Exploit WordPress for Your SEO Advantages

[NahidHasan]

Wordpress is an SEO friendly CMS. It doesnt mean that Wordpress will rank you all alone. An SEO friendly CMS means it can be optimized with less effort, in a short period of time. Compared to all other CMS, wordpress has the maximum number of free resources and it needs less technical skills to make it SEO friendly.

Let me give you some logic to support my statement.

• Wordpress enables you to put title tag and meta description without any hassle. You can use a different title for search engine, and social media. Google only shows 512 pixel or approximate 60-70 characters title on their result page. So for social media you can do it by having a free plugin named SEO plugin by Yoast.

• In wordpress Yoast SEO plugin automatically generates a sitemap for you. You can modify your sitemap if needed.

• In wordpress, a plugin like Yoast SEO plugin helps you identify how many times you have used your keywords and if you did the right use of those keywords.

• Whenever you post content on your wordpress blog it automatically ping to a list of search engine for faster indexing. By default wordpress sends all new update to pingomatic, but you can also add other services manually.

• WordPress gives you many free responsive themes matched with upcoming trends. All themes are mobile friendly. The more responsive it from mobile the more SEO advantages you will earn.

• WordPress automatically inserts dashes in the url in between words.

• Adding a breadcrumb navigation is easy in wordpress.

• Whether it’s a personal blog or an ecommerce site wordpress is very easy to manipulate.

• Image optimization is very easy from wordpress dashboard by WP Smush.

Above all, you need no technical knowledge in WordPress so it’s time saving. It has free resources that will help you to cut on cost.

 

[projectpop]

Wordpress does make things easier to do SEO especially with plugins such as YeastSEO whereas traditionally all of the above are done manually, and friendly URLs are a big headache.

 

[Gdesgin]

• In wordpress Yoast SEO plugin automatically generates a sitemap for you. You can modify your sitemap if needed.

Does sitemap have SEO benefit or just for google easily index your webpages?

• In wordpress, a plugin like Yoast SEO plugin helps you identify how many times you have used your keywords and if you did the right use of those keywords.

I have not used this before, according to you, it's really work or not?

• Whenever you post content on your wordpress blog it automatically ping to a list of search engine for faster indexing. By default wordpress sends all new update to pingomatic, but you can also add other services manually.

Are you mentioning to Trackbacks and Pingbacks in wordpress? if that, it can allow hackers exploint your WP site as I knew

• WordPress gives you many free responsive themes matched with upcoming trends. All themes are mobile friendly. The more responsive it from mobile the more SEO advantages you will earn.

How does a responsive theme affect SEO ranking?

• WordPress automatically inserts dashes in the url in between words.

Not sure which you are saying, could you elaborate this?

• Adding a breadcrumb navigation is easy in wordpress.

I don't think breadcrumb is useful for SEO

• Image optimization is very easy from wordpress dashboard by WP Smush.

Nice to know about WP Smush but how does it help for optimizing images on wp sites?

 

[SEOPub]

There are some things that are not true in this thread. Wordpress is NOT an SEO friendly CMS out of the box. It NEEDS to be modified to be SEO friendly. If it was an SEO friendly CMS, nobody would need to use plugins like Yoast.

It is written with bloated code. It is slow. It creates tons of duplicate content.

All themes are mobile friendly. The more responsive it from mobile the more SEO advantages you will earn.

This is totally untrue. First, not all the themes out there are mobile friendly. Second, a responsive website does not give any SEO advantages to desktop search, and despite Google's Mobilegeddon update there is very little evidence that it provides any boost on mobile search either.

Adding a breadcrumb navigation is easy in wordpress.

Breadcrumbs are a waste of links. They might be user friendly, but they are not SEO friendly.

 

[NahidHasan]

Does sitemap have SEO benefit or just for google easily index your webpages?

If you ask does sitemap has any direct SEO benefits then the answer might be no, but sitemap helps google to find your content faster and index it. The first part of SEO will begin with indexing, isnt it?

I have not used this before, according to you, it's really work or not?

It really helps new comer to find their content strength. Not all use them at all, even I dont use that too. But it helps to identify have you inserted your keywords on important parts for better SEO.

