Search Engine Optimization is provided by WordPress: Number 4 Reason for using WordPress
WordPress makes it VERY EASY to do Search Engine Optimization.
Here are some simple tips for making sure your content is optimized on your Blog
- Put your Keywords in your Blog Title.
- Make sure your Categories consist of keywords, and select a relevant Category for each of your posts.
- Select only ONE category for each post, otherwise you will get Duplicate content.
- Under Settings, Permalinks, select Custom Structure and type in the following:
/%category%/%postname%/
By typing the above custom structure, the Permanent Link (URL) for each of your posts will consist of:
Your Blog name + Category Name + Title Name for Post
You can also have JUST the Title in the permalink, without the category name. Research has shown that having keywords closer to the beginning of the URL is important. So, for the Custom Structure, you could type in:
/%postname%/
- Make sure you have a Sitemap on your Blog. Good Sitemap plugins are:
XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress
Dagon Design Sitemap GeneratorUse the above sitemaps together, and you will get a google and User friendly sitemap page like this one:
I could add lots more SEO tips for WordPress, but that’s enough for now.
If you have comments on using SEO in WordPress, or you want some extra explanation, ask me in the comments below. Have fun!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the info on why to enter /%category%/%postname%/. This post get to the point. Thanks Julie!
You're welcome Rick, glad it helped!
I wonder if commentluv works with Disqus now, lets see
Hi Julieanne,
These are fantastic tips for making your blog SEO friendly.
I see so many people (even established bloggers) who don’t have their permalinks structured correctly so this is an great post for people to refer to.
I must say I’m pretty sure I’m guilty of choosing more than one category for my posts.
Not sure whether to just leave them alone now as I don’t want to mess up my permalinks.
Thanks for the tip on this!
Michaelé
Hi Michaelé I agree it’s not easy to know if you should leave them alone or not. If the posts with more than one category are showing up in the search engines, it might be better to leave them. On the other hand, if you have too much duplicated content on your site, google may not like that either.
I had chosen more than 1 category for a lot of my posts on this blog. When I found out I shouldn’t be doing that, I changed them all to one. I didn’t bother to test and see if it made any difference to my rankings, it was too much work to do that:-)
Hi Julieanne, Love this post. I am doing a lot of work on my blog and these tips do come in handy. I’m more conscious about my SEO than ever before. I was in a stagnating pool up until a month ago. I’m bookmarking this so I can do it step by step.
Thanks so much,
Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..Develop Your Power – Part 3
Thanks Donna, let me know if you have any questions about any of it. Regards from Julieanne