Ahrefs SEO Issues - Fix Plan

Status: In Progress

Last Updated: 2025-11-19

🎯 Issues from Ahrefs Report

✅ Issue 1: Multiple Meta Description Tags (FIXED)

Problem: 442 pages had duplicate <meta name="description"> tags

Root Cause:

• Minimal Mistakes theme includes jekyll-seo-tag plugin (automatic)
• Custom _includes/head/custom.html also added manual meta descriptions
• Result: Two meta description tags on every page

Solution: Removed manual meta description code from _includes/head/custom.html (lines 14-21).

The theme’s built-in SEO will now handle all meta descriptions based on:

• page.description (front matter)
• page.excerpt (if no description)
• site.description (fallback)

Testing: After deployment, verify with:

curl -s https://www.rshankar.com/ | grep -i "meta name=\"description\""
# Should only show ONE meta description tag

🔴 Issue 2: 404 Broken Pages (11 pages)

Action Required: Export the 404 page list from Ahrefs

Next Steps:

1. Download list of 11 broken pages from Ahrefs
2. For each broken page:
   • Check if it should exist (typo in URL?)
   • Check if it moved (create redirect)
   • Check if it should be deleted (remove from sitemap)

Fix Options:

# Option A: Create redirect (if page moved)
# Add to old page's front matter:
redirect_to: /new-page-url/

# Option B: Create redirect file
---
permalink: /old-url/
redirect_to: /new-url/
layout: redirect
---

# Option C: If truly dead, ensure no links point to it

🔴 Issue 3: Links to Broken Pages (8 pages)

Dependency: Fix after identifying 404 pages

Action Required: Export the list from Ahrefs showing:

• Which 8 pages contain broken links
• Which URLs they’re linking to

Next Steps:

1. Get list of pages with broken links
2. For each page:
   • Find and update broken links
   • OR remove links if target is permanently gone
   • OR create redirect if target moved

🔴 Issue 4: Orphan Pages (8 pages, +4 new)

Problem: Pages with no incoming internal links won’t rank well

Action Required: Export orphan page list from Ahrefs

Fix Strategy:

1. Evaluate each orphan:
   • Is it important? → Add to navigation or link from relevant content
   • Is it a standalone page? → Link from homepage or about page
   • Is it obsolete? → Consider archiving or deleting
2. Quick wins:
   • Add to footer navigation
   • Add to sidebar
   • Link from related blog posts
   • Add to site map page (if you have one)
3. For ChantFlow page (if it’s an orphan):
   • Link from homepage/apps page
   • Link from related blog posts about meditation/Apple Watch
   • Add to navigation menu

⚠️ Issue 5: Meta Description Too Long (373 pages)

Problem: Descriptions > 155 characters get truncated in search results

Optimal Range: 120-155 characters

Diagnosis: Run the audit script:

./scripts/fix-seo-issues.sh

Fix Strategy:

Batch Fix (High Priority Pages):

1. Focus on most recent posts (2024-2025)
2. Focus on high-traffic pages
3. Update descriptions to 120-155 chars

Template for Shortening:

Long (175 chars): "Learn how to build a comprehensive SwiftUI stopwatch application with advanced lap timing features, including detailed explanations and complete code examples for iOS developers."

Short (145 chars): "Build a SwiftUI stopwatch app with lap timing. Complete tutorial with code examples and best practices for iOS developers."

Formula:

[Action verb] [topic] [method/tool]. [Benefit]. [Optional: audience].

⚠️ Issue 6: Title Too Long (84 pages)

Problem: Titles > 60 characters get truncated in search results

Optimal Range: 50-60 characters

Diagnosis: Run the audit script to find all titles > 60 chars

Fix Strategy:

Examples:

Too Long (78 chars): "How to Build a Comprehensive SwiftUI Stopwatch Application with Lap Timing Features"
Good (56 chars): "Building a SwiftUI Stopwatch App with Lap Timing"

Too Long (92 chars): "Understanding the iOS Delegate Pattern: A Complete Beginner's Guide with Code Examples"
Good (58 chars): "iOS Delegate Pattern: A Beginner's Guide with Examples"

