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Twin-Cities-Mutual-Aid / twin-cities-aid-distribution-locations

A webapp to coordinate aid and care in the Twin Cities.
44 stars 31 forks source link

Add canonical link tag #179

Open echoseekererer opened 4 years ago

echoseekererer commented 4 years ago

Google is still indexing a few query string URLs for the site as separate entities. Adding a canonical link tag to the site will prevent this, helping us keep our data clean and increasing our search credibility.

Screenshot 2020-06-17 at 6 36 27 PM

Implementation options: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/139066?hl=en

echoseekererer commented 4 years ago

With the new map.tcmap.org domain created we also need a canonical link tag on that domain, ideally before we actively direct traffic there with the flyers. As a part of that, we need to decide which of these domains we want to be the "source of truth" in search results.

There are pros and cons to each, but imho in the short view we should add twin-cities-mutual-aid-map.org as the canonical link to map.tcmap.org. With how weak our search presence is right now, we need that to be what's indexed. In the long-term, I think we should consider (at the least) switching the canonical link for both to map.tcmap.org. Pros and cons to this approach to follow.

echoseekererer commented 4 years ago

rel canonical: map.tcmap.org Pro: The more user-friendly link? Con: The link change in search may be confusing to return users that are finding us through that medium. Without a redirect, this is honestly a pretty weird thing.

Pro: As search engines become more advanced and our collective UX and tcmaps.org content strategies evolve, using this link will help pass search equity to the root domain (currently this sometimes how root/subdomain relationships work, but not consistently). Con: We might lose some existing search equity. The current map link (twin-cities-aid-map.org), paired with its current metadata, is a very strong signal for branded search terms (screenshot below). That said, we don't have a ton of competition for these terms (one of the main competitors being or own property with tcmaps.org) so this may be a small concern. Screenshot 2020-06-18 at 11 25 56 AM

Pro: A subdomain link as the source of truth opens up UX opportunities (primarily global navigation) that would help set us up for Featured Snippets in Google SERPs, like the example below. Featured Snippets are automatically placed in their own container above all search results, effectively getting the same benefits of paid search without the money or gross labels. Screenshot 2020-06-18 at 10 21 20 AM (We can get this with a unique domain link, too, it's just not best practice + not as strong a signal.) Con: We would be directing search traffic and, eventually, the full gamut of traffic sources to a link originally created to parse out traffic from on-the-ground flyers, thus diluting the original purpose for creating the link. :( We can get around this if we can do redirects (with UTM campaign parameters) and pay $250 dollars, but that doesn't seem like an option any time soon. Also, Wordpress doesn't support global nav without giving them extra money, anyway >_<

This is way more words than I thought I would have for this. Let me know if my wall of text would be more helpful somewhere else!

eostrom commented 4 years ago

Hi! This ticket has a Ready To Go label, but the last comment is a pros-and-cons list. Is there a clear conclusion and statement of what needs to be done? Thanks.