WordPress Search Engine Friendly

Out of the box, WordPress is already quite search engine friendly. But, if you plan on using it for a few projects or are hoping to go really big with your website (of course you are), then you will want to make sure it's 100% search engine optimized.

First (if not already) you should learn some basic SEO, and who better to learn from other than Google? - SEO Starter Guide (PDF)

Search engines are changing daily and I don't claim to know all. But, after many years marketing online I do understand that search engines just want what's best for the end user, and the searcher. If you develop a website for your visitors you can't really go wrong. If you put out great content on your blog than the backlinks will flow on their own.

OK, now back to making WordPress SEF..

1. Fresh
I always start by fresh installing WordPress. Get the latest updated version.

2. Speed
Be sure to use a fast loading theme If not the default.

3. Pretty
Make the URL's custom (SEF) - Go to Settings> Permalinks> and select "custom" and input /%postname%/. This will turn example.com/?10283, into example.com/Keyword

4. Platinum
Install the Platinum SEO plugin. Now, many say this plugin is the ultimate for SEO, far from it. But it does help an awful lot. Once activated, you'll then be bombarded with 6 million settings lol but don't fear, out of the box Platinum is ready to go for the average user.

Decide what you mainly want the search engines to find. In my case I want them all over my home page, and single posts. Pages, categories, and archives are pagerank leechers in my opinion and don't directly benefit me or my readers having the limelight. Basically, in the settings menu, I NoFollow/NoIndex everything except for my home page and posts. WP 2.9+ has built in canonical tags so turn them off in Platinum.

For keywords, descriptions and titles you'll want to use keywords related to your niche.

5. Image Indexing
For every editable image on your blog, be sure to include ALT text. Search engines use these keywords in the ALT to correctly index them. Ever been to Google images?

6. Sitemap
Add a sitemap generator if you wish but I have found Google can do it's job (indexing) on it's own and doesn't need to be told. Blogs with over 4000 posts may benefit more from having a siteimap, but if your posts aren't showing than it's a good indication that your navigation and internal link structure isn't the best. Sitemap Plugin.

7. Internal link structure
A good rule of thumb is.. you have to be able to get anywhere on your blog within 3 clicks. Also, I recomend using the Related Posts plugin to further help both search-engines, and your readers find similar articles. Related plugin.

So we've learned basic SEO, sorted our meta tags, and made our blog more user friendly and easier to navigate. Again, just write for your readers and the rest will fall into place. Comment below if you need help with anything. Also, let me know what you think of WordPress and SEO. I feel they used to be stubborn in regards to SEO but have come along way since listening to the help of their own community.

Louis