Static first

Every code page is generated at build time from a JSON list of programmes, so visitors and crawlers get plain HTML straight from Vercel's edge. Pages regenerate in the background every six hours, so a normal page view never waits on the database.

One source of truth for titles and descriptions

Each page's title and meta description come from one function with one format. When I changed the format, every page updated in the next deploy, with no hand edits.

A sitemap that tells the truth

Each page's lastmod comes from real dates in the data (when its facts were last checked, or when a new code was verified), never from the deploy time. Search engines only trust lastmod if it's honest.

Scheduled refresh without a server

A weekly GitHub Actions job refreshes the basic public facts (plans, prices, member counts, ratings), commits the updated data, and the push triggers a normal Vercel deploy.

Search that needs no backend

The codes hub has a search box that loads a small index, built once as a static file, then filters it in the browser. Results appear as you type, it works with the keyboard, and it costs nothing to run.

Quality gate before indexing

Pages without enough real information carry noindex until they do. Shipping hundreds of thin pages is the fastest way to make a whole site look low quality.

What I'd tell anyone building a programmatic site

Get the boring parts (titles, sitemap, refresh, noindex rules) right first. They matter more than the design.

You can see the result at https://promodrop.codes.