Difference between revisions of "Learn/WordPress:-Built-for-SEO"

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{{ArticleTemplate2
 
{{ArticleTemplate2
| Writer = KristinaWeis
+
| Writer = Michael David at TastyPlacement
| Name = Kristina Weis
+
| Name = Michael David
 
| Header = WordPress:%20Built%20for%20SEO
 
| Header = WordPress:%20Built%20for%20SEO
 
| Subhead =  
 
| Subhead =  
| Bitly = http://bit.ly/NotSure
+
| Bitly = http://bit.ly/WPressSEO
| Date = April 28, 2011
+
| Date = May 10, 2011
 
}}
 
}}
 +
==Want a Website? Don't Know Code? Use WordPress==
 +
----
 +
WordPress is an increasingly popular program for people who want to create a website without having to know anything about web technology - and deservedly so. WordPress can help you build a large website with very little effort and no knowledge of code, and it naturally handles much (but not all) of the nuts and bolts of [[Glossary/SEO|search engine optimization]] (SEO).
  
WordPress handles much (but not all) of the nuts and bolts of search engine optimization naturally. It can help you effortlessly build large, broad-based sites and has an innate economical architecture that generates lean and fast-loading code that search engines love. It serves up simple, text-based navigation menus that search engines crawl and index easily and enjoys respect and familiarity among search engines, which further aids in search spideringIt can also improve the speed and ease with which you publish new content. RSS feeds are built in, so you can reach more readers more easily, and WordPress automatically builds keyword-rich URL strings.  
+
{{SiteReportMedRecAd}}The economical architecture designed into WordPress generates lean and fast-loading code that search engines love. It serves up simple, text-based navigation menus that search engines can easily crawl and index. WordPress also enjoys respect and familiarity with search engines, which further helps sites built on WordPress get found and crawled by search engine spiders.   
 +
<br />
 +
One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is how easy it is to publish new content. Publishing good content frequently is one of the most important things you can do to boost your site's presence on the Web. WordPress also has [[Glossary/RSS|RSS feeds]] built in, making it easy for readers to subscribe to your site.  
  
==WordPress' Economical Architecture==
+
Last but not least, WordPress automatically builds URLs that contain keywords - if you use keywords in the titles of your posts, that is. Keyword-rich [[Learn/Improve-Your-URLs-for-Better-SEO|URLs can really help your site's SEO]].
  
WordPress employs sound economical architecture to display pages reliably and quickly. In the early days of HTML, each display element on a webpage was displayed through the use of markup tags such as <nowiki><font face="verdana" color="green">This is some text!</font></nowiki> to display a string of green text in the Verdana font style. One of the inherent weaknesses of this approach was that it led to the incessant repetition of markup tags. WYSIWYG editors compounded the problem by tending towards excessive repetition of markup tags: a webpage with 20 paragraphs might have 20 font declarations, one for each paragraph. Repeating markup code makes websites display more reliably, but it makes them far less efficient because they take longer to load and longer for the browser to process the markup.
+
==WordPress' Economical Architecture Means Better Site Speed==
 +
----
 +
WordPress' internal architecture is entirely based on CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This is a way of formatting web pages that allows pages to display more quickly - and as you may know, [[Learn/6-Easy-Ways-to-Improve-Your-Site-Speed-for-SEO|quick-loading web pages can rank better in search results]].
 +
Faster-loading pages also offer people a better experience when they visit your site.
  
There is another inherent problem. If you wanted to change the text on your website from green to black you would have to edit each individual font color declaration throughout your site.
+
WordPress' inherent economy doesn't end there. WordPress pages are generated quickly and neatly by a simple and quick processing engine. WordPress sites generate proper, valid HTML code that search engines love, though a poorly crafted WordPress template can undermine code quality, making for a much less satisfactory user experience and a lower-ranking site.
 
 
With the advent of CSS, the declarations for every element on a webpage could be made either at the head of the page, or ideally in an off page text file. This answered the issue of both the uneconomical repetition of markup as well as giving webmasters the ability to change a single element site-wide by changing one declaration. With well-crafted CSS, pages display more quickly and thus can rank better.
 
 
 
WordPress' internal architecture is entirely CSS-based. Unless the WordPress template is poorly coded, WordPress uses off-page CSS files to define elements. A WordPress page might display with 180 lines of code where the equivalent page created by a static WYSIWYG editor might display 350 lines of code. Pages load faster, so the search engines respond with good rankings and users have a good experience while visiting your site.
 
