SEO and WordPress Sites

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About To Launch A WordPress Site? Here's What You Need To Know About SEO
by Neil Patel
September 18, 2015

WordPress doesn’t automatically do SEO for you. Here are a few examples:

• Out of the box, WordPress has the potential to be slow. Load time is a significant search factor. Since WordPress does not automatically provide caching, users must install their own caching functionality. Plugins like WpSuper cache and W3 total cache allow for faster site loading.
• WordPress’s default permalink settings are not optimized, either. You’ll want to adjust your permalink structure in order to make your site’s URLs search-friendly. The default permalink structure — Example Domain — is not the way to go. Instead, go for something human-readable (and therefore more search-friendly).
  Warning: If you manage an existing WordPress site, you should not simply change your permalinks. This will change all your existing URLs, thus resulting in 404 errors and (almost certainly) a significant loss of traffic and rankings. If you need to change your permalink structure on an existing WordPress site, make sure you take the time to set up proper 301 redirects first.
• By default, WordPress creates external links by opening them in the same window. If a user opens a link on your page, they navigate off your page and onto the new page or website. In other words, you may have just lost a reader, user or customer.
• Finally, WordPress does not automatically create XML sitemaps. Creating a sitemap is an integral part of optimizing for search.

To sum up, WordPress doesn’t make your SEO happen. So what does make your SEO happen? Your theme?

No. Read on.

Read more...