Action Item

Description

Resolve Redirect Destination with Bad Canonical Tag

Redirecting a page to a destination URL that has a canonical tag pointing elsewhere can send conflicting signals to search engines about which version of a URL should be indexed. Update internal redirects to point to canonical, 200 status code URLs.

Resolve Canonical Tags that Points to 3xx Pages

Resolve Canonical Tags that Points to 4xx Pages

Resolve Canonical Tags that Points to 5xx Pages

It is important that your canonical tags refer to indexable URLs, not pages serving 3xx, 4xx, or 5xx status codes. Update canonical tags to point to indexable pages that are intended to be indexed.

Resolve Canonical Chain

Canonical tags are used to indicate to search engines which version of a page is authoritative. When canonical tags point to non-indexable pages, those signals can be interrupted, and ignored by search engines. Ensure that canonical tags point only to indexable URLs.

Resolve Technical Duplicates on Canonical Not Equal Pages

Resolve Technical Duplicates on noindex Pages

Resolve Technical Duplicates on 3xx Pages

Resolve Technical Duplicates on 4xx Pages

Resolve Technical Duplicates on 5xx Pages

Resolve Technical Duplicates on Indexable Pages

When pages share the same path and query strings, but in different order, search engines will unduly consume crawl budget. Ensure that query strings are always in the same order. If not possible, make sure you have only one canonical page for each group.

Resolve Canonical Tags that Points to noindex Pages

Canonical tags are used to indicate to search engines which version of a page is authoritative. When canonical tags point to non-indexable pages, those signals can be interrupted, and ignored by search engines. Ensure that canonical tags point only to indexable URLs.

Reconsider a Canonical Tag with a better Pagerank

It is important that your canonical tags refer to indexable URLs whose PageRank preferably is better than any of the URLs that are subservient to the canonical version. Ensure that internal links point to the canonical version of URLs whenever possible.

Action Item

Description

Address Pages Serving a 305 HTTP Code

Address Pages Serving a 306 HTTP Code

Address Pages Serving a 307 HTTP Code

Address Pages Serving a 308 HTTP Code

Address Pages Serving a 310 HTTP Code

Although 3XX redirects are typically appropriate signals for when content has moved, linking internally to pages that redirect can be a significant source of wasted crawl budget. Additionally, linking internally to pages that redirect can have significant site latency implications especially for users on mobile devices.

Address Pages Serving a 400 HTTP Code

Pages serving a 400 status code are typically an indicator of a error on the site, or in a URL. Address 400 errors by investigating the root cause and removing internal links where necessary (when links point to a malformed URL, for example).

Address Pages Serving a 404 HTTP Code

If Google crawls pages that have a 4xx status code, it is very likely the search engine will decrease the page's rankings and/or remove it from the index. When visitors encounter pages with 4xx status codes, they are actually unable to resolve the pages. For better SEO and a better user experience, remove links to page that serve a 404, or redirect such pages to closely similar pages.

Address Pages that 301 Redirect

Although 301 redirects are appropriate signals for when content has moved, linking internally to pages that 301 redirect can be a significant source of wasted crawl budget. Additionally, linking internally to pages that redirect can have significant site latency implications especially for users on mobile devices.

Address Pages that 302 Redirect

302 redirects are typically used when content has moved temporarily. Linking internally to pages that 302 redirect can send conflicting signals to search engines about what content should be indexed.

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Pages serving a 4XX status code are typically an indicator of a error on the site, or in a URL. Address 4XX errors by investigating the root cause and removing internal links where necessary (when links point to a malformed URL, for example).

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When pages serve 5XX status codes consistently, search engines will crawl those pages less frequently. Diagnose and fix server errors in order to avoid reduced crawl frequency and to ensure that search engines follow redirects correctly.

Investigate Pages Serving a 403 HTTP Code

A 403 http code is typically served when a user or bot does not have the appropriate permissions to access a page. If Botify identifies 403 status codes on your website, ensure that the content is blocked intentionally and that search engines are not blocked from accessing important content.

Investigate Pages Serving a 500 HTTP Code

Investigate Pages Serving a 503 HTTP Code

When search engine bots or human users encounter 500 and 503 status codes, access to affected web pages is not possible. Investigate and resolve associated server problems or you're needlessly losing link authority and organic traffic.

Resolve noindex Redirect Destination

Redirecting a page to a destination URL that has a noindex directive can send conflicting signals to search engines about which version of a URL should be indexed. Update internal redirects to point to indexable URLs wherever possible.

Resolve Redirect Chain

When pages redirect multiple times before reaching a final 200 status code page, there is a chance that search engines may not follow the full extent of the redirect chain. If at all possible, ensure that redirecting URLs go directly to the canonical, 200 status code version of a page with as few hops as possible.

