WordPress is one of the most SEO friendly content management systems available today. If you have a WordPress website, there is a lot you can do to improve your SEO. But if you're not careful, you can unknowingly hurt your site's rankings.
In this post, you will find 12 settings to consider if you want your WordPress site to reach its full SEO potential.
Security is often overlooked in SEO, but it's an important factor. In addition to general SEO settings, we will look at some important security settings that will help prevent negative SEO attacks.
SEO Settings for WordPress
Below is a simple setup that should be the foundation of any WordPress site looking to boost their SEO efforts.
1. Create a homepage and blog
Before you start creating pages and posts, you need to make sure your homepage and blog are set up and ready to go. This may seem like a small thing, but it's important. Your homepage is the first thing people see when they visit your website, so you need to make sure it makes a good first impression.
Similarly, your blog is a great way to connect with your audience and build an audience. By creating these important pages before adding content, you are more likely to have a successful website that people love to visit.
By default, WordPress uses your latest posts page as the home page. Select the Static Pages option and specify which page is your home page and which is your blog page.
2. Optimize your permalink
The first thing you need to decide when setting up your blog is how you want your URLs to be structured.
An extensible taxonomy of URLs makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index and make them more user-friendly. As a result, it's worth taking the time to choose a permalink structure that will work for your blog in the long run. There are many different options, so take the time to experiment and find what works best for you and your blog.
You can choose the structure that works best for your site, but I recommend using your own structure and avoiding a date-based structure. Permalink structures that use month and date or date and name create a confusing site architecture.
3. Dynamic sitemap
Dynamic sitemaps are an essential tool for any website. This helps search engines index your site and makes it easier for users to find the information they need.
On the other hand, static sitemaps are very inefficient, difficult to update, and don't provide the same level of scalability.
Many plugins offer flexible sitemap options with different settings. So, if you're looking for the best way to improve your site's SEO, dynamic sitemaps are the way to go.
4. Install automatic image optimizer
To maintain a fast WordPress site, you need to have optimized images. The SEO benefits of optimized images are numerous, from site speed to better search engine rankings. The easiest way to optimize images is to use a plugin.
Many WordPress plugins automatically update images as they are uploaded. While some of them are paid, many free options also work well.
5. Customize the Default Title and Meta Description
Many SEO plugins provide default settings for titles and meta descriptions, ensuring all new pages are optimized for search. This is a lifesaver for large sites with multiple pages or teams unfamiliar with SEO best practices. With this tool, you can make your site visible and accessible to potential visitors.
In the screenshot below, I'm using Yoast to set the default for my blog posts. I put a structured format in my header to make it user friendly.
For the meta description, I took a snippet from the beginning of the blog post. These are simple default settings that anyone can apply.
Protect Your SEO With These WordPress Security Settings
SEO is starting to become an important part of website security. Website security has always been important, but it has become even more important as the Internet becomes more and more a part of our daily lives.
Today, websites are used for everything from online shopping to online banking, and if a website is not secure, the consequences can be severe.
Google penalizes sites infected with malware, as well as sites that may engage in psychological manipulation. If your website is not secure, you may lose leads and position in the Google search engine. Therefore, website security is an important part of SEO and should not be neglected.
Here are some simple tips to help you better protect your WordPress site.
Find a daily newspaper that search marketers trust.
Although the value of comment sections for SEO has been discussed, there is no doubt that they can pose a security risk.
Spammers often use the comments section to add links to their sites that may contain malicious code. Hackers may try to perform SQL injection and XSS attacks on online forms.
As a result, it is important to be aware of the risks associated with the comment section. If you choose to use a comment section on your WordPress site, keep a close eye on it and avoid spam or suspicious comments.
If you don't want to go to great lengths to keep it safe, consider disabling the comments section. Below is a screenshot showing how to disable the content section.
7. Disable and remove XML-RPC
One of the most common WordPress security vulnerabilities are brute-force attacks on XML-RPC files. This file is enabled by default and can be used to remotely access a WordPress site.
However, it is also a prime target for hackers who use automated tools to guess usernames and passwords. Once logged in, they can wreak havoc by deleting files, installing malware, or even taking over entire websites.
The easiest way to protect against this attack is to disable XML-RPC. This prevents remote access to the site and disables some features such as pinging and tracking.
Optimizers believe that the increased security outweighs the disadvantages. So, if you are concerned about brute force attacks on your WordPress site, disable XML-RPC files.
There are three ways to disable the xmlrpc.php file on a WordPress site.
- Use the plugin . Search for "remove xmlrpc" in the plugins directory.
- Add this code to your functions.php file:
add_filter('xmlrpc_enabled', '__return_false'); - Disable it in your .htaccess file:
# Block WordPress xmlrpc.php requests
<Files xmlrpc.php>
order deny,allow
deny from all
</Files>
8. Define user rights
As a WordPress site administrator, you must ensure that the site is running smoothly and that all stakeholders have the necessary access. However, not all stakeholders need access to all aspects of the site.
Assigning permissions to users allows any stakeholder to provide only the parts they need, which helps keep the site organized and prevents unauthorized changes.
Also, you should check the user's permissions periodically to make sure they are still valid.
WordPress provides a good description of what each role can do.
9. Make sure all users have secure passwords with 2FA
Having a strong password and two-factor authentication (2FA) are effective ways to make your WordPress site harder to hack.
Hackers attempting brute-force attacks use large password lists containing millions of the most common passwords. Having complex passwords helps make this password list inefficient.
If hackers get hold of your password, enabling 2FA can prevent hackers from accessing your site.
Many security plugins offer 2FA settings.
10. Set a limit on the number of login attempts
A brute force attack occurs when an attacker attempts to guess a user's password by repeatedly entering different combinations of characters. One way to prevent brute-force attacks is to configure your WordPress site to limit login attempts.
This security measure blocks multiple failed login attempts from an attacker's IP address, making it difficult for them to access your site.
11. Update plugins automatically
Unfortunately, many people don't realize that their plugins can pose a security risk. If a plugin is out of date, it may be vulnerable to known exploits. That's why using an auto update plugin is ideal.
12. Make frequent backups
In today's digital age, you shouldn't miss out on a robust website security package. One of the best ways to protect your website is to make daily backups. If your site is hacked or another security breach occurs, you will have a new copy of the site from which you can recover.
While many plugins offer this service, it's often best to use a WordPress host to manage your backups. This way you can be sure that your backups are kept on a regular basis.
Summary:
As your site gets more visitors, it becomes even more important to make sure it has a solid foundation. To enable SEO in WordPress, you need to apply the settings mentioned in this article. By following these tips, you will take an important step towards creating a scalable website that will grow with your business.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest authors and not necessarily those of the search engines. Staff writers are listed here.
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