Technical SEO guide for bloggers including XML sitemap and robots.txt setup
Technical SEO creates the foundation that allows Google to properly find, crawl, and index your content

Technical SEO is the backbone of a well-optimized website. Without proper technical setup, even the best content can struggle to rank. This guide covers the essential technical SEO elements every new blogger needs to implement in 2025 — all of which directly support your AdSense approval prospects.

1. XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all the pages on your website, helping search engines discover and index your content faster. It's especially important for new sites with limited incoming backlinks.

How to create it:

  • WordPress: Yoast SEO and Rank Math automatically generate sitemaps at yoursite.com/sitemap.xml
  • Manual sites: Use tools like XML-Sitemaps.com to generate and download the XML file
  • Static site generators: Most have sitemap plugins (Hugo sitemap template, Eleventy sitemap plugin)

Sitemap best practices:

  • Include only canonical URLs (avoid parameter duplicates)
  • Update <lastmod> date when you update content
  • Set appropriate <priority> values (homepage: 1.0, posts: 0.8)
  • Submit to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools

2. robots.txt

The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which pages to index and which to skip. A misconfigured robots.txt can accidentally block your entire site from Google.

Basic robots.txt for a blog:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /wp-login.php
Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml

Rules: Disallow private admin areas but allow everything else. Never accidentally Disallow: / (this blocks your entire site).

Developer setting up technical SEO with structured data and XML sitemap
Good technical SEO tells search engines exactly what your site is about and how to categorize it

3. Structured Data (Schema Markup)

Schema markup adds machine-readable context to your content, helping Google understand it better and potentially showing rich results in search (snippets, FAQ dropdowns, etc.).

Essential schema types for bloggers:

  • Article – For all blog posts (includes author, date, headline)
  • FAQPage – For FAQ sections (creates expandable Q&A in search results)
  • BreadcrumbList – For site navigation
  • Person – For your author bio page
  • WebSite – For your homepage (enables sitelinks search box)

4. Google Search Console Setup

Google Search Console is free and essential. Setup steps:

  1. Go to search.google.com/search-console
  2. Add your property using the Domain method (easier) or URL prefix
  3. Verify ownership via DNS record, HTML file, or meta tag
  4. Submit your sitemap under Indexing → Sitemaps
  5. Monitor Coverage report for indexing issues
  6. Check Core Web Vitals report regularly

5. HTTPS and SSL

Every website needs HTTPS in 2025. Without it, Google Chrome shows a "Not Secure" warning and AdSense will not approve your site. Most hosts offer free Let's Encrypt SSL — enable it in your hosting control panel.

6. Canonical Tags

Canonical tags tell search engines which version of a page is the "master" when duplicate content exists. Always add <link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/this-page/"> to every page's header.

🔍 Technical Check

Our free AdSense checker includes a technical SEO verification layer. Use it to catch common technical issues before applying for AdSense.