 
 
WordPress' inherent economy doesn't end there. WordPress pages are generated quickly and neatly by a simple and quick processing engine. WordPress sites generate proper, valid HTML code that search engines love, although a poorly crafted WordPress template can undermine code quality.  
 
  
 
==Build Large Sites Quickly==
 
==Build Large Sites Quickly==
 +
----
 +
WordPress began its history as a blogging platform that permitted anyone to become a Web publisher. Even as WordPress has matured into a capable content management platform, it has retained the features that make it a speedy and agile publishing tool.
  
WordPress began its history as a blogging/publishing platform. Even as WordPress has matured into a capable content management platform it has retained the features that make it adapt as a speedy and agile publishing tool. WordPress will enable you to create content more quickly than other platforms and certainly more quickly than with static HTML pages.
+
WordPress enables you to create content more quickly than other platforms - and [[Learn/Good-Content-Vs.-Spam|search engine optimization relies on content]]. The more content you publish on your site, the more opportunities you have to rank for keyword phrases that matter to you and the people you're trying to attract.  
  
Search engine optimization relies on content. The more content that appears on your site, the more opportunities you will have to rank for wider and wider families of keyword phrases. Also, each page of content on your website contributes to the whole: even a minor page on your website generates a small thimble of page rank that contributes to the overall ranking power of your site.
+
Another great feature of WordPress is the ability to link easily from one page to another. Rich interlinking of pages within a website signals to search engines that the content of the site is well thought out, and not automatically generated just to grab traffic.  
  
 
==Respected and Familiar Content Platform==
 
==Respected and Familiar Content Platform==
 +
----
 +
When a search engine encounters a website with unusual or non-standard navigation, the search engine must do its best to follow the navigation to the deepest files within the website. If the search spider cannot reliably and confidently follow a website's navigation to discover the deepest pages, those pages are unlikely to be added to the search engine's index.
  
WordPress enjoys both respect and familiarity for search engines. When a search engine encounters a website with unusual or non-standard navigation, the search engine must do its best to follow the navigation to the deepest files within the organizational structure or a website. If the search spider cannot reliably and confidently follow a website's navigation to discover the deepest pages within a website's navigation, then those pages are unlikely to be indexed. Because of WordPress' reliability and familiarity to search engines, spidering errors almost never occur.
+
There are more than 25 million WordPress sites on the Web. Because WordPress is so familiar to search engines, spidering errors almost never occur. That means more of your site is likely to be indexed if it's built on WordPress - and therefore, available for display to people using search engines.
  
Because of the sheer number of installations worldwide, search engines crawl and index content on WordPress sites with ease. Faster and more thorough crawling and indexing means that more of your content will place in search engine indexes.
+
WordPress also enjoys trust and respect with search engines. There is no direct evidence that the search engines algorithmically rank WordPress sites over non-WordPress sites - but it's possible.  
  
WordPress also enjoys trust and respect with search engines. There is no direct evidence that the search engines algorithmically rank WordPress sites over non-WordPress sites, however, it is possible. WordPress, for the most part, has been of only marginal use to spammers, although that appears to be changing. There are several plug-ins available for WordPress now that enable the wholesale importation of duplicated content from other websites (we don't recommend employing these tools, duplicate content doesn't rank well). As these plug-ins become more advanced, perhaps WordPress may begin to enjoy an unwelcome reputation as a platform for spammers.
+
WordPress, for the most part, has not been used much to create spammy sites, although that appears to be changing. There are now several plug-ins available for WordPress that enable the wholesale import of content from other websites. (Of course, we don't recommend employing these tools, and in any case, duplicate content doesn't rank well in search results.) As these plug-ins become more advanced, perhaps WordPress will acquire an unwelcome reputation as a platform for spammers.
  
 
==Blogging Capabilities==
 
==Blogging Capabilities==
 +
----
 +
WordPress has retained many of the features of the pure blogging platform it was originally designed to be. For example, articles are presented in reverse chronological order by default, and WordPress has built-in RSS feed capability.
  
