Alan Vo

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Drupal

Drupal SEO Tools recipe: what you actually get

Drupal

The Drupal SEO Tools recipe is the bundled Metatag, sitemap, redirect, and checklist stack I expect on a new Drupal CMS site, and the stack I reconstruct by hand when a classic Drupal 11 site never had it. I am Alan Vo, a Gold Coast web developer with 18 years on CMS, ecommerce, and technical SEO. In 2026 Drupal CMS can install this in one go. What you actually get is tools, not rankings. Titles, internal links, and crawlable HTML still have to be done.

This note is for people who applied the recipe (or the SEO Tools add-on in the UI) and want to know what to configure next. It sits next to Drupal CMS recipes for faster site builds and the on-page work I describe for stores in on-page SEO for ecommerce. Drupal.org's search engine optimisation guide is still the core-and-modules map. The recipe is a packaged subset.

What the Drupal SEO Tools recipe actually includes

The Drupal SEO Tools recipe actually includes a set of contributed modules plus default config, not a secret ranking algorithm. On Drupal CMS the add-on typically installs and wires:

Pathauto may already be on from Drupal CMS or another recipe. Robots.txt management may appear as a RobotsTxt UI so you can confirm a Sitemap: line. Image media types can be pulled in as a dependency because OG images need a media stack.

That list is why I like the recipe on greenfield. It is also why I audit it on an existing site: you may already have Metatag with different defaults. Applying Tools on top can import a second global pattern that overwrites [node:title] | [site:name] with something generic, or the reverse.

What you do not get: a unique title for every provider page, hreflang, schema that matches your content model, or a guarantee that Canvas pages are in the sitemap. Those are configuration and content. Schema.org Metatag is often a next module I add when the site has articles or events, not always in the base recipe.

Drupal SEO Tools recipe documentation open beside a laptop

How the Drupal SEO Tools recipe actually works after install

The Drupal SEO Tools recipe actually works after install as admin screens you still have to point at your bundles. I go in this order.

Metatag defaults: Global, Front page, then each content type. Global should not steal uniqueness. Front page should not look like a random node. Node types get [node:title] patterns that match the IA. Canonicals should be the alias, not a duplicate query string. Open Graph image should use a defined media field, not the first inline image in the body if the body is empty on half the nodes.

Simple XML Sitemap: inclusion by entity type. I include published nodes that should rank. I exclude preview, thank-you, and admin-ish bundles. I set priority only if the client understands it is a hint. I submit the sitemap in Search Console. I confirm robots.txt mentions it. Large sites need sitemap chunks and a cron that can finish. A 50,000-node rebuild on a tiny PHP timeout will silently stall.

Redirect: automatic redirects when aliases change should be on before editors rename URLs. The 404 log is useful for a month after launch, then it is a junk drawer. I do not 301 every typo to the homepage. That is a soft-404 factory.

SEO Checklist: use it as a launch gate, not as a weekly religion. Tick what is actually done. Leave unticked what is not. A fully ticked checklist on a site with duplicate titles is lying.

Real-time SEO in the node form can nag writers into stuffing. I turn the tone down. Keyword density widgets are not how I ship government content.

HTML sitemap pages at /sitemap are optional. They can help humans and they can be thin content. If you ship one, give it real groupings, not a dump of 8,000 links.

Drupal SEO Tools recipe production checklist

A Drupal SEO Tools recipe production pass is configuration, then a crawl.

  1. Export config immediately after apply so git has the baseline.
  2. Set Metatag global and per-bundle titles and descriptions. Character length is a display issue; uniqueness is the SEO issue.
  3. Set canonical handling. Watch pagination and facet-like views if you have them.
  4. Map OG and Twitter images to media fields that exist on the types that need shares.
  5. Include the right entities in Simple XML Sitemap. Exclude the rest.
  6. Confirm Sitemap: in robots.txt and that the file is not blocked.
  7. Turn on alias-change redirects. Decide 410 vs 301 for retired URLs with traffic.
  8. Add Metatag for views if landing listings are views and would otherwise share one title.
  9. If you use Canvas page entities, include them in the sitemap and give them Metatag. This is the miss I see in 2026.
  10. Add Schema.org Metatag or custom JSON-LD for Article, Event, Organization as the content model deserves. Test in Google's rich results tools. No fake reviews.
  11. Run a crawler. Look for duplicate titles, missing descriptions, redirect chains, and canonicals to URLs that 404.
  12. Search Console: property verify, sitemap submit, inspect a sample of each bundle.
Team workshop around a table planning a CMS rebuild

NDIS-style information architecture needs unique titles per topic page more than it needs a new module. La Pedrera-style visit and exhibition pages need accurate titles, dates in copy, and images that match the building, not a default logo OG image on every node.

