ALL >> Computer-Programming >> View Article
My Troubles With Wordpress Themes

It all began in the late 90's. I wanted to put some news on my website. A diary. A list of forthcoming events. I started with simple HTML. One page, with sections for every post. Simple.
Then I heard about 'blogs' and 'blogging'. Being smart, I picked Wordpress, the most popular software. How clever, I thought. If you get the WYSIWYG editor going, anyone can put up a web site. Very democratic.
This encouraged my to post my outermost thoughts; on politics, London, and personal gripes. As a webmaster, I watched to see Google index them. "Here we go", I thought, "soon, my jewels of extrospection will belong to the ages".
Except Google didn't like my blog. It wouldn't index much beyond the front page. Why, why, why?
Duplicate content? I set it to put only one post per page.
No improvement.
I looked at what Google was indexing. Then I looked at the blog HTML. Soon, all became clear.
In sum:
- Wordpress was still duplicating my content, and
- It had no proper META tags, and
- There was a lot irrelevant HTML, and
- The layout obscured the content. ...
...
I had a quick search on Google to find search engine optimisation tips. There is a plugin 'head META description' ( http://guff.szub.net/plugins/ ). But I didn't use that, oh no.
For some reason, I got the notion that a complete theme would be the ticket. I tried modifying an existing one myself. Better, but not perfect. Google was starting to index more pages, but they all had the same title. My missives to an uncaring world were being ignored.
So I got someone else to do one, based on my criteria, which were:
- Grab a META 'title' from the blog post 'title';
- Grab a META 'description' from the blog 'excerpts';
- Put a ROBOTS 'noindex' tag in non-content pages.
But that wasn't enough. For best SEO results you need to configure Wordpress brutally. You have to be _mean_ to it. You have to _man_ enough.
I did a bit of research and came up with to following tips.
WARNING: They are extreme. If you already have good rankings, making radical changes to your URLs may affect them. In my case:
- Moving my blog http://www.ttblog.co.uk to the root web directory,
- MOD_REWRITING its URLs, and
- Removing a 301 redirect,
... caused my PageRank to go to 0. BUT, page indexing was unaffected.
This was temporary, as Google saw it as 'suspect' behaviour. I had radically changed my site.
Here are the tips, for real _men_, who can look in the face of internet death and laugh:
1. Activate permalinks by going to 'Options/Permalinks'. You may have to enable Apache MOD_REWRITE on your web account.
1a. Shorten the permalinks code to just the %postname% variable. Don't bother with the date codes. This keeps your URLs short.
2. Point your blog in the uppermost directory possible. http://www.ttblog.co.uk is better than http://www.ttblog.co.uk/wordpress/
So a typical post would look like
http://www.ttblog.co.uk/Im-hard-as-nails-me/
rather than
http://www.ttblog.co.uk/wordpress/2006/08/03/Im-hard-as-nails-me/
3. Then install an SEO'd theme.
My blog posts are now being indexed beautifully. The Google 'site:' command returns all my posts, and little else.
For my next challenge, I take on Windows XP, and turn it into an operating system.
Add Comment
Computer Programming Articles
1. Best Data Science Training In Bhopal To Kickstart Your Data Career In 2025Author: Rohan Rajput
2. Blue Wizard Liquid Drops 30 Ml 2 Bottles Price In Rawalpindi
Author: bluewizard.pk
3. Blue Wizard Liquid Drops 30 Ml 2 Bottles Price In Faisalabad
Author: bluewizard.pk
4. Blue Wizard Liquid Drops 30 Ml 2 Bottles Price In Karachi
Author: bluewizard.pk
5. The Ultimate Guide To Launching A Successful Online Store
Author: Rudram Technology Solutions LLP
6. Best Data Science Institute In Bhopal Offering Practical Training & Placements
Author: Rohan Rajput
7. Why Cfos Are Switching To Automated Depreciation Software?
Author: Maco Infotech
8. Agentic Ai Development Services: Unlocking The Future Of Smarter Automation
Author: Albert
9. Why The Best Data Science Institute In Bhopal Is The Gateway To Top It Jobs
Author: Rohan Rajput
10. Complete Php Tutorial: Master Core Php Concepts With Examples
Author: Tech Point
11. Framework7 Tutorial For Beginners – Create Powerful Hybrid Apps
Author: Tech Point
12. Why Spadegaming Is Dominating The Asian Igaming Market
Author: Alex
13. Why Express.js And Mongodb Are A Dynamic Duo For Node.js Development
Author: Andy
14. Discover The Best Data Science Institute In Bhopal For A Future-ready Career
Author: Rohan Rajput
15. Best Data Science Institute In Bhopal: Learn Ai, Ml & Analytics With Experts
Author: Rohan Rajput