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SEO Settings for New WordPress Blogs

Installing WordPress for blog posting is not ENOUGH. There is a lot you have to do more to complete WordPress site installation process. YES, I am talking here about the SEO settings related to the new WordPress blogs.

Here, in this post, I will let you know the most essential SEO settings for new WordPress blogs. No doubt that your content is the WordPress’s most vital asset, but it is of no use if it is not attracting the visitors.

SEO, abbreviated as Search Engine Optimization is a special tool each and every website owner makes sure their content is being optimized in search engine results which helps to get more and more visitors.

And, to get best results, you have to first set up the WordPress blog completely which is the first step to good SEO. So, let me now introduce you with the most essential SEO settings for new WordPress blogs that you should definitely apply.

Top Vital SEO Settings For New WordPress Blogs

#1: Fine-Tune Permalinks

If you are NOT SURE what fine-tune permalink means then look below at the screenshot where the permalink of this post is ‘…………..’

But, remember that a blog does not allow you to set any permalink in this custom way. Thus, in order to enable pretty permalinks, you need to go to the WordPress dashboard and go to Settings and then Permalinks. There, you have to select the option - structure labeled ‘Post name’ as –

Here, you can easily assign custom permalinks to your blog posts as well as pages. You can then fine-tune permalinks under the WordPress post title. However, if you don’t see a permalink, do not forget to have a draft of the same post. It will pop up after the post reloads.

It is best idea to put the major keyword in the permalink for your post so that it can target keyword as well. It will have a great impact on the SEO results.

#2: Use SEO Plugin

Another most important setting you should do for your WordPress blog is to install Yoast SEO. This SEO plugin is update frequently to keep up with search engine changes. Also, it contains whatever you will need to make the site an SEO powerhouse. It takes complete care for all your essential SEO settings.

The best part about Yoast SEO is that it works right out the box and it does not need any complicated configurations. To install an SEO plugin Yoast SEO, you have to simply go to Settings and then go to General section and then Webmaster Tools.

There you need to provide the verification code for Google Search Console. You can see the screenshot below to take further help:

After this, you need to go to SEO and then Search Appearance and after that go through the individual tabs. Now, next you have to start with Content Types:

Now, remember that you have all the options in the enabled mode for both; pages as well as posts.

Now, next you have to go to Media and enable the option to have the attachment URLs redirected to the attachments themselves.

In the next tab, you will see Taxonomies. This is the place where you can decide how you want to handle the tag and category listing on the WordPress blog.

#3: Set Your Tags and Categories Correctly

WordPress used tags and categories to help you in organizing the blog’s content. The most essential idea with tags and categories you should consider are:

·         Use tags to consider for individual aspects or the post’s sub-topics

·         Use categories to group the posts under a common topic

In order to make this agenda even clearer, you can consider the following examples:

If you are blogging about the latest and the hottest topic of all – food. Below you will see how might you organize these below blog posts.

·         How To Pair Wine With Food – Here the category will be drink and the tag would be wine

·         Howe To Make Scrambled Eggs – Here the category is recipe and would be eggs, breakfast

·         Spanish Paella Recipe – Here the category is recipe and the tag would be Spanish, rice, dinner

These are just an example, but I hope you got the idea. Well, categories are more common and are they kind of above the tags by only a level.

The major SEO benefit of this type of organizing the content is that WordPress create separate achieve pages for the tag and categories.

If you create a better tag and category structure then those automatic tag and category archive pages become very important resources on their own.

#4: Manage your HTML & XML sitemaps

Sitemap is nothing but a list of pages present on the website is easily accessible to all the users. While setting up the WordPress blog, it is also important to take care of HTML and XML sitemaps. This will help you tell Google and other search engine website that your website has been updated.

WordPress SEO generally configures your XML sitemaps automatically. So, there is no need to worry about anything related to XML sitemaps.

In the world of Search Engine Optimization, if you add a sitemap in your WordPress then it does not affect the search engine ranking.

You can manage yourself which types of the template, content and archives should be included in the XML: sitemaps in the SEO section and then Search Appearance settings.

#5: Test Your WordPress Website For Mobile Friendly

Last, but not the least, when it comes to the essential SEO settings for new WordPress blogs, Google loves to see the WordPress site mobile friendly. It means that your website should be responsive.

The reason behind this logic is – nowadays people are searching and browsing more blog in mobiles as compared to desktops and laptops.

If your WordPress site fails to load on mobile then you will lose your ranking. Now the question here arises that how can you make your WordPress website or blog mobile friendly.

You can test WordPress blog thoroughly by opening in the mobile phone and make sure there are not even a single issue with your homepage, blog or even pages.

Final Words

WordPress is the most flexible content management system for blogging platform. However, before you start blogging, you should once check if all the settings in the WordPress blog are OK.

If it is Ok then well and good, but if you find something uneven then make sure that you try all these essential SEO settings for new WordPress blogs.

All these settings will definitely help you rank higher in Google search results. Yoast SEO plugin, permalinks, tags and categories, managing HTML and XML sitemaps, mobile friendliness are some of the key aspects of better WordPress website or WordPress blogs. So, you should always keep in mind to improve and set all things in your WordPress blog or website to avoid moving to an end in Google’s ranking.