8 tips to enhance your WordPress blog SEO

by Jean-Baptiste Jung. 120 Comments -

Do you ever wanted to get great SEO results? If yes, you should definitely read this list of 8 WordPress tips to enhance your blog SEO.

1 – Optimize your title tag

In terms of SEO, the title tag is one of the most important things: In fact, the title appears as a link in search engines results and social bookmarking sites. Unfortunely, most WordPress themes displays the title tag in a non-optimized way. I had recently written a tutorial here at Cats Who Code to obtain a really SEO-friendly title tag.

2 – Create an archive page

In my opinion, all blogs should have an archive page: It allows your readers to quickly browse your blog and find what they’re looking for, and this page is also very good for SEO. Some months ago, I wrote a tutorial on wphacks.com, showing you how you can easily create this kind of page, with or without the help of a plugin.

3 – Use the correct H tag structure (h1, h2, h3..)

When I download free WordPress themes, I’m often scared to see how badly the H structure is used: h2 are everywhere. In order to get the best SEO results possible, you should use the correct structure:

  • h1 for the post title
  • h2 for inside titles
  • h3 for inside subtitles
  • and so on…

4 – Use a good permalink structure

If you’re not using permalinks yet, don’t even ask why do you get so bad results from search engines. Permalinks is a complete must have.
To enable permalinks, go to the “Customize Permalink Structure” page in your WordPress Admin : Dashboard>Options>Permalinks and choose a permalink structure.

In my opinion, you should choose “custom” and use one of the following structures:

/%postname%/%post_id%
/%post_id%
/%category%/%postname%-%post_id%

5 – Increase your Pagerank by leaving comments on other blogs

Having backlinks is really important, in terms of SEO. But, especially if your blog is quite new, having quality backlinks isn’t always easy. The solution is to leave (relevant, of course) comments on blog who don’t use the rel=”nofollow” attribute, or have the Top Commentators widget, or even Comment Luv.
Some times ago, I have compiled a list of 250+ links to get free backlinks. You should definitely check it out, and leave some comments!

6 – Install the “ALL In One SEO Pack” plugin

In my opinion, All In One SEO Pack is one of the best ever WordPress plugins: It allows you to enable meta descriptions and keywords, avoid duplicate content by noindexing pages as such as categories or tags, and tweak titles.

7 – Create a robot.txt file

Duplicate content can really hurt your blog rankings. One of the best things against duplicate content is to create a robots.txt file.
robots.txt is a simple text file, containing instruction for search engines (follow that link, don’t index this directory, and so on…) and uploaded on your server root.
A good robots.txt file can be found here. There’s also a great exemple in Kyle Eslick’s Success With WordPress ebook.

8 – Read WordPress SEO ebooks

As I told you last week, ebooks are a very good way to get and keep useful information. Jai from Blog Oh Blog wrote a whole ebook about WordPress SEO. It is free, so you have no reason not to download it. Also, I recommend Kyle Eslick’s Success With WordPress ebook, which contain a very good chapter about WordPress SEO.

And you, any technic not listed here to get great SEO results? Share your knowledges with us!

Comments (120) - Leave yours

  1. BlackHat Planet » Blog Archive » 8 tips to enhance your WordPress blog SEO - internet marketing, seo, internet marketing online, seo services, internet marketing tool, dw230 seo, internet marketing strategy, company seo, internet marketing ser said:

    [...] hbaum wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptIn terms of SEO, the title tag is one of the most important things: In fact, the title appears as a link in search engines results and social bookmarking sites. Unfortunely, most WordPress themes displays the title tag in a … [...]

  2. banji said:

    Thank you for the very informative entry. I have a question though

    Ive actually created two archives for my blog. The primary one is grouped by category, and another by date. For a clearer picture, please see it here.

    I’ve also set up the All In One SEO plugin and put a noindex on archive in its setting.

    My question is, do the two archives covered? or am I being penalized for the second archive?

    Thanks in advance

  5. jbj said:

    @banji: Interesting question! I’m not sure about it, but I don’t think that All In One SEO Pack noindexed both the archive pages. You should create (or edit the existing one) a robots.txt file to prevent indexing the second archive page.

