Technical SEO Guide

Why Set a Preferred Domain?

When setting up your website or blog, you need to specify your preferred domain. By doing so you instruct search engines as to which variation of the domain you want to use throughout the lifetime of your website.

Understanding WWW vs Non-WWW

A website (by default) is accessible with www and without www in front of a domain name.

For example, if your domain is example.com, your website can be accessed by both https://www.example.com and https://example.com (i.e. without the www).

While this is ok for users, it is confusing for search engines because they consider these as two different websites.

Technical Difference

Let's see a couple of examples:

URLs with www

• https://www.example.com
• http://www.example.com

URLs with no www

• https://example.com
• http://example.com

Domains with no www in front are also called naked domains. Domains with www can also act as a hostname which can sometimes be easier to manage when it comes to cookies, in cases where you have a number of subdomains assigned to the www domain.

Which Format Should You Choose?

The answer is simple. It depends on your personal preference. There is no SEO advantage from using one format or the other.

Three Important Requirements:

1. Configure your website to 'listen' to only one of the variations
2. Let Google and other search engines know what is your preferred choice
3. Be consistent and use the chosen variation when adding internal links

How to Set Your Preferred Domain

Step 1: Check Your CMS

Login to your CMS and look for the domain-related settings. Most CMS allows you to specify your website URL. If you're on WordPress you can log in to your WordPress dashboard and then click GENERAL and then select SETTINGS from the left menu.

Step 2: Communicate Your Preference to Search Engines

Google decided to remove the preferred domain option from Search Console and now relies on canonical URLs. A canonical URL (aka canonical domain), is a piece of HTML code that is added in the HEAD section of a page and tells search engines which is the preferred URL for the particular page.

To check if your website sets the canonical domain correctly, open your homepage in a new browser window and then go to VIEW SOURCE (right-click anywhere on the page and select view source from the menu).

Search for the word 'canonical' and you should see a line like this:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/" />

What is Robots.txt?

A robots.txt is a text file that resides in the root directory of your website and gives search engines crawlers instructions as to which pages they can crawl and index during the crawling and indexing process.

When visiting a website, the first thing search engines do is to look for and check the contents of the robots.txt file. Depending on the rules specified in the file, they create a list of the URLs they can crawl and later index for the particular website.

Why Use Robots.txt?

The most common use cases of robots.txt are the following:

1. To block search engines from accessing specific pages or directories
2. To reduce server load on large websites by restricting crawling
3. When you use URL cloaking for your affiliate links

Important Things to Know

How Does Robots.txt Work?

The robots file has a very simple structure with predefined keyword/value combinations:

Common Directives:

• User-agent: Specifies which crawlers should take into account the directives
• Disallow: Instructs a user-agent not to crawl a URL or part of a website
• Allow: Tells explicitly which pages or subfolders can be accessed (Googlebot only)
• Crawl-delay: Forces crawlers to wait a specific amount of time before crawling the next page
• Sitemap: Specifies the location of your XML Sitemap

Example Robots.txt:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

How to Create and Test Robots.txt

Creating a robots.txt file is easy. All you need is a text editor (like brackets or notepad) and access to your website's files (via FTP or control panel).

Before getting into the process of creating a robots file, the first thing to do is to check if you already have one. The easiest way to do this is to open a new browser window and navigate to https://www.yourdomain.com/robots.txt

The best way to test and validate it is through the robots.txt tester tool in Google Search Console.

What is a URL?

A URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. In simple terms, a URL specifies the web address of a page. Each and every web page on the Internet has a unique URL (also called a permalink).

The URL of a single page has two parts: the first part is the domain (not configurable), and the second part is the path to find the page within the domain (this part is configurable).

What is an SEO-Friendly URL?

A friendly URL accurately describes the page using keywords that are easy to read for both search engines and users.

Why URLs Matter for SEO

• User Experience: Easy to understand URLs improve the user experience
• SEO Ranking Factor: Although minor, well-crafted URLs are a ranking factor
• Click-Through Rates: URLs shown in search results attract more clicks
• Anchor Text: Users linking with the URL provide keyword context

How to Optimize Your URLs

What is an XML Sitemap?

In simple terms, an XML sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages of your website that search engine crawlers should know about.

Even if you don't have a sitemap, search engines can still index your website, but having a sitemap makes their job easier, and it also allows you to let them know about pages or parts of your website they may not discover easily.

When is a Sitemap Really Important?

• For websites with many pages, a sitemap helps discover new or updated pages
• For websites that don't use good internal linking practices
• For new websites that don't have many incoming links

How to Create an XML Sitemap

To check if your website has a sitemap, open a new browser window and navigate to http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

An XML sitemap is not a static file, but it needs to be updated automatically when a new page is added to your website or when changes are made to existing pages.

For WordPress websites, plugins like Yoast SEO can automatically generate and update your sitemap.

