Wordpress SEO vs Regular Site SEO

[Travis-W]

Hey Mozzers

I'm building a Wordpress-powered site (self hosted on different domain).

I know there are different plug-ins and whatnot for Wordpress SEO, but what exactly am I getting myself into?  Am I required to use these plug-ins even if I already know how to do regular SEO on-page coding, or are they mainly dumbed-down tools for mom-bloggers to use?

Am I still able to use Google Analytics as I am with a regular site?
What else is there to think about?

Thanks!

[NakulGoyal]

Another Thumps Up vote for Yoast.

[RepLoc_Tim]

I understand your thinking, however this is one of those times where you don't have to do it the hard way.  Meaning you take advantage of the ease of use that a plugin provides, while still maintaining your special touches (the art of seo).  Like Mike said, plugins will make it easier even if you know what you are doing.

My recommendation is Yoast Wordpress SEO (free).  The developer is totally devoted to this plugin and stays on top of all issues, as well as trends.  If you are going to be using video on your site, you should buy the Video sitemap plugin from Yoast too.  It integrates right in perfectly and adds the video sitemap.  It also automatically codes your videos so that they show up in the SERPs with a link back to your site.  After building hundreds of WordPress sites, I have tried all the major plugins, but this one is the most reliable.

Yoast also has an Analytics plugin that enhances your Google Analytics data automatically, giving you more details than the standard site.  You sound experienced, so you may not need/ want it, but you should at least look at it.

[cbielich]

Got to love to Yoast!

[TakeshiYoung]

I use the All-In-One SEO plugin. Another popular plugin is Yoast.

Wordpress can create a lot of duplicate content issues because it generates things like tag pages, category pages, and archive pages automatically. No-indexing most of these is a good idea, unless you are going to spend time creating unique content for them.

There are also plugins that make regular on-page SEO optimization tasks easier, such as adding robots exclusions, Google+ butons, etc. without having to muck around with the code.

[Mike_Davis]

Wordpress has some plugins that help in automating many of the processes of on-page SEO.  It just makes the process a bit easier. I personally like how wordpress deals with optimization and I am not a "non-SEO" person.  I would just research the different SEO plugins and find which one you like the best.  They all work pretty much the same with some doing a better job than others.  I would give you a recommendation, but I haven't worked with wordpress for a while and have been out of the loop.

Google Analytics is definitely doable with wordpress.  All you have to do is place the analytics tag at the footer of your wordpress page.  Easy as pie.