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The UsefulShelf journal

Guides for makers.

Practical notes on launching your app, getting discovered, and choosing useful software.

A page head with title, description, canonical and Open Graph tags, next to the tags Google ignores.

Technical SEO

Meta Tags for SEO: Which Ones Matter and How to Write Them

The meta tags Google actually uses, the ones it ignores, and how to write a title, meta description, canonical and Open Graph tags, with examples.

7 min read

A search result whose title is cut at the device width, with the useful words placed first.

Technical SEO

Title Tag and Meta Description Length: What Google Shows

Compare an 85-character title with a 44-character edit, improve its description, and preview both. Includes Google’s length guidance and a checking workflow.

6 min read

A robots.txt file with groups for all crawlers and for AI training crawlers, beside a sitemap line.

Technical SEO

Robots.txt Examples: Disallow All, AI Crawlers and Noindex

Copy-ready robots.txt examples: allow all, block a folder, disallow all, wildcards, and AI search vs training crawlers. Plus when to use noindex instead.

8 min read

An XML sitemap index linking a pages sitemap and an apps sitemap, each listing canonical URLs.

Technical SEO

How to Create an XML Sitemap (With Examples)

Create an XML sitemap from a URL list with a worked input and output. Choose canonical URLs, handle duplicates, and submit the file in Search Console.

7 min read

SoftwareApplication JSON-LD with name, URL, description and operating system, next to Google’s required fields.

Technical SEO

SoftwareApplication Schema: JSON-LD Example for Apps

Copy a SoftwareApplication JSON-LD example, see what Google requires for software app rich results, and learn why fake ratings or prices backfire.

7 min read

An llms.txt file with a title, a summary blockquote and sections of links for AI agents.

Technical SEO

What Is llms.txt? Format, Example and SEO Limits

What llms.txt is, the Markdown format the proposal defines, a working example, and what it cannot do for SEO, crawling or AI training.

6 min read

An indexability checklist covering status, noindex, robots.txt, raw HTML, canonical and sitemap.

Technical SEO

Is My Website Indexable? Checks for Google and AI Search

Check whether Google and AI search crawlers can read and index a page: status, noindex, robots.txt, raw HTML, canonicals and Search Console statuses.

7 min read