Search Engine Optimization for Wordpress Blogs (Part 1)

View SEO video tutorial Part 2

Prerequisites

  1. Self-hosted Wordpress
  2. Mozilla Firefox
  3. Fire FTP
  4. Google Webmaster

1. Optimize Your Permalinks

Go to the settings area of your Wordpress Admin and click on “Permalinks”

Click on “Custom Structure” and write in the following code:

/%category%/%postname%/

2. All in One SEO Pack

Download

Home Title is most important for SEO.  Make sure your target keywords are in your Home Title

3. Create and submit Sitemap

XML-Sitemaps

  • Type in your url
  • Change Frequency: Daily
  • Last modification: Use server’s response
  • Priority: Automatic Priority
  • Download Uncompressed Sitemap
  • Upload your sitemap.xml to your root directory
  • Upload your sitemap.xml to your Google Webmaster Tools

4. 301 Redirect

Write this code into your text editor:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_Host} ^YOURDOMAIN.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com/$1 [L,R=301]

*Note: Make sure that the code looks exactly the same once it’s pasted.  The text above is formatted so it may look different on your text editor.  If so, delete the uneccessary code.

  • Save as: 1.htaccess
  • Upload to your root directory
  • Rename to .htaccess

Please let me know how I can futher help you and leave your questions in the comments below.

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21 Comments »

Comment by Brian Tercero
2009-03-28 15:45:20

Hey man, well done on the video walk through. I think this will help alot of people out.

I would really have liked to hear your explanation of the code you used in the .htaccess for what it does and what it will do for the people watching this video.

I know you were trying to keep it simple and not get too in depth, but a simple explanation of each line of the code would be helpful for some.

Anyhow, good job! Ill keep an eye out for your next piece.

Oh… found you on Twitter. =)
@briantercero

 
Comment by Yu-kai Chou
2009-03-28 22:56:28

Hmm strange….my XML Sitemap tools automatically submits to Google whenever I update my blog. I never need to manually copy-paste url into Google Webmaster tool. It updates very fast too. Once I make a new post and search on Google, it’s there already.

Good tutorials! I didn’t think about the custom permalink one!

 
Comment by Yu-kai Chou
2009-03-28 23:14:12

Well, I just made a small update and this is what it says: (note that its time is 1 hour a head of ours)

“# Your sitemap was last built on March 29, 2009 12:13 am.
# Your sitemap (zipped) was last built on March 29, 2009 12:13 am.
# Google was successfully notified about changes.
# MSN was successfully notified about changes.
# Ask.com was successfully notified about changes.
# The building process took about 0.93 seconds to complete and used 25 MB of memory.”

 
Comment by Matt Cheuvront
2009-03-29 05:21:40

Hola Jun! Thanks for putting this series together - very helpful and your tutorials are easy to follow.

Is there a way to test to make sure the 301 redirect was installed and is working correctly? Just want to make sure I saved-transferred-renamed it successfully and it is working on my site.

You can feel free to use me as an example to monitor the effect these techniques will have. I am starting out here with virtually NO traffic at all from Google. So we’ll be able to witness first hand the Jun-Loyaza-Optimization-Process!

 
Comment by Jun Loayza
2009-03-29 09:07:27

I believe that the only way for me to check is if you give me access to your ftp account.

This could be an excellent experiment. Today is March 29, and you don’t have significant traffic from Google.

After you go through my 2nd part SEO Tutorial, you should see a great increase within 2 months.

Keep in mind, it took me 6 months to get a significant increase in search engine traffic. I believe it will only take you 2 months because I’m giving you all of my tips at once and telling you exactly how to use them.

Keep track of your search engine traffic every week starting next week, and I’ll create a cool follow chart here on Awesome Bloggers

 
Comment by HungTran
2009-03-30 01:56:28

Well done Jun! Thanks for taking the time to share this info.

 
Comment by Benjamin Jancewicz
2009-03-30 11:26:05

Nice post, Jun. I really like how simple you made this. I’m going to be sending my DIY clients to this post.

 
Comment by GirlPaint
2009-03-30 16:55:57

Thanks, Jun. Great tips. Fingers crossed, your advice pays off!

 
Comment by Yu-kai Chou
2009-03-31 17:28:00

Haha, Jun’s advice has already worked out great for me and many others. Awesome video! You sound more energetic in the 2nd part though :P

Comment by Benjamin Jancewicz
2009-04-03 18:46:04

Hey Anne,
It’s right here: http://fireftp.mozdev.org/

 
Comment by Jun Loayza
2009-04-04 00:29:52

Hey Anne, once you Download and install it, go to the “Tools” section and click on “Fire FTP”

Just look at the menu of your browser and you’ll see it.

Let me know if you find it.

 
 
Comment by Anne Good
2009-04-03 18:13:48

Jun,
I’m trying to download Fire FTP and everything seems to go ok but I can’t find it. Any advice? Not sure what I’m doing wrong.

Comment by JunLoayza
2009-04-04 11:48:10

Hey Anne, send me a screenshot of what your FireFTP looks like. I can then check it out from there

 
 
Comment by Sean
2009-07-06 12:26:25

Jun,

Really good stuff here. I am looking forward to seeing what other thoughts you come up with. I had always wondered what parts of All in One SEO were the most useful. I still don’t entirely understand how it all works!

 
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