Are you mentioning to Trackbacks and Pingbacks in wordpress? if that, it can allow hackers exploint your WP site as I knew

No I am talking about pinging services. Whenever you have a new post, wordpress sends it to pingomatic. Which ping your new posts to ensure faster indexing.

How does a responsive theme affect SEO ranking?

In desktop, it might not be an issue. But in mobile it may have. Google now shows a mobile friendly lebel on their mobile search result. And with most keywords you will not find a site ranking on first page which is not mobile friendly. Either it might be a co incidence or it has some SEO benefits. If google really focus on users behavior to determine a sites quality then it should have some value.

Not sure which you are saying, could you elaborate this?

Its not a big deal actually. I tried to mention that wordpress automatically create a SEO friendly url structure with your blog title. Like 5 SEO Tips to 5-seo-tips

I don't think breadcrumb is useful for SEO

Actually it might not have any direct SEO benefits, but as I said, if google focus on visitors behavior, then it might help visitors keep on their sites. Which can be a good signal.

Nice to know about WP Smush but how does it help for optimizing images on wp sites?

WP smush mainly reduce image size and improve loading time. Loading time might have some SEO advantages. Though there are lots of debate on that topic. Here is my statement: slow loading time cause Pogosticking which is definitely a negative signal for SEO.

 

[SEOPub]

If you ask does sitemap has any direct SEO benefits then the answer might be no, but sitemap helps google to find your content faster and index it. The first part of SEO will begin with indexing, isnt it?

Several people from Google have actually stated that the vast majority of websites really do not need a sitemap. If you need a sitemap for Google to find your content faster, than that means your site structure sucks.

In desktop, it might not be an issue. But in mobile it may have. Google now shows a mobile friendly lebel on their mobile search result. And with most keywords you will not find a site ranking on first page which is not mobile friendly. Either it might be a co incidence or it has some SEO benefits. If google really focus on users behavior to determine a sites quality then it should have some value.

This is totally untrue. There are tons of sites that are not mobile friendly still ranking just fine for mobile search.

Here is one example I have been tracking since before Google's mobile update. If you search for "lawnmower parts", you will see Jack's Small Engines ranking #3. This is one of the most mobile unfriendly sites you can find. It actually moved UP in rankings. It was #6 a year ago.

There are tons of examples like this if you are actually paying attention to the SERPs.

 

[savidge4]

Going to agree with SEOPub here... I might even go a step further and say that Wordpress out right sucks in terms of SEO even with the plugins.... There are ways to make it better, but I think friendly becomes a relative term based on the SEO experience of the person.

Breadcrumbs by no means are an SEO element, they fall into the category of User Experience (UX ) and if anything as said already would be a detraction from your overall SEO efforts. What I find extremely interesting here is how Wordpress places breadcrumbs.. on the top of the page correct? Case study after case study,and my own personal experience would suggest that this content is better suited at the bottom of an article vs the top.

If a person lands on your page and reads an article and might be interested in reading more of your material... the breadcrumbs link to locate more content would be on the top. So the positioning of breadcrumbs as a UX element on top of the page is well silly. Read a 3000 word article, and then have to scroll to the top to find further content.. its laughable.

Mobile...this one is a can of worms. You have to understand what Google did with the "Mobilegeddon" update. Google SEPARATED Mobile search form desktop search. If you are on a mobile device, your results will return with mobile friendly pages. If you are on a desktop, the results will return with desktop friendly results. To even suggest your site not being "Responsive" will harm your SEO is at best a half truth. I say half truth because a desktop only site with no responsive and no mobile will only display on desktop results and NOT mobile results. There is no where to be seen a drop in rank for desktop search if you do not have mobile ability. ( SEOPub left an example of this. )

I personally have a few mobile only sites that rank well in mobile search, and do not rank at all in desktop search. ( not a scenario you hear spoken about often ) I have been doing this for a number of years now for Bing specifically ( they give preference in mobile search for mobile / mobile friendly sites ) in attempts to reach a more targeted audience. It was basically Christmas day for me when Google started separating mobile / desktop search.

