What makes Drupal websites a favourite of search engines?

Internet users rely on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to find websites containing specific information. Almost all websites depend on search engines to drive traffic. So having your website on the top page of Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) is of prime importance.

Search engines use automated software known as web crawlers or spiders at frequent intervals to archive documents from the HTML content and display the websites that match the given keywords. Each search engine has a distinct algorithm (that no one else seems to know) which they keep evolving to form the order in which the URLs appear in the SERP.

Having clean and appealing websites with solid content is not just enough nowadays. Using a Content Management System (CMS) like Drupal to build your website is a smart move because of its ability to quickly bubble to the top of SERP in an organic search. That explains why many leading industries use Drupal websites. Drupal has certain built-in functionalities and add-on modules that enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Clean URLs

With Drupal, clean URLs can be had by just checking on the appropriate box. With clean URL turned on, Drupal will generate URLs like http://www.sitname.com/node/123 instead of “http://www.sitname.com/?q=node/123”. Not having URLs with “? q=”, helps to keep the parameters in the URL short and less and aids web crawling.

Pathauto module

The Pathauto module enables Drupal websites to make user-friendly URLs by automatically generating path aliases for contents using nodes, taxonomy terms and users. This makes the content more visible and easier to remember. For example; www.sitename.com/five-fun-activities-at-the beach is definitely easier to remember than say node/6276.

Global Redirect

Does a 301 redirect to the path alias. Thus, it helps generate clean SEO friendly URLs.

XML Sitemap Module

This module helps search engines crawl their websites intelligently and keeps their results updated.

Google Analytics

This module integrates with Google Analytics and gives you feedback from your website’s traffic and thus boosts your site’s marketing effectiveness.

SEO Compliance Checker

This module performs a set of checks when a node content is created or modified and gives the user a feedback on its SEO compliance.

SEO Checklist

This module is a checklist of Drupal SEO best practices for proper search engine optimization of your website. It gives you a functional to-do list of modules and tasks that remain. This module was created and is maintained by Ben Finklea of Volacci, a Drupal SEO expert.

Search 404

To avoid standard “404 Page not found” from old unused sites, this module performs a search on the keywords in the URL, and shows the result of the search. This is also a module recommended in the SEO checklist and is maintained by Zyxware Technologies.

Zyxware Technologies has been an active contributor to the Drupal industry for the past 9 years. Over the years, we have built Drupal sites spanning different industry verticals. We can partner with you to build Drupal websites and web applications to your advantage. For further information on our Drupal development services, please contact us.