SEO Checklist is the most used, most recommended module for Drupal SEO that I know among high-level Drupal developers in my area. After hearing this module spoken about so highly over two years, I finally took the plunge and started working through it on a test site. As a result, I'm seeing a few things that I think could be improved going into a Drupal 8 release based on the ever-changing SEO landscape. Not being a programmer myself and probably not qualified to adjust any code, I'm doing what I can by closing and combining old issues and making a consolidated list. Consider the following suggestions for 8.x (or implemented earlier into 7.x-4.x if time allows):

  • Several people have debated this issue, Developer/admin modules don't belong in checklist. Maintainer Ben Finklea disagrees, feeling that the items under "Tools" should stay for speed reasons. I'll list these items in order.
    • Admin Menu module - My opinion is that the Admin Menu has been somewhat duplicated in format with the D7 release, plus the Admin Menu module has created site breakdowns for me and others I know in interfering with other modules. Is it worth the risk of suggesting people use this when it doesn't apply directly to SEO and can create problems that novice users may have a hard time tracing back to this module?
    • Elements module - This is confusing to me, as a non-programmer, as to how it applies to SEO.
    • Security Review module - I think this should stay. Security of a site is an intrinsic element of SEO, and this module helps pinpoint vulnerabilities.
    • Module Filter module - Site speed is an important part of SEO, and every unnecessary module slows down a site. You want to encourage people to cut their module list to a minimum, and for the larger sites that need a module list filter, this functionality does not seem to apply directly to SEO. Won't they find this on their own without putting it in SEO Checklist?
  • Page Title module is being combined in functionality with Meta Tags. Most people I see are now using Meta Tags only, so I'd recommend taking out Page Title. Update: one of the few final features that Page Title has that is late in coming to Meta Tags is adding page numbers to Views or taxonomy term pages that have pagination. This can now be done in Meta Tags, and improvements underway to make the process more friendly in the UI are documented at this issue: Using [current-page:page-number] to avoid duplicate page titles in Views.
  • Scheduler module - is this important for SEO? Someone else asked this, too, at http://drupal.org/node/1427740 while also mentioning the following about the Read More Link module:
    Does the Read More Link provide SEO advantages now given that the title is hidden in existing read more links?

    I don't know what he means by this, so I'm just quoting him.

  • AddThis module - An SEO expert I talked to in August 2012 has said he is switching away from AddThis to Lockerz (aka AddToAny) because it includes Google+ which he said is going to be pushed by Google and become an important social network in time. Also, you don't need a module to install either AddThis or Lockerz (unless maybe you want the bookmarking features to appear by default at the end of articles?). Just add a block formatted in Full HTML. Are the Service Links module and Facebook social plugins integration module duplicated somewhat by Lockerz? Make sure to remind people to host the Lockerz icon (and other third-party services like Facebook social plugins) locally or else page loading will be slowed way down.
  • Geographic - I'm not seeing a clear way to add the geo meta tag using the Meta Tags module, however the Open Graph options do offer a few geographic tagging abilities. Many SEO experts question how relevant the geo tags are (reference this article). I think either the Meta Tags module should be updated to include a geo tag (this is discussed at Ensure all meta tags are supported) or this should be dropped from the SEO Checklist. Also note that someone requested at this issue (which I've closed as a duplicate) that configuration of the Open Graph tags should be added to the checklist.
  • Boost - Almost every time I've heard someone tell me to use the SEO Checklist, they add in the same breath, "But do not use Boost!" Apparently, the developers I know have had conflicts with Boost and other modules.
  • Finally, maintainer Ben Finklea has suggested that the following three modules be added:

    A Google+1 button can be added to any site without a module. See these instructions. Although, after having a Google+1 button on my own site for over a year, the only thing it has done has been to slow down my page loading speed and bring in almost no activity. People can Google+ from the Lockerz function, so I took off the individual Google+1 button.

  • Acquia has developed an SEO grader that I experienced as part of a usability trial. They offered a few hints not included in the SEO Checklist, including maximization of site speed which is crucial for high ranking with Google, that might be nice to incorporate.

I loved working through the SEO Checklist as it is and picked up some valuable help. I also enjoyed learning about Volacci's SEO services for Drupal. I've taken the time to post this issue because I truly think SEO Checklist is the best Drupal SEO module available and that it can continue to be so for D8. A lot of people are depending on this module, and I'd like to see them get the most updated help available from it. Thanks!

