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SEO by platform · Updated

Drupal SEO: modules and checklist

Drupal renders pages on the server and is very flexible, but much of its SEO comes from contributed modules: Pathauto for URLs, Metatag for titles and descriptions, a sitemap module and Redirect.

Aalhad, Founder, SEO·AEO·GEO

Founder, SEO·AEO·GEO

Builds SEO·AEO·GEO and writes the crawler, schema, and citation research published here.

How Drupal serves pages to crawlers

Standard Drupal renders HTML on the server. Decoupled (headless) Drupal with a JavaScript front end needs that front end to render on the server for crawlers.

Core SEO modules

ModuleDoes
PathautoGenerates readable URL aliases from patterns, such as /blog/[title]
MetatagTitles, meta descriptions, canonical and Open Graph tags per content type and item
Simple XML Sitemap (or XML sitemap)Generates and updates the sitemap
RedirectManages 301 redirects, including when aliases change
Schema.org MetatagAdds JSON-LD structured data

Checklist

  • Set Pathauto patterns before you publish content.
  • Configure Metatag defaults per content type, with tokens for title and summary.
  • Turn on page caching and the dynamic page cache, and use a CDN.
  • Check robots.txt doesn't block paths needed for CSS and JavaScript.
  • Use clean heading structure in your theme's templates.
  • Check robots.txt allows the AI search crawlers you want: OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot. See the AI crawler list and the robots.txt generator.
  • Check your host's or CDN's bot protection doesn't block them even when robots.txt allows them.
  • Make sure the main text is in the HTML the server sends. AI crawlers don't run JavaScript.
  • Avoid nosnippet and tiny max-snippet values on pages you want quoted; they also keep pages out of Google's AI Overviews.

Check it on your own site

What the free audit tests for this

  • Title tag
  • Canonical
  • sitemap.xml
  • Schema.org / JSON-LD

One URL, about 20 seconds, no login. You get the result of every check and the exact fix for the top three issues.

Audit your website free

FAQ

Is Drupal good for SEO?+

Yes. It renders on the server and, with a few standard modules, gives full control of URLs, metadata, sitemaps and redirects.

Sources

  1. Search engine optimization (SEO) modules — Drupal.org
  2. SEO Starter Guide — Google Search Central (2025-12-10)