  7. Rainbow said:

    Hi jbj,
    some techniques i use :
    display related posts at the end of an article
    registrate on free directories like Dmoz
    Platinum Seo Pack rather than All In One Seo
    publish my articles on 2 or 3 digg-like
    Google webmasters tools (sitemap, robots.txt…) of course
    etc…

    PS : dans le titre 7. tu as oublié le s à robot.txt si je ne me trompe pas !

  10. jbj said:

    @Maigret/Rainbow: Thanks to both of you for suggesting Platinum Seo Pack!

    @Remkus: I know this is very rare, but if you’re using the /%postname% permalink structure and for some reason you have 2 posts with exactly the same title, some problems will occur.
    As the ID is unique to each post, you can avoid this kind of problem by using the /%postname%/%post_id% permalink structure.
    But I must admit that this is a bit paranoid ;)

  19. Tyler Hayes said:

    Thanks for the tips! I used to use the All In One SEO plugin myself, but stopped when more collaborators started posting on my site and didn’t use it. I guess I’ll just have to suggest they use it harder!

  20. PS3 Guy said:

    Nice tips, i’ve just downloaded the All in One SEO Plugin.
    I’ve tried to change my permalinks to %postname% but it always messes up my blog. The CSS for the blog disappears. Anyone know what the cause could be?

  22. Taylor Thompson said:

    I just want to make note that using the h1 more than once per page is not a good idea.

    This is where WP has an Advantage over Blogger.

    WP users can make multiple post titles on their home page h2 tags. And then on specific article pages WP users can make that post title an h1 tag.

    Blogger users on the other hand have to have things one way or another. Thus, they have to stick with the H2 tag.

    Still, I haven’t noticed any issues with my rankings. Then again, maybe that’s because I am not using WP.

  23. Catrin W said:

    Great tips once again. These days these tips are crucial for the competition race, and everyone should spent some time on optimizing blogs if they want to make some serps.

  25. SEO Test said:

    I also use Platinum SEO Pack. It is more complete.
    One more thing, I like to use custom permalink without category. Do you think it is better? Anyway, thanks it is a simple but great information for me.

  26. kouji said:

    That’s my code for the title:

    |

    <?php
    if((is_home() && ($paged < 2 )) || is_single() || is_page() || is_category()){
    echo ”;
    } else {
    echo ”;}

    if (is_single() || is_page() ) : if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
    <meta name=”description” content=”" />

    <meta name=”description” content=”" />

  29. Bob said:

    This is very helpful information. I had a few wordpress blogs and for awhile I was not taking advantage of proper SEO tactics. Writing great content can only get you so far, you need to market the thing properly as well!

  31. jesse said:

    Is it right that we should use site map plugins also for seo purposes.
    If we have more than 100 post, how do we separate that posts into different site map?
    Your help is appreciated. Thanks.

  34. Webkinz said:

    I would also recomend to use Dagon Design Sitemap Generator and Google XML Sitemaps plugins. First one is for sitemap page and second one for sitemap which search engines will get.

  41. John Coutts said:

    Great stuff! I thought my WordPress blog was enhanced pretty good, and it is, but I found a few tips in there to make it even better. That’s always good. Thanks.

    John.

  49. Web Talk said:

    I am “using” all of your tips posted here. I also use All in one seo pack, XML and robots.txt. I am ashamed to tell you that i didnt know and understand the importance of getting quality backlinks from other blogs. Till a couple of months ago I was wondering why few people were reading my blog with just 20 backlinks in Google. Well, as the old saying goes…it is never too late to learn…thanks

  51. Ruby said:

    Keyword rich content is the basis of it all. If you master that, then the rest will be much easier to perform and increase its effectiveness.

  53. Kate said:

    my website is really rich in keywords and well optimised but lately looses position and indexed pages so quickly…you never know with google

  60. Fatty said:

    Great tips, thanks. I need to learn about the robots.txt, I haven’t been successful with that yet as the bots still come daily but I have 15 days on it.

  63. Gerald SEO Tips Blog said:

    These are some great tips. It’s important to get your permalink structure changed before you blog gets too many incoming links so you won’t create broken links. I still need to create a robot.txt file for my blog. Anyways thanks for the tips.

  64. seosoeasy said:

    Thanks so much! Iam too lucky today that i got this page.i was waiting for this tips for so long.i had read many tips about seo but not too detailed.i think this article will help me a lot.iam in basic level in seo field.this article helps me to know more about seo.thanks friend.have a nice day.

