Advanced WordPress SEO: Actionable Advice for. Ensuring Your WordPress Content is Found. by Nick Herinckx, CEO of Obility

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1 Advanced WordPress SEO: Actionable Advice for Ensuring Your WordPress Content is Found by Nick Herinckx, CEO of Obility Tweet with Mozinar attendees: #mozinar Technical problems or feedback: Please

2 Who am I?

3 Why Wordpress? Section: Housekeeping

4 Credit: SEOMoz.org Great out-of-the-box on-site optimization Why Wordpress?

5 Why Wordpress? Easy to find developers

6 Why Wordpress? Great Plugins out-of-the-box on-site optimization

7 Why Wordpress? Great Light & out-of-the-box fast on-site optimization

8 Why Wordpress? Great Free out-of-the-box on-site optimization

9 Why Wordpress? Great Not as out-of-the-box robust for complex on-site sites optimization

10 Why Wordpress? Great Little support out-of-the-box (but great on-site support optimization community)

11 Why Wordpress? Great out-of-the-box user based means on-site target optimization for hackers

12 HOUSEKEEPING Assumptions, a note on plugins and more OBILITY CONSULTING

13 Assumption #1: You Are Familiar with Wordpress Section: Housekeeping

14 If I say plugins You say Let me tell you my favorite ones Section: Housekeeping

15 If I say permalink structure You say /%category%/ Section: Housekeeping

16 If I say edit theme PHP files You say archive.php or head.php? Section: Housekeeping

17 Assumption #2: You understand intermediate to advanced SEO Section: Housekeeping

18 If I say canonical tag You say duplicate content Section: Housekeeping

19 If I say URL name/value pairs You say no more than 3, and there better not be sorting parameters Section: Housekeeping

20 If I say meta robots tag You say noindex and nofollow Section: Housekeeping

21 If I say I know you ve never purchased links You say no and start laughing Section: Housekeeping

22 If Matt Cutts enters the room You stop laughing Section: Housekeeping

23 If I say Rand Fishkin You say who s that? Section: Housekeeping

24 In short: you understand SEO Section: Housekeeping

25 Some of our solutions will utilize plugins. Image credit: *I favor solutions that do not utilize plugins Section: Housekeeping

26 I don t always use plugins But when I do, I prefer Yoast SEO Section: Housekeeping Credit: Euro RSCG Worldwide

27 DUPLICATE CONTENT IN WORDPRESS Pagination, Archives & Inserting Unique Content OBILITY CONSULTING

28 Where does this problem stem from? Tag Pages Section: Duplicate Content

29 Where does this problem stem from? Tag Pages Category Pages Section: Duplicate Content

30 Where does this problem stem from? Tag Pages Category Pages Date Archive Pages Section: Duplicate Content

31 Where does this problem stem from? Tag Pages Category Pages Date Archive Pages Author Pages Section: Duplicate Content

32 Where does this problem stem from? Tag Pages Category Pages Date Archive Pages Author Pages Pagination Pages Section: Duplicate Content

33 Example: Tag pages Section: Duplicate Content

34 Example: Date pages Section: Duplicate Content

35 Example: Pagination Section: Duplicate Content

36 What are Specific SEO Issues? Section: Duplicate Content

37 What are Specific SEO Issues? Full post text on homepage, tag pages, category pages, etc. Section: Duplicate Content

38 What are Specific SEO Issues? No value-added content for searchers Section: Duplicate Content

39 What are Specific SEO Issues? Pagination pages include duplicate content Section: Duplicate Content

40 What are Specific SEO Issues? Heavy site-wide sidebar links to these pages Section: Duplicate Content

41 What are Specific SEO Issues? Many themes don t allow for custom META tags on these pages Section: Duplicate Content

42 What can we do about the full post being displayed on all archive pages? Section: Duplicate Content

43 What can we do about the full post being displayed on all archive pages? ANSWER: replace the_content in the PHP files with the_excerpt Section: Duplicate Content

44 What to do about full post text The_Content The_Excerpt - Located inside your PHP files - Located inside your PHP files - Shows full blog post content - Shows only first 55 characters of post. Section: Duplicate Content

45 What to do about full post text Section: Duplicate Content

46 What to do about full post text Section: Duplicate Content

47 Where to look for the_content - Archive.php - Index.php - Other custom theme PHP files that control archive type pages Section: Duplicate Content

