This has come out to be an one-stop SEO guide for all you wordpress users out there. I’m not sure if I’ve covered all the topics but I’m sure that these are(in fact all) the basic, essential steps all you wordpress users out there should follow in order to make sure that you have your wordpress blog on steroids. I’ve kept in mind all the SEO metrics possible that will make your blog SEO friendly.
The idea is to - “Put your wordpress blog on an SEO Auto pilot mode and keep writing articles that has a very high possibility to make it to the first page of Google, every time you publish them.”
The process of blogging on WordPress can be dissected in to three parts.
1 - Creating a powerful SEO friendly custom wordpress theme.
2 - Using all the power tools to catapult you ahead of others.
3 - Writing killer articles that are SE optimized.
Some people may argue that Wordpress is SEO friendly by itself, therefore you don’t really need an SEO. If you ask my opinion on this I’d say, both right and wrong. Right because, Wordpress is SEO friendly. Wrong because every Wordpress blog is SEO friendly.
Image this, everybody has a Bazooka to fight, so what makes the difference? Only the guy who has a better one will stand out. Similarly, only the guy with a unique custom wordpress theme can win over the others.
1. Selecting a SEO friendly wordpress theme for your site.
Check this first. Your theme holds a lot of importance in deciding your search engine ranks. Really. There may be sites that get away with it using a stupid theme or no theme at all, but remember, those sites are supported most of the times by other SEO factors that a common blogger may not have. Your theme, it’s layout structure, number of images used, code validation all should be taken into consideration while making a selection. Here’s a detailed structure.
- Select a theme with a SEO friendly layout. So that crawlers don’t find it difficult to find the content on your pages.
- The content should be clearly highlighted on the pages.
- The HTML and JavaScript code if present should limit to the first 15-20 lines of the source code. The first part of the source code should predominantly contain the content of your article.
- The whole HTML code of your pages should be completely valid. Use W3C Validator tools to check this and follow the recommendations accordingly.
- There should not be any/or very less flash and AJAX content on your template. If at all they are present, let them be in the footer/sidebar or below the fold. I don’t recommend it for the header. Resources - How to do SEO on flash enabled website, How to SEO with AJAX.
- Header of your theme is a good real estate for SEO. An image is fine, but in my experience I’ve seen that if text is placed in the header (either alone or combined with the image) with the necessary importance given (clue), it weighs more than the other text on your page. So select a theme carefully.
- When you select a theme , do a simulation test on the demo site. A simulation test is one that gives you an idea of how your pages would be seen by crawlers. In the search engine simulation test, if the results show the text featured on your theme demo, it means the theme is good for search engines. There are some themes in which we can see the text visually, but in a simulation test, no or very less text appears, keep away from such themes.
2. On site Optimization for Wordpress
On site optimization for wordpress is one of my favorite topics, simply because there is always a new concept that emerges out of the blue.
3. Put your wordpress blog on steroids.
A wordpress blog is SEO friendly by default, but adding some power tools to it can make it 10 times as effective as a naked blog. In fact, there are a lot of power tools available online, and many of them are scrap. The wise strategy is to pick the best ones that really fit your blog.
There are lot of SEO plugins available at the moment, but the truth is that you don’t have to use them all simultaneously. Many of them do the same purpose but some do one task better than other. In the above list, you can safely use all of them together without any clash while serving the purpose of SEO’ing Wordpress.
Now, that more or less completes the “Ordinary to Super blog” power tools that you need. But more importantly there are a few things that you should keep in mind or keep away from.
I hope I’ve covered all the bare essentials to SEOing your wordpress blog. If you follow the above steps, I can guarantee you that you’ll have great platform to blog. Now, it depends on what you write and how good you write that will decide how your ranks are on the SERPs. That’s something you should learn yourself, I don’t think anyone can train you on it although can give you pointers on concepts like keyword research and copy writing.
P.S - You’ll find numerous articles on the net googling for “SEO wordpress” but many of them were written long ago and does not reflect the new ideas and concepts pf the trade, which is what made me write this article. Hope it helped.
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Thanks for the Stumble.
useful article. thanks. http://www.dailyseoblog.com/2007/02/creating-search-engine-friendly-titles-for-blog-posts/ is not found
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Thanks, I was looking to build a new blog and try some different plugins. This list will be a good start.
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Hmm… Good tips again.
WOW! This is definitely a great list! Very informative… I’ll bookmark it… Thanks a lot!
I am looking forwar to start to start a blog on wordpress hope these tips help me.
Thanks for the info- I’ve been long fighting the wordpress/seo battle trying to gain dominance in my niche market- Hopefully some of your suggestions will help me reach those goals.
thx
Excellent write up. I’m glad I happened to find your web site today.
Wow! Thanks Mani for the very informative article and links! I’d definitely look forward to your future posts. Thank you so much for sharing these useful SEO tips to us!
Excellent Mani!!
Really helpful for a newbie like me…thanks
You seem to be quite a fan of W3C validation, I personally don’t think W3C validations have anything to do with SEO, these days. Have you done any experiment on this?
Really nice article, am trying to get my blog all SEOed up. This was a great help.
Hi,
I read this blog and I am of the opinion that this particular blog is a solution to my problem.
well i want to improve my website’s page rank. Can any one here help me how can i improve my website’s page rank or suggest me any company who undertake this work.
Ohh man this is good stuff. With all that talk that WP is already optimized for SEO I assumed that SEO was already taken off… and then bam, How come I’m not getting any organic hits… this explains it!
Thanks,
Chimbles
I google on “SEO Wordpress” and your site is at the top. Unfortunately your content is beyong my comprehension as I am not very technical on blogging. I run several product blogs under My Hobby Farm but these blogs are not well position in SERP. I would be most glad if someone can explain to me how to do it better.
One example is Composts and Composting.
I wonder if you have any good recommendation on SEO plugin for wordpress. There is one “all in one SEO Plugin for wordpress” but their SEO looks rather simple and it does not take care of these areas that are covered in your post here. Do you have any good one to recommend instead.
Ben, Glad you found the site. I would recommend “HeadSpace 2″ from Uban Giraffe. Contact me on email if you need help with SEO.
@Chimbles, there are many who thinks that just installing wordpress will put things on autopilot mode but no, there are a few loopholes you got to plug.
This is right place to get information about seo tool and seo tips and tricks
WOW very informative web that i never found before about SEO..thanks!!!
cheers
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Thanks for the great information.
I’d like to see a follow up on ways to reduce javascript code on the front page (creating function libraries etc.)
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