Next.js SEO Essentials: Sitemaps, Robots, and Metadata

Technical SEO in Next.js

Modern SEO is equal parts content and crawlability. Next.js makes it straightforward to expose search-friendly metadata and indexable URLs.

1) Dynamic Sitemap

Generate a sitemap that includes static pages and blog detail URLs. Update app/sitemap.ts to map over all posts.

2) Robots.txt

Declare your host and sitemap for clearer discovery and allow public routes while disallowing private ones.

3) Rich Metadata

Use the Next.js metadata API to define Open Graph and Twitter cards. Include title, description, and image for each article.

4) Performance Matters

Core Web Vitals affect rankings. Optimize images, reduce JavaScript, and leverage caching.

Conclusion

With a dynamic sitemap, explicit robots rules, and complete metadata, you help search engines crawl, understand, and rank your content.