SEO - Improve your Next.js application's search engine optimization"

SEO is an important part of building a website. It helps search engines understand your website and rank it higher in search results. In this guide, you'll learn how to improve your Makerkit application's search engine optimization (SEO).

Makerkit is already optimized for SEO out of the box. However, there are a few things you can do to improve your application's SEO:

1. Content: The most important thing you can do to improve your application's SEO is to create high-quality content. No amount of technical optimization can replace good content. Make sure your content is relevant, useful, and engaging - and make sure it's updated regularly.
2. Write content helpful to your customers: To write good content, the kit comes with a blog and documentation feature. You can use these features to create high-quality content that will help your website rank higher in search results - and help your customers find what they're looking for.
3. Use the correct keywords: Use descriptive titles and meta descriptions for your pages. Titles and meta descriptions are the first things users see in search results, so make sure they are descriptive and relevant to the content on the page. Use keywords that your customers are likely to search for.
4. Optimize images: Use descriptive filenames and alt text for your images. This helps search engines understand what the image is about and can improve your website's ranking in image search results.
5. Website Speed: This is much less important than it used to be, but it's still a factor. Make sure your website loads quickly and is mobile-friendly. You can use tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights to check your website's speed and get suggestions for improvement. Optimize all images and assets to reduce load times.
6. Mobile Optimization: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher in search results. You can use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your website is mobile-friendly.
7. Sitemap and Robots.txt: Makerkit generates a sitemap and robots.txt file for your website. These files help search engines understand your website's structure and what pages they should index. Make sure to update the sitemap as you add new pages to your website.
8. Backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. It's touted to be the single most important factor in SEO these days. The more backlinks you have from high-quality websites, the higher your website will rank in search results. You can get backlinks by creating high-quality content that other websites want to link to.

Adding pages to the sitemap

Generally speaking, Google will find your pages without a sitemap as it follows the link in your website. However, you can add pages to the sitemap by adding them to the apps/web/app/server-sitemap.xml/route.ts route, which is used to generate the sitemap.

If you add more static pages to your website, you can add them to the getPaths function in the apps/web/app/server-sitemap.xml/route.ts file. For example, if you add a new page at /about, you can add it to the getPaths function like this:

function getPaths() {
 const paths = [
   '/',
   '/faq',
   '/blog',
   '/docs',
   '/pricing',
   '/contact',
   '/cookie-policy',
   '/terms-of-service',
   '/privacy-policy',
   // add more paths here,
   '/about', // <-- add the new page here
 ];
 return paths.map((path) => {
   return {
     loc: new URL(path, appConfig.url).href,
     lastmod: new Date().toISOString(),
   };
 });
}

All the blog and documentation pages are automatically added to the sitemap. You don't need to add them manually.

Adding your website to Google Search Console

Once you've optimized your website for SEO, you can add it to Google Search Console. Google Search Console is a free tool that helps you monitor and maintain your website's presence in Google search results.

You can use it to check your website's indexing status, submit sitemaps, and get insights into how Google sees your website.

The first thing you need to do is verify your website in Google Search Console. You can do this by adding a meta tag to your website's HTML or by uploading an HTML file to your website.

Once you've verified your website, you can submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. This will help Google find and index your website's pages faster.

Please submit your sitemap to Google Search Console by going to the Sitemaps section and adding the URL of your sitemap. The URL of your sitemap is https://your-website.com/server-sitemap.xml.

Of course, please replace your-website.com with your actual website URL.

Backlinks

Backlinks are said to be the most important factor in modern SEO. The more backlinks you have from high-quality websites, the higher your website will rank in search results - and the more traffic you'll get.

How do you get backlinks? The best way to get backlinks is to create high-quality content that other websites want to link to. However, you can also get backlinks by:

1. Guest posting: Write guest posts for other websites in your niche. This is a great way to get backlinks and reach a new audience.
2. Link building: Reach out to other websites and ask them to link to your website. You can offer to write a guest post or provide a testimonial in exchange for a backlink.
3. Social media: Share your content on social media to reach a wider audience and get more backlinks.
4. Directories: Submit your website to online directories to get backlinks. Make sure to choose high-quality directories that are relevant to your niche.

All these methods can help you get more backlinks and improve your website's SEO - and help you rank higher in search results.

Content

When it comes to internal factors, content is king. Make sure your content is relevant, useful, and engaging. Make sure it's updated regularly and optimized for SEO.

What should you write about? Most importantly, you want to think about how your customers will search for the problem your SaaS is solving. For example, if you're building a project management tool, you might want to write about project management best practices, how to manage a remote team, or how to use your tool to improve productivity.

You can use the blog and documentation features in Makerkit to create high-quality content that will help your website rank higher in search results - and help your customers find what they're looking for.

Indexing and ranking take time

New websites can take a while to get indexed by search engines. It can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (in some cases, even months!) for your website to show up in search results. Be patient and keep updating your content and optimizing your website for search engines.

By following these tips, you can improve your Makerkit application's search engine optimization (SEO) and help your website rank higher in search results. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so make sure to keep updating your content and optimizing your website for search engines. Good luck!