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Sapna T
Sapna T

Posted on • Originally published at bebee.com

Top Tips to Configure Drupal's SEO Options

Out of the box, the Drupal servicesincludes a number of options that can be configured to provide a basic search engine friendly site and lay the groundwork for your on-going SEO efforts. we look at the default options, what they mean, and how to optimize them. While the default SEO options in Drupal provide you with basic features you need, such as search engine friendly URLs, this is just the beginning of what you can—and should—do to optimize your site effectively. The topics covered in this Post include:

1)Configuring Site Details:

Let's start by looking at one of the simplest elements in your site setup, configuring
Drupal's Site Details. The Site Details section of the Configuration manager
includes three items that are of interest for SEO:
• Site name
• Slogan
• Error pages

2)Setting the site name:

You get your first chance to give your site a name during the Drupal installation
process. Once the installation is complete, however, you can modify the site name
at any time via the Configuration manager. The site name is the key to you for
several reasons:
• It automatically appears on the site header in many themes, as highlighted
in the following screenshot
• It appears as the page title shown in the top browser bar and browser tab,
as highlighted in the following screenshot
• If a browser supports tabs, the name will also appear on the browser tab
for the page
• The name appears in e-mails generated by the system

Also read - At a Glance! Drupal 9 Features You Should Know About

From an SEO perspective, the site name is the key due to its usage in the page title
tag. The page title tag is shown on the SERP listing for your page. Accordingly, you
want to make sure that the name you select respects your brand and if possible,
helps reinforce your keyphrase strategy. Both the search engines and the users look
to the site title tag for information about the nature and identity of your site.

To modify the site name, follow the given steps:

  1. Access the admin dashboard of your Drupal site.
  2. Click on the Configuration link on the admin navigation menu at the top of the page.
  3. In the System section of the page, click on the link labeled Site information.
  4. Enter the text you want to use in the field marked Site name.
  5. Click on the Save configuration button.

3)Setting the slogan:
Drupal Development Services offers the option for the site administrator to specify a slogan for the site.

The slogan appears in the following situations:
• Underneath the site name, or logo, in many themes, as highlighted in the
following screenshot.
• As part of the page title on the home page (only) of the site, as highlighted
in the following screenshot:
The slogan presents you with another chance to display your primary keyphrases
in a prominent position and to get them into the page title of the home page.
Accordingly, it's worth using this field to advance your SEO goals.

that can be used to enhance your management of the title tag.
To add a slogan to your site, follow the given steps:

  1. Access the admin dashboard of your Drupal site.
  2. Click on the Configuration link on the admin navigation menu at the top of the page.
  3. In the System section of the page, click on the link labeled Site information.
  4. Enter the text you want to use in the field marked Slogan.
  5. Click on the Save configuration button. Note that on the page title for the home page, the site name appears first, followed by the slogan; on internal pages it appears after the article (or component) title. You can see the different positions in both the screenshots shown previously.

4) Creating custom error pages

Error pages are an issue often overlooked in SEO planning. By default, a user who
receives an access denied (403) or page not found error (404) is shown a generic,
default error message. Drupal, however, gives you the option to present a custom
error page in place of the generic messages. You should use this option to create
customized error pages that achieve all, or part, of the following goals:
• Reinforce your brand
• Provide a friendly error message
• Provide links to other valid pages in your site

If you create nicely customized error pages that advance these goals, you will lose
fewer site visitors as a result of errors. This improves your user time on site, your
average page views, and helps advance perceptions that your brand is concerned
about people and is user-friendly.

Still, if i missed something to mention, comments are welcomed.

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