SEO Integration Documentation
Introduction
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an integral part of the framework, seamlessly incorporated to enhance website visibility and performance across various search engines. This documentation outlines the framework's SEO features and provides guidelines for optimizing page metadata.
Header Tags
Upon inspecting the header.php theme file, you'll notice a dedicated section for header tags. These tags play a crucial role not only in standard SEO practices but also in providing OpenGraph information. The framework includes fallback mechanisms for cases where information is absent. Each page expects a specific set of metadata, most of which defaults to predefined values if not explicitly provided.
Metadata Defaults
It is recommended to customize information for each page to optimize SEO performance. Even seemingly minor elements like page images significantly impact SEO. For posts, the impact is amplified due to their specialized nature.
Default Metadata Values:
- Page Title: Defaults to the name of the page file.
- Page Layout: Defaults to 'page'.
- Page Date: If not specified, defaults to the date from the file.
- Page Image: Filled from
websiteimagedefined inconfig.php. - Page Excerpt: Falls back to the website description set in
config.php. - Page Keywords: Falls back on website keywords from
config.php. - Page Author: Falls back on the website author set in
config.php. - Page Type: Falls back on website settings.
<!-- pagetitle: -->
<!-- pagelayout: -->
<!-- pagedate: -->
<!-- pageimage: -->
<!-- pageexcerpt: -->
<!-- pagekeywords: -->
<!-- pageauthor: -->
<!-- pagetype: -->Importance of Customization
While defaults and fallbacks exist, it's essential to customize metadata for each page for optimal SEO performance. Communicating this requirement to end-users is crucial for maximizing the framework's effectiveness.
Framework Reliability
Efforts have been made to make the framework as foolproof as possible to minimize potential issues. However, there may still be scenarios where challenges arise beyond the scope of immediate resolution.
Viewing Metadata
To facilitate the viewing of metadata as interpreted by search engines, a built-in method is provided. Simply append /?meta=yes to the end of the URL to activate the meta-info panel. Additionally, once you have added that query to your url, JavaScript automatically appends /?meta=yes to all page links, allowing for efficient checking across multiple pages. Clicking the home link in the navigation bar disables this feature and restores links back to their original targets.
By following these guidelines and leveraging the framework's built-in SEO capabilities, users can enhance their website's visibility and performance across various search engines.