A Good Website is Like a Healthy Body – It Requires a Strong Skeleton and Plenty of Muscle

Ever heard the phrase “build strong muscles to support the body”? It’s the perfect way to think about websites. Picture your site as a body: the infrastructure—navigation, linking, and technical setup—is the skeleton, while the content is the muscle.

To build a strong, healthy site, you need both to work together seamlessly.

A body with weak bones struggles to move, just as a poorly structured website becomes sluggish, hard to navigate, and difficult for search engines to crawl. Meanwhile, a body without muscle lacks strength and resilience—just as a website without high-quality, engaging content won’t stand out or perform well in search rankings.

And while we all know “Content is King,” even the mightiest king needs strength to wield his power. Without solid website infrastructure, even the best content can’t claim its throne at the top of search results.

Case Study: A Site Without Strength

Recently, we conducted a site audit for an e-commerce business struggling to gain visibility.  Despite offering hundreds of products, not a single one appeared in Google search results.  Traffic was alarmingly low, and competitors were capturing potential customers who were actively searching for the products this site offered.

Here’s what we discovered:

• Total Pages: 411
• Indexable Pages: 42
• Non-Indexable Pages: 369
• Redirects: 164
• Self-Canonical Pages: 42

At first glance, these numbers were alarming—but they revealed a clear problem.

The majority of non-indexable pages were product pages—the very pages that should be ranking and bringing in sales.

What Was Preventing Indexing?

1. Custom Product Post Type Not Enabled for Indexing

Instead of using WordPress’s built-in product functionality, this site relied on a custom post type.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t configured for indexing, meaning Google couldn’t see the pages.  While individual pages could be manually indexed, this approach was impractical for a large-scale e-commerce site.

2. No Meta Titles or Meta Descriptions

Even if the product pages had been indexed, they lacked unique meta titles and description which are essential for SEO and user engagement. Without them, the pages were invisible in search results, missing out on valuable clicks.

3. Canonical Issues Leading to Dead Ends

Making matters worse, the site’s custom product post type had the same canonical tag for every product page — and that URL pointed to a 404 error. This essentially told Google: “Nothing to see here.”

Why Website Infrastructure Matters

A site’s skeleton—its infrastructure—needs to be strong and functional to support its content. In this case, poor infrastructure was actively working against the site’s success.

Here’s why fixing technical SEO issues is critical:

– Crawlability and Indexing – If search engines can’t crawl and index your key pages, they won’t rank them. It’s that simple.

– Canonical Integrity – Canonical tags tell Google which version of a page to rank. A broken or misused tag is like giving Google a faulty GPS.

– SEO Basics – Titles, descriptions, and proper meta tags are the muscle that make your content powerful for both users and search engines.

How to Strengthen Your Site

If your site is facing similar issues, here’s how you can build a strong foundation and add the muscle needed to rank:

☑ Enable Indexing for Custom Product Post Types

Work with your developer or use an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to ensure custom post types can be indexed. This alone can significantly improve visibility.

☑ Add Unique Meta Titles and Descriptions

Every product page needs its own metadata to stand out in search results. Automated tools can make this process faster and more efficient though custom crafting each meta title and description is likeky to be more effective.

☑ Fix Canonical Tags

Ensure every product page has a correct canonical URL pointing to itself (or a valid alternative). Avoid 301 redirects to 404 errors—especially as the canonical. That is a ranking killer.

☑ Run Regular Site Audits

Just like a health check-up, your site needs regular audits to catch and fix issues before they become bigger problems.

What’s at Stake?

Without a strong skeleton and healthy muscle, a body weakens—and the same goes for websites. Even the best content won’t rank if the foundation is weak.

In our case study, the site’s product pages—the core of its business—were invisible to search engines.  Fixing these issues wasn’t just a technical tweak; it was essential for survival in a competitive market.

Conclusion: Give Your Site Strength & Resilience

A website is like a body. The skeleton (infrastructure) gives it form and strength, while the muscle (content) makes it powerful and dynamic. Neglect either, and your site won’t perform as it should.

If you’re worried about your site’s SEO health, don’t leave it to chance. A thorough site audit can uncover hidden problems and help you build a stronger, healthier website that ranks better in search results.

Ready to see what’s holding your site back? Request a site audit today, and let’s uncover the issues standing between you and better rankings.

Your website’s health is just a click away!