architecture

  Reference guide

  Crawl budget guide: what it is, why it matters for large sites, and how site architecture, intern links and blocking spend it.

• Duplicate content and canonical conflicts

  Troubleshooting guide

  Debugging duplicate content by cause, choosing canonical versus 301, and fixing www, trailing slash, query and pagination duplication.

• Duplicate content myths in SEO

  Reference guide

  What Google really does with duplicate content, why there is no penalty, the craft around percentages and scraped text, and how to respond.

• SEO for e-commerce: categories, faceted nav and canonicals

  Reference guide

  Ecommerce SEO basics: category versus product pages, faceted URL explosion, canonical strategy with filters and breadcrumbs.

• An operational approach to Google E-E-A-T

  Tutorial

  An operational approach to Google E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust, and the recurring checks that build them.

• Faceted navigation and SEO

  Tutorial

  Faceted navigation SEO: filter URLs can bloat the index. Triage each facet into index, noindex, canonical, or a robots.txt block instead of a blanket fix.

• FAQ structured data schema guide

  Reference guide

  Learn whether FAQPage schema is still worth adding, how to write FAQ structured data correctly, and why the FAQ rich result no longer shows.

• Hreflang basics for multilingual sites

  Reference guide

  Hreflang basics: how to mark language and region variants, the self-return and reciprocity rules, x-default, and the three implementation methods.

• hreflang edge cases and validation

  Troubleshooting guide

  hreflang edge cases: x-default fallback, self-reference and reciprocity, region code rules, canonical clashes, and non-HTML files.

• HTTPS and SEO: what the switch changes

  Reference guide

  HTTPS SEO guide: what the switch changes historically, mixed content, hardcoded http links, and the correct migration order.

• When and how to add images to structured data

  Reference guide

  Adding schema.org image properties to your structured data, format and size guidance, and reviewing for errors.

• Setting up IndexNow for instant URL notifications

  Tutorial

  Set up IndexNow: create and host a key file, submit single URLs or batches to the endpoint, and verify with a 200 response.

• Internal link anchor text strategy

  Tutorial

  Craft internal-link anchor text that helps both users and search engines: descriptive labels, contextual placement, and what to avoid.

• SEO for JavaScript-rendered sites

  Reference guide

  SEO for JavaScript sites: how Googlebot renders client-side apps, what stays invisible, and how to ship indexable initial HTML.

• Nested JSON-LD structured data done correctly

  Reference guide

  Nested JSON-LD structured data explained: correct nesting, cross-referencing with @id, and keeping multiple blocks consistent.

• Diagnosing and fixing keyword cannibalization

  Tutorial

  Keyword cannibalization: multiple pages split ranking signals for the same intent. Detect it in Search Console, then merge, redirect, or differentiate.

• Log file analysis for SEO

  Tutorial

  Use server access logs to see real crawler activity for SEO, verify bots by IP, find crawl traps, and cross-reference with Search Console crawl stats.

• Machine-translated content and SEO

  Reference guide

  Machine translation can bring multilingual users, but poor automated translation can hurt usability and SEO. Learn what to check before serving a translated page.

• Writing a good meta description

  Tutorial

  Write a meta description that summarises the page, targets the query and earns clicks, with length and format guidance.

• Mobile-first indexing practical checklist

  Tutorial

  Mobile-first indexing: Google uses the mobile version for indexing and ranking. Check content parity, crawlability, and mobile UX with this checklist.

• NewsArticle rather than Article structured data

  Reference guide

  NewsArticle versus Article structured data, when each applies, the required and recommended properties, and rich result eligibility.

• noindex and meta robots explained

  Reference guide

  noindex and meta robots guide: the robots directive table, X-Robots-Tag versus meta, and noindex versus robots.txt Disallow.

• noindex versus robots.txt

  Reference guide

  noindex vs robots.txt: robots.txt stops crawling, noindex stops indexing. A blocked page cannot show its noindex, so never combine the two for removal.

• www vs non-www: pick one and redirect

  Troubleshooting guide

  www vs non-www guide: why the two hosts look duplicated, picking a preferred host, 301 redirecting, and edge cases.

• Canonical or index for paginated content

  Reference guide

  SEO for paginated content: canonical per page versus view-all, legacy rel prev next, and modern canonical guidance.

• Advanced robots.txt directives

  Reference guide

  Advanced robots.txt syntax: wildcards and dollar anchors, user-agent groups and longest-match, the Sitemap line, and the crawl-vs-index split.

• robots.txt: what it can and cannot do

  Reference guide

  robots.txt guide: User-agent, Allow, Disallow, wildcards and Sitemap directives, plus what robots.txt can and cannot control.

• Legal entity schema (Organization and LocalBusiness)

  Reference guide

  Legal entity structured data: Organization, LocalBusiness and Corporation subtypes, legalName, identifiers and sameAs, and the pitfalls to avoid.

• Site name structured data explained

  Reference guide

  Site name structured data: JSON-LD markup, the visible page name rule, and how Google chooses the title it shows.

• Sitemap change frequency values explained

  Reference guide

  Sitemap changefreq: values, how Google treats them, lastmod best practice, and how to wire it in your sitemap generator.

• Sitemap index files and splitting large sitemaps

  Tutorial

  Split large sitemaps at the 50,000 URL or 50 MB limit and reference them with a sitemap index file, also capped at 50,000 entries and 50 MB.

• XML sitemaps: structure, limits and maintenance

  Reference guide

  XML sitemap guide: url and loc structure, lastmod, the 50k URL and 50MB limits, sitemap index files, and maintenance.

• Soft 404 pages and how to fix them

  Reference guide

  What a soft 404 is, why returning HTTP 200 on missing pages confuses Google, and how to return real 404 or 410 statuses.

• Subdomain vs subfolder for SEO

  Reference guide

  Subdomain vs subfolder guide: how Google treats them, link signal consolidation, when a subdomain is justified.

• How crawling and indexing work

  Reference guide

  How Google crawling and indexing works: crawl, render, index, serve, discovery, exclusions, and what technical SEO controls.

• Site SEO versus platform SEO

  Reference guide

  Site SEO vs platform SEO: which layer owns each index signal, how Shopify or WordPress SaaS defaults behave, and how Search Console splits the blame.

• Structured data types that still matter

  Reference guide

  Structured data for SEO: Product, Service, LocalBusiness, FAQ and HowTo status, and how to implement and test schema now.

• Writing an effective title tag

  Tutorial

  Write an effective title tag: state the topic, hold the length, avoid duplication and keyword stuffing, and place the brand well.

• Video sitemap guide

  Tutorial

  Build a Google video sitemap: required video tags, thumbnail and player URLs, duration, and the 50k entry and 50 MB limits.

• Using the x-robots-tag HTTP header

  Reference guide

  x-robots-tag header: directives, per-response control, non-HTML support, and how it compares with meta robots and robots.txt.