This capability almost goes without saying because blogging is historically the core purpose of WordPress. WordPress has retained many of the features of a pure blogging platform such as the presentation of articles in reverse chronological order as its default setting and built-in RSS feed capabilities. Perhaps the better way to think of WordPress' blogging capabilities as an SEO benefit is to think of those capabilities when they are employed within a site that isn't a pure blog. The great power of WordPress comes into play when its inherent blogging capabilities are employed within a commercial site.
+
The great power of WordPress comes into play when its inherent blogging capabilities are employed within a commercial site. A sound and standard approach is to have the main services pages for a business published on the front page and in the Pages section of WordPress, while educational articles, product updates, general blog posts and commentary are published to the Posts section, designed for blog posts.  
  
A sound and standard approach to a commercial site on the WordPress platform is to have the main services pages for a business published on the front page and in the Pages section of WordPress while eduction articles, product updates, general blog posts, and commentary are published to the Posts section. The Posts section of WordPress is traditionally where blog posts appear. With this dual capability, a website owner can outpace competitors that aren't employing a blog.  
+
Remember, publishing new content regularly and frequently is a great way to [[Learn/SEO-Benefits-of-Blogging|tell search engines that a site is vibrant and useful to people]]. Frequent publishing also gives you the chance to target [[Learn/Keyword-Research-Is-Key-to-Online-Success|your important keywords]] while offering your customers and potential customers reason to come back to your site again and again. A savvy website owner using WordPress can outpace competitors who don't maintain a blog.  
  
 
==RSS Feeds==
 
==RSS Feeds==
 +
----
 +
RSS feeds come standard with all WordPress installations. RSS stands for “really simple syndication” and that's just what it is: a way of publishing new web content quickly and automatically to other websites and devices such as smart phones. There are a number of RSS readers on the market that allow people to subscribe to many different feeds, and read all the new content in one place.
 +
 +
People can use your site's RSS feed to read your articles or posts without even visiting your site. It's a convenient way for customers, fans and friends to stay engaged with you and your content.
  
RSS feeds come standard with all WordPress installations. RSS stands for “really simple syndication” and refers to a family of formatting standards that allow for the timely publication of freshly updated web content to other websites and devices. In a practical sense, the RSS feeds of your site can be utilized by users to follow your content in an RSS reader without necessarily visiting your site. When a user “subscribes” to your RSS feed, they'll receive regular updates of all new content you generate. RSS represents another avenue by which users can remain engaged with you and your content.
+
[[Image:RSS.png|right|100px]]
You don't need to do anything to set up your WordPress feed-- it's already there. However, you may wish to take steps to ensure that users can find your feed. You do this by use of a link that in common practice is represented visually with the familiar orange RSS icon.
+
You don't need to do anything to set up your WordPress feed - it's already there. However, you may wish to take steps to ensure that users can find your feed. You do this by linking to your feed through the familiar orange RSS icon.
  
'''Finding Your Feed'''
+
; Your Feed
 +
If you need to submit your feed to search engines or feed engines, you can use any of the following four standard feed locations. People who want to follow your site might have a preferred feed standard, but they all accomplish the same thing, and search engines can read any of them.
  
If you need to submit your feed to search engines or feed engines, you can use any of the following four standard feed locations. Each one represents a different feed standard, but they all accomplish the same thing, and search engines can read any of them.
+
: http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rss
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rss
 
 
  
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rss2
+
: http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rss2
 
  
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rdf
+
: http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rdf
 
  
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=atom
+
: http://YourDomain.com/?feed=atom
 
   
 
   
  
'''Promoting Your Feed'''
+
; Promoting Your Feed
 +
Many website owners make the mistake of not promoting their feed. The single best way to promote your feed is to put your RSS icon prominently in the header or sidebar of your site.
  
Many webmasters take the mistake of not promoting their feed. The single best way to promote your feed is to make sure you have a clearly visible RSS icon with a link to your feed visible throughout your site. If RSS feeds fit within your strategy, put your RSS icon prominently in the header or sidebar. You can also submit your RSS feed to special search blog-only search engines; we'll learn later how to submit your blog to blog engines.
+
You can also submit your RSS feed to special blog-only search engines.
  
 
==URLs and Permalinks==
 
==URLs and Permalinks==
 +
----
 +
WordPress seamlessly and automatically handles the creation of unique URLs, which WordPress calls '''permalinks'''. This functionality gives you URLs that can easily be customized with the keywords you care about.
  
