Grav CMS is flat-file content management system that doesn’t need MySQL or any database. Among that (or better to say because of that), pages made in Grav load faster in visitor’s browser. That is, in start, one SEO adventage of this CMS.
But if you are first timer regarding Grav, here is small guide/tutorial about few SEO optimization elements which will help your website rank better on Google (and other search engines).
Meta Description in Grav
Meta description is one of very important meta tags on web page. Therefore I’ll explain where to edit that, first. When you are on editing page, go to “options” tab, then check “metadata” checkfield. In first field next to it write “description” and in another one – content of it. Here is how it looks like in this printscreen:
Open graph meta tags
When you are there already, you could add open graph meta tags, too. Or so called, OG tags. It’s on same place, under “options” “metadata”, click “plus” sign so 2 new fields will appear bellow meta description. In first one add “og:image” and in another image url. Then clieck plus to get 2 more fiels, add “og:title” and add title. And so on for any open graph field you want to add in page head.
Breadcrumbs SEO element
Breadcrumbs can be valuable SEO element, too. In Grav, you can instal “Breadcrumbs” plugin and it works like a charm. You just should know that this plugin is making breadcrumbs acording to folders, or pages hierarchy. So when you are making pages, keep that in mind. Make pages in folders and subfolders acordingly.
In plugin settings you can choose if you want home page as first item in breadcrumb or not, if you want it to be presented even if there is just one item, …
SEO sitemap in Grav CMS
For sitemap there is nice plugin too and it’s called simply – “sitemap”. Instalation is simple and there are just few small settings.
After making sitemap, on every page under “options” you will have 2 lines for seting – you can choose change frequency and priority.
Page slug
When editing page, go to tab “advanced”. There is check field “slug”. By default, page title will be taken for page portion of URL, or for slug. If that’s very long or from any other SEO reason you want diferent slug then title, just check that field and write down slug you want.
Other SEO optimization meta tags
On “expert” tab, you will see 2 text boxes. In “frontmatter” text box you can add shorttags for any other meta tag you need:
