Greetings, dear readers!
In this article we will continue the blogging theme and here I want to introduce you to one plugin I recently found - WordPress SEO by Yoast. I'll tell you right away that after reading the plugin, I installed it on the blog without hesitation, and after that I deleted three others because of their uselessness.
To begin with, according to tradition, a small background. For a long time, Yura and I were looking for information on how to make a beautiful repost on facebook. You may have noticed that if you share our article in the social. Vkontakte network, there you can choose a picture from the article, which will be displayed in a post with a link. Facebook, on the other hand, chooses a picture completely in its own way, and it is simply impossible to indicate it.
Later, having learned about such a concept as “micromarking”, we realized that there are several types of this markup, and each affects how our pages, notes, and so on will be understood by various robots.
For example, schema.org micromarking is used for a good understanding of the site by Google and Yandex search engines. Having understood it, we implemented it.
Then here we learned that another microdata, Open Graph, allows you to set up a repost in facebook. However, here's the problem - nowhere in RuNet there is no competent guide on how to implement Open Graph on a blog! Deciding that the problem is not so serious, we put it on the back burner.
Later we found a couple of articles on other blogs about two interesting ways to increase the CTR in the issue (CTR - the attractiveness of the snippet, prompting the user to click on us). These methods are as follows: adding stars of rating for each article and introducing bread crumbs (I will explain each item later).
This is where we found the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast.
I used to hear that this is a kind of analogue of the same Platinum SEO and others, but for me it was a pleasant surprise that the functionality of this plugin is not limited. Further study just struck me and allowed me to highlight a number of important functions for the blog.
So, this is what the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin can do:
- Optimization of the main page and fine-tuning of each article (tittle, description, keywords and everything else).
- Own sitemap (sitemap).
- Setting up Open Graph and similar markup for Twitter
- The introduction of "bread crumbs" on the blog.
- Editing robots.txt and .htaccess files without having to go to the hosting or use an FTP client.
Agree, a considerable list of functionality for a single plug-in. As a result, the use of this plugin allowed me to remove the Platinum SEO, Google Sitemap XML and FileRed plugins, as well as solve the problem with bread crumbs and the old shit with Facebook reposts.
All of the above allowed me to come to the following conclusion:
WordPress SEO by Yoast
Well, now let's move on to installing and configuring this wonder plug-in. It is installed as usual: go to the Plugins - Add a new one, enter WordPress SEO in the search and install the first one issued by Team Yoast. Activate.
You can watch the presentation, but we will not dwell on it, but proceed to the setting on the merits.
- Customize headers and metadata.
Before configuring this item, you need to import all the metadata from the old plugin. Go to the menu "SEO - Tools" and select Import and Export. Here we are interested in the tab "Import from other SEO plugins". Here you will be offered to import from three plug-ins. We select yours and we import.
If you haven't used it here before (for example, Platinum SEO), then you will have to do a little more work.
Go to the plugin menu and, as usual, install SEO Data Transporter. Then go to the "Tools - SEO Data Transport". Here you can choose from a large list. In the first field, select the old plugin, in the second - WordPress SEO. Click Analyze, and if there are no errors, click Convert.
After that, you can disable and delete both the SEO Data Transporter plugin and the old SEO plugin, they are no longer needed.
Now we will set up the metadata already in the new plugin. Go to the appropriate menu "SEO - Headers and Metadata." Here in the first tab you can select a separator for the displayed data.
For example, if you have written “Ivan Petrov’s Blog” in the “Settings - General” menu, and “Everything about household” in the short description, then, for example, if you select the separator as a vertical line, your tittle of the main page will be as follows: “Ivan Petrov's blog | Everything about the household ”(recall that tittle pages can be viewed by pointing at the tab of this page in the browser).
Further, in the other tabs - Homepage, Record Types, etc. - I advise you not to change anything, everything is correct there.
How to make a snippet
Now go into editing any article. Here, under the block of the text of the article will be the blog of the plugin. If you had metadata in another plugin, then they have already been transferred here. In the same fields tittle and description are filled for new articles.
- Site Map.
