Server configuration

In terms of server configuration, you can take the following steps to ensure that only the correct content is being crawled:

  • Use a robots.txt file to block crawling of any content that should not be indexed.

    • Block all crawling on test environments.
  • When launching a new site with updated URLs, implement 301 redirects to ensure that your existing SEO ranking is not lost.

  • Include a favicon for your site.

  • To make it easier for search engines to crawl your content, implement an XML sitemap. Make sure to include a mobile sitemap for mobile and/or responsive sites.

AEM Configurations

This section describes the implementation steps to configure AEM with the following SEO recommendations.

Using Sling selectors

Previously, using query parameters was the accepted practice when building an enterprise web application.

The trend in recent years has been to remove parameters to make URLs more readable. On many platforms, this removal process involves implementing redirects on the web server or Content Delivery Network (CDN), but Sling makes process straightforward. Sling selectors:

  • Improve URL readability.
  • Let you cache your pages on the Dispatcher and improve security.
  • Lets you address the content directly, rather than having a generic servlet that retrieves content. It grants you the benefits of ACLs that you apply to your repository and filters that you apply on the Dispatcher.