Skip to main content

​
SEO in Collections

Collections in ButterCMS are powerful tools for managing structured data like categories, tags, FAQs, team members, and product catalogs. While Collections themselves are typically used as reference data, they can significantly impact your site’s SEO when used strategically.

​
Understanding Collections and SEO

Content management systems use taxonomy to structure content within hierarchies. Some examples include categories, tags, authors, and collections. You need to consider a few factors concerning the taxonomy of posts, pages, and other content you publish using a CMS. Failing to structure your taxonomy can result in duplicate content and/or thin content, both of which are discouraged by search engines.

​
Collections as filterable properties

In order to create article pages, you must first categorize your pages using the collection feature. This allows you to use collections as filterable properties for your pages. Account welcome page with collections For example, you can create a product catalog where each product has an associated set of tags used to group products and allows for filtering products by a tag. First, create the Product Tags collection: Product Tags collection configuration Then create the Product page type with a reference field to the above Product Tags collection: Product page type with tag reference

​
SEO considerations for Collection index pages

An index page is created any time you use a taxonomy like category, tag, or author.
ActionResult
New category “Reviews”New index page at https://mysite.com/reviews/
By default, this index page can be presented to users via a search engine, a site search, or directly via the index page’s URL. If your intention is to keep the index page accessible, you should consider the experience of users who use it. Ensure the index page presentation is consistent with the existing user flow for your site or app.

​
Avoiding duplicate content

Collections that map to URL patterns (categories, tags) can create duplicate content. For a full explanation with examples, see Avoiding Duplicate Content.
Plan your URL structure carefully before launch. Use canonical URLs to indicate the preferred version of any page that may be accessible at multiple paths.

​
Avoiding thin content

Index pages often include a minimum set of related fields, such as title, description, and a featured image. When index pages are not planned, they can be published with no content or very little in the related fields. The resulting thin content has little substance or value and is frowned upon by search engines and end users alike. If your intention is to keep the index page accessible, you should consider the user experience and search ranking factors of the page. Create engaging, substantive content for each index page that will be displayed on your site or app.

​
Adding SEO fields to Collections

When creating Collections that will have their own landing pages (like categories), include SEO fields: 
Category Collection:
├── name (Short Text) - Required
├── slug (Short Text) - URL-friendly identifier
├── description (Long Text) - Category description
├── meta_title (Short Text) - SEO title for category page
├── meta_description (Long Text) - SEO description
├── featured_image (Media) - For og:image and page hero
├── featured_image_alt (Short Text) - Accessibility
└── display_order (Number) - For sorting

​
Example: FAQ Collection with SEO

FAQ Collection:
├── question (Short Text) - The FAQ question
├── answer (Long Text/WYSIWYG) - The answer
├── category (Reference) - Link to FAQ category
├── order (Number) - Display order
└── show_in_search (Boolean) - Include in site search
This structure supports FAQ schema markup — see Collection Items (FAQ Schema) for the implementation.

​
Filtering Pages by Collection references

When using Collections as references, you can filter content by collection items. For example, with an Author Collection:
  1. Create an Author Collection with fields like Name, Slug, Image, Bio
  2. Add a Reference to your “Blog Post” Page Type to that Author Collection
  3. Filter for Blog Post pages with a given author by passing in fields.author.slug
?fields.author.slug=nikki-remigio

​
Building Category and Tag Pages

When building category or tag archive pages, ensure they have proper SEO:

​
Category Page Template

// pages/category/[slug].js
import butter from 'buttercms';

export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  // Fetch the category
  const categoryResponse = await butter.content.retrieve(['category'], {
    'fields.slug': params.slug
  });
  const category = categoryResponse.data.data.category[0];

  // Fetch pages in this category
  const pagesResponse = await butter.page.list('article', {
    'fields.category.slug': params.slug,
    page_size: 20
  });

  return {
    props: {
      category,
      pages: pagesResponse.data.data
    }
  };
}

export default function CategoryPage({ category, pages }) {
  return (
    <>
      <Head>
        <title>{category.meta_title || `${category.name} Articles`}</title>
        <meta
          name="description"
          content={category.meta_description || category.description}
        />
        <meta property="og:title" content={category.name} />
        <meta property="og:description" content={category.description} />
        {category.featured_image && (
          <meta property="og:image" content={category.featured_image} />
        )}
        <link
          rel="canonical"
          href={`https://yoursite.com/category/${category.slug}`}
        />
      </Head>

      <h1>{category.name}</h1>
      <p>{category.description}</p>

      {/* Render pages in category */}
      {pages.map(page => (
        <ArticleCard key={page.slug} article={page} />
      ))}
    </>
  );
}

​
Collection SEO checklist

  • Use consistent, SEO-friendly URL patterns
  • Include the category/tag slug in URLs
  • Avoid deep nesting (/category/subcategory/sub-subcategory/)
  • Use hyphens, not underscores
  • Write unique descriptions for each category/tag
  • Include relevant keywords naturally
  • Add introductory content to archive pages
  • Avoid thin pages with only a list of links
  • Set canonical URLs for all category pages
  • Add category pages to your sitemap
  • Use proper heading hierarchy (H1 for category name)
  • Implement pagination with rel=“next” and rel=“prev”
  • Use CollectionPage schema for archive pages
  • Add BreadcrumbList schema for navigation
  • Include ItemList schema for paginated content
  • Use FAQPage schema for FAQ collections

​
Including Collections in sitemaps

Add category and tag pages to your sitemap using the same pattern as other pages. See Sitemap Generation for a full implementation — include collection URLs at priority: 0.5–0.6 with changefreq: weekly.