If you use the Google XML Sitemap plugin, then when you install WordPress SEO you will immediately tell about the incompatibility of these plugins. This problem is solved simply: first, we disable and delete the Google XML Sitemap.
Now go to the menu SEO - XML Sitemap.
If the checkbox at the top “Check this item to enable the XML sitemap” is checked, then remove it, save, put it again and save again. This will update the map created by the plugin, and now clicking here on the "XML Sitemap" you will go to your map.
Now set up the map. A good map contains only pages, articles and headings. Therefore, in the “Types of Records” tab, tick off “Medfiles” and in the “Taxonomies” tab - “Tags” and “Format”. It is important that PCs do not index unnecessary garbage .
PLEASE NOTE: the link to the site map may differ from the link to the map generated by the Google XML Sitemap plugin, so if you used it and specified links to the map in Google and Yandex webmaster and other sources, as well as in the robots.txt file, then these links must be replaced, otherwise the dog will decide that you no longer have a card.
robots txt for wordpress
The robots.txt file, as I said, can be edited in the same plugin: go to SEO - Tools, select FileEditor, and in robots.txt change the link in the Sitemap line.
If you have registered a blog in Yandex and Google webmaster panels, then I think that replacing the links to the cards themselves will not be difficult. The rest do not bother yet, an article about this and the compilation of robots.txt I will write this week.
Also, if you use the Dagon Design Sitemap Generator plugin, then in its settings (Settings - DDSitemapGen) do not forget to specify the path to the new site map too.
- Beautiful reposts on facebook and twitter
In order to make beautiful reposts in these soc. network, first go to the "SEO - Social Networks" and in the tabs on Facebook and Twitter, make sure that there are checkmarks for adding metadata.
Here you can also write the name and description that will be displayed when you repost the main page.
Next, we go into editing any article, scroll down to the plug-in block, and there select the Social Networks tab.
This is where the name and description are written, as well as the picture that will be displayed during the repost of this particular article in the corresponding soc. network. In principle, the name and description can not be filled out, they will be transferred from the tittle and description of the article itself, but the picture should be indicated so that there is no “roulette” when choosing a picture on facebook / twitter when you repost or provide a link.
Bread crumbs on the site
- Bread crumbs
Now let's get closer to this issue and find out what it is and what they eat with. Bread crumbs are a string indicating the path on a site from the main page to a specific article. As I said above, bread crumbs increase the CTR in delivery, because instead of the usual URL, bread crumbs appear in the snippet, which attracts more attention.
Agree, looks more attractive. 
They are configured quite simply: in the menu SEO - Advanced in the first tab, put a tick "Enable bread crumbs." Next will be their setting. Here you can change the pointer (it is better to leave the standard one), specify the text of the main page displayed in crumbs. The rest is also better to leave.
The only thing that is important here is to specify the “Rubric” in the last line of the “Record”, so that the topic (rubric) of the article is displayed in the crumbs between the main article.
Next, we inject the code of the crumbs into the template. Here is the actual code itself:
if (function_exists ('yoast_breadcrumb')) {
yoast_breadcrumb ();
}
Inserted in single.php, I recommend at the beginning of the article before the title or at the end after the farewell. If you have any difficulties, contact the freelancer or contact me via feedback.
In principle, the crumbs in the snippet should work even without code injection, but this is not proven.
Friends, in principle, these are all the basic functions of the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin. The plugin is worth the attention, do not take the time and introduce it to your blog, it will well increase your attractiveness and accuracy of the snippet in the issue.
If you have any questions or need help - write in the comments, help and decide.
Also, if you are just starting to install plugins on a blog, read one very useful article.
Article: " Basic and additional blog plugins "
Do not forget about the competition! I think now, when everyone has high spending on rest, money will not be superfluous to anyone
Learn more: “ The results of the May part of the competition and the conditions for June "
In the near future, as I have already said, wait for an article about setting up and implementing a rating (stars) and integrating your blog into the webmaster of the PS panel.
For now, keep the crossword puzzle:
Updated: crossword puzzle solved! Winners:
5 points - Roman
4 points - Armat
3 points - Anna
2 points - Inna
1 point - Alex
Successes, patience and all the best.
Respectfully, Alexander Popov .