Dokly handles the SEO basics automatically. You don't configure a sitemap or write meta tags — they're derived from your page titles, descriptions, and tree.
This page documents what's done for you, what you can control, and what to do for the long tail of search and AI traffic.
What's automatic#
| What | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
<title> tag | Page title + project name |
| Meta description | Page description (frontmatter) |
| Canonical URL | Page slug + custom/primary domain |
| Open Graph image | Auto-generated per page (or custom — see below) |
<meta name="robots"> | index, follow for published pages |
sitemap.xml | All published pages, regenerated on save |
robots.txt | Allows everything, points to sitemap |
llms.txt and llms-full.txt | Auto-generated for AI crawlers |
You can verify these on any published page — view source and look for the meta tags.
Page metadata#
Every page has three SEO-relevant fields, set in Page Settings:
- Title — used in
<title>and as the H1. - Description — used in meta description, OG description, and search snippets.
- Slug — used in the URL.
The title and description appear in Google search results. Treat them like ad copy — they're often the first impression.
Title formula#
Default formula: {Page Title} – {Project Name}. Override per-page in Page Settings → SEO → Title (Custom).
Pro plans also let you change the default formula site-wide in Project Settings → SEO. Common alternatives:
{Page Title} | {Project Name} Docs{Project Name}: {Page Title}{Page Title}(no suffix)
Description rules#
- 150–160 characters is the sweet spot
- One sentence is fine; two is better
- Lead with the value proposition, not "This page contains..."
- Include the primary keyword once, naturally
Open Graph images#
OG images are what shows up when your URL is shared on Twitter, LinkedIn, Slack, etc.
By default, Dokly generates a clean OG image per page using your project name, page title, and brand color. They're regenerated automatically when you change the page title or your branding.
To override per page: Page Settings → SEO → Custom OG image. Upload a 1200×630 PNG.
To override site-wide: Project Settings → Branding → Default social image.
Screenshot needed
example OG image showing Dokly's auto-generated style — gradient background, project logo, page title
Structured data#
Dokly auto-emits JSON-LD structured data for:
- Article — every page, with title, description, author (project name), datePublished, dateModified.
- BreadcrumbList — derived from the page tree.
- FAQPage — pages with one or more
<FAQ>components are automatically marked up as FAQPage.
You can verify with Google's Rich Results Test.
llms.txt — for AI crawlers#
llms.txt is the emerging convention for telling LLM crawlers what your docs site contains. Dokly auto-generates two files:
/llms.txt— a structured index of every page (title + description + URL)./llms-full.txt— the full text of every page, concatenated.
These are served at the root of your domain. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and other AI tools that respect the convention can find and cite your docs.
You don't configure anything. The files regenerate on every save.
See our blog post on llms.txt for more on what it does.
IndexNow and Search Console#
Dokly pings IndexNow on every page publish, so Bing and Yandex see your content within minutes. There's no setup.
For Google Search Console:
- Verify your domain in Search Console using the DNS TXT method.
- Submit your sitemap:
https://your-domain.com/sitemap.xml.
Google indexing is fast for small docs sites — most pages appear in search within 24–48 hours.
Custom robots and noindex#
To exclude a page from search engines:
- Page Settings → SEO → "Noindex this page".
The page still serves at its URL but emits <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> and is removed from the sitemap.
For site-wide robots.txt overrides (rare), Project Settings → SEO → Custom robots.txt (Pro+).