Ghost is optimized for publishing, with clean markup and built-in meta helpers. Rankings still slip when themes underuse custom excerpts, when tag pages are thin, or when membership routes leak into the sitemap.
This audit emphasizes publisher patterns: article schema, tag/topic hubs, RSS vs HTML discovery, and whether the homepage surfaces enough unique text beyond post cards.
Common Ghost SEO failures
Tag archives with no unique intro copy
Ghost tag pages often list posts only. Without editorial intros they look thin next to competing topic hubs.
Homepage that is only a card grid
Card titles and excerpts may not provide enough unique on-page text for brand queries or topical authority.
Membership and account routes indexed
Sign-in, account, and checkout-adjacent URLs sometimes appear in sitemaps or internal links without noindex.
Missing or generic custom excerpts
Posts fall back to truncated body text for meta descriptions, producing awkward SERP snippets.
Ghost-specific checklist
Ghost SEO is publisher-centric: tags, excerpts, and membership routes matter more than ecommerce schema or product variants.
- Write custom excerpts (and meta when using SEO fields) for cornerstone posts.
- Add unique intro content on important tags; noindex low-value tags.
- Keep membership/portal URLs out of the index and sitemap.
- Confirm theme outputs Article/BlogPosting JSON-LD without duplication.
- Ensure canonical URLs use the production Publication URL setting.
- Link from homepage or nav to cornerstone guides — not only the latest posts feed.
Run a free homepage scan
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