How to Use All in One SEO Pack Plugin
By Katy | Feb 28th, 2008
Let’s face it, we’re not all cut out to be SEO (search engine optimization) masterminds. But there are plenty of tools out there to help those of us who are a little challenged in this area.
With my Race for Rank series, I’ve been encouraging myself to take a look at these tools. Even if I cannot push my PageRank any further and my other ranking methods never change, it will not be any harm for me to use any tools.
After all, it’s not just about rank. It’s about where you are in the SERPs (search engine result pages) as well. Ranking better in the SERPs means that you will generate more organic search results for your posts. Organic being that someone went to a search engine, typed in a keyword or key phrase and landed at your site. This is, by far, the most desirable search engine traffic!
Discovering where I rank in the SERPs has been quite important for me since I learned that I’m on the first page of Google for how to increase Technorati authority. A discovery I made just a short 24 hours after I wrote my post about increasing Technorati authority by using the WordPress top commentator plugin.
Click for larger View!
While it may seem like a small feat to you that I could be listed on the first page of Google, it’s something I’m noticeably taking as a compliment. I have received many organic hits to this post because of this position. And when evaluating what I could have done to make it on the first page of the SERPs, I’m attributing this success to using the WordPress All in One SEO Pack plugin.
So, with that success, I thought I’d show you how I’m using this plugin and how it’s as easy as pie for you to use it too.
Installation
This is a snap! Upload, chmod, activate. I won’t go into too much detail about activation because the plugin does come with a read me installation file. Surely we don’t need duplicate content.
Setup
Once you have the plugin activate, head over to your options tab in your WordPress dashboard. In the sub menu, click on All in One SEO.
You’re now presented with a list of options to complete. Here is where I’ll tell you what I have done. You may find that adjusting your settings differently than mine is more efficient so, this is the basics.
Option 1: Home Title
How do you want your title to appear on your blog’s index page? The answer to that question is what you want to fill out in this first box.
For I’m Blogging That, my title is: I’m Blogging That! | Because there is always something to write about. This is obviously my blog’s name and tagline. You may find that you’d prefer to use keywords here.
Option 2: Home Description
This is your common “description” meta tag. Briefly state what your site is about. Best practice here is to keep this limited to no more than 160 characters. When I say brief, they mean brief!
Option 3: Home Keywords
Here’s your moment, what keywords do you want used to find your site? Have you done any keyword research for your niche? What are things that you most commonly talk about on your blog that are good keywords? Find them and list them here separated by a comma.
Option 4: Rewrite Title
As defined by the plugin: Note that this is all about the title tag. This is what you see in your browser’s window title bar. This is NOT visible on a page, only in the window title bar and of course in the source. If set, all page, post, category, search and archive page titles get rewritten. You can specify the format for most of them. For example: The default templates puts the title tag of posts like this: “Blog Archive >> Blog Name >> Post Title” (maybe I’ve overdone slightly). This is far from optimal. With the default post title format, Rewrite Title rewrites this to “Post Title | Blog Name”. If you have manually defined a title (in one of the text fields for All in One SEO Plugin input) this will become the title of your post in the format string.
I took the advice given in the help file of the plugin and have checked this box.
Option 5 through 10: Title Format
It’s been said that the best SEO (search engine optimization) practice for your titles to be placed before your blog’s title. This means post title, page title, category title, archive title, tag title, search title should all come before your blog’s title on their respective pages.
Option 11: Description
By default I have left this as is. This means that the default description I have given will be used unless I give a user defined description to be used on a specific page or post. More on this later.
Option 12: 404 Title Format
Should your visitor reach a 404 page when searching your site, what would you like them to see? The answer is placed into this option field. I have left the default in place, it works for me.
Option 13: Use categories for META keywords
I do not have this option checked. This is because I define keywords for each post or page this typically means that if my categories are used I’ll have duplicate keywords. You may find that you’ll work your keywords for each post differently than I do and want to use this feature.
Option 14: Use noindex for archives
It’s my understanding that by having your archives indexed, you’ll run into duplicate content issues because your post pages are being indexed. Duplicate content is not good for SEO and for this purpose, I have this box checked.
Option 15: Use noindex for tag archives
For the same reason I’m not having archives indexed, I have this box checked as well.
Option 16: Autogenerate Descriptions
If you have this box checked, the plugin will automatically generate a description for your posts and pages if you do not provide a description excerpt.
Option 17 through 18: Additional META tags for posts and pages
I do not have any additional meta tags set. This is because I define my meta tags with each new post or page I create. You may choose something differently.
Option 19: Log important events
This is completely a matter of preference. If you want to check out any bug issues, you’ll want to select this option and make sure that your file all_in_one_seo_pack.log is writable (chmod) on your server. For me, this option is checked.
Click on “update options.” Your initial setup of this plugin is now done…
All you have to do now is continue to use it! Are you asking me how yet? Come on, I know you’re on the edge of your seat. :P
So, how do you use this plugin to your advantage now that you have your default settings in place?
To Use
When writing a post or page, you’ll notice below your post area that you now have an area to enter specific information about your post or page.
By using this box, you can define a title, description, and keywords that are specific to your post or page.
Here’s a suggestion for your title that I use.
My post Gain Authority with Top Commentator is titled Technorati Authority Increased with Top Commentator. The second title I believe to be better for search engines. But it wasn’t the title that I wanted to catch your eye when you visited my blog. So, when I entered information into my All in One SEO fields, I changed the title for the page from WordPress’ default of using the title I gave the post.
Side Note: I also used a different post slug so that I could pack more punch with my post. The URL for this post (as defined by my post slug) is increase Technorati rank by commenting.