WordPress seamlessly and automatically handles the creation of URLs through its permalink feature. A permalink is simply the WordPress way of describing the URL for a particular page. Because keywords in the URL of a page are a ranking factor, If you want to rank for “WordPress Development,” then this URL: mysite.com/wordpress-development
+
Keywords in the URL of a page can help it rank better in search results. Let's say you want a page to rank well for “WordPress development." You would want to choose a URL like '''mysite.com/wordpress-development''' because it will perform better in search than '''mysite.com/index.com?page=5''', everything else being equal.
 
   
 
   
will perform better in search than mysite.com/index.com?page=5
+
First, you'll need to turn on permalinks within the WordPress dashboard - permalinks are not activated in a default WordPress installation. To turn on permalinks, log in to the dashboard and follow the left site navigation to ''Settings'' and then choose ''Permalinks'' in the drop-down menu.
+
 
. The WordPress permalink functionality gives you descriptive URL strings for search engines to follow with no effort at all.
+
On the Permalink Settings page, in the section titled ''Common settings'', click the radio button for “Custom Structure” and enter '''/%postname%/'''. This permalink structure will automatically generate URLs from your page and post titles. You will still be able to change them manually if necessary.
  
First, you'll need to turn on Permalinks within the WordPress dashboard—permalinks are not activated in a default installation. To turn on permalinks, log in to the dashboard and follow the left site navigation to “Settings” then “Permalinks.” At the Permalink Settings page, in the section titled Common Setting, click the radio button for “Custom Structure” and enter /%postname%/. This permalink structure will automatically generate URLs from your Page and Post titles—but you'll still be able to manually change them if necessary.
+
Because the titles of your posts and pages are relevant (they should be!) to the topic of your content, the permalinks based on your titles will be relevant as well. Bonus points if you [[Learn/Keyword-Research-Is-Key-to-Online-Success|research the most important keywords]] for each post and page, and use them in your titles.
Because the titles of your Posts and Pages are relevant to the topic of your content, the permalinks based on your titles will be relevant as well.  
 
  
 
==Reliable, Text-Based Navigation==
 
==Reliable, Text-Based Navigation==
 +
----
 +
WordPress automatically generates simple, text-based navigation that works well for both people and search spiders. Site visitors use your website's navigation to browse your site and find content that interests them.
  
WordPress automatically generates simple, text-based navigation that works well for both users and search spiders. Site visitors employ your website's navigation to browse your site and find content. Search engines use your navigation in a similar way, with a twist. Search engines follow the links in your navigation to find and index your pages. Additionally, search engines use the text in your navigational links to reliably determine the topic of the destination page. In other words, the text you use in your navigation is a search engine ranking factor.
+
Search engines use your navigation in a similar way, with a twist. Search engines follow the links in your navigation to find and index your pages. Additionally, search engines use the text in your navigation links to determine the topic of the destination page. In other words, the text you use in your navigation is a search engine ranking factor - so make sure you [[Learn/Keyword-Research-Is-Key-to-Online-Success|choose words that people are actually using]] when they search for your topics.
  
It is possible to create a navigation menu that employs images instead of text. However, when a search engine spider encounters an image link with no anchor text, the search engine has no text to define that element for the destination page. So, for search optimization, it's clearly better to use text links rather than image links in navigation.
+
It is possible to create a navigation menu that employs images instead of text. However, when a search engine spider encounters an image with a link but no [[Glossary/Anchor-text|anchor text]], the search engine can't tell what the destination page is about. For search optimization, it's clearly better to use text links rather than image links in your navigation.
  
Luckily, WordPress generates text-based navigation menus based on your Post and Page titles. WordPress accomplishes this automatically. For the most part, this is an effective approach for search optimization. There was some criticism of early versions of WordPress because the navigation menus that WordPress generated were difficult to customize—they were truly automated in the sense that they were very difficult to adjust manually. For example, if you wrote a Page with a 30-word title, WordPress would display the entire 30-word title in the navigation. For some users, the better approach would be to allow customization of the navigation entries.
+
Luckily, WordPress automatically generates text-based navigation menus based on your post and page titles. WordPress 3.0, the most recent version, allows you to customize your navigation
  
In response to this limitation, a host of 3rd-party plug-ins such as “Exclude Pages” and “My Page Order” emerged to give webmasters more control over menus. With the release of WordPress 3.0, a complete menu control area is now fully integrated into the dashboard. With WordPress 3.0 menus, you can now control the following:
+
* The title of the page does not have to be the text of the navigation link. You can enter any text you choose for the navigation.  
 
 
* The title of the Page need not be the text of the navigation link, you can enter custom text for the navigation.  
 