Resolve Redirect Loops

When pages redirect multiple times before circling back to the original page, search engines will get lost, and won’t be able to index any page. Ensure that redirecting URLs go directly to the canonical, 200 status code version of a page.

Resolve Redirects Pointing to 4xx Status Pages

Pages that ultimately redirect to a 4XX status code are a waste of crawl budget and will lead to a poor user experience when users are redirected to an error page instead of seeing the content they were expecting. Update internal links to point to canonical, end-state URLs, and make sure that redirects point to the intended content.

Resolve Redirects Pointing to 5xx Status Pages

Pages that ultimately redirect to a 5XX status code can be an indicator of a more serious technical problem. When pages serve 5XX status codes consistently, search engines will crawl those pages less frequently. Diagnose and fix server errors in order to avoid reduced crawl frequency and to ensure that search engines follow redirects correctly.

Action Item

Description

Bring Page higher in Website Structure

Indexable pages that are 6 clicks or more from the homepage of a website are at risk of not being crawled and indexed efficiently by search engines. Whenever possible, ensure that strategic pages have a depth < 6.

Increase Inlinks on Indexable Pages

We detected some indexable pages with less than 4 inlinks. Employing a link-building strategy is an important part of your site's SEO, especially for pages for which it is important to attract users from organic search. Ensure that inlinks to priority indexable pages grow to at least 5 (recommended level) which helps to improve their PageRank.

Diversify Anchor Text

Anchor text is an important way to signal to users and search engines what the page on the other end of a link will be about, before it is clicked on. This action show the pages receiving only one anchor text. We recommend diversifying anchor text on indexable pages inlinks wherever possible to ensure that search engines understand the intent of a a page from multiple dimensions, not just the same anchor text repeated across the site.

Consider Changing Inlinks to 3xx Pages

Consider changing Inlinks to 4xx Pages

Consider changing Inlinks to 5xx Pages

Consider changing Inlinks to Non-Canonical Pages

When internal links point to 3XX, 4XX, 5XX, or non-canonical pages, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about which version of a page should be indexed. This effect can be magnified when the 3XX, 4XX, 5XX, or non-canonical pages are linked too many times throughout a site (more than 10 times for this action). Ensure that all internal links point to 200 status code pages to preserve user experience, and signals to search engines.

Review Inlinks to noindex Pages

When internal links point to pages with a noindex tag, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about whether or not a page should be indexed, and can be a significant waste of internal pagerank. This effect can be magnified when the noindex pages are linked too many times throughout a site (more than 10 times for this action). Ensure that all internal links point to indexable pages to ensure that search engines respect your indexing directives.

Action Item

Description

Fix Hreflang Target to Pages with Bad Canonical

An hreflang tag directs search engines to index an alternate version of a page, that exists in another language. If an hreflang annotation directs search engines to index an alternate version of a page that then canonicalizes to a third URL, search engines are more likely to ignore the hreflang signals altogether.

Resolve Hreflang Errors

Errors in hreflang implementation can cause search engines to surface the wrong version of your content in international search results. Resolve errors with hreflang tags and ensure that pages are properly annotated as international variations.

Fix Hreflang Target to 3xx Status Code

An hreflang tag directs search engines to index an alternate version of a page, that exists in another language. If the alternate version of a page 301 redirects, it will be unclear to the search engine whether there is a true equivalency between the two pages. As a consequence, search engines may choose to ignore the hreflang signal altogether.

Fix Hreflang Target to 4xx Status Code

An hreflang tag directs search engines to index an alternate version of a page, that exists in another language. When an hreflang tag points to a page that serves a 4XX status code, search engines will not have a language-appropriate version of that page to serve in the secondary language's market. Instead of listing 4XX pages in hreflang tags, remove the signals pointing to that page, or update to a indexable page in the appropriate language.

Fix Hreflang Target to 5xx Status Code

An hreflang tag directs search engines to index an alternate version of a page, that exists in another language. When an hreflang URL is unavailable and serves a 5XX status code, search engines may ignore the hreflang signal.

Fix Hreflang Target to Pages with noindex tag

An hreflang tag directs search engines to index an alternate version of a page, that exists in another language. If hreflang tags point to a page with a noindex tag, you may be misleading search engines by serving contradictory signals. When these signals are conflicting, search engines are less likely to use hreflang tags as an authoritative source for what content should be indexed and ranked.

Action Item

Description

Increase Title Tag Length

Title tags are a great opportunity to control the way your site appears in search results. When title tags are too short, there may be room to optimize the page title to make it more descriptive, and clear to users and search engines what the main topic of the page is. We detected you have titles below 50 characters on several pages, whereas we suggest you to define titles between 50 and 60 characters, so you may expect about 90% of your titles to display properly.

