SEO Best Practices

Pagesmith generates SEO-friendly sites by default. This guide covers how to optimize further.

What Pagesmith Handles

Automatic:

• Static HTML (crawlable without JavaScript)
• sitemap.xml generation
• robots.txt file
• Semantic HTML structure
• Fast loading (SSG)

You Set:

• Page titles and descriptions
• Heading hierarchy
• Image alt text
• Internal linking
• Content quality

Title Tags

Every page needs a unique, descriptive title.

Format

[Primary Keyword] | [Brand Name]

Guidelines

• 50-60 characters max
• Primary keyword near the beginning
• Brand name at the end
• Unique for each page

Examples

✅ "Remote Work Productivity Guide | FocusFlow"
✅ "Pricing Plans - Start Free | FocusFlow"

❌ "FocusFlow - Home" (not descriptive)
❌ "The Ultimate Complete Guide to Everything About Remote Work..." (too long)

Meta Descriptions

The description shown in search results.

Guidelines

• 150-160 characters
• Include primary keyword
• Compelling reason to click
• Unique for each page

Examples

✅ "Boost your remote team's productivity with smart time-blocking.
   Join 2,000+ teams shipping faster. Try FocusFlow free."

❌ "Welcome to our website. We offer great services." (generic)

Heading Hierarchy

Use headings to structure content logically.

Rules

h1 — One per page (main title)
  h2 — Major sections
    h3 — Subsections
      h4 — Details (rarely needed)

Example

<h1>Remote Work Productivity Guide</h1>

<h2>Time Blocking Basics</h2>
<h3>What is Time Blocking?</h3>
<h3>Benefits for Remote Teams</h3>

<h2>Implementation Steps</h2>
<h3>Step 1: Audit Your Calendar</h3>
<h3>Step 2: Identify Focus Blocks</h3>

Image Optimization

Alt Text

Describe the image content:

✅ <img alt="Team using FocusFlow dashboard to plan sprints">
❌ <img alt="image1">
❌ <img alt="">

File Names

Use descriptive names:

✅ focusflow-dashboard-screenshot.webp
❌ IMG_4832.jpg

File Size

• Use WebP format
• Compress images before upload
• Specify dimensions to prevent layout shift

Internal Linking

Link between your pages to help search engines understand structure.

Guidelines

• Link naturally within content
• Use descriptive anchor text
• Link to important pages from multiple places

Examples

✅ "Learn about [time blocking strategies](/guides/time-blocking)"
❌ "Click [here](/guides/time-blocking)"

URL Structure

Clean, readable URLs:

✅ /remote-work-guide
✅ /pricing
✅ /blog/time-blocking-tips

❌ /page?id=123
❌ /blog/2024/01/15/my-blog-post-title-here

Canonical URLs

Prevent duplicate content issues:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/page">

Pagesmith sets these automatically. Check if you have:

• www and non-www versions
• HTTP and HTTPS versions
• Trailing slash variations

Structured Data

Add schema markup for rich results.

Article Schema

For blog posts:

{
  "@type": "Article",
  "headline": "Article Title",
  "datePublished": "2024-01-15",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Author Name"
  }
}

FAQ Schema

For FAQ sections (appears in search results):

{
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "Question here?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "Answer here."
    }
  }]
}

Local Business

For local business sites:

{
  "@type": "LocalBusiness",
  "name": "Business Name",
  "address": { ... },
  "telephone": "+1-555-555-5555"
}

Technical SEO Checklist

Indexing:

• [ ] Site is not blocking search engines (robots.txt)
• [ ] Important pages are in sitemap.xml
• [ ] No-index tags only on pages you want hidden

Speed:

• [ ] Page loads under 3 seconds
• [ ] Core Web Vitals pass
• [ ] Images are optimized

Mobile:

• [ ] Site is mobile-responsive
• [ ] Text is readable without zooming
• [ ] Buttons are tap-friendly

Security:

• [ ] HTTPS enabled (automatic)
• [ ] No mixed content warnings

Content Guidelines

Search engines reward quality content:

Do:

• Answer specific questions
• Provide unique value
• Update outdated content
• Use data and examples

Don't:

• Stuff keywords unnaturally
• Copy content from elsewhere
• Publish thin pages
• Ignore user intent

Monitoring SEO

Google Search Console

1. Add your site to Search Console
2. Submit your sitemap
3. Monitor:
   • Indexing status
   • Search queries
   • Click-through rates
   • Core Web Vitals

What to Track

• Which pages are indexed
• Which queries bring traffic
• Position for target keywords
• Pages with issues

Common SEO Mistakes

No meta descriptions: Search engines generate one, but it's usually worse.

Duplicate titles: Every page needs a unique title.

Missing alt text: Images without alt text miss ranking opportunities.

Slow loading: Speed is a ranking factor. Optimize images.

No internal links: Search engines use links to discover and rank pages.

Related Docs

• Content Sites for SEO — Full SEO content strategy
• Performance — Speed optimization
• Key Concepts — SSG and crawlability