What to Include in Your Sitemap

The most important sitemap optimization guidelines are:

• Include pages that are important and have high-quality content
• Exclude pages that have duplicate content (archive, tag, author pages)
• Exclude pages with 'thin content'
• Organize your sitemap into sub-sitemaps for larger sites
• Submit a separate sitemap for videos if applicable
• Add your sitemap in robots.txt
• Include only URLs that Google can access
• Include the 'last modification time' field

How to Submit Your Sitemap to Google

There are two ways to ensure that Google will pick up your sitemap:

Method 1: Add to Robots.txt

Edit your robots.txt file and add a line at the end:

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Method 2: Submit in Google Search Console

1. Login to Google Search Console
2. Click SITEMAPS under INDEX
3. Type in your sitemap filename and click SUBMIT

What is Schema Markup?

Schema markup is a way to 'describe' your content to search engines in a way they can understand it. This is done by adding pieces of code to your HTML that consists of pre-defined tags (semantic vocabulary) that search engines understand.

Why is Structured Data Important for SEO?

• Prepare for Future SEO: Feature gaining ground that may enter ranking algorithm
• Rich Snippets: Enhanced search results with more attractive, informative entries
• Local SEO: Provide detailed local business information to search engines
• Google Shopping: Required for running successful shopping campaigns
• Voice Search: Helps rank in featured snippets and voice search results

Supported Schema Types

Google currently supports the following schemas:

• Article
• Book
• Breadcrumb
• Carousel
• Corporate Contact
• Course
• Critic Review
• Dataset
• Event
• Job Posting
• Local Business
• Logo
• Product
• Recipe
• Review Snippet
• And many more...

How to Add Schema Markup

Manual Method: Google Structured Data Markup Helper

1. Open the structured data helper tool
2. Select the type of schema you want
3. Enter a URL from your website
4. Tag elements on your page
5. Generate and download the code
6. Add JSON-LD script to your page HEAD

Automated Method: WordPress Plugins

The Yoast SEO plugin has built-in support for several schemas including:

• Webpage
• Organization
• Person
• Article
• Image
• Video (Premium)
• Local SEO (Add-on)

How to Check for Errors

Use these methods to troubleshoot structured data:

• Structured Data Testing Tool: Validate your markup code
• URL Inspection Tool: Check pages in Google Search Console
• Enhancement Report: View detailed reports in Search Console

What are Breadcrumbs?

A breadcrumb trail is a small menu usually located at the top of a page, used as a navigational aid. It shows the path from the current page back to the homepage. Each step in the path is clickable.

Types of Breadcrumbs

1. Hierarchy-Based Breadcrumbs

The typical breadcrumb menu showing the hierarchical structure. Example: Home > Category > Subcategory > Current Page

2. Dynamic Breadcrumbs

Attribute-based breadcrumbs used when a product has many attributes. The breadcrumb trail reflects that to make navigation easier.

3. History-Based Breadcrumbs

Built based on pages a user has visited. Not a good SEO practice and not used very often.

Why are Breadcrumbs Important?

• Make navigation easier for users
• Encourage people to visit more pages, reducing bounce rate
• Help search engine bots during crawling and indexing
• Google shows breadcrumb information in search results instead of URLs

Breadcrumb SEO Best Practices

1. Ensure breadcrumbs are enabled and visible to users
2. Make breadcrumbs mobile-friendly with appropriate font sizes
3. Add breadcrumb schema markup for enhanced search results
4. Display complete hierarchy from homepage to current page

How to Add Breadcrumb Schema

The breadcrumblist schema has the following required properties:

• Item: URL of the page for the specific item
• Name: The title of the breadcrumb
• Position: The position of this item in the breadcrumb trail

WordPress Users: The Yoast SEO plugin has built-in support for breadcrumbs. Once activated, breadcrumbs can be configured automatically with proper schema markup.

Other Platforms: Use the structured data testing tool to check if breadcrumb schema is implemented. If not, hire a developer to add the necessary code.

What is a Canonical URL?

A canonical URL is added in the HEAD section of a page and tells search engines which is the preferred URL for the particular page. A canonical URL can point to itself (self-referencing) or a different URL.

<link rel="canonical" href="CANONICAL-URL"/>

When to Use Canonical URLs

1. Solve Duplicate Content Issues

Typical cases of duplicate content include:

• URLs accessible with or without www
• URLs accessible with both HTTP and HTTPS
• Pages with print-friendly versions
• Pages with identical content but different URLs

2. E-commerce Websites

Product category pages that have the same content and use filters. For example, product pages showing the same items in different colors.

3. Content Syndication

When you re-publish or syndicate your content on other platforms like Medium or LinkedIn, use canonical URLs to tell Google the original source.

How to Find Canonical URLs

Method 1: View HTML Source

Open a webpage in Chrome, select View > Developer > View Source, and search for 'canonical'.

Method 2: URL Inspection Tool

Use Google Search Console's URL Inspection Tool to see what Google considers to be the canonical URL.