48 What can we do about the non- uniqueness? Section: Duplicate Content

49 What can we do about the non- uniqueness? ANSWER: Noindex and exclude from XML sitemap Section: Duplicate Content

50 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Section: Duplicate Content

51 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Section: Duplicate Content

52 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Section: Duplicate Content

53 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Tags No Yes Exclude Allow Section: Duplicate Content

54 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Tags No Yes Exclude Allow Date Archives No Yes Exclude Allow Section: Duplicate Content

55 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Tags No Yes Exclude Allow Date Archives No Yes Exclude Allow Pagination No Yes Exclude Allow Section: Duplicate Content

56 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Tags No Yes Exclude Allow Date Archives No Yes Exclude Allow Pagination No Yes Exclude Allow Author (default page) No Yes Exclude Allow Section: Duplicate Content

57 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Tags No Yes Exclude Allow Date Archives No Yes Exclude Allow Pagination No Yes Exclude Allow Author (default page) No Yes Exclude Allow Author (custom page) Yes Yes Include Allow Section: Duplicate Content

58 What to do about their non-uniqueness Page Type Meta Index? Meta Follow? XML Sitemap Robots.txt Page Yes Yes Include Allow Post Yes Yes Include Allow Categories Yes Yes Include Allow Tags No Yes Exclude Allow Date Archives No Yes Exclude Allow Pagination No Yes Exclude Allow Author (default page) No Yes Exclude Allow Author (custom page) Yes Yes Include Allow *Yoast SEO plugin allows for this level of control Section: Duplicate Content

59 Can we make these pages more useful for users? Section: Duplicate Content

60 Can we make these pages more useful for users? ANSWER: Create a new PHP page for each archive page type, and insert copy into the PHP files directly Section: Duplicate Content

61 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. Inserting unique content on author archive page types! Section: Duplicate Content

62 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. Inserting unique content on category archive page types! Section: Duplicate Content

63 How do we do this inside Wordpress? Section: Housekeeping

64 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. We will have to create new PHP files! *but it s an easy copy/paste job Section: Duplicate Content

65 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Understanding Wordpress PHP Hierarchy Page Type Default Override for all category pages Override for individual categories Categories archive.php category.php category- {categoryslug}.php Example PHP file name categorymarketing.php Section: Duplicate Content

66 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Understanding Wordpress PHP Hierarchy Page Type Default Override for all category pages Override for individual categories Categories archive.php category.php category- {categoryslug}.php Example PHP file name categorymarketing.php Tags archive.php tag.php tag-{tagslug}.php tag-events.php Section: Duplicate Content

67 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Understanding Wordpress PHP Hierarchy Page Type Default Override for all category pages Override for individual categories Categories archive.php category.php category- {categoryslug}.php Example PHP file name categorymarketing.php Tags archive.php tag.php tag-{tagslug}.php tag-events.php Author archive.php author.php author- {authorname}.php author-nick.php Section: Duplicate Content

68 Steps for creating a custom page with SEO optimized text for a tag called marketing Section: Housekeeping

69 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. Step 1: Go to your PHP files Section: Duplicate Content

70 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. Step 2: On server, create tag-marketing.php file inside theme PHP file directory Section: Duplicate Content

71 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. Step 3: Copy code from existing archive.php file and pate in new tag-marketing.php file. Section: Duplicate Content

72 Inserting Text Into Archive Page Types Date archives, categories, tags, author pages, etc. Step 4: Locate where the body text for the page begins Step 5: Insert custom tag text above where posts are displayed Section: Duplicate Content

73 THEN WE GET THIS!!! Section: Duplicate Content

74 What can we do about pagination? Section: Duplicate Content

75 What can we do about pagination? ANSWER: Yoast SEO inserts rel= next and rel= prev in the head of paginated pages Section: Duplicate Content

76 Section: Duplicate Content

77 What about canonicalization? Section: Duplicate Content

78 What about canonicalization? ANSWER: Yoast SEO includes these on all Wordpress pages Section: Duplicate Content

79 Section: Duplicate Content

80 Wordpress itself only shows canonical link elements on single pages. Yoast SEO places the canonical tag on all page types. Section: Duplicate Content

