Initial commit — SEO Guidelines & SmartCrawl reference

SmartCrawl plugin reference (11 docs): - Overview, configuration, titles & meta, schema, sitemaps, social/OG, redirects, breadcrumbs, content analysis, hooks/filters, known issues SEO strategy playbook (6 docs): - Keyword research, per-page-type selection, on-page optimization, local SEO, technical SEO, content strategy Reusable templates (3): - Site audit checklist, keyword research worksheet, page optimization checklist Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-17 13:32:17 -05:00
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+# Technical SEO
+
+Technical foundations that must be in place for any SEO effort to succeed. These affect how Google crawls, indexes, and ranks your site.
+
+## Core Web Vitals
+
+Google's page experience signals. Content relevance is still more important, but poor performance can hold you back.
+
+### Metrics
+
+| Metric | Target | What It Measures |
+|--------|--------|-----------------|
+| **LCP** (Largest Contentful Paint) | Under 2.5s | How fast the main content loads |
+| **INP** (Interaction to Next Paint) | Under 200ms | How responsive the page is to input |
+| **CLS** (Cumulative Layout Shift) | Under 0.1 | How much the layout shifts during load |
+
+### How to Improve
+
+**LCP:**
+- Optimize images (WebP/AVIF, proper sizing, lazy loading for below-fold)
+- Reduce server response time (caching, CDN)
+- Preload critical resources (fonts, hero images)
+- Minimize render-blocking CSS/JS
+
+**INP:**
+- Minimize JavaScript execution time
+- Break up long tasks
+- Optimize event handlers
+- Defer non-critical JavaScript
+
+**CLS:**
+- Set explicit width/height on images and embeds
+- Don't insert content above existing content dynamically
+- Use `font-display: swap` or preload web fonts
+- Reserve space for ads/embeds
+
+### WordPress Specifics
+
+- Use server-level caching (EA-Nginx proxy cache is already configured on our server)
+- Optimize images on upload (Smush or similar)
+- Minimize plugin count — each plugin adds overhead
+- Use Hummingbird or LiteSpeed Cache for asset optimization
+- Purge Nginx cache after changes: `rm -rf /var/cache/ea-nginx/proxy/<account>/*`
+
+## Mobile-First Indexing
+
+Google uses the **mobile version** of your site for indexing and ranking. There is no separate desktop index.
+
+### Requirements
+
+- [ ] All desktop content is also visible on mobile
+- [ ] Viewport meta tag present: `<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">`
+- [ ] Font size minimum 16px body text
+- [ ] Tap targets minimum 48x48px with 8px spacing
+- [ ] No horizontal scrolling
+- [ ] Content hidden in accordions/tabs is fine (as long as it's in the HTML)
+
+### Testing
+
+- Google's Mobile-Friendly Test
+- Search Console > Mobile Usability report
+- Chrome DevTools device emulator
+
+## Crawlability and Indexability
+
+### XML Sitemap
+
+- Submit to Google Search Console
+- SmartCrawl generates this automatically
+- Verify at `yoursite.com/sitemap.xml`
+- Include all important pages, exclude thin/duplicate content
+
+### Robots.txt
+
+Recommended content:
+
+```
+User-agent: *
+Allow: /
+Disallow: /wp-admin/
+Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
+
+Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
+```
+
+**Do NOT block CSS/JS files** — Google needs them for mobile-first rendering.
+
+### Crawl Budget
+
+For small sites (<500 pages), crawl budget is rarely an issue. For larger sites:
+- Don't waste budget on filter pages, parameter URLs, or thin pagination
+- Use `noindex` on pages with no SEO value
+- Keep the sitemap clean (only valuable URLs)
+
+### Index Status
+
+Check Search Console > Pages report for:
+
+| Status | Meaning | Action |
+|--------|---------|--------|
+| Indexed | Page is in Google | Good |
+| Discovered — not indexed | Google knows about it but hasn't indexed it | Improve content quality, add internal links |
+| Crawled — not indexed | Google crawled it but chose not to index | Content isn't valuable enough — improve or noindex |
+| Excluded by noindex | You set noindex | Intentional? If not, fix it |
+
+### What to Noindex
+
+- Thank you / confirmation pages
+- Internal search results
+- Tag archives with thin content
+- Author archives on single-author sites
+- Admin/login pages
+- Paginated archives
+- Media attachment pages
+
+## Canonical URLs
+
+### Self-Referencing Canonicals
+
+Every page should have: `<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/current-page/">`
+
+SmartCrawl handles this automatically for most cases.
+
+### Choose One Format
+
+Pick one and redirect all variations to it:
+
+| Decision | Options |
+|----------|---------|
+| www vs non-www | `example.com` or `www.example.com` |
+| HTTP vs HTTPS | Always HTTPS |
+| Trailing slash | `/page/` or `/page` — pick one |
+
+Redirect the other variations via `.htaccess` or server config (not SmartCrawl — this is a server-level concern).
+
+## Structured Data
+
+See [Schema Markup](../smartcrawl/schema-markup.md) for SmartCrawl implementation.
+
+### Priority Order
+
+| Schema Type | Rich Result | Priority |
+|-------------|-------------|----------|
+| **LocalBusiness** | Knowledge panel, maps | Every local business |
+| **FAQ** | Expandable Q&A in SERPs | Pages with Q&A content |
+| **BreadcrumbList** | Breadcrumb trail in SERPs | All pages (via Breadcrumbs module) |
+| **Event** | Date/time/location in SERPs | Event listings |
+| **Course** | Course listing | Educational offerings |
+| **Article** | Article metadata | Blog posts |
+| **Product** | Price, availability, rating | WooCommerce products |
+| **Review / AggregateRating** | Stars in results | Review pages (genuine reviews only) |
+
+### Validation
+
+Always validate after deployment:
+
+1. [Google Rich Results Test](https://search.google.com/test/rich-results)
+2. [Schema.org Validator](https://validator.schema.org/)
+3. Google Search Console > Enhancements (ongoing monitoring)
+
+## HTTPS
+
+- **Required.** No exceptions. Google uses HTTPS as a ranking signal.
+- All HTTP URLs should 301 redirect to HTTPS
+- Mixed content (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages) must be fixed
+- SSL certificates are managed via cPanel on our server
+
+## Page Speed Quick Wins
+
+| Action | Impact | Effort |
+|--------|--------|--------|
+| Enable server-level caching | High | Already done (EA-Nginx) |
+| Optimize images (WebP, compression) | High | Low |
+| Lazy load below-fold images | Medium | Low |
+| Minimize active plugins | Medium | Low |
+| Preload critical fonts | Medium | Low |
+| Defer non-critical JavaScript | Medium | Medium |
+| Use a CDN | Medium | Medium |
+| Inline critical CSS | Low | High |
+
+## Technical SEO Audit Checklist
+
+- [ ] Site loads over HTTPS (no mixed content)
+- [ ] XML sitemap exists and is submitted to Search Console
+- [ ] Robots.txt is correct (not blocking important resources)
+- [ ] All pages have self-referencing canonical tags
+- [ ] One URL format (www/non-www, slash/no-slash) with redirects for the rest
+- [ ] No orphan pages (every page has internal links)
+- [ ] Core Web Vitals pass (LCP < 2.5s, INP < 200ms, CLS < 0.1)
+- [ ] Mobile-friendly test passes
+- [ ] No 404 errors on important pages (check Search Console)
+- [ ] Structured data validates without errors
+- [ ] No duplicate title tags or meta descriptions
+- [ ] Images have alt text and are optimized