Technical SEO & Site Architecture Flashcards

Which HTTP status code should be used when permanently redirecting a URL to a new location?

Answer: 301 Moved Permanently

A 301 redirect tells search engines the move is permanent, transferring link equity to the new URL.

What is the primary purpose of an XML sitemap?

Answer: Help search engines discover and index pages

An XML sitemap lists URLs on a site so crawlers can efficiently discover and prioritize pages for indexing.

Which robots.txt directive prevents all crawlers from accessing an entire website?

Answer: User-agent: * Disallow: /

"User-agent: * Disallow: /" blocks all crawlers from accessing any path on the site.

What does the canonical tag (rel='canonical') primarily solve?

Answer: Duplicate content issues

The canonical tag tells search engines which version of a duplicated or similar page should be treated as the authoritative source.

Which crawl budget factor does Google consider most important for large websites?

Answer: Crawl rate limit and crawl demand

Google's crawl budget is determined by crawl rate limit (server capacity) and crawl demand (popularity and staleness), making efficient crawling critical for large sites.

What is the recommended maximum depth (clicks from homepage) for important pages in a well-structured site architecture?

Answer: 3 clicks

Pages within 3 clicks from the homepage are considered easily accessible and typically receive stronger crawl priority and link equity.

Which structured data format does Google recommend for implementing Schema.org markup?

Answer: JSON-LD

Google recommends JSON-LD because it can be placed in the section without altering visible HTML content, making it easier to implement and maintain.