This is a guest post by Brian Flores.
You’ve probably noticed that there are several “Top WP SEO Plugin” lists out there that recommend the All-In-One SEO Pack plugin. However, very few of them go into any detail about how to actually use it effectively.
Most people know how to use it to populate their posts’ title tags, descriptions, and keywords. This article will explain how to configure the plugin’s more advanced settings so you can fully customize your All-In-One SEO Pack plugin and start getting the most out of it.
Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin, you will get a message on your WP dashboard telling you to go to your admin page to configure it. The first step in configuring your All-In-One SEO pack is to enable it. From your admin page, next to Plugin Status, click Enabled.
Before you continue any further, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Update to save your new setting. This will ensure that your plugin is up and running.
At this point you’ll begin learning about the unique features of this plugin. The plugin is a powerful website optimizing tool when used wisely. It will help you quickly and easily configure all of the page-based components of your SEO strategy, but you need to understand how to make it work for you.
Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords
The first three sections involve selecting the title, description and keywords for your home page.
Home Title – The title is what will appear in the top of your user’s browser window. It is also displayed as the name of your web page in search engine results. You should make your title very descriptive and relevant to your website content. Include keywords naturally, but don’t overdo it. Try and limit your title to 65 characters or less, as that is all that most search engines will display.
Home Description – This should be a simple description of your website. Most, but not all, search engines will display this information within search results. Make this a quick summary of what your visitors will find. Limit this information to 160 characters. Again, avoid overuse of keywords here.
Home Keywords – This is the place to include the main group of keywords you will try and rank your website for. While you can put as many keywords or phrases here as you like, keep in mind that the less you use, the more targeted your results will be. This is a key factor in ranking. Keep it specific and relevant.
Canonicalization and Titles
The next two options are Canonical URLs and Rewrite Titles. Having the Rewrite Titles box checked will allow you to control the names of your pages and posts, which is usually fairly important. If you click on either option, it will bring up a description about what each one does more specifically. How you set these is up to you. It’s recommended to leaving both boxes checked.
Formatting Post and Page Titles
The next section involves formatting. Formatting options allow you to control post and page titles and how they are displayed. This is how the default settings appear:
Post Title Format – The default format will look like this: %post_title% | %blog_title%. You should remove the %blog_title% part and just leave the post title. Most of your users will already know your blog title, and having the blog title reappear at the title of every page is redundant. This is another option that gives you the ability to become more specific with your keywords and will allow you to rank better for your individual post titles.
Page, Category, Archive, Tag, and Search Title Format – The default format will look like this: %page_title% | %blog_title%. Again, remove the %blog_title% part from each section and just have the option title displayed. Depending on exactly what you are trying to rank for, you may want to leave the default settings.
This is how your settings should look after you switch them.
Additional Options
Now that your formatting is in order, you must decide how you want your keywords to be determined.
Use Categories for META Keywords – Checking this option will automatically use the categories for a post as its keywords. As a preference, you can specify your own sets of keywords for each page and post, so you can leave this option unchecked. If you don’t mind having your keywords selected automatically, checking this box will save you some time and make things a little easier.
Dynamically Generate Keywords for Posts Page – This is another option to automatically generate keywords based on the content of your posts. You can leave this box checked, because it will allow you to specify keywords as you’re writing a post.
The next options involve which sections of your website will be indexed by search engines.
Noindex Options – As a suggestion, you should leave all three of the Noindex option boxes unchecked. In some cases you might not want certain content to be indexed, but the majority of websites should benefit from allowing all their content to be indexed.
Autogenerate Descriptions – The Autogenerate Descriptions option is very helpful and you should leave it checked. With this option selected, unless you write an excerpt for your post, a META description will be generated for you based on post content.
This can be especially useful in the event that you forget to include a description before publishing the post. Remember that your post description is the main content of your search engine result, so you don’t want to be without one.
What’s Left
The last few options only need to be changed if you have a specific situation such as the need to exclude a particular page from being indexed. They can most likely be left just as they are.
Click Update and save your changes.
At this point your All-In-One SEO Pack is perfectly configured and ready to go. To see it in action, open up a Add New post (or edit an old one). Scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll see a new box titled All-In-One SEO Pack. This part of the plugin is the main attraction for most users. Within this box, you can specify the title, description, and keywords of any post or page.
As always, keep your keyword use here specific and relevant. All-In-One SEO Pack makes targeting your ranking keywords much easier than ever before. You no longer have to rely on your home page keywords to support your entire website.
All-In-One SEO Pack is a very useful, highly recommended plugin that will help get your blog or website ranking for keywords. It makes it really easy for webmasters to optimize their website without having to think about coding. So it’s definitely beneficial to install it on all your WP websites.
What SEO plugins do you use with WordPress? Do you have any additional advice about using these settings? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