Comments

couturier’s picture

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Saving list.

couturier’s picture

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Completing list.

mgifford’s picture

mgifford
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I'm all for working on D8 modules, but do think it's that we'll see even a handful of production Drupal 8 sites till 2014.

Gotta thing about D8, but work on D7.

couturier’s picture

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Dries Buytaert has scheduled the D8 full release for August 2013 (see his blog post). Seems whenever I suggest something for D7, people say they won't do it and will wait for the D8 to implement. So, that's why I titled the issue this way. Mainly, I just wanted to put these ideas here while I was thinking about it, and then someone can come back in another year and re-evaluate. A lot of issues in the SEO Checklist queue were quite old, so it looks like no one has really worked on this module in a while, and it could be that the D8 release will be the motivation to get back to it and update it at that time. Of course, it would be great if updates could be done to 7x.-4.x, but I'm not sure maintainers have the time.

couturier’s picture

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More corrections.

mgifford’s picture

mgifford
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It's a great checklist. Even with a full D8 release in 11 months, unless there are significant changes in how modules are maintained, the critical modules won't be production ready till 2014.

There just aren't enough incentives to properly maintain modules. It takes a lot of work to update the code & work through the issue queue.

Lots of developers are excited about what's being done in D8, but D7 will be supported till 2016 or so.

couturier’s picture

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Title: 8.x-dev - How to make SEO Checklist the top SEO module for D8 » Updates to keep SEO Checklist the top Drupal SEO module

I see what you mean. Okay, I changed the title. Does anyone want to apply some of these items to 7.x-4.x? I know my description looks long, but it's really not more than a few changes to get SEO Checklist updated, and I think that's important for new people who might not know the pros and cons behind some of the items currently suggested by the module.

TravisCarden’s picture

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Volacci is currently working on requirements for a round of updates to the module. I would encourage you to continue providing feedback with rationale for suggested changes. Thanks for your interest!

couturier’s picture

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I just learned that setting cron to run too often can kill website performance. After following suggestions in this article, my site has speeded up dramatically. A patch to resolve the way cron clears caches is being worked on at this issue. Page load speed is one of the key factors Google uses in ranking.

enrique.delgado’s picture

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This was actually very helpful info for me to read. Thanks couturier!

enrique.delgado’s picture

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Updating some information

couturier’s picture

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Added update about Page Title

couturier’s picture

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Here is another update on Page Title vs. Meta Tags. Page numbers for paginated Views or taxonomy term pages can be added to <title> using the Meta Tags module. Progress is documented at this issue: Using [current-page:page-number] to avoid duplicate page titles in Views. This indicates that Meta Tags is rapidly improving to be the module of choice over Page Title for SEO-related tasks.

enrique.delgado’s picture

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Yup, I opted for the metatag module only in a new site I'm working on. It's a nice module. One gotcha is that you cannot see the advanced meta tag settings without making adjustments to your admin theme CSS files: http://drupal.org/node/1307806. After doing the CSS changes, I could see fields for things like Canonical URL's and such.

couturier’s picture

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@enrique.delgado There have been a whole lot of updates to Meta Tags module recently, so if you use the dev version, you might be happily surprised. Work is actively on target for getting page numbers incorporated into Meta Tags at this brand new issue: Add a customizable pager token to extend the normal Token pager.

I wanted to post about the Smart Paging module someone told me about today. It is great for SEO! It turns your URLs into a more SEO-friendly format. For example, when using the Smart Paging module, before install my URL said:

http://fashionbelle.biz/modest-clothing-reviews/swimsuits?page=3

After installing the Smart Paging module, the same URL reads:

http://fashionbelle.biz/modest-clothing-reviews/swimsuits/page/4/0

So, with Smart Paging, the page number is actually correct (it is really the 4th page being shown), plus you get rid of the ? and = symbols that hinders SEO for the words surrounding those symbols. Also, your old URLs will still work, if anyone happened to have bookmarked them under the old format.

couturier’s picture

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Update on the Meta Tags module situation:

Progress is not going very rapidly as to incorporating the functions of the Page Title module to allow different titles for paginated Views, an important SEO consideration. I learned from someone who works with SEO regularly that Page Title and Meta Tags can be used together. I tried this, and it works great! Just leave all the title options blank in Meta Tags and set them instead in Page Title. The Meta Tags contributors have expressed interest in developing the title tag functionalities more, but it's definitely not a priority for them. So, for now, I'll be using both. I wish the maintainers of both modules would get together and just combine the two. Again, you can track progress here: Add a customizable pager token to extend the normal Token pager

Ben Finklea’s picture

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Just FYI, I had a good long email with Travis Carden today and approved or didn't approve a bunch of these changes. Give us a few days to get them done and out to you to test. Thank you so much for the input!!!!