  68. drivelocity said:

    thanks for the tips… I’m sure you’re aware of these, but it may be worth pointing out the DoFollow, Top Commentators and Comment Luv plugins. I’ve added them as a means to provide a value to visitors who comment on my site. Also people search out and post on blogs that use them to get more backlinks.

  70. krims@nline.be said:

    Only started some time again and created my onw photoblog, googled around and stumbled on this site. Love to read the articels over here as they always seem to be usefull in some way for a beginning (photo)blogger like me.

  71. Janet said:

    Useful tips for sure, thank you so much. I think that with new 2.7 WP we will see lot’s of new options on how to use WP as an CMS platform, and new SEO options as well.

  73. Craig said:

    Another way to find out if a blog is no follow is if you right click and view the source code. If you don’t see rel= no follow, you know that it is do follow and you can post away!

  74. Nancy said:

    nteresting question! I’m not sure about it, but I don’t think that All In One SEO Pack noindexed both the archive pages. You should create (or edit the existing one) a robots.txt file to prevent indexing the second archive page.

  77. Catherine said:

    I am also a newbie and have what is probably a very basic question. If I host my blog at WordPress does it have to follow a url structure such as http://mysite.wordpress.com. Ideally I want to have www.mysite.com/blog.

    Thanks for your advice,
    Cat

  81. Web Design said:

    There are some very good, SEO plug ins available through word press community. Which can really boast up your SEO efforts. The main benefit behind using word press is to be part of a growing community, you feel like always on the move to enhancements

  83. docran said:

    @ point #3, H tag structures. Yes its really sucks, my premium news free themes using H3 tags for posts title. So every time I wrote posts, I have to make another H1 tag for my keyword.

  86. Apex Professionals said:

    It’s really a nice tips.. These tips are crucial for the competition race, and everyone should spent some time on optimizing blogs.. People search out and post on blogs that use them to get more backlinks…

  88. Natural Seo said:

    Good summary, but I most of the things you listed are standard for general SEO and not specific for the wordpress, except the technical 6 and of course the fundamental 8:-))
    Thanks for sharing the e-book, I didn’t know people wrote books on SEO for wp, that’s funny ))

    Andrew

  89. Rob said:

    I had all of this information, but now when I resubmitted my sitemap with the customized permalinks, only 1 out of my 150 pages were indexed and there are all kinds of problems with trackback and stuff!!!! Before i did this, I had 146 out of 150 pages indexed, help!!!!!!

  90. warrior custom golf said:

    Nice tips!! It’s very useful to us.. On a blog it is the single post pages that are important at it is those that will rank high in search engines.. I think ,the user is more likely to click a link in a search if it sounds interesting based on the title of the link and the description, so using a strong meta description rather than having a search engine .. It would be more effective…

  91. Fairfield Inspection said:

    I believe working on LSI and keywords are also crucial in improving SEOs. Google has been mentioning about LSI in its SERP algorithm. used to use the All In One SEO plugin myself, but stopped when more collaborators started posting on my site and didn’t use it.

  92. Wallpapers,widescreen wallpapers said:

    Great tips to improve SEOs. I believe working on LSI and keywords are also crucial in improving SEOs. Google has been mentioning about LSI in its SERP algorithm. Enjoyed reading them. I don’t use H2 H3 tags but just might start using them. This blog is full of awesome word press tips I love it

  98. Ophélie said:

    Thanx so much for all the useful tips. Your blog is really interesting ! I’ve just revieweb all my tags to increase the efficiency of my SEO. I’m going to follow your advice and create an archives page : there are so many links on my pages !

  99. Jmark said:

    Great post ! Bookmarked your blog.
    I love ALL In One SEO Pack. It’s a great plugin that do anything I am lazy to do like meta keyword and description.

  105. Ruri said:

    In my website I never use H1. I think it is better use H3. H1 is too big..in my opinion.
    I also want to add, Don’t forget to add plug in to avoid duplicate content and be careful when design blog. You could trap inside duplicate content.

  106. ed hardy said:

    These days these tips are crucial for the competition race, and everyone should spent some time on optimizing blogs if they want to make some serps.

  118. Chris said:

    Fantastic tip, thanks!
    My WP theme had a few permalink suggestions, but after reading your tips I immediately changed mine to reflect category/post/date. Definitely much cleaner and logical than before.

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