If you happen to own a WordPress blog or are seriously thinking about creating one, here are some tips to help you get on your way with SEO:
1. Change the default title
What it looks like:
< ?php bloginfo(’name’); ?> < ?php if ( is_single() ) { ?> » Blog Archive < ?php } ?> < ?php wp_title(); ?>
What you should change it to:
< ?php if (is_home () ) { bloginfo(’name’); echo ‘ – ‘; bloginfo(’description’); }
elseif ( is_category() ) { single_cat_title(); echo ‘ – ‘ ; bloginfo(’name’); }
elseif (is_single() ) { single_post_title();}
elseif (is_page() ) { single_post_title();}
else { wp_title(”,true); } ?>
What does this do? It changes a title from looking like: WordPress Blog » Blog Archive » Post Title to Post Title
Why is this important? SEs will rank the site higher for the actual post title.
2. Change default permalinks (found in options/permalinks) from default to custom using /%category%/%postname%
What does this do? It changes it from an ugly example.com/?=123 to a clean example.com/widgets/post-on-widgets
Why is this important?Makes the url Google friendly and it’s easier for visitors to remember.
3. Use the Meta Description Plugin
What does this do? Takes a section of the post and adds it as the meta description.
Why is it important? Search engines still use the meta description for ranking purposes (and sometimes use it as a snippet). By default WordPress doesn’t use this tag, so use the plugin.
4. Use the XML Sitemap Plugin
What does this do? Creates a sitemap for MSN, Google and Yahoo.
Why is this important? It will help the search engines crawl your site better so more pages will be indexed (in theory).
5. Use Analytics Plugin
What does it do? Lets you track your stats on Google Analytics–you must have an account first.
Why is this important? Tracking is one of the most important parts of SEO. If you see visitors coming to your site using certain keywords, you know to write about them.
6. Turn off show monthly archive
The easiest way to do this is to edit it from within the PHP theme file (should be in the sidebar.php). It’ll say something like:
<h2>Archives</h2> < ?php wp_get_archives(’type=monthly’); ?>
Just delete it.
What does this do? Removes the archive links. Better yet, delete archives.php and archive.php to get archive free.
Why is this important? Because many blogs have trouble with duplicate content. In some cases archives are just duplicates of the index page or category pages.
7. Ping blogs related to yours
Why is this important? Sometimes, but not all, blogs will list the ping backs within the comments section. Sometimes the link is nofollow, sometimes it isn’t. Either way, it tells the blog you are mentioning them and might have the owner or their visitors come to your blog to check it out.
8. Link to authority sites within your niche
Why is this important? If the authority site is a blog, it’s obvious–pinging. However, they aren’t always blogs. In either case, search engines see the link to authority sites as good practice. It will tell Google, Yahoo or whomever that your page is related and should be ranked for those words.
9. Edit template so h1 tags are used for post titles, not the title of the blog
This is one of the most important. Just open up the header.php and change the h1 to an h2 or h3. Then open the posts.php and change the h2 to an h1. Same goes for page.php.
10. Related Posts Plugin
What does it do? Creates links under each post going to related posts within your site.
Why is this important? Gives your visitors more pages to visit along with search engines. Search engines love it when you link to pages within your site, especially if they are related. Also, it will get some deep links going and if anyone places your full RSS feed on a site, the links will be pointing to your pages.
11. Link to old blog posts
Why is this important? Search engine bots have a hard time getting to the deep pages, meaning their rankings may start to sink if they aren’t well-linked to. Mention the page, place a link.
12. Submit to directories
Blog directories mainly, but don’t forget about Yahoo Directory, BOTW, ODP and any directories within your nich. A simple search like [add link nich] will show plenty.
Why is this important? If you get accepted to Yahoo! or ODP it could mean a big payday. Both give out good link juice, then multiply that by the hundreds (if not thousands) of scrapers. You’ll also be looked upon more highly in Google and Yahoo. Then if you shell out the money for BOTW or other nicely ranked directories, you’ll be in the homestretch. Of course, this is assuming your competitors haven’t already done the same thing.
13. Stumble It
What does it do? Adds your page to a database so others can find it.
Why is this important? At first, most blogs won’t get much traffic. It is important to find ways to get that traffic so others will be able to find the page.
Written: Sep 14, 2007
Jon Dyer's Blog
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kadir
October 2, 2007 @ 5:34 am
Wow… This is really a nice article. This made me to switch over from blogspot to wordpress…
Alissa
December 22, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
Great tips
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[...] me and are in the dark on this technical subject, we have impNERD to Save the day. Here are “13 SEO Tips for Wordpress” from the nerd that just keeps giving. A must see in my honest opinion if you want to squeeze [...]
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[...] from an SEO point of view it can do with some help. Here’s a great post that explains how to edit your php files to get better search engine results. One example is to delete the archive facility so as to reduce the liklihood of duplicate content [...]
Jim McNelis
February 2, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
Great Tips! #1 especially. I am going to make that change to my blog first thing tomorrow morning
Mirjam
February 4, 2008 @ 6:36 am
Fantastic tips! I´ve added it to my “to-do” list for today, thank you so much for sharing!
Link Baiting Guide
February 5, 2008 @ 3:47 am
great.. well explained.! sad to say i dont have a wordpress.
Ardi, Small Business Solution
February 21, 2008 @ 10:16 am
Really, this is very informative article for me. thanks for sharing. Confident to use wordpress!
John Simpson
April 10, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
Great article. I was making the changes as I was reading the article. I’ll come back later and let you know what the effect was.
Justin Wright
August 6, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Very good ideas. Linking to old posts is always a great way to bring them back to life. Especially if you have a lot of new readers that are just learning how to navigate your page.
seo consultant
October 15, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
Great post, this will be bookmarked and utilized in the future on wordpress customer accounts. Thanks
Korean
February 23, 2009 @ 11:25 pm
Excellent summary of the steps. I will be putting them in action.