Vertical SEO

Understanding Headless SEO: A Guide for SEO Professionals

Headless content management systems (CMS) are increasingly popular, with major brands like IKEA, Nike, and National Geographic adopting them. As an SEO professional, it’s likely you’ll encounter a headless CMS in the future due to the numerous options available.

These systems offer advantages such as easier integration with third-party technologies and the ability to reuse content across various channels, adapting to new user search behaviors. However, SEO pros who are accustomed to traditional CMS may need to adjust their approach to content.

What Is Headless SEO?

Headless SEO involves unique processes for optimizing content using a headless CMS. Unlike traditional CMS platforms like WordPress where content and presentation are combined, a headless CMS separates the two.

In a traditional CMS, you create pages rather than distinct content units. Headless systems allow the creation of content units with different fields, which can be displayed across various platforms, such as websites, apps, and even social media or marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon.

Headless SEO focuses less on creating content and building links, and more on understanding the intricacies of a decoupled system.

The Technical Challenge

A significant challenge with headless CMS is the lack of pre-defined frameworks that traditional CMS provide, requiring more specific technical implementations. In a headless environment, two technical aspects need attention:

  1. The front-end: Auditing how content is presented to users and search engines is a key element of technical SEO.
  2. The CMS: In a headless CMS, it’s crucial to understand how each field connects to front-end presentation and ensure all necessary fields like editable title tags and meta-descriptions are available.

Your Headless SEO Checklist In 8 Steps

To ease the transition to a headless CMS, this checklist can guide you in communicating technical SEO requirements to your development team and diagnosing potential issues:

  1. Check All The Essential Meta Tags: Audit meta tags as they impact SEO performance.

  2. Indexing Management: Choose between meta robots tag and x-robots-tag for indexing management, and ensure your CMS allows page-by-page control of indexation.

  3. Ensure URL Slugs Are Editable: Prevent URLs from defaulting to random strings by ensuring yours is editable, and establish rules for who can make changes.

  4. Establish Canonical URL Rules: Define rules for self-canonicalization and handle duplicate content effectively.

  5. Define Your XML Sitemap Setup: Agree on how your sitemap will be updated and ensure it only includes valid URLs.

  6. Request Your Schema Markup: Utilize schema markup for a richer understanding of your content by search engines.

  7. Maintain A Structured Heading Hierarchy: Ensure a correct heading hierarchy for accessibility and SEO consistency.

  8. Conduct A JavaScript Parity Audit Pre-Launch: Verify that search engines see the intended content by checking rendered and unrendered sites for disparities.

Navigating A Headless Future

As headless CMS become more prevalent, SEOs will need to develop technical skills and reconsider their approach to content. Establishing a strong technical SEO setup on the front-end is crucial, but headless systems also offer opportunities to improve workflows within the CMS.

Following the 8-step checklist will help reinstate essential SEO safeguards. The future of SEO depends on the industry’s creativity in leveraging the separation of content from presentation as a strategic advantage. With shifting search behaviors and shopping habits, rethinking content strategies could offer a competitive edge.

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Featured Image: Ashan Randika/Shutterstock

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