While
WordPress is a wonderful and popular CMS, it is not designed for SEO without a
few tweaks. Thankfully, optimizing WordPress is easy enough to do with the help
of some minor changes, free plug-ins, and even SEO-friendly WordPress themes.
Here are five optimizing WordPress tips will help you create a more
SEO-friendly website.
- Make sure you are visible to search engines. I know, I laughed when I came across this tip, too, but it is actually excellent advice. Privacy settings can trip up the best of us, and apparently some WordPress themes block search engines by default. In your Settings menu, go to Privacy and confirm that “I would like my blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Bing, Technorati) and archivers” is selected. If it isn’t, change it now. While you are there, find your way over to your default article settings, which you can find in the Discussion section. Make sure you check off “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)” & “Allow people to post new comments on new articles.” Spend some time with your comment settings, too. Trackbacks and pingbacks are essential to link building and comments will help you connect with your readers.
- Customize your URLs aka “Pretty Permalinks.” We have all seen those awful URLs that end with a string of convoluted numbers that do not mean anything to anyone other than the domain server. Instead customize your URLs so people see the post title instead. Under Settings, go to Permalinks, select Custom Structure and enter “/%postname%/” in that field. Under the Optional section, enter “category” in the Category Base field and “tag” in the Tag Base field. Voilà, now you will have pretty permalinks!
- Optimize your content. While you may not be able to afford the services of an SEO management firm, you can still benefit from some standard SEO practices. Quality content with keywords will make it easier for people to find you. A keyword is a word or phrase someone inputs into a search engine, such as, “WordPress” or “WordPress SEO tips.” If you are thinking about optimizing WordPress, you should have a strong sense of what keywords are relevant. Use those keywords in your post, the title, and your tags. Make sure when you use these keywords, however, that it makes sense and flows nicely. Otherwise, you will come across as a shady spammer and not a reputable source.
- Use SEO plug-ins and an SEO-friendly WordPress theme. There are plenty of tools out there that have been developed specifically to optimize WordPress. WordPress’s own “All-in-One SEO Pack” is an excellent way to start. You will also come across mentions of WordPress SEO by Yoast, Scribe SEO, and SEO Slugs plug-in, to name a few. You don’t have to install them all, but the right plug-ins can make all the difference. Likewise, you can find plenty of free SEO-friendly WordPress themes. A common element to these themes is an emphasis on headings tag structure. Sure, you can tweak your H1, H2, and H3 tags manually, but if you can find a theme you like that already does it for you that is one less thing you need to do.
- At the end of the day, content is king. When you are creating content for your website, you want to make sure that it is entertaining and informative. Write about relevant things that will interest your readers. If you find something useful, link to it. If you can integrate compelling images into your posts, do so. Proofread for spelling and grammar mistakes. Quality content requires a significant investment of time and energy, but it is well worth it. All the optimization in the world will not make a difference if your content is rubbish.