 
* You can create custom links to other websites or pages and include them within your navigation.  
 
* You can create custom links to other websites or pages and include them within your navigation.  
* You can place entire Post categories within your Page navigation. Previously, this wasn't possible with WordPress.
+
* You can place entire post categories within your page navigation. Previously, this wasn't possible with WordPress.
  
There is one limitation with WordPress 3.0 menus: the full functionality is available for Pages, but not for Posts. However, there is a slightly clunky workaround. To make a post appear in the custom menu, grab the full URL of the post and enter it into your custom menu as a “custom link”. That way, you can mix your Posts within your Page navigation as well as create custom text for the navigation links.
+
There is one limitation with WordPress 3.0 menus: the full functionality is available for pages, but not for posts. However, there is a slightly clunky workaround. To make a post appear in the custom menu, grab the full URL of the post and enter it into your custom menu as a “custom link”. That way, you can mix your posts within your page navigation as well as create custom text for the navigation links. You might want to do this for particularly important posts.
  
One warning goes along with using custom menus: when you are using a custom menu for navigation, new Posts and Pages won't automatically appear in your custom navigation as they would in traditional WordPress menus—you need to remember to enable the new content in the custom menu for the Pages or Posts to appear.  
+
One caution for using custom menus for navigation: New posts and pages won't automatically appear in your custom navigation as they do in traditional WordPress menus. Remember to enable the new content manually in the custom menu.
  
 
==Built-in Collaboration, Contribution, and Community Building==
 
==Built-in Collaboration, Contribution, and Community Building==
 +
----
 +
WordPress is ready-made and ideal for collaboration, contribution, and community building - the “3 Cs” that can transform a static website into a vibrant web-based community.
 +
 +
Two key collaborative features - ''User Roles'' and the commenting system - keep both new and returning visitors engaged with your website. 
  
WordPress is ready-made for collaboration, contribution, and community building--the “3 Cs” that can transform a stale, static website into a vibrant web-based community.   Two key collaborative features, User Roles and the commenting system keep both new and returning visitors engaged with your websites.
+
The "User Roles" feature allows you to give guest authors access to your site, so they can add new content directly. That can enrich your content considerably, and your contributors are also likely to be enthusiastic advocates for you and your site.
  
When thinking about search optimization, it is tempting to focus only on the competitive grind of search ranking positions and not focus on user retention and user loyalty. A strong position in search results will certainly bring new customers, but always be thinking of ways to keep your visitors engaged with your website and thus your products and services. A first time user of your website is a visitor, but on their second visit they become a customer.
+
The commenting system allows any visitor to comment on your posts and articles, upping their sense of engagement. People often return to see if anyone responded to their comments, so you may want to make a habit of responding to comments, youself. It makes people feel good, and can also help engender a discussion.  
  
WordPress incorporates several collaborative and community features that can help you engage your visitors, interact with your customers, and even procure free content.  
+
Comments and lively discussion on your site are great for several reasons:
 +
* The activity engages new visitors.
 +
* It's fresh content that tells search engines your site is always changing, which encourages them to crawl it more frequently.
 +
* It costs you nothing.
  
 +
When thinking about search optimization, it is easy to focus narrowly the competitive grind of search ranking positions, and to forget about creating loyal customers. A strong position in search results will certainly bring new visitors, but keeping real people engaged with your website keeps your products and services visible to them. WordPress makes it much easier to foster this engagement. 
 
{{LearnBottomBio
 
{{LearnBottomBio
| Writer        = KristinaWeis
+
| Writer        = Michael David at TastyPlacement
| Name          = Kristina Weis
+
| Name          = Michael David
| Image        = Image:KristinaBluesFest.png
+
| Image        = Image:MichaelDavidPortrait.png
| AuthorWebsite = AboutUs.org
+
| AuthorWebsite = TastyPlacement.com
| ShortBio      = Kristina is a community manager for [[AboutUs.org]] who talks with a lot of website owners who are trying to promote their business online. <small>Have a question? [[Kristina Weis#Contact_Kristina|Contact me]].</small>
+
| ShortBio      = Michael is the owner and founder of {{LinkPair|TastyPlacement.com|Tasty Placement}}, a search and internet marketing agency based in Austin, Texas. He is the author of SEO for Wordpress.
 