Canonical URL Best Practices

1. Each page must have a canonical URL (self-referencing or to another URL)
2. Only one canonical URL per page
3. Canonical tag specified in the HEAD of the page
4. The URL must be valid
5. The canonical URL should not have the "noindex" attribute
6. Avoid creating loops with canonical tags
7. Use on pages with duplicate or similar content
8. URLs should follow the same format as homepage
9. For AMP pages, canonical should point to non-AMP version

Canonical URLs vs 301 Redirects

Canonical URLs: Users can still see both pages, but search engines are told not to consider one of them. Backlinks are consolidated to the target page.

301 Redirects: Users don't see the source page, only the target. Backlinks are also consolidated to the target page.

Rule of thumb: Use canonical URL when you want to keep the page on your site for navigation or user purposes. Use 301 when you don't want users to see the particular page.

What is Hreflang?

If your website is available in more than one language, you must implement hreflang. Hreflang will help Google serve the most appropriate page to your users (e.g., German pages for people in Germany) and protect you from possible duplicate content issues.

Implementation Methods

Method 1: Using Hreflang Tags

For each page on your website, you need to tell search engines the equivalent URL in all languages that the particular page is available.

Example for English and Spanish versions:

<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.example.com/en/page1/" hreflang="en" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://www.example.com/es/page1/" hreflang="es" />

Method 2: Using a Sitemap

Add language variations directly in your XML sitemap. For each page, you need to add the URLs in all available language versions.

Method 3: WordPress Plugin

Use a plugin like WPML. Install it, choose your language settings, and the plugin will handle the technical implementation automatically.

Best Practices

• Each language version must list itself as well as all other language versions
• Alternate URLs must be fully-qualified, including the transport method (HTTP/HTTPS)
• Alternate URLs do not need to be in the same domain
• If two pages don't point to each other, the tags will be ignored
• Consider adding a fallback page for unmatched languages using x-default value

What is Pagination?

In the context of SEO, the term paging is used to describe a situation when you publish a big article in several parts (pages). For example, a 10,000-word guide published as a series of blog posts across multiple URLs.

How to Implement Pagination

Define in the <head> of each page the 'next' and 'prev' tags. Example for a 4-part article:

First Page:

<link rel="next" href="http://www.example.com/myguide-part2">

Second Page:

<link rel="prev" href="http://www.example.com/myguide-part1">
<link rel="next" href="http://www.example.com/myguide-part3">

Third Page:

<link rel="prev" href="http://www.example.com/myguide-part2">
<link rel="next" href="http://www.example.com/myguide-part4">

Considerations

Advantages: Pages load faster and users may spend more time on your website clicking through content.

Disadvantages: Most users prefer to have everything loaded on one page rather than clicking to read the next part.

Before making a decision, consider the experience of your users. Perform A/B testing before adopting this policy for all content.

What is a 404 Page?

A 404 page is shown to users when the URL they visited does not exist on your website. Maybe the page was deleted, the URL was changed, or they mistyped the URL in their browsers.

Why Optimize Your 404 Page?

SEO is about improving the user experience, and a proper 404 page contributes to that goal. Most modern WordPress themes have optimized 404 pages by default. If not, you can easily improve your 404 page using a plugin or editing your theme templates.

What Makes an Optimized 404 Page?

An optimized 404 page should:

• Have the same structure and navigation menus as your website
• Tell visitors in a friendly language that the page is no longer available
• Give them alternatives (suggest other related pages)
• Make it easy to go back to the previous page, homepage, or other important pages

How to Test Your 404 Page

Testing is very easy: just open a new browser window and type a URL on your website that does not exist. What will be shown in the browser is your 404 page.

Bad 404 Page: Displays generic "Not found" message with no design or navigation options.

Good 404 Page: Provides user-friendly message, maintains site design, and offers navigation alternatives.

Why Site Structure Matters

A well-defined site structure makes the job of search engine crawlers easier, which means better indexing and more chances of achieving higher rankings.

With the introduction of artificial intelligence in the Google ranking algorithm, voice search, and mobile-first index, the structure of a website has gained more importance than ever.

Importance of Good Site Structure

• Helps search engines understand your content better
• Increases chances of getting Sitelinks in Google search
• Provides a great user experience and lowers bounce rate
• Makes navigation intuitive and efficient

Ideal Site Structures by Type

1. Blog Structure

Homepage → Categories → Blog Posts. Posts should be grouped into categories according to relevancy. For example, a food blog can have categories like Italian Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes, Chinese Recipes, etc.

2. Small Business / Corporate Website

Homepage → Departments → Services/Products → Blog Categories → Blog Posts. Provides information about the business, its products, services, and departments.

3. News Website

Homepage → Categories (by topic) → Archive (by date) → Articles. Group content by type and publication date.

4. E-commerce Website

Homepage → Product Categories → Subcategories → Product Pages. Can be more complex, but products should be accessible from homepage in less than 3 clicks.

How to Optimize Your Site Structure