So I did what any developer would do: I wrote a Python script to audit every page on my site and find out exactly what was wrong.
· 42 pages had canonical URLs pointing to the wrong domain · Every single page was missing structured data · 26 pages had titles over 60 characters · 50 pages had zero internal links · 8 pages had thin content (under 300 words)
Let me break down the ones that mattered most. Canonical URLs (The Silent Killer)
If you've ever moved a site from username.github.io to a custom domain — you probably broke your SEO.
If it points to the wrong URL — even to an old .github.io address — Google treats the wrong version as the real page.
I had 42 pages with this problem. Fixing it took a 20-line Python script. Structured Data (Free Rich Snippets)
· Star ratings · FAQ dropdowns · Step-by-step guides · Course carousels · Product prices
Google can then show your 5 steps directly in the search results — no click required.
I had zero pages with structured data. Now every page has it. Internal Linking (The Free Ranking Boost)
Internal links — links between pages on your own site — are the most underused SEO tool.
· Discover new pages · Pass authority from popular pages to new ones · Understand your site's structure
I added a "Related Resources" section to every page with 4 relevant links each. That's 400+ new internal links across the site.
This one change matters more than any backlink. Title Length (Affects CTR, Not Rankings)
Ugly. Fix: keep titles between 40-60 characters. Put the important words first. Thin Content (Google Won't Rank It)
Pages under 300 words rarely rank, unless they're answering a very specific question.
· A "common mistakes" section · A "pro tips" section · Related resources · Interactive demos
I wrote scripts to audit and fix every issue automatically. Here's the general approach:
Run it across your sitemap, get a CSV of every issue, fix them in priority order.