}}
 
}}

Latest revision as of 01:32, 12 November 2013

By [[User:|]] on

Want a Website? Don't Know Code? Use WordPress


WordPress is an increasingly popular program for people who want to create a website without having to know anything about web technology - and deservedly so. WordPress can help you build a large website with very little effort and no knowledge of code, and it naturally handles much (but not all) of the nuts and bolts of search engine optimization (SEO).

The economical architecture designed into WordPress generates lean and fast-loading code that search engines love. It serves up simple, text-based navigation menus that search engines can easily crawl and index. WordPress also enjoys respect and familiarity with search engines, which further helps sites built on WordPress get found and crawled by search engine spiders.
One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is how easy it is to publish new content. Publishing good content frequently is one of the most important things you can do to boost your site's presence on the Web. WordPress also has RSS feeds built in, making it easy for readers to subscribe to your site.

Last but not least, WordPress automatically builds URLs that contain keywords - if you use keywords in the titles of your posts, that is. Keyword-rich URLs can really help your site's SEO.

WordPress' Economical Architecture Means Better Site Speed


WordPress' internal architecture is entirely based on CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This is a way of formatting web pages that allows pages to display more quickly - and as you may know, quick-loading web pages can rank better in search results. Faster-loading pages also offer people a better experience when they visit your site.

WordPress' inherent economy doesn't end there. WordPress pages are generated quickly and neatly by a simple and quick processing engine. WordPress sites generate proper, valid HTML code that search engines love, though a poorly crafted WordPress template can undermine code quality, making for a much less satisfactory user experience and a lower-ranking site.

Build Large Sites Quickly


WordPress began its history as a blogging platform that permitted anyone to become a Web publisher. Even as WordPress has matured into a capable content management platform, it has retained the features that make it a speedy and agile publishing tool.

WordPress enables you to create content more quickly than other platforms - and search engine optimization relies on content. The more content you publish on your site, the more opportunities you have to rank for keyword phrases that matter to you and the people you're trying to attract.

Another great feature of WordPress is the ability to link easily from one page to another. Rich interlinking of pages within a website signals to search engines that the content of the site is well thought out, and not automatically generated just to grab traffic.

Respected and Familiar Content Platform


When a search engine encounters a website with unusual or non-standard navigation, the search engine must do its best to follow the navigation to the deepest files within the website. If the search spider cannot reliably and confidently follow a website's navigation to discover the deepest pages, those pages are unlikely to be added to the search engine's index.

There are more than 25 million WordPress sites on the Web. Because WordPress is so familiar to search engines, spidering errors almost never occur. That means more of your site is likely to be indexed if it's built on WordPress - and therefore, available for display to people using search engines.

WordPress also enjoys trust and respect with search engines. There is no direct evidence that the search engines algorithmically rank WordPress sites over non-WordPress sites - but it's possible.

WordPress, for the most part, has not been used much to create spammy sites, although that appears to be changing. There are now several plug-ins available for WordPress that enable the wholesale import of content from other websites. (Of course, we don't recommend employing these tools, and in any case, duplicate content doesn't rank well in search results.) As these plug-ins become more advanced, perhaps WordPress will acquire an unwelcome reputation as a platform for spammers.

Blogging Capabilities


WordPress has retained many of the features of the pure blogging platform it was originally designed to be. For example, articles are presented in reverse chronological order by default, and WordPress has built-in RSS feed capability.

The great power of WordPress comes into play when its inherent blogging capabilities are employed within a commercial site. A sound and standard approach is to have the main services pages for a business published on the front page and in the Pages section of WordPress, while educational articles, product updates, general blog posts and commentary are published to the Posts section, designed for blog posts.

Remember, publishing new content regularly and frequently is a great way to tell search engines that a site is vibrant and useful to people. Frequent publishing also gives you the chance to target your important keywords while offering your customers and potential customers reason to come back to your site again and again. A savvy website owner using WordPress can outpace competitors who don't maintain a blog.

RSS Feeds


RSS feeds come standard with all WordPress installations. RSS stands for “really simple syndication” and that's just what it is: a way of publishing new web content quickly and automatically to other websites and devices such as smart phones. There are a number of RSS readers on the market that allow people to subscribe to many different feeds, and read all the new content in one place.

People can use your site's RSS feed to read your articles or posts without even visiting your site. It's a convenient way for customers, fans and friends to stay engaged with you and your content.

RSS.png

You don't need to do anything to set up your WordPress feed - it's already there. However, you may wish to take steps to ensure that users can find your feed. You do this by linking to your feed through the familiar orange RSS icon.

