The SEO tab
Pages, blog posts, books, FAQs and product descriptions have an SEO tab. Every field is optional; the site's templates decide what to show when one is empty, usually the record's title.
- SEO Title: the title in the browser tab and the headline in search results. Around 50 to 60 characters fits in most results.
- Meta Description: the text under the headline in search results. It does not change ranking, but it decides whether people click.
- Meta Keywords: comma-separated keywords. Major search engines ignore them.
- Canonical URL: the preferred address of content that answers at more than one.
- Alternate URLs: other addresses of the same content, one per line.
- Robots settings: whether search engines index the page and follow its links (below).
- Share image: the picture shown when the page is shared on social media or in chat.
The fields are stored with the record; the site's templates print them into the page. If a field seems to have no effect, the template may not use it: ask whoever maintains it.
Robots settings
Choose one of five options:
- Default (recommended): no instruction, so search engines index the page and follow its links.
- Index & follow: the same, said explicitly.
- Index, but don't follow: show the page in results, ignore its links.
- Don't index, but follow: keep the page out of results, follow its links.
- Don't index and don't follow: keep it out of results and ignore its links.
Custom URLs and redirects
A page's address comes from its place in the tree. A custom URL gives it a second, shorter or more memorable address, and the site then links to that one. A redirect sends visitors from an old address to the new one. Custom URLs and redirects explains which to use when.