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DOTMAP

blog // 43 guides + field notes

Guides for being found by search and quoted by AI.

Plain explanations of AEO, the Google and Bing scores, and the technical checks behind a dotmap audit, alongside field notes from auditing our own site. Each article opens with the answer, links to its primary sources and separates measured results from examples.

Fig 18 · topics drop into the hopper; twice a day the oldest one is set and printed as an article.

Start here19 Oct 2026, 4 min read

A diagram showing a website's home page with embedded WebSite structured data, pointing to a Google Search result snippet displaying the site name next to the URL.

How do you set your site name in Google Search?

To set your preferred site name in Google Search results, add WebSite structured data to your home page. The name must follow Google's content policies.

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A diagram showing a website page with various images, illustrating how different image formats, responsive techniques, and alt text contribute to better search engine understanding

guide // 18 Oct 2026, 5 min

How do you optimize images for search?

Optimizing images helps search engines understand your content, improves page performance, and enhances user experience, leading to better discoverability.

A diagram illustrating a series of paginated web pages, such as "Page 1," "Page 2," and "Page 3," each with a self-referential canonical tag, indicating that each page in the

guide // 17 Oct 2026, 5 min

How should you handle pagination for SEO?

For SEO, ensure paginated pages are discoverable and understood as part of a larger, ordered list. Use canonical URLs and structured data to provide context.

A diagram shows a web page with a visible section at the top and a hidden section below. Images in the visible section are marked 'eager load', while images in the hidden section

guide // 17 Oct 2026, 5 min

Does lazy loading hurt SEO?

Lazy loading does not inherently hurt SEO. Correct implementation improves page performance, a key SEO factor. Misuse can negatively impact critical content.

A diagram showing a website with different directories, some marked with a green checkmark for "Allow" and others with a red cross for "Disallow," illustrating how a robots.txt

guide // 15 Oct 2026, 7 min

How do you write a robots.txt file?

A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which URLs they can access on your site. Learn how to create one, its rules, and its limitations.

guide // 14 Oct 2026, 5 min

What is breadcrumb structured data, and how do you add it?

Breadcrumb structured data shows a page's position in your site's hierarchy. It helps users explore your site and Google categorize pages in search results.

A diagram showing a web page with a recipe. Structured data in JSON-LD format extracts details like ingredients and cooking time.

guide // 13 Oct 2026, 6 min

What is structured data, and does it help SEO?

Structured data is a standardized format that helps search engines understand page content and enables engaging rich results. It must be visible and accurate.

guide // 12 Oct 2026, 5 min

What is Google-Extended, and should you block it?

Google-Extended is a user-agent token for Google's crawlers. Blocking it depends on your website's goals and how you want Google's services to use your content.

A simple diagram showing a search engine crawler icon pointing to a smartphone icon, with an arrow from the smartphone icon to a desktop monitor icon, indicating that the mobile

guide // 10 Oct 2026, 7 min

What is mobile-first indexing?

Mobile-first indexing means Google primarily uses your site's mobile content for ranking. Ensure your mobile version is complete, accessible, and optimized.

A diagram showing multiple URLs, like example.com/page and example.com/page/variant, with identical content.

guide // 9 Oct 2026, 5 min

Does Duplicate Content Hurt SEO?

Duplicate content is not a Google spam policy violation, but it can waste crawling resources and confuse users. Learn how to manage it effectively.

A simple diagram shows an image of a cat with the text 'alt='A fluffy orange cat sleeping on a blue cushion'' next to it, illustrating how alt text describes the image content.

guide // 8 Oct 2026, 5 min

How do you write good alt text for images?

Alt text provides a text alternative for images, making web content accessible to users with disabilities and helping search engines understand image context.

A diagram showing a hierarchical structure of headings, starting with one H1 at the top, followed by multiple H2s, and then H3s nested under H2s, illustrating a clear content

guide // 8 Oct 2026, 5 min

How should you structure headings for SEO?

Structuring headings with a clear hierarchy and descriptive text helps both search engines understand your content and improve search result presentation.

guide // 7 Oct 2026, 4 min

How internal linking helps SEO

Internal links help search engines discover pages, understand content relevance, and improve user navigation. Optimize your site's internal linking structure.

Radar sweep over a constellation of dots

guide // 5 Oct 2026, 5 min

What is llms.txt, and does your site need one?

llms.txt is a proposed Markdown file that summarises a site for AI agents. What goes in it, how it differs from robots.txt and sitemaps, and what Google says.

A stopwatch beside a grid of dots filling in and a small coin

checklist // 5 Oct 2026, 6 min

AEO audit checklist: can your page be cited?

A practical AEO audit checklist: confirm AI crawlers can reach a page, that it is indexed and snippet-eligible, and that it has a passage worth quoting.

method // estimates, labelled

Evidence before an attractive number.

dotmap reports technical checks and Jev estimates for the pages it can fetch. They are not measurements of rankings, citations or revenue. Where a guide discusses outcomes, it points to the systems that can measure them: Google Search Console for search performance and analytics or a CRM for on-site conversions.

Our own site is part of the experiment. We audit it, publish improvements, then run the same grader again. That makes the work visible and gives us a way to catch regressions as the site changes. It is not a claim that one score guarantees search reach.

Run your own audit