prestruct docs

Prestruct handles technical SEO at build time. This guide covers best practices.

How Prestruct Works

Prestruct prerenders each route to static HTML with:

Configuration

Define routes in ssr.config.js:

export default {
  siteUrl: 'https://example.com',
  siteName: 'Example',
  ogImage: 'https://example.com/og-image.png',
  routes: [
    {
      path: '/',
      priority: '1.0',
      changefreq: 'weekly',
      meta: {
        title: 'Home | Example',
        description: 'Your homepage description (150-160 chars)',
      }
    },
    {
      path: '/about/',
      priority: '0.8',
      changefreq: 'monthly',
      meta: {
        title: 'About Us | Example',
        description: 'Learn more about our company...',
      }
    }
  ]
}

Meta Best Practices

Title Tags

Descriptions

Canonical URLs

Canonical is siteUrl + the route path, minus the trailing slash on /:

// Route path written with a trailing slash
{ path: '/about/' }
// Generates: <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/about/" />

// Root is the bare site origin (no trailing slash)
{ path: '/' }
// Generates: <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com" />

usePageMeta computes the same value client-side on SPA navigation, so the canonical never flips between SSR and client.

Structured Data (JSON-LD)

Add schema.org data in ssr.config.js:

export default {
  // ...other config
  buildJsonLd() {
    return [
      {
        '@context': 'https://schema.org',
        '@type': 'Organization',
        name: 'Example Inc',
        url: 'https://example.com',
        logo: 'https://example.com/logo.png',
        contactPoint: {
          '@type': 'ContactPoint',
          telephone: '+1-555-1234',
          contactType: 'customer service'
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

The returned object(s) are injected as <script type="application/ld+json"> into every page. buildJsonLd` is called with no arguments and cannot vary by route – see Structured Data for the full set of types and the per-route limitation.

Sitemap

Prestruct auto-generates sitemap.xml with:

404 Pages

Prestruct generates a 404 page with noindex robots directive:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow, noarchive, nosnippet, noimageindex" />

This prevents 404 pages from appearing in search results.

Robots.txt

Two ways, one contract: prestruct never touches dist/robots.txt unless you opt in. Author your own in public/robots.txt (copied through untouched):

User-agent: *
Allow: /

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Or generate one from config (robots: true = minimal allow-all + Sitemap line, robots: "<body>" = custom body with the Sitemap line auto-appended, robots: { body, sitemap: false } = custom body without the pointer). Both come from the robots key in ssr.config.js; details: Config Reference.

AI crawlers (AEO)

robots: { aeo: true } writes a per-bot policy instead of a catch-all: search-visibility crawlers are allowed, training crawlers are disallowed by default (aeo: { aiBots: 'allow' } flips that). The separation matters because the vendor tokens differ: OAI-SearchBot controls ChatGPT search results while GPTBot controls OpenAI training crawls; Claude-SearchBot vs ClaudeBot; Applebot vs Applebot-Extended. Google-Extended is a product token for Gemini/Vertex grounding that does not affect Google Search inclusion. Details: Config Reference.

Two honest limits, from vendor documentation (2026):

What does move answer-engine visibility, per the same documentation: public crawlable HTML (prestruct prerenders every route, so this is already handled), stable canonicals, accurate titles/descriptions, visible author/date info, schema.org types that match visible content (Article, Person/ProfilePage, BreadcrumbList – see Structured Data), and not accidentally blocking resource URLs. FAQ rich results were retired May 2026; de-prioritize FAQPage markup unless the page is genuinely Q&A.

Security Headers

Prestruct sites on Cloudflare Pages get security headers automatically:

Validation

Use these tools to verify SEO:

Gotchas & Troubleshooting

Duplicate Meta Tags

If you see duplicate <title> or <meta name="robots"> tags, check your public/index.html for pre-existing meta tags. Prestruct’s inject-brand.js adds meta tags dynamically - remove duplicate meta from your base HTML.

404 Pages Not Indexed

Prestruct automatically adds noindex directives to 404 pages to prevent them from appearing in search results:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow, noarchive, nosnippet, noimageindex" />

This is correct behavior - don’t remove it unless you want 404s indexed.

Trailing Slash Mismatch

If your canonical URL has a trailing slash but users access without (or vice versa), you may see duplicate content warnings. Choose one style in your route definitions and stay consistent.

Next steps

prestruct is open source - site prestruct.creadev.org - terms - privacy - part of the Creadev family