SEO Optimisations

Documentation of all SEO optimisations implemented across the Housr webapp.

1. Metadata & Meta Tags

Global Metadata (`src/app/[locale]/layout.tsx`)

Every page inherits a comprehensive metadata baseline from the locale layout:

Title template: "%s | Housr" with a default title for untitled pages
Description: Platform-wide description targeting student accommodation keywords
Keywords: 10 core keywords (student accommodation, student housing, student houses for rent, student flats, student rooms, university accommodation, student lettings, student property, student living, student apartments)
Authors / Creator / Publisher: Set to “Housr”
Format detection: Disabled auto-linking for email, address, and telephone
Metadata base: https://housr.com (ensures all relative URLs resolve correctly)

Page-Level Metadata

Every user-facing page exports a generateMetadata function with page-specific:

Title and description tailored to the page content
Keywords (city pages include 12 location-specific keyword variations)
Canonical URL via alternates.canonical
OpenGraph and Twitter Card tags (see sections below)
Robots directives (see section below)

Pages with dynamic metadata: home, blog index, blog posts, city pages, city sub-pages, property detail pages, student accommodation hub, UK rental pages.

2. OpenGraph

Configured globally in the locale layout and overridden per-page where needed:

Type: website (pages) / article (blog posts with publishedTime)
Locale: en_GB or en_US based on current locale
Site name: “Housr”
Images: /images/og-thumbnail.webp at 1200x630 with descriptive alt text
Property pages: Up to 4 property images pulled dynamically from listing data
Blog posts: Feature image from Sanity CMS at 1200x630

3. Twitter Cards

Configured globally and per-page:

Card type: summary_large_image
Site / Creator: @housrapp
Title, description, image: Mirrors OpenGraph values

4. Structured Data (JSON-LD)

Reusable structured data components in src/components/structured-data.tsx, all output as <script type="application/ld+json">:

Schema Type	Component	Used On
WebSite	`WebsiteStructuredData`	Home page. Includes `SearchAction` targeting `/en-gb/student-accommodation/\{search_term\}`
Organization	`OrganizationStructuredData`	Home page. Logo, social profiles (Twitter, LinkedIn), customer service contact point
LocalBusiness	`LocalBusinessStructuredData`	City pages, UK rental pages. City-specific name, address, service type, area served
FAQPage	`FAQStructuredData`	City pages (when FAQ content exists in CMS)
BreadcrumbList	`BreadcrumbStructuredData`	City pages, sub-pages, property detail pages. Full URL breadcrumb trail

City page: Home > Student Accommodation > {City}
Sub-page: Home > Student Accommodation > {City} > {Location}
Property page: Home > Student Accommodation > {City} > {Bedroom count} Bedroom

5. Canonical URLs & Hreflang

Canonical URLs

Every page sets alternates.canonical pointing to its authoritative URL on https://housr.com.

Hreflang (`src/lib/utils/hreflang.ts`)

Dynamic generation: generateHreflangTags() produces en-GB, en-US, and x-default tags based on the current page and locale
x-default: Points to the UK (en-GB) version when a UK equivalent exists, otherwise US
Page mapping: Shared pages (home, about, brand-ambassadors, privacy, terms, parents, blog) have cross-locale equivalents
Client component (src/components/hreflang-tags-client.tsx): Renders hreflang <link> tags in the <head> on every page
Metadata helper (hreflangTagsToMetadata()): Converts hreflang tags into Next.js metadata format for use in generateMetadata

Language Attribute (`src/components/lang-attribute-setter.tsx`)

Sets document.documentElement.lang to en-GB or en-US based on the active locale.

6. Sitemap (`src/app/sitemap.xml/route.ts`)

Dynamic XML sitemap generated at /sitemap.xml:

Revalidation: Every 24 hours (revalidate = 86400)
Cache headers: public, max-age=3600, s-maxage=86400

Included Pages

Section	Pages	Priority	Change Frequency
Root	`housr.com`	1.0	daily
UK static	`/en-gb`, `/en-gb/student-accommodation`, `/en-gb/about`, `/en-gb/brand-ambassadors`, `/en-gb/partners/lettings`, `/en-gb/student-bills-packages`, `/en-gb/student-bills-packages/quote`, `/en-gb/terms`, `/en-gb/privacy`	0.3 - 1.0	daily - yearly
US static	`/en-us`, `/en-us/about`, `/en-us/brand-ambassadors`, `/en-us/colleges`, `/en-us/properties`, `/en-us/perks`, `/en-us/perks/subscribe`, `/en-us/perks/payment`, `/en-us/rideshare`, `/en-us/privacy`, `/en-us/parents`	0.3 - 1.0	monthly - daily
UK city pages	`/en-gb/student-accommodation/\{city\}` (dynamic from DB)	0.9	daily
UK sub-pages	`/en-gb/student-accommodation/\{city\}/\{slug\}` (dynamic from CMS)	0.8	weekly