--Ben

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Ok, so, a few days has become a few months. But a busy few months! We're almost ready to push out a new version. A few tiny tweaks but hopefully by this weekend.

If you want to see what we're working on for Drupal over at Volacci, check out http://automatr.volacci.com. Shameless plug but we're pretty excited about it!

TravisCarden’s picture

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Status: Active » Fixed

Rolling the release now! 7.x-4.1 will be available for download in a few minutes. Thanks, everybody! :)

couturier’s picture

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Thanks for your work!

Comments:

  • Disappointed the Administration Menu stayed. It has interacted with other modules and created a lot of problems for people, particularly with the main default menus. A novice user would not know this.
  • Mollom is free for up to 100 legitimate posts a day, which covers most small sites. Currently, the notation states Mollom is only a paid service.
  • The Page Title module is still needed for Views that have pagers. Meta Tags was working to incorporate this, but that initiative is at a total standstill. Currently the pager token for Meta Tags does not even work.
  • THANK YOU for removing Boost! It was interacting with other modules and really creating problems for some people.
Ben Finklea’s picture

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Version: 7.x-4.0 » 7.x-4.1
Assigned: Unassigned » TravisCarden
Category: feature » task
Status: Fixed » Needs work

What is the best case scenario? To disable the built in admin menu and turn on the admin menu module or leave the admin menu module out altogether? I like the admin menu but not so much that I want to confuse newbies to Drupal. We can suggest that people turn the core version off if that helps. Thoughts?

We can easily update the Mollom description to indicate that it's free for 100 legit posts. Thanks for the heads up. I like your wording and we'll use that: "Mollom is free for up to 100 legitimate posts a day, which covers most small sites."

We will also add back the Page Title module. Very important and I shouldn't have missed that gap.

No prob re: Boost. If you're interested in contributing, we are working on the pasc module (performance and scalability checklist module). It's a tough one to create because we are not experts and there are many differing opinions and methods depending on your site. Help if you can. http://drupal.org/project/pasc and look at the discussions.

couturier’s picture

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Thanks for commenting on these items, Ben. Your PASC project looks great, but I don't personally have the experience to help you with it. My site is hosted with Drupal experts (Kurt Vanderwater and team, who know you) who take care of the server side of things beautifully. You are so right that many different opinions exist about how to optimize performance. My experience has been that some hosts that claim to be capable of handling Drupal don't even provide the basics needed for a simple Drupal site to function, so anything you do with PASC to help cover the basics and improve on that will be helpful.

My experience with the Admin Menu in D6 was that it broke my main menu functioning. Also, I heard Kris Vanderwater warn someone else about Admin Menu in D6, that it "chews it up and spits it out," meaning other menus on the site. It took me several months to realize that Admin Menu was creating so many problems for me, and everything cleared up once I stopped using it. Since I don't have experience with Admin Menu in D7, I have no advice about the current version. Obviously with such a bad personal experience in D6 plus knowing a couple of other people who had issues with it, I would prefer to see it left out. The D7 core format already duplicates the look of Admin Menu, with the primary difference being the fine-grained level of cache clearing available. You can do specific cache clearing from the command line, of course. I just clear all caches at once when needed. If Admin Menu works fine for you, I can see how you would favor putting it in. To me, it would not be worth risking several months' confusion that some people may encounter when using it.

Thanks for putting Page Title back. One day maybe Meta Tags will do it all, but that is certainly not the case yet. Great work on this module! It's still the best SEO module out there, and I know many people will benefit from it in coming years.

TravisCarden’s picture

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The changes have been approved and committed: #c21a3f0. Administration menu was removed, Page Title was put back in with a note about when it's necessary, and the note about Mollom's free offering was added. It will be in the next dev build in a few hours. Thanks, all.

TravisCarden’s picture

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Status: Needs work » Fixed

Oh yeah. :)

couturier’s picture

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Awesome work, everyone. Thank you so much! There are many sites out there with great SEO because of this module. Thanks!

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.

Anonymous’s picture

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Forgot to add a closing tag.