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Search Engine Optimization

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Create your first app

Search Engine Optimization

Rendering and Ranking

URL Structure

URL Structure is an important part of an SEO strategy. While Google doesn't disclose which weight each part of SEO has, great URLs are considered a best practice no matter if they are a big or small ranking factor in the end.

You might want to follow some principles:

  • Semantic: It's best to use URLs that are semantic, meaning that they use words instead of IDs or random numbers. Example: /learn/basics/create-nextjs-app is better than /learn/course-1/lesson-1
  • Patterns that are logical and consistent: URLs should follow some sort of pattern that is consistent among pages. For example, you want to have a folder that groups all product pages, instead of having different paths for each product that you have.
  • Keyword focused: Google still bases a considerable part of their systems on the keywords a website contains. You might want to use keywords in your URLs to facilitate understanding the purpose of the pages.
  • Not parameter-based: Using parameters to build your URLs is generally not a good idea. They are not semantic in most cases, and search engines might confuse them and demote their rankings in results.

How are Routes Defined in Next.js?

Next.js uses file-system routing built on the concept of pages. When a file is added to the pages directory, it is automatically available as a route. The files and folders inside the pagesdirectory can be used to define most common patterns.

Let's take a look at a couple of simple URLs and how you would add them to your Next.js router:

  • Homepage: https://www.example.com → pages/index.js
  • Listings: https://www.example.com/products → pages/products.js or pages/products/index.js
  • Detail: https://www.example.com/products/product → pages/products/product.js

For a blog or e-commerce site you will likely want to use the product ID or blog name as the slug for the URL. This is called dynamic routing:

  • Product:https://www.example.com/products/nextjs-shirt → pages/products/[product].js
  • Blog:https://www.example.com/blog/seo-in-nextjs → pages/blog/[blog-name].js

To use dynamic routing, you can add brackets to a page name inside yourproducts or blogs subfolder.

Here's an example of a page optimized for this using SSG:

// pages/blog/[slug].js

import Head from 'next/head';

export async function getStaticPaths() {
  // Call an external API endpoint to get posts
  const res = await fetch('https://www.example.com/api/posts');
  const posts = await res.json();

  // Get the paths we want to pre-render based on posts
  const paths = posts.map((post) => ({
    params: { slug: post.slug },
  }));
  // Set fallback to blocking. Now any new post added post build will SSR
  // to ensure SEO. It will then be static for all subsequent requests
  return { paths, fallback: 'blocking' };
}

export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  const res = await fetch(`https://www.example.com/api/blog/${params.slug}`);
  const data = await res.json();

  return {
    props: {
      blog: data,
    },
  };
}

function BlogPost({ blog }) {
  return (
    <>
      <Head>
        <title>{blog.title} | My Site</title>
      </Head>
      <div>
        <h1>{blog.title}</h1>
        <p>{blog.text}</p>
      </div>
    </>
  );
}

export default BlogPost;

Here's another example using SSR:

// pages/blog/[slug].js

import Head from 'next/head';
function BlogPost({ blog }) {
  return (
    <div>
      <Head>
        <title>{blog.title} | My Site</title>
      </Head>
      <div>
        <h1>{blog.title}</h1>
        <p>{blog.text}</p>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

export async function getServerSideProps({ query }) {
  const res = await fetch(`https://www.example.com/api/blog/${query.slug}`);
  const data = await res.json();

  return {
    props: {
      blog: data,
    },
  };
}

export default BlogPost;

Further Reading

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