‘80-90% of SEO already done for you in Wordpress’ Am I missing something?
-
Hi there, I’m looking for some feedback on a statement made on my Facebook Page re Wordpress and SEO. Please understand I wouldn’t class myself as an expert but I am competent and achieve satisfactory results for clients, more so since becoming a SEOmoz Pro user, I’ve just had some great results for a client using SEOmoz guidelines in ‘On Page SEO Reports’ thank you very much!
A comment however made on my FB page has got my interest….
“as you (kn)no(w) google loves WP and will get listed quicker as 80 to 90% of your SEO is already done”
Does Wordpress (or Joomla for that matter mentioned in the same conversation) have some SEO advantages that Google loves as the poster would have me believe, can I save time and effort working in word press from an SEO point of view?
I use the age old techniques of targeting key phrases and words and distributing them accordingly. Creating internal link structures with ‘key worded anchor text’ etc before embarking on any off page SEO.
Do any of you vastly experienced (in comparison to me) SEO folk have any insight into what this statement refers to?
I did not gather any references to SEO advantages in Wordpress or Joomla in the Enge and Fishkin et al book The Art of SEO, or any of the other books I’ve read, to develop my knowledge on SEO for the benefit of my clients and of course my pocket. J
-
I think that WordPress does just as nicely in the SERPs as a page posted on some other platform. I don't suppose that it has any magic bullets that can't be performed on even a hand-built format which includes Dreamweaver. For more details see it on bikes passion and take some detailed guidance.
-
Do you know, I'm blown away by the answers here, this is great info, many thanks.
-
Wordpress can get very fast once you properly configure a cache plugin. You could even use CloudFlare.com to enjoy some great CDN enhancements for very cheap.
This assumes you have reliable and speedy hosting - a constant of all websites. It also assumes you are careful about optimizing the images and don't load the page with megabytes of JS libraries/plugins.
(edit note: In my experience cloudflare makes a significant impact if you are on a slower, shared hosting plan. On a pro level host, it isn't as beneficial)
-
Thank you, you have all answered my question. I note your comment on light weight and fast load times but hear complaints of very slow loading content managed sites including WP, Joomla and others, is this not the case? Or is like any chosen platform where the inexperienced or those with little care can though error create burdens that may slow the site down?
-
Thank you, the reply above and yours are putting me in the picture, I didn't think there was a magic bullet, 'seo friendly' is a different concept entirely from 80-90% of the work being done for you. Best regards.
-
Thank you, that was my understanding and I am in complete agreement with your second paragraph. Steven Spaldings reply below clarifies for me further, thank you gentlemen.
-
I thought this would be the case, but does Wordpress have built in functions to automatically optimise a page?
-
no .. that statement is lazy. On-page stuff like heading structure, title, semantic tagging, inner links, etc can be made all easier by wordpress + plugins .. the rest will require work depending on what you're trying to rank for and what your goals are.
If you're the only person in the world selling "evil unicorns" then you will rank on search engines for selling evil unicorns with only putting up a page that says "I sell evil unicorns"
If your market is more competitive, you will need a strategy of content, social, links, etc. to be on top.
Wordpress is only "seo-friendly" not instant SEO.
-
Out of the box WP handles on-page optimization fairly well especially for the "SEO unaware". Titles and descriptions are customized from article content and the entire site can be easily index. The pages tend to be light weight thus load very fast. From there, it depends on the theme and plugins.
But that is far from 80-90% of SEO. It isn't even 80-90% of on-page optimization which highly dependent on the content and content category.
As a blanket statement, it is false. If all they are saying is the sites will be easily indexed, sure.
-
I think that wordpress does just as well in the SERPs as a page published on any other platform. I don't think that it has any magic bullets that can't be done on even a hand-built format such as DreamWeaver.
I think that the more important part of SEO is the selection of topics and categories, the composition of title tags, and the linkage structure of the website. The most important part is getting quality content and pitching in a way that will make your visitors respond. Although some might not think that is SEO, it can have a greater impact than a lot of off-page work.
