SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. And we will show you how to increase your SEO for WordPress using a plugin by Yoast.com. Search engine optimization plays an important role in making a site successful. Whether your goal is promoting a topic or making a living, increasing readership is vital. And one of the key ways to increase readership is to be found in search engines. For most web owners with limited budget hiring an SEO specialist is not an option. The good news is that any WordPress user can optimize their site through the use of themes or plugins. And many are free to use. Of course, we have a favorite that works above and beyond – you’ll love it! We install it on all the All in One packages — it’s called WP SEO by Yoast. This is SEO for WordPress at its easiest!
We’ll break it down for you (you are gonna LOVE it):
After set up, the WordPress SEO by Yoast has three tabs in each post/page: the General Tab, Page Analysis & Advanced.
SEO for WordPress: Basics
In the WP SEO section below the post, you’ll find places for your Snippet Preview , Focus Keyword, SEO Title & Meta Description
Let’s break it down into each field and explain what each does:
The first feature we see under the general tab is the Snippet Preview. Snippets are basically the short description that we see whenever we search for something on Google (the description that shows under a website title). Here you can preview the changes made whenever you write your meta descriptions (see Meta Descriptions below).
Focus Keyword: In this field, is where you can write the keywords for which you are optimizing. The coolest thing about WP SEO plugin by Yoast, is when you typed in a keyword in the focus keyword field, the plugin automatically generates related keywords. This means that you can use keywords suggested by the plugin or you can copy the keywords suggestions and research about them before posting your article. This makes SEO for WordPress that much easier.
Furthermore, this plugin let you see if you are placing your keywords in the correct places (Title, body, url & meta description). It also gives you the ability to see if the keyword(s)/keyphrase(s) are contained in the most important areas of your posts, just by looking at the keyword numbers indicator.
SEO for WordPress is no different from other pages in the use of SEO Titles. Every page needs a title that is readable by search engines. The SEO title field lets you enter your customized title for that specific post. This is only needed if you are not using a search-engine friendly post title. If you have a “Q&A with Cathy” post, that doesn’t mean a lot to a googler. They likely searching for the questions within the post. So for the googler’s sake, use keywords and meaningful words to help them find your content. Instead of “Q&A with Cathy” it could be, “How to create an optimized post in WordPress using an SEO plugin”.
In addition, the SEO Title section lets you see how many characters you’re using for your title. Search engines usually displayed 70 characters in the search page results and if your title is more than 70 characters, it will be truncated. The indicator is really useful especially if you want your whole title to show up in the search results.
Meta Description: WP SEO Plugin by Yoast, allows you to write your Meta description. The Preview Snippet area gives you a live preview on how your description or snippet will look in search results page. Just like the SEO Title field, the meta description section has a number of characters indicator.
SEO for WordPress: Analysis & Training
This is where WordPress really shines. All your SEO for WordPress pages can be optimized within this one post-editing screen. Use the page analysis tab regularly and follow the suggestions. By doing so, every single page in WordPress can be SEO optimzied.
SEO for WordPress: Advanced
Lastly, the “advanced tab” is where you can set permissions to Meta Robots and where you can set your canonical URL or redirects. This is excellent if you don’t want the search engine to index a specific post or you want to set up a 301 site redirect.
This is the best there is (paid or free) out there for SEO for WordPress. It’s not hard to use and it also improves your knowledge of SEO basics, teaching you how to improve your page’s SEO. Have we mentioned that the plugin is FREE?! We suggest you give it a try!
(Tomorrow we’ll post the best practices for setting up the plugin.)
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