Frequently asked questions

You don't need to delete the default .wstd.io domain. Think of it as a 'staging server' where you can deploy and test without your site going live and without being indexed by search engines. These domains will always exist, you don't need to publish to them, and they won't be indexed by search engines.

For directory websites with dynamic URLs and filtering:

1. Use Webstudio's data variables feature for dynamic content,
2. Check the YouTube videos about filters with Baserow as CMS,
3. For filtering similar to Finsweet Attributes, you can implement JavaScript-based filtering through HTML Embed,
4. Dynamic URLs can be generated using collection pages with URL parameters. This approach provides good SEO benefits for localized content.

For multilingual websites, avoid using show/hide with CSS classes as it loads all languages at once (slower page loads, bigger DOM) and SEO won't index hidden content properly. Instead, pull language content from separate JSON files or a CMS that supports i18n, then swap content dynamically with JavaScript based on user's language choice or browser settings. Don't forget about text direction (LTR/RTL) for non-Latin scripts, and include the lang tag for accessibility so content is read aloud in the correct language.

When integrating with Ghost CMS, the API only returns 15 items by default. To ensure all entries are included in your sitemap, add '&limit=all' to the Ghost API endpoint. This parameter will fetch all available entries instead of just the default limited set.

If Webstudio is automatically setting canonical URLs to include query parameters (causing duplicate content issues in Google Search Console), you can configure the canonical URL in the page settings. Set it to exclude query parameters and normalize trailing slashes to avoid SEO issues. This setting is available in the page's SEO configuration panel.

If your schema markup is appearing twice when published, this is usually caused by broken HTML in your HTML Embed component. Make sure your HTML syntax is correct and properly closed. You can validate your HTML structure before adding it to the embed. If issues persist, share your build link for debugging assistance.

The default .wstd.io domains are not indexed by search engines as they're meant to be development domains. If you want extra protection, you can check 'exclude from search' in all page settings. For additional security, you can add robots.txt file or meta tags like <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow,noarchive">. If using Cloudflare, you can also add password protection. You don't need to delete the project - think of the .wstd.io domain as a staging server where you can test without affecting your live site.

When integrating Ghost CMS with Webstudio, make sure to add '&limit=all' to your API endpoint URLs. By default, Ghost's API only returns 15 items, which can result in incomplete sitemaps and missing content. Adding this parameter ensures all your Ghost content is properly included in your Webstudio site's sitemap and navigation.

When using HTML Embed components for scripts like structured data (JSON-LD), check the 'Client Only' option to prevent server-side rendering issues. This stops Webstudio from parsing and re-rendering the script content, which can cause duplication problems when the same script gets processed multiple times.

To prevent schema duplication when embedding structured data (schema.org JSON-LD), make sure to check the 'Client Only' option in your HTML Embed component. This prevents Webstudio from parsing and re-rendering the script during server-side rendering, which can cause duplicate structured data to appear in validation tools like validator.schema.org.

The default .wstd.io domains are not indexed by search engines as they're meant to be development domains. If you want extra protection, you can check 'exclude from search' in all page settings. For additional security, you can add robots.txt file or meta tags like <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow,noarchive">. If using Cloudflare, you can also add password protection.

To set up a custom 404 page:

1. Create your custom 404 page,
2. In the page settings, set the path to '/*' (catch-all),
3. Set the status code to 404 (important for SEO - prevents search engines from wasting crawl budget on non-existent pages),
4. This will make your custom 404 page handle all unmatched routes instead of showing the default blank 404 page.

For multilingual websites, avoid using CSS show/hide classes as it loads all languages at once (slower, bad for SEO). Better approaches: 1) Pull content from separate JSON files or a CMS with i18n support, 2) Swap content dynamically with JavaScript based on user's language choice or browser settings, 3) Use separate URLs for different languages, 4) Consider text direction (LTR/RTL) for non-Latin scripts, 5) Include proper lang tags for accessibility so screen readers can read content in the correct language.

403 Forbidden errors in Google Search Console are often caused by bot protection settings in Cloudflare. Check your Cloudflare account for bot protection features that might be blocking search engine crawlers. If you're using Cloudflare nameservers, ensure the security settings allow legitimate bot traffic. You can also manually trigger a crawl in Google Search Console to test if the issue is resolved after adjusting your Cloudflare settings.

If sitemap text appears white or transparent in the Webstudio editor but renders correctly on the published site, this is likely a CSS color contrast issue in the editor view. Check that your text color settings provide sufficient contrast against the editor background. The issue is typically with editor-specific styling and doesn't affect the final published site.

Favicon display issues in Google Search are often caused by using SVG format instead of PNG. Try converting your favicon to a 144×144 PNG format. While Webstudio's dynamic URLs with query parameters shouldn't be an issue (as many Webstudio sites work fine), Google may prefer PNG favicons for search result display. The change typically takes effect within a few days of updating the favicon format.

This was a known issue where Webstudio's redirect validation was too strict and didn't allow question marks and other URL characters in redirect paths.

The validation has been updated and this issue has been fixed in GitHub PR 5348. You can now use query parameters and special characters in your redirects. The new validation uses URL parsing to properly validate redirect paths instead of character-by-character checking.