Essential configuration for the SEO of a website with Drupal

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)is a set of very different techniques focused on a common goal: to make a website appear in the top pages of search engine results.

The success of the page depends largely on your position, since most users do not exceed the first page of results. Even within this first page there are big differences depending on the position: between the second and eighth may be several thousands of clicks apart.

Each page results vary depending on the words that the user has typed, but not only that: Google, Bing and other search engines modify those results depending on who is that person looking thanks to the navigation data collected on their online activity.

To complicate matters further, the algorithm used for the classification is secret (the company that owns each search engine is not interested in anyone knowing how the system works internally), so the work of the SEO consultant is very complicated and, in some cases, it’s based on the experience gained after many trials with the infallible trial/error method.

Last but not least, the results of each change—however small—often take time to become apparent, forcing to have a measurement strategy and analysis sometimes more complex than the own corrective actions.

In any case, there are a number of basic techniques that any website should carry out not to try to be the best, but rather to not be the worst since an incorrectly configured level SEO in a website can harm your position in the search results the same way as the most advanced techniques can improve it.

In Drupal there are many modules to manage different SEO techniques available, but any installation should at least have the following:
 

• Pathauto. It is one of the most used modules in Drupal. It allows you to create patterns to build the alias of the URL's in the website by content type, user or taxonomy vocabulary, so that each of the aliases include relevant content for the search. It is important to use it in conjunction with the Transliteration module and activate the cleanurl's configuration included in Drupal’s core. 
• Custom Breadcrumbs. To improve the breadcrumbs format and code.
• Metatag. "Goal" label management that is included in each of the pages of the website. You can set different type of meta-tags existing as well as the "page title". It has a cascade system that establishes a global labels and go specifying by content type, user, taxonomy vocabulary, even node or term. The more specific this configuration is, it will be more likely to succeed.
• Global Redirect. It performs automatic redirects on the basis of rules to prevent the existence of several URL's pointing to the same content., this practice that is considered harmful to the SEO.
• Redirect. This module facilitates the management of redirections to avoid “404” errors and losing positioning if you have to make any changes to an alias.
• XML Sitemap. With this sitemap module you’re provided with management in XML format, setting priorities by content type or taxonomy vocabulary, and also allowing automated shipping to some search engines.
• Alinks. To create automatic links in the content pointing to other areas of the website.
• Link checker. Practical module to check for broken links.

There are many other modules that can help improve the SEO of a website, in this article we have highlighted the most basic, but a simple search on drupal.org with the keyword SEO returns more than 400 modules available, some very specific and others more general, but all available for use.

As mentioned above, in SEO it’s just as important to carry out the right practices as it is knowing to evaluate the performance of the same. There is another set of modules that function as tools for measurement, evolution analysis and extraction of information that can be used to improve:  Google Analytics, SEO Tools, Yoast SEO for Drupal, SEO Checklist, SEO Compliance Checker, Content Optimizer, etc.

Of course the most important SEO are not the modules used but the settings established with them, these modules are not going to decide what kind of techniques should be applied: it is the responsibility of the architect of the site, the developer, SEO consultant, the content manager and all those involved in a website, but having good tools always facilitates the achievement of the objectives.

Main photo: Nacho Rochon