Why do we test for this?
There are many ways to improve the efficiency of a website and how it's treated by search engines by configuring the website's server settings.
How do we test for this?
We can detect server behaviour and check if useful settings have been configured in the most beneficial way eg:
- We check that a fabricated URL on your website returns a 404 header.
- We check URLs with and without a trailing slash redirect as appropriate, or have a canonical meta tag
- We check if pages use GZIP compression for smaller page sizes and faster downloading
- We check if the site responds on www or non-www and redirects as appropriate or has a canonical meta tag
What can I do about it?
- Ensure 404 pages send a 404 HTTP status code
- Ensure site uses GZIP encoding
- Ensure 301 redirects between URLs work with and without trailing slash (and redirects as appropriate). Alternatively use a canonical meta tag
- Ensure redirection from www to non-www version.