81 What if I use a plugin that utilizes URL parameters? Section: Duplicate Content

82 What if I use a plugin that utilizes URL parameters? ANSWER: Utilize your robots.txt or Google Webmaster Tools Section: Duplicate Content

83 Section: Duplicate Content

84 Create an actual robots.txt file and place it in server root to override the virtual Wordpress one Use robots.txt to disallow problematic site section Or Block problematic parameters from within Google Webmaster Tools Section: Duplicate Content

85 In Summary Make sure theme uses the_excerpt in archive PHP files instead of the_content If you want to keep archive page types, create a separate PHP file for each an insert on-page copy Noindex archive page types if not unique Exclude archive page types from XML Sitemap Implement canonical tag on all pages using Yoast SEO Implement pagination tags using Yoast SEO Use robots.txt file to exclude dynamic pages created by plugins, or use Webmaster Tools to tell Google to ignore problematic name/value pairs Section: Duplicate Content

86 IMPLEMENTING AUTHORSHIP Author Bios on Author Posts OBILITY CONSULTING

87 Quick Authorship Example Section: Authorship

88 What we need 1: A Google+ Profile Section: Duplicate Content

89 What we need 2. Link to publications in the contributor to section from within your Google+ profile Section: Duplicate Content

90 What we need 3. Add rel= author tag to blog post page in a link to your Google+ profile Section: Duplicate Content

91 Rel=Author Tag Implementation Section: Authorship

92 How to Get Google+ Links on Author Posts Section: Duplicate Content

93 How to Get Google+ Links on Author Posts Option 1: Edit single.php file (or the one that displays your blog posts) to output the author bio on the page. Then authors can include a Google+ link on their own. Section: Duplicate Content

94 Implementing Authorship Section: Authorship

95 Placing Author Bio on Blog Posts <div class="author"> <?php if (function_exists('get_avatar')) { echo get_avatar(get_the_author_meta('user_ '), '70'); } else {?> <img src="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri();?>/images/author.jpg" alt="" class="imgleft authorpic" /> <?php }?> <h5>about <?php the_author();?></h5> <?php the_author_meta('description');?> </div> Section: Authorship

96 How to Get Google+ Links on Author Posts Option 2: Manually add to posts an author byline with Google+ profile links Section: Duplicate Content

97 ADVANCED ON-SITE CONSIDERATIONS A note on permalinks OBILITY CONSULTING

98 For very large blogs, permalink structure is one of the most common mistakes I see with Wordpress installations. Section: Advanced On-Site

99 Permalinks for Blog Posts Which one is best? /%postname% / %post_id%/ /%category% / %postname%/ /%post_id% / %postname%/ /%year% / %category% / %postname%/ Section: Advanced On-Site

100 Permalinks for Blog Posts Most People Select: /%postname% / %post_id%/ /%category% / %postname%/ /%post_id% / %postname%/ /%year% / %category% / %postname%/ Section: Advanced On-Site

101 But that s not ideal for very large blogs! Section: Advanced On-Site

102 Permalinks for Blog Posts What Wordpress Says For performance reasons, it is not a good idea to start your permalink structure with the category, tag, author, or postname fields. The reason is that these are text fields, and using them at the beginning of your permalink structure takes more time for WordPress to distinguish your Post URLs from Page URLs (which always use the text page slug as the URL), and to compensate, WordPress stores a lot of extra information in its database (so much that sites with lots of Pages have experienced difficulties). So, it is best to start your permalink structure with a numeric field, such as the year or post ID. Section: Advanced On-Site

103 Why does it cause slowdown? Section: Advanced On-Site

104 Consider the URL /mycat/mypost/ Section: Advanced On-Site

105 Permalinks for Blog Posts You Should Select: /%postname% / %post_id%/ /%category% / %postname%/ /%post_id% / %postname%/ /%year% / %category% / %postname%/ Section: Advanced On-Site

106 MAINTAINING SEO COMPLIANCE Tools for verifying SEO compliance OBILITY CONSULTING

107 Maintaining Compliance Ongoing Section: SEO Compliance

108 Maintaining Compliance Ongoing Section: SEO Compliance

109 Maintaining Compliance Ongoing Section: SEO Compliance

110 What did we talk about? Housekeeping Addressing Duplicate Content in Wordpress Implementing Authorship Advanced On-Site Considerations Maintaining SEO Compliance

111 Q&A