Deduplicate H1 Tags

Pages on a site should contain a single H1 tag that is descriptive of the main content of that page. Duplicate H1 tags on indexable pages can lead search engines to see content as duplicative. We recommend that each indexable page have its own unique H1.

Add a Missing H1 Tag

H1 tags indicate to search engines what the main topic of a page is. We recommend that each indexable page have its own unique H1 that describes the main topic of the page, in a user-friendly way.

Add a Missing Title Tag

If HTML tags (Title, H1, Description) are missing, it may hinder the chances of that page ranking well. Every priority URL on a website should have a unique title tag, and fixing missing HTML tags is an easy win.

Deduplicate Title Tags

If HTML tags (Title, H1, Description) are duplicated on another URL, it may hinder the chances of pages ranking for different phrases/queries. Duplicate HTML tags can not only lead to duplicate content problems on a website, but they also impact the potential for traffic to individual pages. Every priority URL on a website should have a unique title tag, and fixing duplicative HTML tags is an easy win.

Fix Links in Content pointing to 3xx Pages

Fix Links in Content pointing to 4xx Pages

Fix Links in Content pointing to 5xx Pages

When your page content contains links that point to non-200 status code URLs, it indicates to search engines that your content/linking may not be up to date or accurate. In order to preserve user experience and proper indexing signals for search engines, ensure that you are linking to indexable pages whenever possible.

Address Thin Content on Indexable Pages

One means for bots to assess a page's content quality is to determine whether it is "thin" (less than 100 words excluding template), or comprised of a less-desirable word count. It is recommended to increase the word count on such pages, especially if priority site pages.

Fix Links in Content pointing to Pages with bad Canonical

When internal outlinks point to non-self referencing canonical pages, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about which version of a page should be indexed. Ensure that internal outlinks point to indexable pages with a self referencing canonical tag to ensure that search engines respect your canonical annotations.

Verify Accuracy of AMP Pages with less than 75% Similarity

An AMP page should be identical (or nearly so) to its designated parallel version. Assess the pairing accuracy of AMP pages determined to have low similarity e.g. less than 75% of similar content (template excluded).

Resolve duplicate or highly similar Content

For the referenced URL, its content is at least 90% similar to at least one other page, which indicates that the page has a near or total duplicate elsewhere on the site. Use canonical signals or 301 redirects to indicate the preferred version of the URL to rank in search results or to update the content of pages to more clearly distinguish them from each other for search engines and human users.

Address Canonical Tags with less than 75% Similarity

A canonical page should be identical (or nearly so) to its designated equivalent version(s). Assess the pairing accuracy of canonical relationships. With less than 75% of similar content (template excluded) between the two pages, we recommend to remove the canonical tag and keep the two pages.

Fix Links in Content pointing to Pages with noindex Tag

When internal links point to pages with a noindex tag, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about whether or not a page should be indexed, and can be a significant waste of internal pagerank. Ensure that internal links point to indexable pages to ensure that search engines respect your indexing directives.

Action Item

Description

Ensure that noindex Pages are intended

noindex tags are directives to search engines to not include tagged pages in search results. Ensure that pages with noindex tags are tagged intentionally so that strategic pages are not removed/excluded from the index accidentally. In addition, avoid linking internally to pages with a noindex tag to avoid wasting internal pagerank.

Increase Meta Description Length

A short meta description is a missed opportunity for optimizing clicks to your webpages. We recommend targeting close to 155 characters per description. As a starter, go to URL Explorer to see all your URLs with a description <100 characters.

Ensure that Description is not duplicated

Duplicate and similar HTML tags can not only lead to duplicate content problems on a website, but duplicate meta descriptions are less likely to drive clicks from search results to your web pages. Ensure that every indexable URL on your website has a unique meta description that clearly states the purpose, or topic of the page.

Set Meta Description on Pages

Meta descriptions provide the content that should appear in SERPs under links/titles. Write compelling, well-written descriptions for your most strategic pages in order to positively influence click-through rates (CTR). When a description is poor or not set, search engines may pull in content from the page, which could lead to poor CTR.

Action Item

Description

Improve Load Time on Indexable Pages to faster than 2 Seconds

The load time is the time it takes to fully the HTML of a specific page. Fast loading pages have higher conversion rates and provide better user experiences, especially on mobile devices. Also, when Google can access pages faster, it can crawl more pages in the same amount of time, resulting in more of your site being explored and indexed. Identify and diagnose slow loading indexable pages so improve crawling and user experience.

Improve Load Time to < 2 Seconds on 3xx Pages

When users are redirected, the added latency can cause users to bounce or become frustrated with their experience. Improve redirect times to < 2 seconds if possible to ensure the fastest experience possible.

