SEO w/ wordpress

[Jordan A.]

Alright so I'm using a theme I should have never used. I'm far along and don't really want to switch. My meta tags and title tags needed tweeking to help with the SEO side of things. I am trying to use the ALL in ONe SEO Plugin that i found with wordpress.

The problem is that I now I have 2 descriptions. I can obviously delete the description left over from the theme. But the new description and keywords are halfway down the stinking page source!!! How can I change that? I can't find it anywhere in my header.php. The title is great!

heres the page should you wanna look at the page source.

resourcetolife[dot]com

thanks a bunch for any help!
ps. I've been asking like crazy over at wordpress forums. I haven't gotten any solid answers. they just ask a question and then leave. lol

jordan

[Jim Hutchinson]

Hi Jordan

Looking at the code, it appears that the section starting at
Line 645 <!-- all in one
to Line 747 <!-- /all in one
defines the description and keywords.

Where to move it is tricky since the script is not documented well.
The only solution that I can see is to contact the author,
Michael Torbert at http://semperfiwebdesign.com

On the other hand, placement of the keywords and title may not be
critical since the search engine spiders look for the tags, not for their
position in the list.

So while it is common to have those near the top, it may not be a
critical issue.

[Jordan A.]

Yea, I assumed as much after researching for the past 2 days. lol

Spiders look for tags... Do I insert those tags into my header.php, or just continue adding tags to my categories?

Thanks for the quick response!

One more quick question. I have an option to allow the search engines to "spider" through my categories. The option is off right now because I'm scared that'll create duplicated content which isn't looked up highly. What are your thoughts? Let the spiders go through my categories or leave that option off?

thanks
Jordan

[Jim Hutchinson]

The way WordPress is built, you should only be in header.php to tweak your theme or add code that will not run by using the widgets. Use the Custom Fields section below the article/page editing box to add your meta tags.

Go ahead and let the spiders crawl your categories. They may pick up something you forgot to link to. The duplicate content comes from other sites posting identical articles/pages and not necessarily your own site.

Spiders are smart enough to know that a page is in a category and when crawling categories there will be pages they already saw.

Oh, when I got past the first page your meta descriptions were empty. You are probably already going through those, right?

[Jordan A.]

Awesome! I looked at a few of my pages other than the home page, and I've been finding meta descriptions. They automatically generate with the plugin I'm using. Can you check and see if it's working really quick? Maybe somethings wrong?


Jordan

[Jim Hutchinson]

Every page (yep, I visited them all) under Teen Topics shows:

[Jordan A.]

Yes I'm still working! It feels like it takes for-ev-er. Thats from the the Sandlot. lol

um...I totally goofed. I'm fixing it now. Should be ok in an hour so. SORRY! Thanks for looking again though.

Thanks again
Jordan

[Jordan A.]

should I say 'thanks again', again? haha!

[Jordan A.]

Ok Jim this is totally weird. Maybe I need to contact the author of the plugin.

When I click a category it takes me to a summary of all posts I've written for that category. You can click a post from there.

When you first click the category and you are taken to the summaries of posts, there is no description or keywords. But when you go to a post, there is. I can't find a way to add descr. and KW's to the categories. this is absurd!

Do you have any ideas or should I just write the author?

should have picked another theme.


jordan

[Jim Hutchinson]

You can add keywords and descriptions without the plugin.

When writing a post or page, scroll down to the Custom Fields section. Expand it and look in the drop-down menu. If keywords and descriptions are not in the list, type them into the box next to it named "Key" next to "Add a new custom field:"

Then put your keywords or description in the "Value" box and click "Add Custom Field". Repeat for each field you want to add. All-In-One-SEO is not needed for that. It is built into WordPress.

[Jordan A.]

I'm going to remove the all in one. I can't believe I never noticed that. total retard. ahhhhhhhh

bit by bit.

Thanks for all of the info!
Jordan

[Jordan A.]

I removed the all in one, applied the title, and description from the custom field under the home page, and nothing happened. Am I doing something wrong? I picked title, added the value of what I wanted the title to say, but nothing changed.


Jordan

[Jim Hutchinson]

If you select from the list, leave the key empty.
If you enter the key, leave the drop-down menu at the default "select".

After you put in the extra tags, did you save the page?

Wait... you did it right. On the Latest Teen News I see:

[Jordan A.]

I chose title and left the key empty. Maybe I'll write "title" in the key instead of choosing title?

That description was from the all in one, I was able to change the description. Theres no option for keywords though. I'll try using the custom field the other way and see if that works.

Jordan

[Jim Hutchinson]

That means the All-In-One-SEO was writing the descriptions, but they were not showing until the All-In-One was removed. Something strange is happening in there.

When you type in a key it is added to the drop-down list so you do not have to type it again. Update the description and remember to save your changes in both areas - custom fields and save the article again.