So, if you want your post titles to be catchy you can change that catchy title for search engines by using the title field on the All in One SEO Pack window.
Next, you’ll define the description by entering 160 words or less that define your post.
Last, but not least, enter your keywords for your post. It’s my preference that I use the same keywords here that I use for tags on my blog. You may choose to do something different and honestly, I haven’t done enough research on this part to see if I’m using this in the most effective manner.
So, with that, you’re using the All in One SEO pack.
While there are quite a few steps, it’s far from being complicated as long as you understand the fields. And don’t hesitate to go back to older posts and your site’s pages to enter the information in for All in One SEO. It may very well help give previous posts and pages a boost!
Worst case, if this plugin doesn’t help us get along like we think it will, we can always go for some SEO training. :D
Should you have any suggestions or modifications to using this plugin, please feel free to share them!
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I’m going to have to try this on RA, since I’m not too worried about TM2TS.
Thanks for the layman’s english instructions :)
I’m one of the persons not cut out for SEO but I do try my best to the extent of my knowledge. I also try to learn more about SEO by reading blog posts on that topic.
I used to have the Optimal Title plugin that puts the post title before the blog title but I found out that you can do that manually and hard coding it into the theme file. Also for the post titles, I only edit the post slug. Using keywords in the blog title, blog name, post title and post slug is important if you want to have a higher SERP.
Good read! Thanks for sharing. :)
Great stuff! I use the SEO plugin, but I can see I’m not really maximizing it’s potential. Now I’ve got to go to each of my blogs and tweak things a bit. : )
And you’re right, you can hard code the change into the theme files. But, that’s a lot of work sometimes… especially for someone who doesn’t know how to change their template files.
Jim » Thanks! Hope this tutorial works for you to maximize potential. :D
I had this installed, but I had not bothered to update it as I made changes and learned more about how things operate. I just went back and updated everything. Thanks for the reminder and the information!
I have this on my site, but I didn’t know a few of the things you listed. But after reading this I went in and modified my SEO pack. Thanks for this.
Nice article. I was already using the plugin, but I found that having a second opinion on it to be very helpful and allowed me to get more out of the plugin than I was already.
I love that one, I use it all the time. One thing I am looking into is how to set the default at “Do not Use.” The reason for this is sometimes I forget to go down there and add the meta stuff. As it is, it opens as the default. But that’s just when I’m lazy. For truly promoting posts, this plugin is the best.
Wonderful tutorial Katy! That’s exactly what I needed. Linky love coming;)
Thanks for this info. I am going to redownload this and give it another try!
Damien » Where is the “do not use” function? I’m looking all over and I don’t see it with any of the options for this plugin. I don’t want to miss something that could be vital for everyone else using this plugin.
Lori » Thanks! Glad I could help.
Simple Mindz » You’re very welcome. Good luck with it!
What about the disable on this post/page?
Katy: Sorry, I didn’t see your comment to me until now. Lori had it right. I am referring to the disable box.
You see, when I use the SEO plugin, I go down there and fill in all the stuff, I can uncheck that box before I publish. Since it is unchecked by default, if i forget to put something down there I wonder how that affects the post.
Sorry I described it the wrong way. This is probably no big deal, I’m just quirky sometimes :)
I think I’ve got it! Your instructions are excellent and easy even for an SEO novice like me. I’m bookmarking this for sure!
Great info, Katy! I have a much better understanding of the plugin now. I submitted this article to Mixx for you :)
I’m tired of reading all the variation about SEO and the variety of ideas.. Don’t know what to do or which way I should follow properly.
small note,
“”Option 15: Use noindex for tag archives
For the same reason I’m not having archives indexed, I have this box unchecked as well.”"
shouldn’t that be CHECKED, not UNCHECKED???
thanks for the heads up on this plugin, and having a ’subscribe to comments’ plugin active :)
oh, and I’ve mixx’ed this post.
Chris » Yep, you found an error here. In option 15 that should be checked… not unchecked. Post corrected. Thanks for the Mixx submission!
I’m so new to this whole SEO world…. but thanks for the post.. It was interesting by far than other blog’s I’ve read.
Nice post as it takes a step-by-step approach that is easy to follow. I ran into the duplicate content penalty in one of my blogs and discovered I mistakenly left the No Index for Categories unchecked and now that I’ve checked the box the blog is starting to recover.
Yes, blogs seem to be a bit trickier when it comes to duplicate content. There is the same content on the homepage (at least for a while) as there is on the individual blog post pages, categories, and archives, so I don’t think the search engines have quite worked out, which to give precedence to and which to ignore. Thanks for the nice words.
Nice explanation of all the options! It was only after I bought a website from another that I realized there was more than just ‘activating’ the plugin and letting it work it’s magic… you still have to set the options!
Thanks for the tutorial–very easy to follow. Keep it up.
I had the SEO pack installed for over about a month now, but I could not figure out how to use it. It was looking too complicated to me. So I just left it idle. This small tutorial has encouraged me to take a second look. At least the instructions are in layman’s English as pointed out by Sarah and Becky in their comments. Thanks for sharing. Cheers.
Hi Katy,
I’m wondering if you can help me…
I am using this plugin but the problem when I right clicked the mouse to VIEW SOURCE PAGE of my posts: I’m seeing 2 sets of keywords — the keywords are rewritten twice. I have no problem with the keywords at my homepage.
I have unchecked both: Use categories for META keywords and Use noindex for tag archives.
Thanks.
I love the All in One SEO Plugin, but sometimes it does feel really, really tedious. Of course, if you spend all that time writing the post, you might as well take the time to optimize it so someone can actually find it.