How To SEO Your WordPress Blog
Having the right foundation for your blogs search engine optimisation is so important and that is why I always recommend that if you are wanting to start a blog then you should use the free WordPress CMS.
The great thing about WordPress is not that it already has a lot of SEO work already done to it (which it does), but it is the the thousands of plugins and addons that will dramatically improve your blogs SEO. So let’s take a closer look at some of those plugins:
How To SEO Your WordPress Blog | PLUGINS
There are a HEAP of SEO wordpress plugins, but only a small few that I recommend. This is because I only use the best.
So here are the WordPress plugins that I personally use:
SEO Power WordPress Plugin
The SEOPower WordPress plugin has quickly become my all-time favourite WordPress plugin (which seems like a big call, but when you see what it does, I am sure you will agre..
You see, what it does is tell me exactly what people are searching for when they visit my blog, AND what page they land on (and how many other people have done the exact same thing!). This allows me to find those HOT keywords that my keyword research program didn’t show up, so that I can start to work on getting those keywords higher in the SERPS. (oh and did I mention that it tells you what you are ranking in Google for the keyword?)
Check out this updated review I did, of my experience with the plugin and see what you think.
> > SEOPower WordPress Plugin Review
All-In-One SEO Plugin
The All-In-One Seo Plugin is pretty much the grand daddy of all SEO wordpress plugins (but still one of the most popular!) This plugin is so great because it works on the titles/descriptions/keywords for your posts and allows you to customise these to improve your SEO.
Google XML Sitemaps
Sitemaps are an easy way to automatically update search engines on when a new post or page has been added. This sitemap generator plugin seems to be the most popular and just happens to be the one that I personally use on my blogs. If you are using Google’s Webmaster Tools then you can use this sitemap for that as well.
> > Google XML Sitemaps Plugin
Broken Link Checker
Broken links are not just leaking you ‘Google juice’ they also frustrate visitors and lessen credibility. The Broken Link Checker plugin will monitor your blog looking for broken links and let you know if any are found.
> > Broken Link Checker Plugin
SEO Smart Links
SEO Smart Links can automatically link keywords and phrases in your posts and comments with corresponding posts, pages, categories and tags on your blog and external links.
This is a great way to build internal links to help with SEO and to automatically link to affiliate pages.
How To SEO Your WordPress Blog | ON PAGE OPTIMISATION
Plugins are a great start, but it is going to be the content on your page that will give you a massive boost in the right direction when it comes to seo for your WordPress blog.
Here are a few things that you should to doing to each posts:
Title Tags
I know this is simple stuff, but it is important to have your keyword or prhase in your post title as well as throughout your posts (especially in your ‘h’ tags). This is because Google give significant weight to title tags.
Permalink
If you are still using the out of the box permalink settings then you a missing out BIG TIME. What do I mean by permalinks? Well all it is , is the bit of the page URL that is unique to that page.
The standard permalink structure is:
http://diyseoservices.com//?p=502 (BAD for SEO)
But you can change your permalinks so that they are much more search engine friendly (here is how to change them), to something like this:
http://diyseoservices.com.au/seo-tools/learn-seo (this is your domain, then category and then post name and GOOD for SEO)
Alt Images
If you didn’t already know but Google can read your pictures!
Well, not really, but what they can do is take the file name and ‘alt image’ (the tag you give your photo) and use read it that way. This also affects the SEO of your blog posts so it is definitely worth using keywords (where relevant).
Keywords and Content
A lot of SEO experts will try and tell you that there is an optimal keyword density for a pages content – but I don’t subscribe to that method. Personally I just write for my readers and sprinkle the keyword or phrase in where possible (without lessening my readers experience). Because there is no point having a heap of traffic if when the reader arrives they see a ‘manufactured for Google’ unreadable post. This may work for Adsense blogs, but if you are serious about your blogging, and I hope you are – then you need to focus on reader experience.
If you put these plugins and tips into place then you won’t have to worry about how to SEO your wordpress blog -because you will already be doing it!
Tags: All-In-One SEO Plugin, Broken Link Checker, Google XML Sitemaps, How To SEO Your Wordpress Blog, search engine optimisation, SEO Power Wordpress Plugin, SEO Smart Links