Your Feed

If you need to submit your feed to search engines or feed engines, you can use any of the following four standard feed locations. People who want to follow your site might have a preferred feed standard, but they all accomplish the same thing, and search engines can read any of them.

http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rss
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rss2
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=rdf
http://YourDomain.com/?feed=atom


Promoting Your Feed

Many website owners make the mistake of not promoting their feed. The single best way to promote your feed is to put your RSS icon prominently in the header or sidebar of your site.

You can also submit your RSS feed to special blog-only search engines.

URLs and Permalinks


WordPress seamlessly and automatically handles the creation of unique URLs, which WordPress calls permalinks. This functionality gives you URLs that can easily be customized with the keywords you care about.

Keywords in the URL of a page can help it rank better in search results. Let's say you want a page to rank well for “WordPress development." You would want to choose a URL like mysite.com/wordpress-development because it will perform better in search than mysite.com/index.com?page=5, everything else being equal.

First, you'll need to turn on permalinks within the WordPress dashboard - permalinks are not activated in a default WordPress installation. To turn on permalinks, log in to the dashboard and follow the left site navigation to Settings and then choose Permalinks in the drop-down menu.

On the Permalink Settings page, in the section titled Common settings, click the radio button for “Custom Structure” and enter /%postname%/. This permalink structure will automatically generate URLs from your page and post titles. You will still be able to change them manually if necessary.

Because the titles of your posts and pages are relevant (they should be!) to the topic of your content, the permalinks based on your titles will be relevant as well. Bonus points if you research the most important keywords for each post and page, and use them in your titles.

Reliable, Text-Based Navigation


WordPress automatically generates simple, text-based navigation that works well for both people and search spiders. Site visitors use your website's navigation to browse your site and find content that interests them.

Search engines use your navigation in a similar way, with a twist. Search engines follow the links in your navigation to find and index your pages. Additionally, search engines use the text in your navigation links to determine the topic of the destination page. In other words, the text you use in your navigation is a search engine ranking factor - so make sure you choose words that people are actually using when they search for your topics.

It is possible to create a navigation menu that employs images instead of text. However, when a search engine spider encounters an image with a link but no anchor text, the search engine can't tell what the destination page is about. For search optimization, it's clearly better to use text links rather than image links in your navigation.

Luckily, WordPress automatically generates text-based navigation menus based on your post and page titles. WordPress 3.0, the most recent version, allows you to customize your navigation:

  • The title of the page does not have to be the text of the navigation link. You can enter any text you choose for the navigation.
  • You can create custom links to other websites or pages and include them within your navigation.
  • You can place entire post categories within your page navigation. Previously, this wasn't possible with WordPress.

There is one limitation with WordPress 3.0 menus: the full functionality is available for pages, but not for posts. However, there is a slightly clunky workaround. To make a post appear in the custom menu, grab the full URL of the post and enter it into your custom menu as a “custom link”. That way, you can mix your posts within your page navigation as well as create custom text for the navigation links. You might want to do this for particularly important posts.

One caution for using custom menus for navigation: New posts and pages won't automatically appear in your custom navigation as they do in traditional WordPress menus. Remember to enable the new content manually in the custom menu.

Built-in Collaboration, Contribution, and Community Building


WordPress is ready-made and ideal for collaboration, contribution, and community building - the “3 Cs” that can transform a static website into a vibrant web-based community.

Two key collaborative features - User Roles and the commenting system - keep both new and returning visitors engaged with your website.

The "User Roles" feature allows you to give guest authors access to your site, so they can add new content directly. That can enrich your content considerably, and your contributors are also likely to be enthusiastic advocates for you and your site.

The commenting system allows any visitor to comment on your posts and articles, upping their sense of engagement. People often return to see if anyone responded to their comments, so you may want to make a habit of responding to comments, youself. It makes people feel good, and can also help engender a discussion.

Comments and lively discussion on your site are great for several reasons:

  • The activity engages new visitors.
  • It's fresh content that tells search engines your site is always changing, which encourages them to crawl it more frequently.
  • It costs you nothing.

When thinking about search optimization, it is easy to focus narrowly the competitive grind of search ranking positions, and to forget about creating loyal customers. A strong position in search results will certainly bring new visitors, but keeping real people engaged with your website keeps your products and services visible to them. WordPress makes it much easier to foster this engagement.


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