The first step in optimizing your WordPress blog for SEO purposes is to
make changes to your basic blog. These core changes are made immediately
after installing WordPress, before you pick out or install a theme. Some
changes are made to the settings, while others will be changes in the way you
add content, write your posts, and set up your blogs structure. I'll teach you,
step by step, how to set your blogs up the right way, so that search engines
will love your sites.
Permalinks—
One powerful feature that you should take advantage of when setting up your
Wordpress blog is – the ability to change the default URL of each page and post
from the current "ugly" form to something that is much nicer for both search
engines and end users.
By Default WordPress uses an ugly string of numbers and this is no good for
anyone!
In your WordPress admin under the Settings tab on the left hand side you will
see a list item called Permalinks. Click on this and options to change the way
your URL's (permalinks) display. The good thing about this is that you can
display your keywords (post title) actually in the URL giving the search engines
even more information to help them place you correctly.
You have many default options which allow you to set the URL's to show the
date, month, category, name and a combination but I prefer for SEO purposes
to just use a custom structure of just the name. To do this simply enter
"/%postname%/" (without quotes) in the Custom Structure box on the
Permalinks page.?
Optimizing Your Titles
Since the WordPress software is now set up to name each link with the title of
your post, it's more important than ever to have a well-optimized title. For
each post, choose one keyword to focus on as you write your title. Lead with
the keyword, and make your title clever and catchy. Your goal is to entice
human readers to click on your title to read more, while telling the search
engines exactly where and how to rank your content.
Optimizing Your Descriptions
Don't rely on auto generated descriptions for your post. There's no way to
control the content your reader sees if you're relying on software to make
content choices for you.
Instead, write a carefully crafted, SEO optimized description for each post,
using the keywords you're attempting to rank for at least once in the text. Tell
your reader in simple terms what the post is about, and what they can expect
to read. Make your description as interesting as possible – this, after all, is
what draws the reader in.
Pages Instead of Posts
As you add content to your blog, keep in mind the general structure that
you're shooting for. Whenever possible, write your content on its own page,
instead of as a post. Doing so allows the search engines to rank each page
individually, and helps your reader to see your site as legitimate.
Using the pages instead of posts structure helps you to build an expansive,
multi page website, with an interlinked network of related pages, instead of a blog with one long string of posts on one page.
When you write your content as a page, instead of a post, you can also remove
the commenting option. This is important, as you're striving for a specific
keyword density in your content. Comments won't be keyword optimized, and
can quickly destroy your hard work.
Link to Related Sites You Own
For true niche domination, don't rely on the built in list of links that comes
with WordPress. In fact, deleting these should be one of your first steps after
you install the software. For the best possible SEO results, use this area to link
to other sites that you own in the same niche. If you don't currently own any
other sites, consider using this area for cloaked affiliate links, advertising, or
link exchanges with other marketers.
Privacy Setting
The Privacy Settings control your blog's visibility to search engines, such as
Google and Technorati. You can decide if you would like your blog to be visible
to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and
archivers, or not. If you don't want your blog available to the search engines
you can block search engines, but allow normal visitors to see your site.
I suggest that your blog is visible to everyone, the main purpose of a blog is to
get search engine traffic.
To make sure your privacy setting is set properly, click on the "Setting" tab,
then click on "Privacy"
Add Your Ping List
Your ping list is a list of services that will be sent a ping, each time you update
your blog. You can update this list by clicking on "Setting" then "Writing".
The list is at the bottom of that page, called "Update Services".
Obviously the more services you add the better. But, a word of caution, the
longer your list, the more server resources your blog will use. If you are using
shared hosting, your hosting company may remove your blog. So just a small
list of the main services is recommended.
Here's one you can use:
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
