Rules
Detailed explanation of all the SEO rules the scanner checks.
Rules
The scanner checks your websites against industry-standard SEO best practices. Below is a detailed explanation of the SEO rules the scanner checks.
Rule Categories
The scanner evaluates your website across four main categories:
- Meta Information
 - Content Structure
 - Technical SEO
 - User Experience
 
Meta Information Rules
These rules ensure your page has proper metadata for search engines and social media platforms.
Meta Title
- Rule ID: 
meta-title - Impact: Critical
 - Description: Each page should have a unique, descriptive title tag between 30-60 characters.
 
Incorrect ❌
<title>Home</title>
<!-- or -->
<title>This is an extremely long title that exceeds the recommended character count and will be truncated in search engine results pages</title>Correct ✅
<title>Premium Organic Coffee Beans | Bean & Brew Co.</title>Meta Description
- Rule ID: 
meta-description - Impact: Serious
 - Description: Each page should have a unique, compelling meta description between 50-160 characters.
 
Incorrect ❌
<!-- Missing meta description -->
<!-- or -->
<meta name="description" content="Welcome to our website.">Correct ✅
<meta name="description" content="Shop our selection of organic, fair-trade coffee beans sourced from small farms worldwide. Free shipping on orders over $35. Freshly roasted weekly.">Social Media Tags
- Rule ID: 
open-graph-tags,twitter-card-tags - Impact: Moderate
 - Description: Pages should include Open Graph and Twitter Card tags for better social media sharing.
 
Incorrect ❌
<!-- Missing social media tags -->Correct ✅
<!-- Open Graph Tags -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Premium Organic Coffee Beans">
<meta property="og:description" content="Shop our selection of organic, fair-trade coffee beans.">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/coffee-beans.jpg">
<meta property="og:url" content="https://example.com/products/coffee">
<!-- Twitter Card Tags -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Premium Organic Coffee Beans">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Shop our selection of organic, fair-trade coffee beans.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://example.com/coffee-beans.jpg">Content Structure Rules
These rules ensure your content is well-structured for both users and search engines.
Heading Structure
- Rule ID: 
h1-tag,heading-structure - Impact: Serious
 - Description: Pages should have one H1 tag and a logical hierarchy of headings.
 
Incorrect ❌
<!-- Multiple H1 tags -->
<h1>Welcome to Our Shop</h1>
<h1>Coffee Beans Collection</h1>
<!-- or -->
<!-- Skipping heading levels -->
<h1>Coffee Products</h1>
<h3>Organic Beans</h3>Correct ✅
<h1>Premium Coffee Beans Collection</h1>
<h2>Organic Varieties</h2>
<h3>Light Roast</h3>
<h3>Dark Roast</h3>
<h2>Specialty Blends</h2>
<h3>Breakfast Blend</h3>
<h3>Evening Decaf</h3>Technical SEO Rules
These rules ensure your website is technically optimized for search engines.
Canonical URL
- Rule ID: 
canonical-url - Impact: Serious
 - Description: Pages should specify a canonical URL to prevent duplicate content issues.
 
Incorrect ❌
<!-- Missing canonical tag -->
<!-- or -->
<!-- Canonical pointing to different page -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/different-page">Correct ✅
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/current-page">Robots Directives
- Rule ID: 
robots-directive - Impact: Critical
 - Description: Check if the page is being blocked from search engines with noindex directives.
 
Warning ⚠️
<!-- Blocking search engines -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
<!-- or -->
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">Correct ✅
<!-- Allowing search engines (default) -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">
<!-- or simply omit the tag for default behavior -->Structured Data
- Rule ID: 
structured-data - Impact: Moderate
 - Description: Pages should use structured data (schema.org) to help search engines understand the content.
 
Incorrect ❌
<!-- Missing structured data -->Correct ✅
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Organic Ethiopian Coffee Beans",
  "description": "Single-origin, medium roast coffee beans from Ethiopia.",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "14.99",
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  }
}
</script>User Experience Rules
These rules ensure your website provides a good user experience, which indirectly affects SEO.
Mobile Viewport
- Rule ID: 
viewport-meta - Impact: Serious
 - Description: Pages should have a proper viewport meta tag for mobile responsiveness.
 
Incorrect ❌
<!-- Missing viewport meta tag -->Correct ✅
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">Image Optimization
- Rule ID: 
image-alt-text - Impact: Moderate
 - Description: Images should have descriptive alt text for better SEO and accessibility.
 
Incorrect ❌
<img src="coffee.jpg">
<!-- or -->
<img src="coffee.jpg" alt="image">Correct ✅
<img src="coffee.jpg" alt="Organic Ethiopian coffee beans in a burlap bag">Last updated on