Improve Load Time to < 2 Seconds on 4xx Pages

If you can improve the load time of slow 4xx pages (under 2 seconds), internet bots will have more time to crawl and render uncrawled indexables pages.

Improve Load Time to < 2 Seconds on 5xx Pages

5XX errors can be indicative of a larger issue with a server, especially when the errors are paired with slow load times. Investigate all server errors and ensure that search engines and users experience them as infrequently as possible.

Improve Load Time to < 2 Seconds on Non-Canonical Pages

Improve Load Time to < 2 Seconds on noindex Pages

If you can improve the load time of slow non-canonical and noindex pages, internet bots will have more time to crawl and render uncrawled indexable pages.

Improve Load Time on Indexable Pages

The load time is the time it takes to fully load the HTML of a specific page. Fast loading pages have higher conversion rates and provide better user experiences, especially on mobile devices. Also, when Google can access pages faster, it can crawl more pages in the same amount of time, resulting in more of your site being explored and indexed. Identify and diagnose slow loading indexable pages (> 1 second) to improve crawling and user experience.

Improve Render Time on Indexable Pages

The render time is the time it takes to fully render the HTML of a page. Fast-rendering pages have higher conversion rates and provide a better user experience, especially on mobile devices. Also, when bots can access pages faster they can crawl more pages in the same amount of time, resulting in more of your pages being discovered and indexed. Identify and diagnose slow-rendering, indexable pages to improve crawling and user experience.

Improve Download Time on Indexable Pages

The download time is the time it takes for Botify to download the HTML content of a page. Some bot performance is wasted on downloading heavy pages. Bots could discover or refresh additional landing pages if the time to download your HTML content is improved. Also, when bots can download pages faster they can crawl more pages in the same amount of time, resulting in more of your pages being discovered and indexed. Identify and diagnose slow-downloading, indexable pages to improve crawling and user experience.

Improve Server Response Time on Indexable Pages

The server response time is the time between the request for a given page and when the first byte of a response begins to arrive. Pages with a fast server response time will load more quickly and provide a better user experience, especially on mobile devices. Also, when bots can access pages faster they can crawl more pages in the same amount of time, resulting in more of your pages being discovered and indexed.

Action Item

Description

Remove 3xx Pages from XML Sitemaps

Remove 4xx Pages from XML Sitemaps

Remove 5xx Pages from XML Sitemaps

SEO best practices recommend that XML Sitemaps only include canonical URLs that serve 200 status codes. Including URLs that 301 redirect or server an error status code (4XX, 5XX) in XML Sitemaps can lead to wasted crawl budget and can be misleading to search engines about which version of a URL is authoritative. Botify can help identify URLs in Sitemaps that are non-indexable.

Address Canonical Tags in XML Sitemaps that are not self-referential

While canonical URLs are suggestions, not directives to the search engines, it is important to verify that your canonical tags are intentionally not self-referential. Checking can ensure that important site pages have not mistakenly been canonicalized to a wrong page. Also, excessive internal linking to pages that canonicalize to other URLs could be a waste of crawl budget and could result in crawling multiple versions of the same URL.

Add Active Pages to XML Sitemaps

SEO best practices recommend that XML sitemaps include the active pages you update frequently to signal search engine bots to refresh those pages more often. Botify can help identify active pages that are missing from your sitemaps.

Remove noindex URLs from XML Sitemaps

XML Sitemaps are intended to serve search engines and easily digestible list of the most important pages on a website. When pages with noindex tags are included in XML Sitemaps, search engines may waste resources crawling pages that will ultimately be excluded from the index. Ensure that XML Sitemaps consist of only indexable, 200 status code URLs.

Action Item

Description

Fix Links in Template pointing to 3xx Pages

Fix Links in Template pointing to 4xx Pages

Fix Links in Template pointing to 5xx Pages

When internal links point to 3XX, 4XX, or 5XX pages, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about which version of a page should be indexed. This effect can be magnified when the 3XX, 4XX, or 5XX pages are linked to many times throughout a site. Ensure that template links point to 200 status code pages to preserve user experience, and signals to search engines.

Fix Links in Template pointing to Pages with bad Canonical

When internal links point to non-canonical pages, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about which version of a page should be indexed. This effect can be magnified when the non-canonical pages are linked to many times throughout a site. Ensure that template links point to indexable pages to ensure that search engines respect your canonical annotations.

Fix Links in Template pointing to Pages with noindex Tag

When internal links point to pages with a noindex tag, sites are sending a conflicting signal to search engines about whether or not a page should be indexed, and can be a significant waste of internal pagerank. This effect can be magnified when the noindexed pages are linked to many times throughout a site. Ensure that template links point to indexable pages to ensure that search engines respect your indexing directives.