wordcamp ireland - 40 tips for wordpress optimization
DESCRIPTION
Loads of tips to optimize and maintain your WordPress ste.TRANSCRIPT
WordPress Optimization40 tips in 40 minutes
Joost de Valk, OrangeValley - WordCamp Ireland 2010
Open Source
Open SourceApple
Open SourceAppleWordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS
WordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
WordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
GeekWordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
Theology
WordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
WordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
Blogger
WordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
BloggerSpeaker
WordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
BloggerSpeaker
MarketerWordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
BloggerSpeaker
MarketerWordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
BloggerSpeaker
MarketerWordPress
Open SourceApple
CSS SEO
Geek
TheologyIBMS
BloggerSpeaker
Marketer
Online marketer
WordPress
I work for OrangeValley, a company that develops WordPress websites, does Analytics and Conversion Rate Optimization and SEO but mostly helps it’s customers make more money.
http://yoast.com/
I blog on http://yoast.com/
http://yoast.com/
I blog on http://yoast.com/
Joost de Valk, OrangeValley - WordCamp Ireland 2010
http://quixapp.com/
And recently created Quix: http://quixapp.com/
So even though I’m from Holland, I’m not going to tell you about windmills and wooden shoes.
So usually, I’d copy paste some slides...
Be an obnoxious bastard and present it
Go and do what I do best
There’s an issue though.
Joost de Valk, OrangeValley - WordCamp Ireland 2010
http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/
You’ve all probably read this article.
Please do ask your questions!
Don’t be afraid to ask questions
42Joost de Valk, OrangeValley - WordCamp Ireland 2010
I’ll try to answer all of them
I’ll try to answer all of them, usually the answer is 42.
Section #1: improve your load times
Make your site load faster!!
#1 Install W3 Total Cache
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/w3-total-cache/ Turned my blog from an Opel into a Ferrari (speed wise)
#2 Use it to combine CSS and JS files
Javascript and CSS should be combined and javascript should mostly be loaded in the footer. (W3 Total Cache can help with that)
#3 Use Sprites
Check out SpriteMe
• (WP) Smush It
• Puny PNG
#4 Crunch those images...
Crunch your theme’s images, and auto crunch uploaded images.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-smushit/http://www.punypng.com/
#5 Offload those images and JS and CSS files
Use a CDN (for instance VPS.net’s CDN) or Google’s Javascript Library API or Amazon S3 to offload images, js, css and other static files, saving your own server.
#6 Kill some plugins
And try to replace them for similar ones. Some plugins are god awful (in terms of javascript).
#7 Clean up that sidebar
Do you really need all those badges? Even more important: do your visitors need them?
Section #2: Optimize!
Let’s optimize that site for search!
#8 Books are judged by their cover
So are your posts, give them a proper title.
#9 Offer (Efficient) Related Posts
http://xavisys.com/2009/06/efficient-related-posts/
#10 Internal Linking & Series of Posts
http://justintadlock.com/archives/2009/06/09/series-wordpress-plugin
Check your analytics: which pages are viewed most? Which pages and posts do you have related to that? Link them!!
#11 Tags, Categories, Custom Taxonomies
Through all these cool plugins we often forget how to use the superbly useful internal stuff in WordPress: Categories, Tags and custom taxonomies. Do your categories still match the blog you have today? http://yoast.com/wordpress/simple-taxonomies/
#12 Give a robot some directions
Noindex wp-admin, login and register pages etc.using the Robots meta plugin.
#13 Don’t auto generate your meta descriptions
Better to have a monkey write them or not write one at all than to have All in one SEO generate them for you.
#14 Create proper pagination
You can’t expect a search engine nor a user to click on more more than 3 times... Use for instance a plugin like WP PageNavi.
#15 Disable paged comments
THEY SUCK.
Section #3 Maintenance
Let’s keep that blog nice and crisp.
#16 Backup your blog regularly
Both your database AND your FILES!!
#17 Automatically repair the database
• Add this to wp-config.php:define('WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true);
It’s so easy: do it!!
#18 Check your blogs queries
Use the Debug Queries plugin to check for plugins or themes gone mad.
#19 Clean up spam. Always.
Run AkismetUse Dave Naylor’s comment referrer check http://tools.davidnaylor.co.uk/
#20 Track your uptime
Use Pingdom, or another tool,but be the first to know when your blog is down.
#21 Track and fix those 404’s
Use John Godley’s Redirection plugin and track and fix them.
#22 Remove unneeded meta info
// Remove Really simple discovery linkremove_action('wp_head', 'rsd_link');// Remove Windows Live Writer linkremove_action('wp_head', 'wlwmanifest_link');
// Remove the version number:function yoast_fix_wp_generator($generator) { return preg_replace('/\s?'.get_bloginfo('version').'/','',$generator);}add_filter('the_generator','yoast_fix_wp_generator',10,1);
#23 Create a good search experience
Implement a Google Custom search engine to create a proper search experience, then start tracking your internal search: what are people searching for? Are they finding that? Can / should they expect that on your site?
#24 Get a good mobile plugin
Section #3: make them come back
#25 Email subscriptions!!
I prefer email, because of it’s high response.
#26 Twitter
In January, 20% of the yoast.com traffic came from Twitter.
#27 RSS
If your readers understand what RSS is, the button can’t be big enough. If they don’t know what it is, leave it out entirely!
#28 Use WP Greet Box
Section #4: engage them!
Engage them.
#29 Newsletter sign up pages
This is the perfect moment to let people refer your site and mailing list to a friend or their Twitter followers: “I just signed up for Yoast.com’s newsletter, you should too!”
#30 Comment redirect
Someone just commented and showed engagement: use that momentum
#31 Ask for feedback & comments
Use Gravity Forms for contact forms and surveys, or Google Docs forms function to create surveys.
#31 Ask for feedback & comments
Use Gravity Forms for contact forms and surveys, or Google Docs forms function to create surveys.
#31 Ask for feedback & comments
Use Gravity Forms for contact forms and surveys, or Google Docs forms function to create surveys.
#31 Ask for feedback & comments
Use Gravity Forms for contact forms and surveys, or Google Docs forms function to create surveys.
#32 Use threaded comments
They keep the conversation intact and allow for a better conversation.
#33 Use Gravatars
They keep the conversation intact and allow for a better conversation.
Section #5: measuring results
#34 Use Google Analytics
Or any other proper web analytics package
#35 (Google) Analytics:- number of pageviews per visit- new unique commenter- comments- submitted feedback forms
Email + FeedBurner subscriptionsTwitter followersetc. etc. etc.
#37 Track those first time comments
Using the comment redirect plugin!
#38 Track submitted comment forms
#39 Use my blog metrics plugin
#40 (bit of a cheat)
All of this is no use if you don’t go out and actually DO it.
#40 (bit of a cheat)
Start Optimising!!
All of this is no use if you don’t go out and actually DO it.