SEO & AEO Setup for Webflow Websites

I'm going to show you how to do a complete SEO and AEO setup for Webflow websites. This is the exact process I use on client projects, and I'll show you real examples along the way.

We're going to cover the technical foundation: how to structure your website and use the right HTML tags, performance, and indexing, so how your site appears on Google and AI-powered search engines. Then we'll go into content, key trust signals, and an overall strategy for SEO and AEO, especially with how search is changing with AI.

For more in-depth information, please check out the YouTube tutorial:

Technical Foundation

Structure

HTML tags

Semantic HTML tags tell browsers, search engines, and assistive technologies how to interpret each element on the page, not just the content inside it, but what that element represents, like an image, a paragraph, or a navigation bar.

So with HTML tags, you need to make sure you ahve the right structure on your website. In the examples I am talking about here, I'm using Client-First framework from Finswee, and the structure you need to have on your website is:

• Page Wrapper (HTML tag -> div)
  
  • Main Wrapper (HTML tag
    
    • First section (HTML tag -> header)
    • The next sections (HTML tag -> section)
  • Navbar (HTML tag -> nav)
  • Footer (HTML tag -> footer)

For the main text that's on the page you usually want to use the "paragraph" elements, and for images you want to add the "image" element and not add them as background images inside of a div.

ARIA roles

One important thing to note is that HTML tags give structure and meaning to elements, but sometimes that's not enough. For example, if you have a link that only contains an icon, even though it's correctly set as a link, it doesn't explain what that link does. In those cases, you use ARIA labels to provide that extra meaning. For example, describing it as 'LinkedIn' or 'Share'.

Headings hierarchy

Keep only one H1 per page, don't skip heading levels, and use classes to style content rather than choosing heading tags based on how they look. You can check this in Webflow's audit panel. Consider how screen readers will interact with the content, and wrap words or lines when needed instead of breaking headings.

Navigation structure

A navigation menu is a set of links that helps users move through a website. A well-organized menu improves user experience and helps search engines understand site structure. Clear navigation keeps visitors engaged, reduces bounce rates, and improves SEO by helping search engines crawl and index pages efficiently.

Performance

Mobile optimization

Make sure your site is responsive and consider disabling or limiting animations on mobile devices for better performance.

Optimize images

Optimizing image files and image behavior is essential for enhancing website and page performance, user experience, SEO, and accessibility.

Use SVG for icons and logos, compress images to WebP format under 150 kbps, and make sure images aren't larger than needed (use Figma to export at the correct size). Webflow automatically resizes images for each breakpoint, but you should still optimize them before upload.

Set hero images to eager loading while leaving others on lazy load. For animated content, use Lottie instead of GIFs, and try to use as little frames inside the Lottie file as possible.

Optimize videos

Use MP4 format and compress with Handbrake. Remove audio tracks if it's a background video. For better control, quality, and performance, use Bunny.net for video hosting.

Add lazy loading (use preload="none" for videos below the fold and preload="metadata" for hero videos), thumbnail previews until the video loads, and the ability to pause and play videos on scroll.

Clean up and minify

Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, and clean up unused classes and animations in your Webflow project.

Indexing

Meta titles and descriptions

This is what search engines read first, so it's very important. Create different meta titles and descriptions for each page (for CMS template pages, you can use dynamic data). Keep titles under 60 characters and meta descriptions between 150-160 characters to avoid truncation in search results.

Include keywords, write clear summaries that meet user search intent, and include your brand name (e.g., "About Us | Company Name"). Tailor your metadata for social media sharing with context-specific keywords and calls-to-action.

Open Graph images

OG images should be at least 1200px by 630px with a 1.91:1 aspect ratio (PNG or JPEG only). Use tools like OpenGraph.xyz to preview how your pages will appear when shared, and refresh the cache on LinkedIn if they don't appear or haven't updated yet.

Staging and page-level indexing

Turn off indexing for your staging URL so it doesn't appear in search engines. Also turn off indexing for specific pages that shouldn't appear in search results, like 404 pages, privacy policies, or thank-you pages.

Canonical URLs

When there are multiple versions of a page with duplicate content, canonical tags tell search engines which webpage is the primary or preferred version to display in search results.