Rules for Shortening:

1. Remove filler words: “Complete”, “Comprehensive”, “Ultimate”
2. Remove redundancy: “Guide with Examples” → “Guide”
3. Use abbreviations where appropriate: “Application” → “App”
4. Keep primary keyword at the start

⚠️ Issue 7: Meta Description Too Short (59 pages)

Problem: Descriptions < 120 characters don’t use available space effectively

Minimum: 120 characters (ideal: 120-155)

Fix Strategy:

Template for Expanding:

Too Short (85 chars): "Learn SwiftUI stopwatch development with this tutorial for iOS developers."

Better (130 chars): "Learn SwiftUI stopwatch development with lap timing features. Complete tutorial with code examples and best practices for iOS."

Formula for Expanding:

1. Add specific benefit: “Learn X” → “Learn X and achieve Y”
2. Add method: “Tutorial” → “Step-by-step tutorial with code examples”
3. Add audience context: “for developers” → “Perfect for iOS developers learning SwiftUI”

⚠️ Issue 8: 3XX Redirects (198)

Lower Priority: These aren’t critical but slow down page loads

Action Required: Export redirect list from Ahrefs

Types of Redirects:

1. Intentional redirects: Old URLs → New URLs (keep these)
2. Redirect chains: A → B → C (fix to A → C directly)
3. Unnecessary redirects: Should point directly to final destination

Fix Strategy:

1. Review redirect chains and simplify
2. Update internal links to point to final destination (avoid redirects)
3. Keep necessary redirects for backward compatibility

⚠️ Issue 9: Links to Redirects (56 pages)

Problem: Internal links pointing to URLs that redirect slow down navigation

Action Required: Export list from Ahrefs

Fix: Update internal links to point directly to final destination:

# Bad (links to redirect)
[Read more](/old-url/)  # This redirects to /new-url/

# Good (direct link)
[Read more](/new-url/)  # Direct to final destination

Strategy:

1. Get list of pages linking to redirects
2. Search and replace URLs to point to final destination
3. Test links after updating

📋 Automated Tools Created

1. SEO Audit Script

Location: scripts/fix-seo-issues.sh

Usage:

cd /Users/ravishankar/Work/MyApps/rshankras.github.io
./scripts/fix-seo-issues.sh > seo-audit-report.txt

Checks:

• ✅ Meta descriptions too short (< 120 chars)
• ✅ Meta descriptions too long (> 155 chars)
• ✅ Titles too long (> 60 chars)
• ✅ Posts missing descriptions
• ✅ Posts missing permalinks

🎯 Priority Action Plan

Week 1: Critical Fixes

• Fix duplicate meta descriptions
• Get 404 page list from Ahrefs
• Fix all 11 broken pages
• Fix 8 pages linking to broken pages
• Get orphan page list and add internal links

Week 2-3: High Priority Content

• Run SEO audit script
• Fix top 20 most-visited pages:
  • Update long meta descriptions (> 155)
  • Update short meta descriptions (< 120)
  • Update long titles (> 60)
• Add descriptions to pages missing them

Week 4+: Batch Updates

• Fix remaining meta descriptions (bulk update)
• Fix remaining titles (bulk update)
• Review and optimize redirects
• Update links to redirects

📊 Progress Tracking

Completed: 1/9 issues In Progress: 0/9 issues Pending: 8/9 issues Overall: 11% complete

Next Immediate Actions:

1. ✅ Deploy the duplicate meta description fix
2. Export 404 page list from Ahrefs
3. Export orphan page list from Ahrefs
4. Export broken link list from Ahrefs
5. Run ./scripts/fix-seo-issues.sh to get local audit

📝 Notes

• After fixing duplicate meta descriptions, wait 1-2 weeks for Google to re-crawl
• Ahrefs will update its report after next crawl (usually weekly)
• Expected impact: +442 pages fixed immediately
• Focus on critical issues first (404s, orphans, broken links)
• Use audit script to prioritize description/title fixes

🔗 Resources

• SEO Guidelines
• Quick SEO Fix Guide
• Minimal Mistakes SEO Docs