Member Avatar for superspudnuts

Hi Guy's

I have just started my own independent blog on my own server account to compliment my Life Insurance Site and would like some tips on how best to set it out.

In terms of seo should my categories, blog roll, latest posts etc columns be on the left of the posts or to the right.

My thought is that if they are on the right then the search spiders will get to the posts and main content a lot quicker as they are not been sent off by any links?

Is this so and does any one have any tips or ideas etc.

Many thanks in advance

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Short, practical roadmap that builds on points made by , and others: design the page for people first and make the main post the obvious structural priority in the HTML (search engines render pages, but giving them a clear, semantic structure reduces rendering issues). Use semantic elements like <main> for the post and <aside> for sidebars, keep the main content near the top of the DOM, and avoid deferring critical text behind heavy client-side rendering. This helps accessibility and makes discovery more reliable. (developer.mozilla.org)

Checklist to implement now (quick, actionable):

  • Unique, descriptive titles and a human-first meta description for each post.
  • Clean permalinks and rel="canonical" for duplicates.
  • Structured data for articles/posts where appropriate.
  • An XML sitemap and a verified Search Console property (submit the sitemap there).
  • Mobile-first responsive theme, fast hosting, browser caching, compressed images, and server-side or early-rendered core content to improve Core Web Vitals. (developers.google.com)

Clarify meta tags (answers and ): meta keywords are ignored by Google and are not worth using; meta description is used sometimes to build the SERP snippet so write it for humans. For WordPress, use a modern SEO plugin (Yoast, AIOSEO or similar) to manage per-post titles, descriptions, sitemaps and schema instead of hand-editing every theme file. (webmasters.googleblog.com)

Small code fallback (add to a child theme or small plugin) — outputs a simple meta description if none set:

add_action('wp_head','dw_fallback_meta_description');
function dw_fallback_meta_description(){
  if(is_singular() && !is_front_page()){
    $desc = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), '_yoast_wpseo_metadesc', true);
    if(!$desc) $desc = wp_trim_words( get_the_excerpt(), 30 );
    echo '<meta name="description" content="'.esc_attr($desc).'" />'."\n";
  }
}

Troubleshoot quickly: use Search Console URL Inspection, PageSpeed Insights / Lighthouse, and a validator to find blocking robots rules, blocked resources, slow scripts, or missing structured data. Prioritize UX and content quality — layout left vs right matters only for readers, not as a crawler trick. Mentioned forum points about titles, tags and link placement are useful; combine them with the checklist above for the best, long-term gains.

Recommended Answers

All 20 Replies

Member Avatar for jay 11

In terms of seo should my categories, blog roll, latest posts etc columns be on the left of the posts or to the right.

My thought is that if they are on the right then the search spiders will get to the posts and main content a lot quicker as they are not been sent off by any links?

It won't really matter. As long as you don't have any major road blocks (aka coding errors) the spiders will be able to capture all the content and follow most of the navigation structured on your site - no matter where it is. Develop the site nav for the user first. Let the spiders find their own way. Though its probably a good idea to set up a sitemap and use Google Webmaster tools to learn about any issues they might have with crawling. Running the site through a W3C validator wouldn't hurt either.

Edited by jay 11 because: fixed typo
Member Avatar for qlipboard

Wordpress is very good for SEO. There are so many useful plugins.

Member Avatar for superspudnuts

Does anyone know any good wordpress related sites/forums where I can get some good tips and advice in regards to seo etc

Again thanks

Member Avatar for khaskhabar

Hello dear,

I also wanted to know that can we add meta tags on wordpress blog?
Thanks

Hi Guy's

I have just started my own independent blog on my own server account to compliment my Life Insurance Site and would like some tips on how best to set it out.

In terms of seo should my categories, blog roll, latest posts etc columns be on the left of the posts or to the right.

My thought is that if they are on the right then the search spiders will get to the posts and main content a lot quicker as they are not been sent off by any links?