-
Could you explain a little please? I know a little about SEO but Iess about Wordpress. Are you saying that 80-90% of SEO work regardless of site subject and target audience is done by Wordpress already?
-
“as you (kn)no(w) google loves WP and will get listed quicker as 80 to 90% of your SEO is already done”
This is probably true if you don't know much about SEO.
-
that statement should be "....of your **on-page **SEO...." and even that percentage is high for on-page.
no matter what platform you use, you'll still have to do the leg-work of getting quality content, and sufficient natural links ..etc..
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Need suggestion: What is the best internal linking structure for our website to gain in SEO & UX too?
Hi all, We have 3 different editions of our product we are selling with 20 features. 1st edition & 2nd edition comes with 15 features in which 10 are common in each edition. 3rd edition comes with all 20 features. Now what's the best way to interlink and show the navigational menu to highlight 3 editions and features as well? Much appreciated if some one refer me a website with such structure. Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz0 -
SEO strategy for UK / US websites
Hi, We currently have a UK-focused site on www.palmatin.com ; We're now targeting the North American market as well, but the contents of the site need to be different from UK. One option was to create another domain for the NA market but I assume it would be easier to rank with palmatin.com though. What would you suggest to do, if a company is targeting two different countries in the same language? thanks, jaan
Web Design | | JaanMSonberg0 -
Wordpress Theme is blocking alt tags. Does anybody know of any special plugins?
We have a special wordpress theme for nataliecass.com. Unfortunately the theme is blocking all the alt tags (this is a photography website...alt tags are very important). Does anybody know of any special WP plugins for alt tags? Thanks
Web Design | | VanguardCommunications0 -
Can wordpress actually be bad for sites if it static?
Hello, So last year I did rank for my website. Yet I switched from Adobe Muse to wordpress. I thought it would be great for updating and blobbing if I ever do it. So I got a theme, and went for it I have Yoast and that's it for plugins. But if I take say another couple of years to blog, am I hurting myself with wordpress? Like Google knows I am using wordpress so it expects me to be creating content? I know its an odd question, just had to ask
Web Design | | Berner0 -
Will changing product from Grouped to Simple on my magento category page affect my SEO?
Hi all, A category page on my site http://www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/wood-effect.html currently ranks number 3 on Google for the keyword "Wood Effect Tiles" We're currently reorganising some of our product and I would like to know if this is going to affect the SEO and ranking for the above page and keyword. The majority of products on that page are magento grouped products. I would like to change the page so that it displays only the different constituent simple products rather than the grouped products on the category page. My question is, will this have any impact on SEO? I intend on leaving all other data on the category page the same - so the metadata and the description/title etc. Any help/comments would be much appreciated! Ben
Web Design | | piazza0 -
On Page Local SEO
What do you believe is the best approach when it comes to Local SEO for businesses in 2013?
Web Design | | BlueRockDigital0 -
Hey, So I know wordpress is built with a user capability, but what about databasing custom user data?
Hi everyone, so I am working on a project with a friend of mine, without getting into too much detail, here's the problem. We need users to sign in, then for instance, click a button, and then have that action record a value of 1 in a database on our server (preferably accessible through the wordpress admin interface, and in .csv format so that we can make it easy to work with) Any help with databasing, or if wordpress is already built with SOME database technology, etc, etc For instance, SEOmoz's "mozpoint" system.. Wordpress comes built with the ability for users to log in and have profiles with special access, etc, but does it have the ability to log points and values to a specific user as well? Where should I look? What should I google to figure out options? Who could I call / hire?
Web Design | | TylerAbernethy0 -
Ecommerce Style Wordpress But No Shopping Cart.
Wondering if anyone knows if you can purchase an ecommece style wordpress theme, but not use the shopping cart portion or display pricing. We would like to display our website how an ecommerce is set up, but at this time, we do not sell anything online. We are considering in the near future to sell half of our products. And this would not be very large. Or can ecommerce be added to any wordpress theme. ?
Web Design | | hfranz0