Setting up All In One SEO Pack
Archive
From the 2013–2014 archive. This post predates the current site and hasn't been updated.
WordPress has a freely available plugin called “All in One SEO Pack”. This plugin helps with SEO good practices like:
- hooking your site up to Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Tools, and registering with Pinterest;
- setting up Google Analytics;
- creating a sitemap.xml;
- referring to your Google+ account.
Here are the steps I’ve used to set up “All in One SEO Pack” v2.0.4.1 on my latest site running on a self-hosting install of WordPress 3.7.1. Bear in mind that the Google and Bing webmaster instructions were good as of the date that I wrote this.
- Log in as an administrator and select Plugins > Add New which takes you to the Install Plugins screen.
- Search for “All in One SEO Pack” which should be the first result.
- Click Install Now and then OK.
- On the screen labelled “Installing Plugin: All in One SEO Pack 2.0.4.1”, click “Activate Plugin”.
- In the top of the left-side menu towards, you should have a new entry called “All in One SEO”. Click on it.
- You can dismiss the helpful “Welcome” and “Review Your Settings” pop-ups by clicking “Dismiss” in each one
We’ll start off with the General Settings:
- In “Home Page Settings”, set your Home Title, Home Description, and Home Keywords. These will controls the settings only your home page. Choosing well here is important, but is beyond my to give good advice on. Don’t worry too much–these can be updated later.
- In “Keyword Settings”:
- Leave “Use Keywords” enabled.
- Turn on “Use Categories for META Keywords”.
- Leave “Use Tags for META Keywords” enabled.
- Leave “Dynamically generate Keywords for Posts pages” enabled.
- Leave all the “Title Settings” as-is.
- Leave “Custom Site Post Settings” as-is.
- Leave “Display Settings” as-is.
- Leave the “Noindex Settings” and “Advanced Settings” (at the bottom of the page) as they are.
At this point, use the “Update Options” button at the bottom and then scroll back down to the settings for “Webmaster Verification.”
Google Webmaster Tools
- In a new browser tab, go to Google Webmaster Tools, using your Google Account.