‘80-90% of SEO already done for you in Wordpress’ Am I missing something?

[JemRobinson]

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

[Adlanera]

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.

[JemRobinson]

Do you know, I'm blown away by the answers here, this is great info, many thanks.

[sprynewmedia]

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)

[JemRobinson]

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?

[JemRobinson]

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.

[JemRobinson]

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.

[JemRobinson]

I thought this would be the case, but does Wordpress have built in functions to automatically optimise a page?

[Jonathan_Larkin]

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.

[sprynewmedia]

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.

[EGOL]

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.

[JemRobinson]

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?

[EGOL]

“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.

[Jonathan_Larkin]

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..