SEO & Structured Data Improvements

Deep analysis and implementation guide for improving search engine visibility, structured data, and social sharing.

Table of Contents

1. Fill Missing Config Values
2. JSON-LD Structured Data
3. Open Graph Images
4. Hreflang Tags for Bilingual Content
5. Robots.txt Configuration
6. Search Engine Verification
7. Breadcrumbs
8. Publication-Specific Schema
9. Meta Description Audit

1. Fill Missing Config Values

Current State

File: _config.yml (lines 53-78)

Multiple SEO-critical fields are empty:

twitter:
  username:          # EMPTY
facebook:
  username:          # EMPTY
  app_id:            # EMPTY
  publisher:         # EMPTY
og_image:            # EMPTY - no default OG image
social:
  type:              # EMPTY
  name:              # EMPTY
  links:             # EMPTY
analytics:
  provider: false    # DISABLED

Implementation

# _config.yml - update these sections

# Twitter (even if you don't use Twitter, needed for card metadata)
twitter:
  username: &twitter ""  # Add if you have one, or leave empty

# Default Open Graph image (shown when pages lack custom images)
og_image: /images/og-default.png  # Create a 1200x630 image

# Social profiles (enables Person JSON-LD with sameAs links)
social:
  type: Person
  name: "Efrén Rodríguez Rodríguez"
  links:
    - https://github.com/EfrenPy
    - https://www.linkedin.com/in/efren-rodriguez-rodriguez
    - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-XXXX-XXXX  # Your ORCID
    - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XXXXXX  # Your Google Scholar

# Analytics (optional but recommended)
analytics:
  provider: "google-gtag"
  google:
    tracking_id: "G-XXXXXXXXXX"  # Your GA4 measurement ID
    anonymize_ip: true

Create default OG image

Create a 1200x630px image at /images/og-default.png with:

• Your name

• “CERN Researcher

  Silicon Detectors”

• Your profile photo
• Site URL

This image will be used as the fallback when sharing any page that lacks a custom teaser.

2. JSON-LD Structured Data

Current State

File: _includes/seo.html (lines 105-125)

Two JSON-LD blocks exist but are conditionally rendered and incomplete:

• Organization schema only renders if site.og_image is set (currently empty)
• Person schema only renders if site.social is configured (currently empty)

File: _layouts/single.html (line 17)

Uses microdata itemtype="http://schema.org/CreativeWork" for all content types (generic, not specific).

Implementation

Enhanced Person schema

Create a new include _includes/jsonld-person.html:

<!-- _includes/jsonld-person.html -->
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Efrén Rodríguez Rodríguez",
  "url": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com",
  "image": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/images/webp/profile.webp",
  "jobTitle": "Postdoctoral Researcher",
  "worksFor": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "CERN",
    "url": "https://home.cern"
  },
  "alumniOf": [
    {
      "@type": "CollegeOrUniversity",
      "name": "Universidade de Santiago de Compostela",
      "url": "https://www.usc.gal"
    }
  ],
  "knowsAbout": [
    "Particle Physics",
    "Silicon Detectors",
    "Python",
    "Data Analysis",
    "FPGA Design"
  ],
  "sameAs": [
    "https://github.com/EfrenPy"
    , "https://www.linkedin.com/in/efrenrguezrguez"
    , "https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7973-8061"
    , "https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=pir4UaIAAAAJ&hl=en"
  ]
}
</script>

Include it in _includes/head.html:

WebSite schema (enables Google Sitelinks search box)

Create _includes/jsonld-website.html:

<!-- _includes/jsonld-website.html -->
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebSite",
  "name": "Efrén Rodríguez Rodríguez",
  "url": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com",
  "description": "Postdoctoral researcher at CERN specializing in silicon pixel detectors, data analysis, and particle physics instrumentation. PhD in Particle Physics with expertise in timing detectors and Python.",
  "inLanguage": ["en", "es"],
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Efrén Rodríguez Rodríguez"
  }
}
</script>

BreadcrumbList schema

Create _includes/jsonld-breadcrumbs.html:

<!-- _includes/jsonld-breadcrumbs.html -->


<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
  "itemListElement": [
    {
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 1,
      "name": "Home",
      "item": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com"
    }
    
    ,{
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 3,
      "name": "Docs",
      "item": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/docs/"
    }
    
    ,{
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 4,
      "name": "Improvements",
      "item": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/docs/improvements/"
    }
    
    ,{
      "@type": "ListItem",
      "position": 5,
      "name": "02 seo structured data",
      "item": "https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/docs/improvements/02-seo-structured-data/"
    }
    
  ]
}
</script>

3. Open Graph Images

Current State

• og_image in _config.yml is empty (no default)
• Publication teasers use placeholder paths (path-to-your-image.png)
• Portfolio items have teasers but they’re small thumbnails (150px)

