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SEO Deployment Guidelines

Make Your Data Search Engine Optimized

3 Steps for SEO Data on Your Website:

  1. Create a specially-configured Search and Report DataPage.
  2. Place the SEO deploy code in your web page and publish it on your server.
  3. Create an optional sitemap for improved results.

About SEO

Search engines are very selective in what they index. There are plenty of sources on the web discussing why frames and JavaScript-driven content don't help with SEO. For content to be visible to search engines, it must come directly from your web server.

When it comes to database-driven data, there are additional complexities, especially related to search forms and URL parameters. A search form is a dead-end for search engine crawlers. Even if you manage to provide the crawler an alternative method to reach the data, you have to be careful with URL parameters. The general belief is that only links with a limited number of parameters, perhaps up to 3, are crawled by major search engines.

So with all these limitations at hand, Caspio has succeeded in providing an easy way for our customers make their data visible and indexed by search engines. We developed a unique technology along with a set of best practices that empower you to publish database-driven pages that are visible and index-able by search engines.

Caspio SEO Deployment

Caspio is known for offering a variety of methods to deploy your applications and DataPages to your website. The new Server-side SEO Deployment option is now available on the Deploy dialog when deploying a DataPage that meets the following requirements.

SEO Deployment Prerequisites:

We recommend that you consider your SEO DataPages as a special entry point for search engines to crawl your databases and apps. They are not meant to replace the rich functionality of your regularly-deployed DataPages. Therefore, it's helpful to place links to the regularly deployed apps on all SEO pages. This way, users can move from the initial SEO page to the regular app which may include more user-interactive features like search.

How It Works

As with all deployment models of Caspio Bridge, the deployment code does not contain any of your data. It is a set of instructions that retrieves the appropriate data and application interfaces from your Caspio Bridge account, in real time at the moment it is accessed by a user.

SEO diagram

The difference between SEO deployment and other deployment models is that the deploy code does not run on the end user's browser. Instead, the SEO deployment code runs on your server. This is critical, because the search engine crawler must believe that the data resides on your own server. When the page with the SEO deployment code is accessed by a user or Web crawler, your server executes the deployment code, retrieves the data from Caspio, and delivers it to the requestor.

SEO-Deploying a DataPage

Deploy Datapage Screen
  1. On the Deploy DataPage dialog, and select Server-side (SEO) from the Method dropdown menu. Choose the appropriate Host page type for your DataPage (php, asp, or aspx).
  2. Choose External or Inline for the style of your DataPage. External Style is the default because it minimizes data transfer and enables faster page loads, however, it will require two deploy codes each on a separate tab. The DataPage code should be inserted into the body of your web page and the Style code into the header of your web page. Inline Style is useful when your content management system doesn't provide you with access to the area of your page.
  3. Copy the DataPage deploy code and paste it into the source code of your web page. Don't forget to click the Deploy button to close the dialog and activate the deployment.

Server Requirements

For the SEO deployment code to run on your server, it must be compatible with the scripting language that your server supports. Caspio provides the deploy code in three languages; PHP, ASP and ASPX.

Virtually all web servers support at least one of these scripting languages. If you are not certain which language is compatible with your server, ask your webmaster.

Additionally, you must be able to deploy executable code on your server. If you have administrative access to your web server or you are hosting your own site, this is not a problem. If not, request authorization from your webmaster.

External Factors

If your web site is on a shared hosting environment, the hosting company may have blocked the Web server from retrieving content from other servers. If this is the case, an error similar to "port is closed", or "external access is blocked" will appear. Ask your hosting company to open up port 80 (and 443 for SSL) for internally initiated requests.

If you use a content management system (CMS) for your website, you must find a way to deploy executable code into your page. For example, WordPress has plug-ins that allow for inline PHP execution. WordPress users must also install the Caspio WordPress plug-in to prevent WordPress from modifying the Caspio Bridge SEO deployment code.

Best Practices

Caspio has developed a set of best practices to help you get the most out of your SEO deployment: Best Practices Guide to SEO Deployment.