Redirects

Set up 301 redirects to direct visitors from old URLs to new pages, preventing 404 errors. This is especially important for site migrations, as 301 redirects preserve SEO rankings by transferring the SEO value from the old URL to the new one.

Page URLs and slugs

URLs serve as the roadmap to your website's content, guiding both users and search engines to the right destinations. When organized properly, URL structures enhance content accessibility, improve user navigation, and boost SEO performance. For blogs and resources, static pages can have the same slug as a directory or subdirectory, allowing you to create an index page or landing page for that folder.

Sitemap and robots.txt

A sitemap is an XML file that lists the URLs of your website and helps search engines understand the structure of the site and crawl it. A robots.txt file provides instructions to search engine crawlers about which pages should not be crawled or indexed. Webflow generates both automatically when turned on in the website's settings.

Google Search Console

After launch, verify ownership of your site on Google Search Console and submit your website to Google for indexing.

Schema markup (AEO)

Schema markup helps search engines understand the content on your website better by adding meaning to the content so they can interpret it (for example, marking a page as an article or FAQ page). Update schema if anything changes on the page. For CMS pages, schema can auto-populate using dynamic data.

llms.txt (AEO)

Think of llms.txt like a sitemap (not a robots.txt file) but specifically designed for LLMs. It's a structured plain-text file that gives LLMs a curated overview of your site's content and how you want it interpreted. Unlike sitemaps (which guide search engine crawlers), llms.txt is intended to help LLMs "reason about" your content, better summarize it, and surface relevant information when users ask questions.

Check this helpul article from Webflow on how to structure it, or you can also use AI tools like ChatGTP or Claude to generate it by sending the URL of your website and requesting an llms.txt file.

Content

Alt text

Alternative text is a textual description of an image embedded in a page. Add alt text to all images (check this in Webflow's audit panel or Assets panel). For images inside CMS, create an alt text field for dynamic images.

Decorative images should be set as "decorative".

Localization

Search engines prioritize relevant, localized content. Adding locales helps your site rank for region-specific keywords, bringing in more organic traffic from each region you serve. Translate text, page slugs, meta titles and descriptions, CMS items and slugs, and alt text for images, with Webflow Localization add-on.

Trust

SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate creates a secure, encrypted connection between your website and its visitors. It's on by default in Webflow unless you choose custom certificates. This earns Google's trust and improves your SEO.

Favicon and Webclip

While indirectly related to SEO, favicons and webclips are important for trust and click-through rate.

404 page

A 404 page appears when a user tries to visit a page that doesn't exist. Create a custom 404 page, add a CTA back to the home page, and keep your navbar and footer so users can navigate back to your site.

Google Business Profile

Having a well-optimized Google Business Profile improves your chances of appearing in local search results, attracting more customers, and building trust with potential clients.

SEO & AEO Strategy

SEO

1. Intent over keywords

Focus on what users are actually trying to do, not just keywords. Are they looking for information, comparing tools, or ready to buy? Your pages should match that intent.

2. Build authority around topics

Don't create isolated pages. Build clusters of content around a topic and connect them with internal links. That's how you build topical authority.

For example, if you created pages about comparing yourself to competitors, you can create pages about your product and linking them internally. This is how you can build authority about a specific topic.

3. Measure what matters

Traffic means nothing without results. Don't focus only on rankings. Look at impressions, clicks, and conversions, and keep improving based on that data.

AEO

1. Answer real questions

AEO is about structuring content so it directly answers questions, using things like FAQs, question-based blog titles, and clear answers. Get these questions from sales calls, support tickets, and customer research. Update your website frequently with this real user input.

2. Build authority outside your site

AI tools don't just look at your website. They look at mentions across the web. Speak on podcasts, write guest blog posts, share insights and data on platforms like Reddit, Quora, LinkedIn, YouTube, Medium, and review sites. Positive mentions on authoritative platforms help build your presence in AI-generated answers.

3. Measure and refine

Check how your brand appears in AI answers. Test with ChatGPT and other LLM tools. Does your brand show up? Does it show up early in the answer? Is the description accurate? Is the sentiment positive? Track mentions, share of voice, and brand sentiment in LLM responses, then optimize based on what you find.

Recap

We covered the technical foundation (structure, performance, and indexing), content optimization, trust signals, and strategy for both SEO and AEO.

Check out the YouTube tutorial for more in-depth information: