You set up a blog. The design is great, your selected niche is perfect, but … visitors just won’t start rolling in?!
Why is that? Thing is, you need to also do SEO.
Yeah, I know what you may say. You’re already building links and doing a whole lot of other sorts of things. What you may have not done is making sure that your WordPress site is properly fine-tuned in terms of on-page SEO and your WordPress setup in general. 
It goes without saying that building links is a primal must for every single blogger, but at the same time you may be leaving money on the table just because your WordPress is not setup as it’s supposed to be. Why not get the biggest bang possible for your buck? That’s exactly what the post is about.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
There are tons of SEO plugins out there, but just a few of them are really robust and feature-rich. WordPress SEO by Yoast is one of them. This plugin takes care about a slew of SEO aspects, such as tracking your site’s SEO performance, social networks, XML sitemap, you name it. One of the most kick-butt features is that you can both import and export settings for your SEO plugin.
That means that having set it up once, you’ll be able to just import your settings file to your new WordPress installation and you’re good to go. It’s extremely crucial for those of you who either have lots of your own sites or manage a bunch of client sites. Just imagine how much time you can save with it! The bottom line is that you need to install the Yoast plugin in order to make things right in a timely manner.
Robots.txt
As you probably know, it’s the file that you can use for telling Google and other search engines for that matter which content on your site you want to be indexed and which not. Coming from a non-WordPress background, I personally was having a really hard time trying to find my robots.txt file on the FTP server.
Don’t try it at home! Problem is, WordPress does not have a physical robots.txt file among its files on the FTP server. WordPress dynamically (on the fly) generates your robots.txt file every time a user comes to your site. I’m not exactly sure why it’s working like that and what are the benefits. Go figure.
Perhaps, you guys know something about it?
Anyways, it’s no biggie for the most part, but what are we supposed to do if we want to edit the robots.txt file? How can you edit something that does not exist neither on the FTP server nor in your WordPress admin panel? The solution is genial as most things in the world of WordPress. You just need to install the right plugin. The plugin that you need to install for being able to edit your robots.txt file is called .. wait for it … wait for it … WP Robots.txt. This is amazing!
WordPress plugin developers always come up with all sorts of whimsical plugin names (wink-wink).
Google Analytics
You also want to keep track of the traffic that your site receives because it allows to both pinpoint issues and fine-tune your content so that your visitors like your site even more. You can basically just obtain your Google Analytics ID and paste it in the first section of the WordPress SEO plugin (SEO -> Dashboard -> Webmaster Tools). It’ll connect your website with your Google Analytics account.
Alternatively, you can just install the Jetpack Lite plugin for the WordPress Stats feature that allows to see basic traffic data, such as visits, referrals, used keywords, etc. The drawback of this approach is that you’ll be missing out on a whole lot of useful info. That’s why you may want to use both Google Analytics and WordPress Stats at the same time. The latter as a supplementary feature that allows to quickly check your daily traffic stats.
Google Webmaster Tools
Just like Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools is a must-have tool for every site owner. You just need to go to your account on Google Webmaster Tools and add your site. Other than that, you’ll have to verify your ownership using one of the available methods. The easiest method is to just upload the HTML file they offer to your FTP server.
Having verified your site, you’ll have access to a whole bunch of really snazzy tools. Just to name a few, you’ll be able to see what keywords bring traffic to your site, the amount and source of your inbound links, issues with your site indexing (if any) and stuff like that.
BONUS VIDEO FROM MS. ILEANE: How to Connect Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools for Basic SEO
Though you definitely want to cater for the user in the first place, you still need to make sure that you keep search engines happy. No, I’m not talking about some human sacrifice because luckily for you search engines feed on just content. You need to use your XML sitemap in order to keep Google in the know what content you have on your site. Should you want to really dive into the nitty gritty of the issue, be sure to check SiteMaps.org.
As long as you have WordPress SEO by Yoast installed on your site, you’re not even supposed to set up one more plugin. The only thing that you need to do is go to the SEO drop-down menu and select the XML Sitemaps option. That done, make sure that you have the Check this box to enable XML sitemap functionality checkbox ticked. It’s a set it and forget it thing. Once you enable the functionality and tweak other available options, you won’t have to get back here any time soon.
As an alternative, you can try the Google XML Sitemaps Plugin.