Wordpress is clunky, its over sized, its bloated, the code is poorly formatted, it is far from perfect in every sense of the word. Does it get decent return on low to mid level competition terms? sure it will.. but you get into big boy territory and it falls flat on its face.

 

[elcidofaguy]

I also agree with SEOPub on this... Wordpress is not great for SEO at all and further the Yoast plugin is not so great either if you follow its recommendations with trying to get those damn green traffic lights although I do like its canonicalization feature... and now no longer bother with meta description with just letting G choose its own.

With that said I don't think any CMS is SEO friendly... Mostly because it takes time, effort and research to put your SEO into action with regards to on-site SEO implementation i.e keyword research, building silos etc...

Another problem with Wordpress is the way it can generate too many links i.e. tags, breadcrumbs etc - which can dilute your efforts with funneling link juice as part of silos....

 

[savidge4]

It's kind of fun to watch threads like this develop. If you are looking, you start to see a split in the way sites are developed. With WordPress in particular you see the split between those that use WordPress and its plugins at face value. There are then those that I will say have a better understanding of code, and realize that face value is not that pretty and there are other ways around that.

Throw into the mix page builder plugins etc and the split then really becomes easy plug and play vs technical. I don't use page builders... I know how to use columns shortcode. when it comes right down to it, its the same thing one is drag and drop, the other is a bit more technical. The same goes for dynamically built pages vs static ones ( with dynamic elements ). I don't rely on pre determined page setup, I go in and set the page in the order that I want. - an example here would be a home page. you have the option to set your most recent post on the home page (dynamic ) or you can go in with proper coding ( in the case of WordPress it would be shortcode usually ) and you can place different elements on the page where and how you want to.

Then we start talking about link strength and how WordPress dilutes it.. When it comes down to it, is it WordPress diluting the links, or the site builders lack of knowledge or understanding to turn it off and why you would want to turn it off? Tags, Breadcrumbs, 2nd 3rd and 4th navigation placements, etc etc are all generally bad for SEO... but people buy and download themes with these functions because it looks cool.. or its the latest and greatest or the theme colors are what they have been looking for, or the overall visual of the site matches the niche they are going to target.

Form follows function has long been forgotten, or in most cases in todays online world... I am not so sure 95% of the people trying to make a dollar online understand what the function is. The plus side to this sad fact, is that for those of us that DO understand the function, and understand how to develop a site and turn off unneeded functions and know why we are turning them off... it makes our ability to turn a dollar that much easier.

I dont think SEO is really as competitive as many think. If you stray a bit south of evergreen, or dip into local search, SEO becomes just short of on demand. Sure WordPress sucks.. but in the right hands, it just sucks a little!

 

[CyberAlchemist]

There are some things that are not true in this thread. Wordpress is NOT an SEO friendly CMS out of the box. It NEEDS to be modified to be SEO friendly. If it was an SEO friendly CMS, nobody would need to use plugins like Yoast.

I agree about this point but not much, Wordpress is already good for SEO, URL structure, webpages are loading fast, Google gave it a plus if you used WP over custom cms.

• WordPress gives you many free responsive themes matched with upcoming trends. All themes are mobile friendly. The more responsive it from mobile the more SEO advantages you will earn.

I really like this feature from wordpress, more free themes but I prefer using premium themes because its more secure and always better than free ones.

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

That is completely false. Google does not give any bonus for using WP over a custom CMS. You made that up.

 

[CyberAlchemist]

CyberAlchemist

How you supposed Google does not give any bonus for using WP over a custom CMS? or just your personal opinion?

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

It's not personal opinion. It's a fact. It would be completely stupid for Google to do so. It makes no sense, especially considering that Wordpress is largely SEO unfriendly.

You show me the quote where someone from Google says they give a ranking bonus to Wordpress sites over a custom CMS and I'll take back what I said.

 

[NahidHasan]

NahidHasan

I am agree with you. If a developer knows how google algo works they can create their own CMS accordingly. That can be much SEO friendly then wordpress, isn't it? But still I love wordpress because it needs less effort and time to work on the SEO parts. By one click, I can change url structure and make it SEO friendly. By having one plugin, I can do lots of SEO activities. Which might be a super tough job for the people who dont have programming skills.