CRAWLING:
Getting noticed

Helping your Docs get found by search engines

Step 1: Crawling

Making sure your Docs
are crawled

Crawling:

The process of search engine bots (called crawlers or spiders) scanning the internet for new and updated content.

Organizing your URLs

When the spiderbot begins by fetching web pages, it uses links on these pages to find new URLs. Once a bot finds one URL, it follows all links in that content to the next piece of content, weaving a web like a spider through your site.

The easier you can make it for bots to crawl your URLs and jump from one link to another, the better. Having your URLs clearly linked to one another is the way to do this, starting with linking your Turtl domain to your website domain.

Your Turtl domain

You'll have noticed that Turtl provides you with a domain that ends with '.turtl.co', e.g. ‘mycompany.turtl.co’.

To improve your URL organization, and signal there is a link between your Turtl Docs and your website, you can set up a custom domain (or CNAME). A custom domain means that your domain ends with '.yourcompany.co' instead of '.turtl.co'. Let's take a look at the benefits of setting up a CNAME for your brand.

Custom domains or CNAMEs

CNAME stands for Canonical Name Record. In technical terms, it's a type of domain record in the DNS system which links one domain to another. In simple terms, it's a way of telling search engines that your Turtl Docs are related to your company website.

As the CNAME will now operate as a subdomain, Google’s site diversity system tends to treat subdomains as part of the root domain. Having your content listed under your company domain means that there's a greater chance of a searcher finding your website when they enter a query. However as Turtl Docs function as standalone content - there are other measures to take to improve and optimize this link between domain and subdomain. These include brand consistency, implementing a linking strategy and maintaining cohesive content.

How to create your CNAME

Setting up a CNAME can be done in a few steps and takes 24 hours on our side to configure.

The first step is getting in touch with your CSM. They'll be able to give you specific guidance for your company and guide you through the remaining steps.

To see a walk-through of the process, go to the knowledge base article below.

Visit the knowledge base