Schema.org
To make your SERP snippets really stand out of the crowd, you want to use Schema.org additional markup that allows to do the trick. It basically helps search engines to wrap their heads around what is what on your site and display that info in Google snippets. Say you own a pizza place and manage a website for it. Using Schema.org, you’ll be able to not only show title and description in your Google snippet, but also rating, time required for cooking your pizza, amount of calories, etc. Bottom line is it makes your snippet more advanced and hopefully more preferable for potential site visitors.
Bottom Line
Don't get me wrong. There are all sorts of SEO plugins and widget sets for every particular case. I just tried to outline the most basic plugins that you need to make sure that your site is properly configured in terms of WordPress SEO. That's basically what I use on WebDesy.com. What SEO plugins do you happen to us on your own site?
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: CONNECT GOOGLE ANALYTICS TO GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS
Hey Guys, It's Ileane and I started a new blog it's called Ms. Ileane Speaks and it's over on Blogger.
And I just wanted to show you really quickly how to connect your Webmaster Tools into your Google Analytics account. Now when you don't have your Google Webmaster Tools and your Google Analytics accounts connected this is what will happen. When you go over here under Search Engine Optimization and you go to look for Queries – Landing pages – and Geographical Summary – You won't have any information you'll have this error message that lets you know that you need to set that up.
Let's set up that connection so we won't have a blank page!
All I have so far on Ms. Ileane Speaks is one post. Just posted one episode of my podcast here. And over in Google Analytics you're going to go to the Admin area then you'll go to property settings. Make sure that blog is listed there and its optional here but you can fill in the industry category and then right here where it says Webmaster Tools Settings. This is where you're going to fill in the blog.
Now that's going to open up a window that will bring up access to all of your properties that you have over in Google Webmaster Tools so here's Ms. Ileane Speaks dot com right here I'll save that and that's it! Now you see that this account is connected. So now that we have it all setup let's go back over into Google Analytics And let's just refresh the page. Now of course there's no data there because as I mentioned to you this is a brand new blog. I just posted something on it yesterday but you see here that the connection is now made between the two accounts.
Now we’re over on Google Analytics from our main blog which is Basic Blog Tips dot com this looks a lot better doesn't it when you actually see some traffic there let's go over into those Search Engine Optimization reports and look under Queries and you can see here that I'm seeing the data that's coming in and let me know the impressions that are appearing in Google search and how many clicks they're getting. The average position that my blog appears in when people are searching for these queries and the click through rate so this is very similar information to what you're going to see in Google Webmaster Tools now you won't have to pop back-and-forth you can check all that stuff out right here in Google [Analytics]
I mentioned to you before in a video I did about adding Adsense on a Google Custom search, one of the ways that I determined what pages on my blog, I'll and AdSense is I'll use this right here. I'll sort this by the clicks and I see that they're you know I got basically close to a thousand clicks on this post which is a pretty old post but actually you add them up.
Here's a search query for that post here's another one here's a different one a different search query.
They're all leading back to this one post which is pretty old and uh… it's but is still valid is about getting followers on Twitter I have AdSense running on that page and it does pretty good.
I also have a video that I inserted on that page and that video is starting to skyrocket and get more views and I'm also getting more sign ups for my email list. So that's why this information is very valuable so I suggest you make that connection save yourself a few steps so you don't have to log in and out of Google Webmaster tools because this is what you really want to see here the Search Queries.
Landing pages that helps too also tells you what pages those people are going to from all those search queries, just makes it more faster for you to concerned about the geography or what country that people are actually coming from. In my case I don't care as long as they are coming from the planet earth that's fine with me. Allright! 🙂
I hope you've enjoyed watching this video and here's what I'd like you to do. While you're over when you to subscribe to my channel that when you can keep up to date with of a blogging tutorials social media and anything that's going on with YouTube or Google Chrome. Thanks so much for joining me today I really appreciate it and I'll talk to you soon once again it's Ileane from Basic Blog Tips. Bye for now
Hi – I use All In One SEO on my blog – I looked at Yoast but found it a bit too complicated to set up, and as I was already comfortable with AIOSEO I’ve decided to stick with it. I haven’t heard of schema.org before – might look into that, but I’m concerned about adding yet more plugins to my blog.
Hi Susan Neil although AIOSEO plugin works great to boost search rankings…but you must try wordpress SEO by Yoast,because it has all the features of AIOSEO plus some keyword density and search option also that will help to increase your article as well as Blog rankings…
Hi Rafaqat,
I appreciate you’re only trying to help, but please don’t tell me I MUST try Yoast – I’m well aware a lot of bloggers think it’s a superior plugin, but as I’m not very tech savvy, it would take me a lot of time and trouble to get my head round Yoast’s settings, or I’d have to get someone to help me with it, and I just don’t need that hassle right now.
