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WordPress SEO – 10 Things You Need To Know WordPress SEO is easy but there are a few issues that you need to work around. Below are 10 areas you need to consider for good WordPress SEO. 1. WordPress “loved by Google”? I have heard it said that Google loves WordPress but I have yet to see any evidence of this. Google’s aim is to provide the best possible results for their users so it does not make any sense to think that they would favour a site simply because of the platform it is on. 2. WordPress SEO Advantages WordPress certainly has advantages over a static site because it is so easy to create/edit content and apply polices site wide. Blogs by their nature are frequently updated and search engines like to see a regular updates. 3. Domain Name As with all sites the domain name is important for WordPress SEO. It should include the primary keyword, at the beginning if possible. You should also decide whether to use WWW or not and stick with that. You can install a plugin to set-up a permanent redirection and you can also set this choice in Google Webmaster tools. This is to prevent link authority being directed to both. 4. Must Set Permalinks The default is to use a number in the URL for each page/post. For WordPress SEO this should be changed to include the post name. This will put the title in the URL and you may need to edit it to remove unnecessary words. You can install a plugin to do this automatically. 5. Use of Categories & Tags You should plan your use of these at the outset. Normally you would only put a post in one category but maybe multiple tags. If possible your keywords can be used as the categories. 6. Duplicate Content This is inevitable as posts can be found in multiple ways e.g. by category and by date. For WordPress SEO purposes this is bad so the search engines should be told not to index this duplicate content. Once again a plugin can be installed to do this. 7. Meta Data The title and description shown on the search engines should configured (via a plugin) for the best effect. It is likely that by default the blog title will appear as well as the page title. I think that for WordPress SEO purposes it is best to have just the page title but you need to select what looks best in your case. The description should be written manually rather than using any auto setting, which is really no better than leaving this up to the search engines.

WordPress SEO - Top 10 Things You Need To Know

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Ten key things you should do to ensure good on page SEO for your WordPress site.

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Page 1: WordPress SEO - Top 10 Things You Need To Know

WordPress SEO – 10 Things You Need To Know

WordPress SEO is easy but there are a few issues that you need to work around. Below are 10 areas you need to consider for good WordPress SEO.

1. WordPress “loved by Google”?I have heard it said that Google loves WordPress but I have yet to see any evidence of this. Google’s aim is to provide the best possible results for their users so it does not make any sense to think that they would favour a site simply because of the platform it is on.

2. WordPress SEO AdvantagesWordPress certainly has advantages over a static site because it is so easy to create/edit content and apply polices site wide. Blogs by their nature are frequently updated and search engines like to see a regular updates.

3. Domain NameAs with all sites the domain name is important for WordPress SEO. It should include the primary keyword, at the beginning if possible. You should also decide whether to use WWW or not and stick with that. You can install a plugin to set-up a permanent redirection and you can also set this choice in Google Webmaster tools. This is to prevent link authority being directed to both.

4. Must Set PermalinksThe default is to use a number in the URL for each page/post. For WordPress SEO this should be changed to include the post name. This will put the title in the URL and you may need to edit it to remove unnecessary words. You can install a plugin to do this automatically.

5. Use of Categories & TagsYou should plan your use of these at the outset. Normally you would only put a post in one category but maybe multiple tags. If possible your keywords can be used as the categories.

6. Duplicate ContentThis is inevitable as posts can be found in multiple ways e.g. by category and by date. For WordPress SEO purposes this is bad so the search engines should be told not to index this duplicate content. Once again a plugin can be installed to do this.

7. Meta DataThe title and description shown on the search engines should configured (via a plugin) for the best effect. It is likely that by default the blog title will appear as well as the page title. I think that for WordPress SEO purposes it is best to have just the page title but you need to select what looks best in your case. The description should be written manually rather than using any auto setting, which is really no better than leaving this up to the search engines.

Page 2: WordPress SEO - Top 10 Things You Need To Know

8. Standard PagesFor WordPress SEO purposes it is important that you have standard pages like About US, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy etc. with a link on every page/post (in header or footer).

9. External LinksHaving some external links is good for WordPress SEO purposes. Ideally these will be relevant links within the content. Having lots of site wide links is of little benefit and increases the possibility of visitors leaving.

10. Content is KingDespite all the above the most important thing in WordPress SEO is good quality search engine optimised content. This includes ensuring that you have good titles, use your keyword in the right places at the right density (too much can be worse than not enough), include graphics with the right tags, have internal links with correct anchor text and have no-follow external links. You can install a plugin to check this for you. I am using “SEOPressor” a WordPress SEO Plugin which checks on page SEO and tells you want improvements are needed. I find this great timesaver. Click Here to learn more.