7. Robots (`src/app/robots.txt/route.ts`)

Dynamic robots.txt at /robots.txt:


User-agent: *
Allow: /
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /actions/
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: *.json

Sitemap: https://www.housr.com/sitemap.xml

Cache headers: public, max-age=3600, s-maxage=86400

Page-Level Robots Metadata

Pages include explicit robots directives via Next.js metadata:


robots: {
  index: true,
  follow: true,
  googleBot: {
    index: true,
    follow: true,
    "max-video-preview": -1,
    "max-image-preview": "large",
    "max-snippet": -1,
  },
}

This ensures Google displays large image previews and full snippets in search results.

8. Redirects (`next.config.ts`)

All redirects use permanent: true (HTTP 301) to preserve link equity:

US Bare Path Redirects

Old bare paths redirect to their /en-us/ equivalents: /colleges, /partners, /students, /parents, /about, /blog, /perkterms, /privacy, /brand-ambassadors, /terms

UK Path Migrations

Old /uk/ paths redirect to new /en-gb/ URLs:

/uk > /en-gb
/uk/about > /en-gb/about
/uk/blog > /en-gb/blog
/uk/terms > /en-gb/terms
/uk/privacy > /en-gb/privacy
/uk/brand-ambassadors > /en-gb/brand-ambassadors
/uk/parents > /en-gb/parents

UK Feature Path Renames

Old feature paths redirect to new SEO-friendly URLs:

/uk/roomie > /en-gb/features/roomie
/uk/bills > /en-gb/student-bills-packages
/uk/bills/quote > /en-gb/student-bills-packages/quote
/uk/lettings > /en-gb/partners/lettings
/uk/universities > /en-gb/partners/universities

UK Rental > Student Accommodation

/uk/rental > /en-gb/student-accommodation
/uk/rental/:city > /en-gb/student-accommodation/:city
/uk/rental/:city/property/:id > /en-gb/student-accommodation/:city/property/:id

9. Static Generation & Caching

Static Params (`generateStaticParams`)

Pages pre-rendered at build time:

Locale layout: Both us and uk locales
Blog posts: All posts from Sanity CMS
City pages: All cities from the database
City sub-pages: All sub-page slugs from CMS
UK rental pages: All cities from the API

Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR)

Page Type	Revalidation Period
Sitemap	86,400s (24 hours)
City pages, sub-pages, property pages	3,600s (1 hour)
UK rental pages	10,800s (3 hours)
API GET requests (default)	3,600s (1 hour)
Blog posts	60s (1 minute)

Server-Side Caching (`unstable_cache`)

Cities list: 86,400s, tag "cities"
City property counts: 86,400s, tag "properties"
Search results: 10,800s
Area property counts: 10,800s, tag "properties"

10. Performance & Crawlability

Next.js Config (`next.config.ts`)

Compression: Enabled (compress: true)
Powered-by header: Disabled (poweredByHeader: false)
ETags: Disabled (generateEtags: false) in favour of CDN-level caching
Image optimisation: Next.js <Image> with configured remote patterns for all property image sources

Security Headers (applied to all routes)

X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin

11. URL Structure

SEO-friendly URL patterns using descriptive, keyword-rich paths:

Pattern	Example
`/en-gb/student-accommodation/\{city\}`	`/en-gb/student-accommodation/manchester`
`/en-gb/student-accommodation/\{city\}/\{slug\}`	`/en-gb/student-accommodation/manchester/fallowfield`
`/en-gb/student-accommodation/\{city\}/property/\{id\}`	`/en-gb/student-accommodation/manchester/property/123`
`/en-gb/student-bills-packages`	Keyword-rich path (was `/uk/bills`)
`/en-gb/partners/lettings`	Keyword-rich path (was `/uk/lettings`)

Internal rewrites map these public-facing paths to internal route handlers transparently.

12. PWA Manifest (`public/manifest.json`)

Name: “Housr - The Home of Student Living”
Categories: lifestyle, education, housing
Icons: 16x32, 180x180, 192x192, 512x512
Display: standalone
Language: en-GB