Now that we have WordPress installed, as we did in Step 4, there are a few WordPress settings that we need to adjust and install a few WordPress plug-ins so that our site is optimized for search engines.  Many WordPress plug-ins are free, and the 3 that I recommend below are all free.

Step 5- WordPress Settings & Plug-Ins

You are ready to start writing content for your website, but first, there are a few settings that we should adjust and plug-ins we should install.

All these fixes are designed to help your site rank higher in Google.  We are going to change one setting and install 3 plug-ins.

Settings

Go into your WordPress admin panel, and select Settings/Permalinks (see image below).

Under Common settings, choose Custom Structure and write in /%postname%/

This will give you readable URLs for your posts and pages, such as:

http://googleplacement.net/master-strategy-for-a-high-Google-placement

rather than:

http://googleplacement.net/?p=123

Google rewards URLs that have the search term embedded in their name, and you need the Custom setting to do this.

Plug-ins

There are 3 plug-ins you will want to install to improve your Google ranking.

ALL-IN-ONE SEO

All-in-One SEO is a free plug-in plug in that makes it easy to edit the meta tag information on your pages and posts.

To add this plug-in, in your WordPress admin panel, click on Plugins/Add New and in the Search box enter “All in One SEO”.

When you find the desired plug-in, click Install Now, and the plug-in will download and automatically install.

Once it is installed, click on Plugins/Plugins and you will see all of your installed plugins.

With All-in-One SEO, you will get a box at the bottom of your pages and posts that allows you to put in the meta data.  Make sure the keywords that you hope people will find you with are in the Title, Description and Keywords (see below).  These can be different for each post or page.  Do not put your keyword more than once or twice in the title and description.

GOOGLE XML SITE MAPS

Next, install the Google XML site maps plug-in, using the approach for installing plug-ins described with the All-in-One SEO plug-in.  There is nothing else you need to do here; the plug-in will create a special XML site map that the search engines use to index your site.  Below is an image of the plug-in’s Settings page, but you do not need to change anything here.

EASY PRIVACY POLICY

Finally, you should install and activate the Easy Privacy Policy.  Install the Plug-in, as described with the All-in-One SEO plug-in.

Once the plug-in is installed, click on Settings/Easy Privacy Policy. You will seen the screen below.  Provide your blog name and an email contact address (if desired).  Review the text, and change or delete any text that doesn’t apply to you.  When you are done, click on any of the Update buttons on the Settings page, and the plug-in will automatically create a Privacy Policy for you that shows up at the bottom of your website.  You now have a privacy policy!  A privacy policy is something that Google looks for in a website, and those sites that have one get a higher ranking than those that do not.

These are 4 quick settings to your WordPress site that will help your Google ranking.  In step 6, we will conclude this tutorial with how to get content prepared for your website.