Scott Hendisons Pubcon 2010 presentation on WordPress and SEO

1. WordPress & SEO
Scott Hendison
SEO Automatic
Search Commander, Inc.

2. Why WordPress?
• Easy for end-users to manage their own sites
• Huge community for support – Users are never alone.
• Open Source creativity is limitless
• Over 1200 free theme designs and layouts
• Nearly 12,000 free plugins
• Premium plugins, themes and entire businesses have
been developed based on WordPress
• WordPress “saved my life“
• Many SEO aspects can be put on “automatic“

3. Automatic Setup
• Most web hosts offer Fantastico, Simple Scripts etc. for
practically instant setup of WordPress.
• Installation is cut to about 30 seconds and takes only
two or three clicks.
• Purists typically shy away from those installation
packages, since manual installation is easy and secure,
and only takes a few minutes.
• After installation, there are generally accepted setup
tweaks that nearly all SEO‘s agree are best.

4. Post Install - Plugins vs. Themes
• A theme used to mean ‘the design‘, but today many
fantastic themes are becoming proprietary solutions,
locking users into limited options.
• Keeping functions out of themes leaves more options
down the road and decreases dependence on others.
• We use and recommend many premium themes, but we
never use built in theme SEO options anymore, which
avoids and hassle later if the theme changes.

5. For Me, Plugins Come First

6. For Me, Plugins Come First
• After site architecture come plugins, then graphics
• Graphic designers are not programmers or SEO’s
• Fashion and function are seldom the same thing
• The needs for both continuously evolve
• Separation adds flexibility and decreases dependence

7. Plugin Choices
• A few plugins we always use, and some options...

8. #1 - Core Tweaks Setup Plugin

9. Typical Post Installation Work
• Category name is “Uncategorized”
• Blogroll category name is "Blogroll”
• “Hello World” post exists
• Tag line is “Just another WordPress blog”
• Comment exists on the "Hello World" post
• Default permalink (URL) structure needs improvement
• WP blogroll links need editing or removal

10. Typical Post Installation Work
• Home page choice to show content or latest posts
• Ability to reorder or exclude pages in navigation
• Privacy Policy and contact pages need creation
• Create a static sitemap page that will auto-update
• Choices to make - Full article summary or “teaser”
• Adding new users
• Robots.txt file creation / addition
• Copyright dates or admin links in your footer
• Nearly 20 other tedious tasks

11. Core Tweaks Plugin Does All that
• All of those tweaks, changes and additions are done
from one screen, with a single click, saving at least 20
minutes even for the most experienced WordPress
installers.
• With nearly 18,000 downloads, over 6,000 man-hours
have been saved, with less than 20 support tickets.

12. Plugin Options for SEO Essentials...
• Title tags
• Description tags
• Keyword tags
• Header tags
• Robots .txt – covered by CT
• Static sitemap – covered by CT
• XML sitemaps
• Image Alt tags

13. #2a All In One SEO Pack

14. #2a All In One SEO Pack
• Title tags
• Description tags
• Keyword tags
• Header tags
• Robots .txt
• Static sitemap
• XML sitemaps
• Image Alt tags

15. #2a All In One SEO Pack

16. All In One SEO Pack
• Options exist for further customization of site areas
• The default setup is generally okay for most sites, and
every page or post ever added on the site will have
automatically generated title and description tags.
• Individual overrides are available for pages or posts.
• Total time to download, install, and configure the
settings is under 30 seconds, aside from creativity!
• Probably the best option for beginners to SEO / WP

17. #2b HeadSpace2 – 350k users

18. #2b Headpace2
• Title tags
• Description tags
• Keyword tags
• Header tags
• Robots .txt
• Static sitemap
• XML sitemaps
• Image Alt tags

19. #2c Gregs High Performance SEO

20. #2c Gregs High Performance SEO
• Title tags
• Description tags
• Keyword tags
• Header tags
• Robots .txt
• Static sitemap
• XML sitemaps
• Image Alt tags
• More advanced options
• High performance – only 700 lines
• Admin integrated explanations
• Amazing detailed knowledge
• Practically an ebook on SEO
• Imports all legacy plugin data
• All in one SEO pack
• Headspace
• SEO Title Tag & others

21. 3. Google XML SiteMaps Plugin

22. 4. SEO Friendly Images

23. If You Want More...
• New Beta Plugin worth Trying
• Does Everything From All-in-One SEO Pack and then some
• Offers More Control & Advanced Features
• Eliminates Two Other Plugins Too

24. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

25. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

26. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

27. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

28. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

29. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

30. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

31. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk - beta

32. WordPress SEO - Joost de Valk
• Title tags
• Description tags
• Keyword tags
• Header tags
• Robots .txt
• Static sitemap
• XML sitemaps
• Image Alt tags
• Curently in public beta
• Meta robots
• Noodp, noydir meta tags
• Noindex, nofollow
• Canonical support
• RSS footer / header config
• XML and KML sitmaps
• Imports legacy data
• Lots more...

33. Take-aways
• Core Tweaks for Setup
• All in One SEO or alternative for SEO Basics
• Google XML Sitemaps and Search Friendly Images
• Advanced WP Folks? Try Joost‘s WordPress SEO

34. Thank You
WordPress Lunch Table Thursday 1:30
Scott Hendison
Search Commander, Inc.
shendison@seoautomatic.com