SEO or Search Engine Optimization in Wordpress

Having a Wordpress blog that you post quality content to is one of the best ways to have a strong presence in the search engines.

Every time you create an article or page it is an opportunity to:

• Create value for your readers and/or customers.
• Reinforce the keywords that target your topic or media.
• Create a stronger presence in the blog and search engines for higher visibility online.

Keep in mind that search engine optimization is just one way that you can attract the right people to your post, page or offer. There are more active ways to bring people to your website but in this article I will cover the basics of SEO within Wordpress.

Before we get into the Wordpress specific steps there is one thing you must create:

A well presented article or media that provides some real value or entertainment to your visitor.

Its surprising how many articles on the web say close to nothing about the topic you searched for. Even if the post ranks high on the list in Google you’re not likely to return are you?

Sometimes you only get one chance.

THEN you ask for their email and/or sales!

Wordpress SEO Basics

1. The Article Title

The article header must be clear, descriptive and contain your main keywords. If possible the title could also evoke curiosity or make an offer to your target audience.

2. The Body Copy

The main content must be informative, concise and with a natural use of your main keyword phrases.

If you upload images or media and want them to be visible on google image search you will need to add the alt tags when you upload them to Wordpress. Alt tags come into play for links, images, and media as well.

3. The URL

In Wordpress 2.6.2 you can customize the url or the slug of your article page. Initially the url will be created for you in this format: http://www.yourwebsite.com/category/post-slug/

This is just above the Post body copy and HTML editor. You can edit the url and remove all the at,so,the, words as well as making sure that your keywords are there as well.

4. The Title Meta Tag

The title meta-tag is the most important element of your search engine ranking and it must be efficient and contain only your main keywords. This is the title that shows up on the very top of your browser and is different to the article title.

NOTE: This content is entered in the All in One SEO Pack tab below the main post/page edit window. YOu can download this Wordpress plugin right here.

The title tag should contain the main keywords with no filler. They should be in order of importance as well. Often I find that hyphens make them more presentable. For example:

Wordpress Training - Video Screencast Tutorials - How To Manage Your Media Uploads

You are allowed up to 67 characters for this meta-tag.

Note that here the “How To” section is not obsolete because this is part of a phrase that people use in search very often. Generally you would remove all instances of but,and,the,at, etc etc

Oh and don’t think that adding copies of a word are going to make more of an impression. Also don’t add words that are NOT related to the article or use more keywords than is relevant.

5. The Description Meta Tag.

This is also very important and generally shows up underneath the clickable blue title in the Google search results. If the searched for keywords are not in the description, Google grabs a section of your bopdy copy that contains them.

e.g. A search for “Classy Websites” returns my website at no3 in the results as shown.

This should read like a proper sentence that outlines why this article is worth someones time and energy to read ,listen or watch. It should contain your main keywords and early in the description if possible. For example:

SEO or Search Engine Optimization steps in a Wordpress post or page.

You are allowed up to 160 characters for this tag.

6. The Keyword Meta Tag.

This tag is not often used by many of the main search engines but is still worth doing in most cases. Keep them simple on your main words. For example:

Wordpress,Training,Tutorials,SEO,Google,Search

HOT TIP: In Firefox you can find these 3 meta tags on any web page by selecting View > Page Source.

You will see something like this:

<title>Effective Classy Websites - Wordpress Screencasts & Tutorials - Web Development - Security</title>
<meta name="description" content="Wordpress screencast video training, website design, marketing tools and carefully filtered information that you can use now!" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Wordpress,Training,Tutorials,Classy,Websites,Classy Websites,Themes,Plugins,Web Design" /

This will give you a look at the meta-tags for any web page.

Some additional tips and ideas:

• Use bold to emphasize ideas and if possible your main keywords.
• Add the alt keywords for an image or link that relates directly to the media. Separate the words with dashes. In Wordpress you can enter this when you upload the image.
• Use the “more” tag in your articles and place it early in your article. Not only does this make your blog page more reader friendly and scannable, it also minimizes the duplication of content. Google doesn’t like duplicate content. Which means no copying and pasting from other websites!@#

Some important plugins for SEO in Wordpress:

• All in One SEO Pack
• SEO Post link
• Google XML Sitemap
• Sitemap Generator - to see an example of this click here.

One of the best ways to create higher search engine rankings is to build incoming links to your site from other well read and high ranking websites such as Digg.com.

But that is a whole new article.

Happy surfing!

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