wordpress seo tips

WordPress SEO Tips

Chris Burgess

@chrisburgesschrisburgess.com.au

WordPress Basics

WordPress has evolved from:

Blog > CMS > Framework

A lot of WordPress Themes will offer SEO features

Avoid using these features, Themes are for look and feel. Lean, lightweight

themes are best. Plugins are what should be used for extra functionality.

Keep your site lean and mean

While plugins are great, don’t just

install for the sake of it! Only install

what’s critical. Regularly clean up and

deactivate any you don’t use to help

with performance.

By default, WordPress is Search Engine friendly

Headings<h1>’s and <h2>’s are often not used correctly, or as well as they could – do this stuff right and it will help!

<h1>Heading 1 = Main Heading</h1>

<h2>Heading 2 = Sub Heading </h2> <h3>Heading 3 = Sub Heading</h3>

<h2>Heading 2 = Sub Heading </h2>

Keywords/TopicsNaturally include your keyword/topic and variations of it in your page title, meta description, content and

images.

Utilising Category Pages

Utilise Category PagesUsing Yoast and WordPress category settings

https://codex.wordpress.org/Category_Templates

If category description is not supported by your theme you might need to include the following to display the text at the top of your category template

(usually category.php or archive.php)

<?php echo category_description( $category_id ); ?>

http://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/attractions/

Category Page ExampleCategory description located at top of page…

http://www.dandenongrangespoint.com.au/attractions/

Category Page Example…category blog posts then follow underneath.

Which leads us to the big Y

WordPress SEO by Yoast

All In One SEO is also very popular, but we’ll be talking about WordPress SEO by Yoast.

However, many of the same principles apply if you prefer a different plugin.

https://yoast.com/wordpress-seo/

The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings for WordPress Sites

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/

Yoast Page and Post Optimisation

Tools – Yoast SEO

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/

Tools – Yoast SEO

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/

Tools – Yoast SEO

Screen OptionsSelect ‘Screen Options’ to drop down options panel to

view Yoast SEO fields next to your posts and pages

Yoast SEO Quick Edit FieldsQuick Edit before installing the plugin

https://wordpress.org/plugins/quick-edit-fields-for-yoast-seo/

Yoast SEO Quick Edit FieldsAfter installing the plugin you can see the additional

Yoast Settings now in Quick Edit

https://wordpress.org/plugins/quick-edit-fields-for-yoast-seo/

Beyond Yoast

Even though Yoast can manage the majority of SEO-related

functionality, there a few more plugins that come in handy…

The Right Tool for the Job

Don’t use WordPress for everything

Link Checking Plugins

These plugins can consume a lot of resources, they are often banned from high-end hosts.

Use Xenu, Integrity, Screaming Frog, Botify, Deep Crawler or Google Search Console

Autolinking Plugins

They can create horrible, unnatural content.

Linking is important, so control your internal and external links to help strengthen your content and

improve user experience.

Less is more

Poorly written plugins can cause performance, maintenance and security issues. Choose wisely!

Other Plugins

There are a range of other plugins that do help with SEO and I’ll cover

some popular ones now.

✔

P3 - Plugin Performance Profiler Data on plugin performance

https://wordpress.org/plugins/p3-profiler/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/restricted-site-access/

Restricted Site Access

Managing Redirections

Simple 301 Redirects

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-301-redirects/

Redirection

https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/

Simple URLs

https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-urls/

Mapping 301 Redirects

https://builtvisible.com/mapping-301-redirects-for-seo-friendly-site-migrations/

rel=“nofollow”

Rel NoFollow Checkbox

https://wordpress.org/plugins/rel-nofollow-checkbox/

Image Optimisation

SEO Friendly Images

https://wordpress.org/plugins/seo-image/

EWWW Image Optimizer

https://wordpress.org/plugins/ewww-image-optimizer/

Imsanity

https://wordpress.org/plugins/imsanity/

HTML Sitemap

WP SEO HTML Sitemap Plugin

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-seo-html-sitemap/

Adapt

Good search marketing isn’t just about technology, it’s also about

being able to quickly adapt.

Utilising Schema

Schema

“Schema.org is a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data

on the Internet, on web pages, in email messages, and beyond.”

http://schema.org

Here are some examples…

Review Schema

Recipe Schema

Event Schema

Product Schema

Here are some examples…

https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/

Structured Data Testing Tool

Local SEO Plugin

https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/local-seo/

•  https://wordpress.org/plugins/schema-creator/

•  https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-schemaorg-rich-snippets/ 

•  https://wordpress.org/plugins/rich-reviews/

•  https://wordpress.org/plugins/schema-app-structured-data-for-schemaorg/

•  https://wordpress.org/plugins/rich-contact-widget/

Schema Plugins

•  http://schema.org/

•  https://developers.google.com/structured-data/policies

•  https://moz.com/learn/seo/schema-structured-data

Schema Resources

Note: We’ll have a talk on Schema coming up at the SEO Meetup soon!

Accelerated Mobile Pages, Instant Articles and Apple News

https://wordpress.org/plugins/amp/

AMP

https://wordpress.org/plugins/glue-for-yoast-seo-amp/

Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP

https://wordpress.org/plugins/pagefrog/

Facebook Instant Articles & Google AMP Pages by PageFrog

+

Thanks!

Any questions?

@chrisburgesschrisburgess.com.au