Walking in Their Footsteps

SEO Dashboard

Optimize your site for search engines

Indexing Status

SEO Health Score

❌ Poor. Immediate action required.

0%

Total Pages

15

With Meta Titles

0

With Descriptions

0

With Slugs

0

SEO Action Plan — Fix Discoverability Before Tourist Season

A prioritized checklist. Work top-to-bottom. Every item has AI-powered actions — click "Action This" to get started.

DONE ✅
#1

Sitemap.xml and robots.txt are accessible to crawlers

Both files are served as raw XML/text by a backend function — no JS required, no hosting rewrite needed.

  • Sitemap live at: https://walkingintheirfootsteps.com/sitemap.xml — returns clean XML
  • Robots.txt live at: https://walkingintheirfootsteps.com/robots.txt — returns plain text
  • Open both in a private window to verify raw content
  • Go to Admin → SEO Dashboard → copy sitemap URL → submit to Google Search Console
CRITICAL
#2

Submit sitemap to Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools

Sitemaps don't get crawled until you tell Google about them. Bing covers Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia.

  • Google Search Console → Sitemaps → submit 'sitemap.xml'
  • Bing Webmaster Tools → Sitemaps → submit 'https://walkingintheirfootsteps.com/sitemap.xml'
  • Use 'URL Inspection' on your homepage and click 'Request Indexing'
  • Repeat for /Locations, /MiniTours, /Blog, /Passes
HIGH
#3

Build keyword-targeted landing pages for high-intent search terms

Tourists search 'Omaha Beach tour', 'D-Day tour from Paris', 'self-guided Normandy tour' — you don't have dedicated pages ranking for these.

  • Create a /tours/omaha-beach page with 1,000+ words of unique content
  • Same for Utah Beach, Pointe du Hoc, Pegasus Bridge, Sainte-Mère-Église
  • Each must have: H1 with keyword, FAQ block, internal links, hero image with alt text
  • Use the AI Content Generator (Admin → SEO Content Generator) to draft these
HIGH
#4

Get backlinks from WWII / travel / Normandy tourism sites

Google ranks based on authority, and authority comes from other reputable sites linking to you. This is the single biggest off-site factor.

  • Submit to Normandie Tourisme (normandie-tourisme.fr) — official regional tourism board
  • Reach out to D-Day museums (Caen Memorial, Airborne Museum) for partner links
  • Pitch a guest article to The History Press, We Are The Mighty, or Warfare History Network
  • List on TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide, Viator (free profiles drive traffic)
HIGH
#5

Write 6-10 long-form blog posts targeting search intent

Blog posts rank for 'how to' and 'best' searches. Each post is a new entry point for tourists.

  • 'How to plan a D-Day tour from Paris' (long-tail, high intent)
  • 'Best D-Day beaches to visit in 2026'
  • 'Self-guided vs guided Normandy tours: which is right for you?'
  • 'D-Day tour itinerary: 1 day, 2 days, 3 days'
  • Each ≥1,500 words, with keywords in H1 / first paragraph / image alts
MEDIUM
#6

Add visible, keyword-rich text to the homepage

Right now your hero text is short. Search engines need substantial visible text on /.

  • Add a section 'About Walking in Their Footsteps D-Day Tours' with 200-300 words
  • Add a 'Frequently Asked Questions' accordion (FAQ schema = rich snippets)
  • Mention every campaign/major site by name in visible body text
MEDIUM
#7

Page speed (Core Web Vitals)

Google ranks slow sites lower. The mobile experience matters most for tourists searching on the go.

  • Run https://pagespeed.web.dev/ on /, /Locations and a /LocationDetail page
  • Target ≥90 mobile score
  • Compress hero images (already lazy-loaded, but check filesize)
ONGOING
#8

Get reviews and use Review schema

Star ratings show up in Google results and improve click-through rate. You already have Review schema — keep collecting reviews.

  • Email past customers asking for a review (1-line ask works best)
  • Create a Google Business Profile if you don't have one (free, hugely impactful)
  • Aim for 50+ reviews on each major location
Sitemap.xml

Live URL — submit to Google Search Console:

robots.txt

Live URL — plain text for crawlers:

Google Search Console Setup

Step-by-Step Setup:

1
Get your Sitemap URL

Your sitemap is served directly by a backend function — no rewrite config needed. Copy the URL below and submit it to Google Search Console:

2
Verify in Google Search Console
  1. Go to Google Search Console
  2. Add your property (domain or URL prefix)
  3. Choose "HTML tag" verification method
  4. Your verification code is already installed (see above)
  5. Click "Verify"
3
Submit Sitemap
  1. In Google Search Console, go to "Sitemaps" section
  2. Enter: sitemap.xml
  3. Click "Submit"
  4. Wait 1-7 days for Google to crawl your site
4
Monitor Performance

Check Google Search Console regularly for:

  • Index coverage (how many pages are indexed)
  • Search performance (clicks, impressions, CTR)
  • Mobile usability issues
  • Core Web Vitals performance
SEO Best Practices Checklist

✅ Already Implemented:

Meta titles, descriptions, keywords on all pages
Structured data (Schema.org) for locations
Open Graph & Twitter Card tags
Canonical URLs to prevent duplicates
Lazy loading images for performance
Mobile-responsive design
SEO-friendly URLs (slugs)
Sitemap.xml & robots.txt (served via backend, no JS)
FAQ schema + keyword-rich homepage content

🔧 Still Needed:

Google Search Console verification & sitemap submission
Submit sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools
Build backlinks from WWII history sites
Improve internal linking between locations
Create content-rich blog posts
Optimize Core Web Vitals (page speed)
AI Meta Tag Generator

Auto-generate SEO titles, descriptions and keywords using AI for your locations and mini tours.

0 published locations · 0 missing SEO tags

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