What breaks after you apply the Drupal SEO Tools recipe

The Drupal SEO Tools recipe breaks SEO when defaults are left generic, when two SEO modules fight, and when the sitemap lists URLs that noindex.

Failure modes:

I also see robots.txt in git fighting the RobotsTxt module UI. Pick one owner.

Views landing pages are the other quiet miss. A listings view at /providers or /exhibitions often inherits the site name as the title. The recipe does not magically unique that. Metatag has a Views integration. I add a title and description on every indexable view display, and I make sure the display is in the sitemap if it should rank. Faceted views get a canonical back to the clean listing, or they stay noindex. Government IA is full of these URLs. If you only fix nodes, you left the hub pages generic.

Library stacks used as a stand-in for structured content

Robots.txt after the recipe should still hide /user, /admin, and search result URLs if those are public. It should not hide /sites/default/files for PDFs you want indexed. I read the generated file on production, not the module default on local. CDNs that serve a static robots.txt from git will ignore the module. That is fine if git is the owner. It is a bug if both write.

Schema is the optional next layer. Organization JSON-LD on the homepage, Article on news, Event on exhibitions. The SEO Tools recipe does not finish that. I add Schema.org Metatag or a small custom block, then I test. I do not paste fake aggregate ratings to chase stars. Cultural and regulator sites get punished in the long run for that, and it is dishonest.

How to measure the SEO Tools stack

Measure the SEO Tools stack with Search Console (coverage, duplicate titles, sitemap processing) and with a scheduled crawl, not with a checklist screenshot. Rankings move on content and links. The recipe's job is: every indexable URL has a unique title, a canonical that is fetchable, a sitemap entry if it should be found, and a 301 if it moved.

I record:

Cite Drupal.org for how Drupal approaches SEO. Do not paste a vendor case study as if it were this domain.

Related work on this site

Information-heavy Drupal is where this recipe is table stakes. The NDIS Commission site has to make quality and safety pages findable for participants and providers. La Pedrera is the official Drupal site for visits, exhibitions, and Gaudí in Barcelona, where titles and sitemaps have to match a public cultural calendar. Both were contract development on an agency team. Metatag, redirects, and an honest sitemap are the boring layer under that IA. The recipe installs the boring layer. The IA is still a content job.

FAQ

Does the Drupal SEO Tools recipe make the site rank?

The Drupal SEO Tools recipe does not make the site rank. It installs Metatag, a sitemap, redirects, and a checklist. Rankings still depend on crawlable pages, unique titles, internal links, and content. I use the recipe so I am not missing the tools. I do not sell it as traffic.

Government-style office desks and screens

Can I apply the Drupal SEO Tools recipe on an existing Drupal 11 site?

You can apply the Drupal SEO Tools recipe on an existing Drupal 11 site if you accept its modules and config. Diff first. If Metatag is already production-tuned, apply on a clone and keep your defaults. Composer-require drupal/drupal_cms_seo_tools when you are not on the CMS installer.

What should I configure first after the Drupal SEO Tools recipe?

Configure Metatag defaults and sitemap inclusion first after the Drupal SEO Tools recipe. Then redirects on alias change. Then a crawl. Checklist last, as a gate, not as the work.

Is the Drupal SEO Tools recipe enough for multilingual SEO?

The Drupal SEO Tools recipe is not enough for multilingual SEO. Hreflang, language domains, and translated meta are a separate setup. See Drupal 11 multilingual SEO and hreflang. Enable language-specific Metatag and sitemap variants or you will index one locale and duplicate the other.

Editor typing in a CMS during Drupal SEO Tools recipe work

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