Is this so and does any one have any tips or ideas etc.

Many thanks in advance

Member Avatar for osenorman

No dear i dont think this can be done

Hello dear,

I also wanted to know that can we add meta tags on wordpress blog?
Thanks

Member Avatar for espsol

In terms of seo should my categories, blog roll, latest posts etc columns be on the left of the posts or to the right.

My thought is that if they are on the right then the search spiders will get to the posts and main content a lot quicker as they are not been sent off by any links?

i dont think it matters in such a case... spiders area mainly concerned with the content and quality... navigation is not that problem for spiders

Member Avatar for canadafred

... Many thanks in advance

Common Blogging Mistakes

Blog Post Titles

As the subject of your post is used to develop the web page's name, you should try to get keyphrases in there. For example, if you want to promote your son's baseball career it would be better to entitle the posting "Saskatoon Little League Champion Grand Slam Win Tournament" rather than "Bobby hits one out of the park". This way you'll end up with a web page that is named saskatoon-little-league-champion.html

Labels or Tags or Blog Categories

Don't overuse tags. A blog post doesn't need to be in 30 different tags. Minimize the tags, maximize the postings in the tags.

Blog Comments

Moderate your comments. Remove spam swiftly. Intelligent comments should be kept with any links remaining attached. Encourage intelligent commentary.

Posting Content

Don't write one line, purposeless, meaningless, drab, boring stuff. Craft content. Work your paragraphs in SEO friendly ways. Figure out how to get images and videos in there, use the HTML tag attributes. Emphasize important keyphrases using bold, underline or any other method. Write unique, important sentences. Keep posts condensed to one or two subjects.

There lots more about SEO for blogging but that should get you started in the right direction.

Edited by canadafred because: n/a
Member Avatar for infinique

You can use the tagging and categories to efficiently improve the keyword density of the wordpress blog. Add that up with blogroll links that links back to your main site and that will be perfect.

Member Avatar for w3bmast3r

Definately, seems like most of us in there are wordpress developers but really good SEO content

Does anyone know any good wordpress related sites/forums where I can get some good tips and advice in regards to seo etc

Again thanks

Member Avatar for w3bmast3r

in terms of position of content you only really need to know that the higher up a link is on your page it will get the most of your "link juice" so make sure that whatever keywords come up in the first 20 links is what you are trying to rank for. The further down the page the less important the links appear

Member Avatar for w3bmast3r

You can add meta keywords not meta tags to your "blog"
as such but each post has meta tags.

Member Avatar for ftmyerslocalseo

I've heard that wordpress "thesis" template comes preoptimized and submits your blog to bookmarking sites automatically ... seems I read an article on this somewhere ...

Member Avatar for ppeso

Wordpress is very good for SEO. There are so many useful plugins.

I use wordpress all in one SEO plug in and it is okay.

Member Avatar for Microsys

I will second WordPress. It is very versatile and also very easy to start using. It can even update itself etc. It has lots of high quality themes and plugins (including for marketing, social and seo) you can use.

Member Avatar for sixplus

CanadaFred Thanks for the information! Been picking up buts and pieces. It's refreshing to have you list some of the things I need to key in on.

Thanks!

Member Avatar for Linkbuilders

I think wordpress is the best enggine blog for optimization your web site, use allinone seopack and you done!

Member Avatar for joy12

Wordpress is very good and provides many plugins for your seo works. Just use them.

Member Avatar for webdesigns12

hello,
superspudnuts

first can you show me your website link, after that i have analyze and says any Strategies of your website.. because SEO is very much effective to increase the business, so with out site we cant said anything. I'm expecting your next your with your website link..

Member Avatar for testboss

You can start working from the on page optimization and then you can move to off page with link building ,comment posting .

Member Avatar for bobwillz

As blogging platforms go, Wordpress is the reigning champion of SEO. From extended page URLs to pingback links and header tags, these four SEO tips can help you turn your Wordpress blog into a powerful SEO resource.

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