SEO

Three directives, three different stages. Learn why combining noindex with a robots.txt disallow keeps pages stuck in Google, and which to use for each page type.

Robots.txt controls crawling, not indexing. Learn the four directives Google supports, WordPress setup, AI crawler rules, and the mistakes that deindex sites.

Complete XML sitemap guide: the 50,000 URL limit, which tags Google ignores, what to exclude, and how to read your submitted-to-indexed ratio in GSC.

Canonical tags are a signal, not a command. Learn how Google picks a canonical, why it overrules yours, and the 10 mistakes that break consolidation.

301 is permanent, 302 is temporary, and the choice decides which URL Google indexes. Includes 307 vs 308, chain fixes, and a site migration checklist.

Crawl budget is crawl capacity times crawl demand. Learn when it genuinely matters, what wastes it, and the diagnostic test to run before optimising anything.

Pagination should stay indexable and self-canonical. Facets should be blocked from crawling. Learn the distinction, the rules, and how to avoid index bloat.

Google crawls first and renders JavaScript later, and rendering can fail. Learn the rendering pipeline, the disable-JS test, and why AI crawlers make this urgent.

Hreflang must be reciprocal or Google ignores it. A complete guide to language and region codes, x-default, URL structures, and the 12 most common errors.

Server logs are the only complete record of what Googlebot did. Learn to verify bots, aggregate by directory, decode status codes, and find neglected pages.