Implementation

Create per-section OG images

For optimal social sharing, create 1200x630px images:

images/
  og-default.png          # Fallback: name + role + photo
  og-publications.png     # "Research Publications" header
  og-portfolio.png        # "Projects" header
  og-talks.png            # "Talks & Conferences" header

Add og_image to page front matter

For pages that should have custom social images:

# _pages/publications.md
---
title: "Publications"
og_image: /images/og-publications.png
---

Update portfolio items with proper teasers

Fix placeholder teaser paths in publications:

# _publications/silicon-vertex-detector-timing-upgrade-II-lhcb.md
header:
  teaser: webp/upgradeII.webp  # Use actual image, not 'path-to-your-image.png'

# _publications/the-lhcb-upgrade-i.md
header:
  teaser: webp/lhcb-upgrade.webp  # Replace placeholder

Update seo.html for better OG image handling

In _includes/seo.html, the current OG image logic (around line 86-90) can be improved:

<!-- _includes/seo.html - enhanced OG image logic -->



  
  <meta property="og:image" content="https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.comwebp/profile.webp">
  <meta property="og:image:width" content="1200">
  <meta property="og:image:height" content="630">

4. Hreflang Tags for Bilingual Content

Current State

The site has full bilingual support (EN/ES) via JavaScript toggle, but:

• No hreflang tags in <head>
• The locale is set to es_ES but content renders in both languages
• No alternate language hints for search engines

Implementation

Since the site uses client-side language switching (same URL for both languages), traditional hreflang is not applicable. However, you can signal to search engines that the content is multilingual:

<!-- _includes/head.html - add after canonical link -->
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/docs/improvements/02-seo-structured-data/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/docs/improvements/02-seo-structured-data/">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/docs/improvements/02-seo-structured-data/">

Better long-term approach: If you want proper SEO for both languages, consider URL-based language routing:

• efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/en/ for English
• efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/es/ for Spanish

This would require significant restructuring but gives search engines proper language-specific URLs to index.

5. Robots.txt Configuration

Current State

No robots.txt file exists in the repository root. The jekyll-sitemap plugin may generate a default one, but it’s better to be explicit.

Implementation

Create robots.txt in the repository root:

# robots.txt
User-agent: *
Allow: /

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

# Block crawling of non-content paths
Disallow: /assets/js/
Disallow: /assets/fonts/
Disallow: /files/

Note: Add ---\n--- YAML front matter if you want Jekyll to process it (for variable substitution), or leave it as a plain text file.

6. Search Engine Verification

Current State

Verification meta tags exist in _includes/seo.html but config values are empty.

Implementation

1. Google Search Console:
   • Go to Search Console
   • Add property: https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com
   • Choose “HTML tag” verification method
   • Copy the content value
2. Bing Webmaster Tools:
   • Go to Bing Webmaster
   • Add site and get verification code
3. Update _config.yml:

google_site_verification: "your-google-verification-code"
bing_site_verification: "your-bing-verification-code"

1. After verification, submit your sitemap URL in both consoles: https://efrenrodriguezrodriguez.com/sitemap.xml

7. Breadcrumbs

Current State

File: _config.yml (line 18): breadcrumbs: false

Breadcrumbs are disabled. The include _includes/breadcrumbs.html exists but is never rendered.

Implementation

Enable breadcrumbs in _config.yml:

breadcrumbs: true

This will automatically render the breadcrumb trail on subpages, improving:

• Navigation UX for deep pages
• Search engine understanding of site hierarchy
• Potential for breadcrumb rich snippets in Google results

Combine with the JSON-LD BreadcrumbList schema from section 2 for maximum SEO benefit.

8. Publication-Specific Schema

Current State

Publications use generic CreativeWork microdata. For academic content, Google Scholar and Google Search support ScholarlyArticle schema.

Implementation

Create _includes/jsonld-publication.html:

<!-- _includes/jsonld-publication.html -->

Include it in _layouts/single.html:

Portfolio project schema

Create _includes/jsonld-project.html:

<!-- _includes/jsonld-project.html -->

9. Meta Description Audit

Current State

Pages use the excerpt field as the meta description (via seo.html). This is functional but some are missing or generic.

Recommendations

Review each page’s excerpt to ensure it’s:

• 150-160 characters max
• Contains relevant keywords
• Unique per page
• Describes the page content accurately

Pages to review:

Add excerpt to any page front matter that lacks one:

# _pages/cv.md
---
excerpt: "CV of Efrén Rodríguez Rodríguez - CERN postdoctoral researcher in silicon particle detectors and instrumentation."
---

Priority Matrix

Validation

After implementing, validate structured data:

• Google Rich Results Test
• Schema.org Validator
• Facebook Sharing Debugger
• Twitter Card Validator
• LinkedIn Post Inspector