Work Methodologies DefinedTerm

Web Infrastructure

Also known as: Web Architecture, Web Stack, Technical Infrastructure

Technical systems, protocols, and standards that support the delivery of web content and services, including SEO metadata and AI crawling configuration.

Updated: 2026-01-06

Definition

Web Infrastructure is set of technical systems, protocols, and standards enabling websites to function, perform, and be discovered by search engines and AI systems. Includes servers, databases, CDN, SSL/TLS, sitemap, robots.txt, schema markup, performance optimization.

Not “content” in creative sense; it’s technical foundation making content reachable and visible.

Critical Components

Server Infrastructure:

  • Web server (Apache, Nginx) serving requests
  • Database (PostgreSQL, MySQL) storing data
  • Load balancer distributing traffic
  • Backup and disaster recovery systems
  • Security (firewall, intrusion detection)

Content Delivery Network (CDN):

  • Geographic distribution of content
  • Serve from edge server closest to user
  • Reduces latency, increases speed
  • HTTP caching, compression

Performance Optimization:

  • Code minification (removes spaces/comments from JS/CSS)
  • Image optimization (correct format, size)
  • Caching strategy (browser, server, CDN)
  • Gzip compression
  • HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 protocols
  • Lazy loading of images

SEO Technical:

  • robots.txt (tells crawlers what to crawl)
  • sitemap.xml (map of site structure)
  • Canonical tags (indicates “preferred” version of page)
  • hreflang tags (for multilingual versions)
  • Schema markup (JSON-LD, Microdata)
  • Meta tags (title, description, viewport)

Mobile Optimization:

  • Responsive design (works on any screen size)
  • Mobile-first indexing (Google indexes mobile version first)
  • Touch-friendly interface

Security:

  • SSL/TLS certificate (HTTPS encryption)
  • Password security, two-factor authentication
  • DDoS protection
  • Regular security audits and penetration testing

Infrastructure Metrics

Page Speed:

  • First Contentful Paint (FCP): when is first content visible?
  • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): when does main content load?
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): how much does page “jump” during load?
  • Time to Interactive (TTI): when page becomes interactive?

Uptime: percentage time site is available. 99.9% uptime gold standard.

Error Rates: how many 404, 500 errors?

Crawlability: can crawlers reach all content? Accidental blocks?

Infrastructure Challenges

Complexity: modern web infrastructure complicated; requires specialization.

Cost: servers, CDN, monitoring, backup—expensive.

Scalability: site working with 1000 visitors crashes at 1M without proper infrastructure.

Security: constant threat of attack, data breach. Requires vigilance.

Legacy Systems: many sites have old tech stack hard to modernize.

Crawlability: ensure AI crawlers (distinct from Google crawlers) can reach content.

Structured Data: JSON-LD is de facto standard for semantic markup. AI models prefer it.

Speed: AI models have timeouts; if page too slow to load, timeout.

Accessibility: accessibility for humans (alt text, semantic HTML) helps AI models understand content.

Attribution: clear on author? When published/updated? AI values freshness and authority.

Best Practices

  • Monitor performance continuously
  • Keep infrastructure updated
  • Optimize for mobile first
  • Implement schema markup
  • Test regularly: performance, security, functionality
  • Prepare for scale: traffic can grow exponentially
  • Prioritize security: data breach expensive economically and reputationally

Sources

  • Google Search Central: Technical SEO guides
  • Web.dev: Performance optimization by Google
  • Moz: Technical SEO resources
Back to Glossary