Yes. The core SEO extension — meta fields, canonical URLs, structured data, robots.txt, llms.txt, Google Analytics integration, Tag Manager integration, font preloading — and our sitemap extension are both is a free, officially maintained open source extensions available to all ApostropheCMS projects. The only paid SEO feature is the SEO Assistant AI meta generation, which requires a Pro license.
A strong SEO foundation built in from the start
ApostropheCMS gives every website, page and piece type (aka "content type") a consistent SEO foundation with built-in metadata controls, structured data, canonical URLs, robots.txt management, and AI crawler guidance. Because SEO is part of the content architecture, developers don't need to maintain separate plugins or custom configurations as content grows.
- Open Source
Optimize content with metadata as you create it
With our open-source SEO extension in place, every page and piece includes dedicated SEO fields for metadata management directly within ApostropheCMS. Editors can update SEO titles, meta descriptions, canonical URLs, robots meta settings, and structured data.
The SEO experience stays consistent across your content model, whether you are editing a landing page, article, or custom piece type.
- Open Source
Help search engines and AI systems understand your content
Structured data gives search engines and AI systems additional context about your content. ApostropheCMS outputs JSON-LD structured data and supports schema types including Article, Product, Event, FAQ, and more.
Editors can select appropriate schema types, while developers can extend structured data to support organization-specific requirements.
Accurate structured data helps your content qualify for enhanced search experiences and makes your content easier for machines to interpret.
Control how crawlers access your content
Manage traditional search crawler settings and emerging AI crawler preferences from global SEO settings.
ApostropheCMS supports:
configurable
robots.txtAI crawler controls
llms.txtgeneration
robots.txt helps communicate crawling preferences to search engines and AI crawlers. llms.txt is an emerging convention that gives organizations a potential way to offer additional guidance to AI systems.
Free extension — available in all plans
- Open Source
Keep URLs healthy as your content evolves
Content changes over time. ApostropheCMS helps protect search visibility when pages move or URLs change. Built-in URL management includes:
editable slugs
automatic redirects when previously visited URLs change
manual redirect management
support for permanent and temporary redirects
- Open Source
Generate XML sitemaps automatically
ApostropheCMS supports automatic sitemap generation through the open source sitemap extension. Sitemaps stay synchronized with your published content and localization structure, helping search engines discover your pages as your site grows.
- Open Source
Connect the SEO and analytics tools your team already uses
Built-in integrations include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google Site Verification, but the SEO tool landscape contains way more than Google's offerings. It's easy to connect privacy-focused analytics platforms (shout out to Umami!) and SEO tools via standard universal integration methods. Use ApostropheCMS alongside tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog, and others without changing your content workflow.
Pro / Assembly License
Create optimized metadata faster with AI
Writing unique metadata for every page can become a bottleneck as content libraries grow. With a Pro license, our SEO Assistant analyzes page content and generates title and description suggestions directly in ApostropheCMS. Editors can review suggestions, generate alternatives, and make adjustments before publishing. SEO Assistant supports OpenAI by default and can be configured with custom AI providers for teams using their own infrastructure or preferred models.
Make SEO part of your content process from day one
The free SEO extension is available in every ApostropheCMS project. AI-powered meta generation is available on Pro.
Further your research
For editors and content teams
Extensions
CMS SEO tools: common questions answered
Yes. The SEO extension improves ApostropheCMS's core page and piece modules at the framework level, which means any custom content type that extends those core modules inherits SEO fields automatically. Developers don't need to add SEO configuration per content type — new pieces and pages get the SEO tab without additional setup. Developers who don't want SEO fields for a new piece type can set the seoFields: false option on the relevant modules.
The SEO extension operates per locale. Each locale version of a page has its own meta title, description, and canonical URL fields. The sitemap extension includes multi-locale support, generating sitemaps that reflect the full localization structure. The SEO Assistant generates metadata per locale, so AI-powered meta generation works across every language your site supports. Our optional Automatic Translation module can translate SEO fields alongside the rest.
Sure, ApostropheCMS produces standard HTML output with properly structured metadata, which means any SEO platform that crawls standard web pages (Ahrefs, Semrush, Screaming Frog, and others) works with ApostropheCMS sites without custom integration. Google Search Console connection is handled through the Site Verification field in global settings.
Robots.txt communicates crawl policies to search engine bots — which URLs they should and shouldn't index. It's a long-established standard that all major search engines respect. llms.txt is a proposed standard that communicates policies specifically to AI systems, training crawlers, AI search indexers, and content aggregators. So far most LLMs don't yet take it into consideration. When the SEO and sitemap extensions are both enabled, ApostropheCMS generates both automatically, giving site owners control over traditional search indexing and a potential means to provide hints to AI crawlers.