subject: SEO Optimization Techniques for WordPress [print this page] In this article, I would like to talk to you regarding some of the free things you can utilize to help your website get found, and ranked well, by the search engines. You need to do this because when a searcher puts a query into their search bar, if you have information on your site that would answer their question, or can help them to find the answer, the search engines must know that your site is there and that it has the right information on it, so they can choose your site to give to the one searching.
The first thing that has to be considered in order to optimize your site for the search engines is the type of site you have, i.e., is it a Wordpress site that you have set up through your hosting account, or did you use the services of one of the (often free) website building sites to make your site? If, on the other hand, you have had your site professionally built by a web design company, you will need to ask them if they have added SEO elements into the design, and whether you can access and alter or make additions to them.
There are things you can do with your own Wordpress site to help set it up for SEO, but for other types of sites you will have to rely on whatever the website building company has incorporated into their designs, and also the page rank they have. Several of the other web page building sites DO allow you the ability to add some SEO via the use of a little program similar to the All In One SEO Pack plugin used in WordPress, as well as the ability to use Google's Webmasters Tools.
Be aware that you can only take advantage of the page rank of other web page building sites if you avail yourself of their hosting, e.g. your site URL looks like this:
http://yoursitename.sitebuilderco.com
If you have chosen to have your own domain name and hosting, then you can really only rely on the SEO that is already in the website design you choose, and also whatever you can do with the SEO program that website building site has available.
In this article I am only going to deal with search engine optimization basics for Wordpress sites to bring them to the attention of the search engines. Optimizing other sites is going to have to be done in another article!
Wordpress:
When you are setting up your Wordpress site, the first thing to do is to click on the 'Settings' tab, then go to
'Writing' - scroll down to where you see 'Update Services' and cut the contents of the box, usually http://rpc.pingomatic.com/, and paste it into another document, such as Word or Notepad. You will bring it back into this section later, with some additions. The reason we do this is because while you are building your site, every time you make a change, it gets 'pinged' (i.e. it notifies certain websites that you have posted something new on your site) and you can get into trouble for being seen as a 'spammer'.
Make sure you save your changes.
'Privacy' - 'Blog Visibility' make sure you select the one that lets everyone (and search engines) see your site
'Permalinks' - this is very important for helping your site to be SEO-friendly. Set up a Custom permalink structure as follows : /%postname%
Save your changes
'Plugins' - These add functionality to Wordpress and are what make it so powerful in helping you optimize your site for the search engines. Many of the plug-ins available also help your site's visitors get the most out of your website.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because plug-ins are good, the more you have the better your site will be. The fact is that each one adds quite a few files which can slow down your site. Also some plug-ins don't get on well with others, which can cause problems with your site.
So, the must-have plug-ins for SEO are -
1. Google XML sitemap
2. All In One SEO Pack (once you have activated this one, you will also need to click on the link in the red message box, then click on the 'Enable' button, and Update Options)
3. iRobots txt file
4. RSS Includes Pages - this includes the static pages of your site in the RSS feeds. This is very important otherwise the search engines will only pick up on your home page.
5. Google Analyticator allows your entire site to be tracked efficiently
6. Google Website Optimizer
7. Social Bookmarks attractive buttons for most of the well-known bookmarking sites
8. Fixed Social Buttons these are also nice-looking buttons and float on the page
9. Dagon Sitemap Creator (this is done in a different language to the Google one which is optimized for robots; this one is optimized for humans)
Although this isn't all you can do to set up your WordPress site with basic search engine optimization, it is a good start.