It’s ironic I should receive your message when I’ve just written a blog post about the dangers of bloggers telling one another what they should and should not do.
It’s not the right thing for me to do to switch to Yoast at the moment – I’m quite happy with AIOSEO, but thanks for your advice.
Further to my last comment, I’ve just had a quick look at the link for the schema.org markup and realise now it’s not a plugin, but involves adding code to your site – many non-techies like me will find this overwhelming and I think it would have been helpful if you’d said a bit more about what it entails in this post. It’s certainly not something I’d attempt without the help of an expert.
I am using WordPress SEO by Yoast for a long time and on all of my blogs without a single problem. I love the way it takes care of everything related to SEO for your blog. And the regular updates that comes with more features is another great thing about the plugin.
WordPress SEO by Yoast is far the best plugin for seo it tells each point about post i really like this plugin. I am using its free version, anyone tell here whats the advantage of paid version ?
WordPress SEO by Yoast is the best plugin that you need for your blog. It has helped me so much in my SEO efforts.
Google Webmaster Tools is a must for any website. Great tips!
Schema.org sounds like a good Idea, I will try that.
I have been using Yoast SEO for the last six months and got awesome results in my traffic that almost has doubled. If you put proper keywords in your post it gives great results.
I am using Yoast wordpress plugin which is best for wordpress website according me. However, all in one seo also good for wordpress seo.
Nice post on WordPress SEO tools, I to use WordPress and it is very user friendly.
Hi
I have used most of the plugins you have mentioned here except Schema.org. Seems that this is a Good plugin for those who loves writing reviews.
Regards
thank you you information about Basic WordPress SEO Tools, I also follow the development of Basic WordPress SEO Tools article, to increase the page ranking of my web
another plugin can be used SEO Rank Reporter so it can track your ranking and can be check within wordpress dashboard
Has anyone else been on Analytics recently I was having trouble finding the normal
stats so if it is yet another update then might need to learn how to use this.
It could be just me. I have used Schema.org before but the reviews part would not
let me add .5 scores and also there is no option for news at the moment.
I have experience in handling first hand Yoast. Its a very nice WordPress plugin that caters a SEO’s needs in handling sites that are run on WordPress.
Thanks for the list. I believe your are missing SEO images, All in one SEO and SEO Smart links plugin which are good to use for SEO in WordPress
I do use Yoast SEO for my website…But haven’t really started using Google Webmaster Tools…Thanks for the info..will try it out.
Yoast is one of the best plugin author. He did an awesome job with WordPress SEO. He freaks out the whole web with his amazing plugins. I love him for WOrdPress SEO.
I’ve always been a big fan of Yoast SEO plugin, use it on all the sites that I set up for other people, once it is set up, then you can almost forget about it, I have seen a lot of bloggers also using SEOPressor as well.
Yoast is one of the best plugins out there. It is very useful and very easy to use.I started using it when I first started blogging and it runs awesomely.
I see many people here that are pretty satisfied with Yoast, so am I too! I have it for a year and it proved its worth. I can’t imagine my pages without SEO tools like this one, it really helps me to improve the traffic and thus to reach more customers.
I am using the All in one SEO plugin, although SEO by Yoast sounds better.Anyway, nice and helpful article .
I personally only use Yoast SEO Plugin. Is one of the best plugins I have ever used. Great article! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I have read and heard about WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin a lot but havent use it.After reading this post i get to know that this plugin is really helpful and one should give it a try.I will surely use this plugin and let you know about me experience.Thanxx for sharing and helping me in deciding a plugin for SEO.
recently i use SEO Processor, i think baddest plugin it is, i will recommend to all users that never ever use SEO processor, because i am continuously reviving BOTS on my web, so if any one have suggestion about how to stop these bots then please must share, i have deactivate it…
I use WordPress SEO by Yoast and it has everything i need , but in case of paid plugins , seopressor is quite goo too .
What changes one may require to do in robots.txt… any suggestions
I have used All in one SEO and Yoast for two of my blogs. Per my experience, All in One SEO is performing compared to other SEO plugins. All in ONE SEO and YOAST works very well, bloggers can choose anyone of it.
Great article! Thanks for sharing. I have read and heard about WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin a lot but haven’t used it. After reading this post I got to know that this plugin is really helpful and one should give it a try.
Thanks for the list. I believe your are missing SEO images, All in one SEO and SEO Smart links plugin which are good to use for SEO in WordPress