When you add something new (a “post“) to your WordPress website, you want to get the most bang for your buck by including titles, tags and categories, so your content can be organized and found out there in www-land. Basic SEO is built right into WordPress. But, in addition, there is much more advanced SEO possible when you install a SEO Plugin. (I recommend Yoast because his software is free and he’s an acknowledged expert and good guy.)
Let’s start with basic posting:
Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel (DashBoard). Give your content a title. You may use any words or phrases but avoid using the same title twice, as that will cause problems. WordPress will create a URL (or post-slug) as soon as you create and save that post. At the right of the post in your Dashboard are Categories, the general classification topic. Generally, bloggers have 7-10 categories for their particular content. That way, readers of your website posts can browse categories to select all the posts in a specific category. Manage these by going to Posts > Categories.
Post “Tags” refer to micro-categories for your blog, similar to index entries for a page. Posts with similar tags are linked together when a user clicks one of the tags. Tags have to be enabled with the right code in your theme for them to appear in your post. Add new tags to the post by typing the tag into the box and clicking “Add.” Make sure you separate tags with commas.
If you are writing long posts, break up the sections by using headings, small titles to highlight a change of subject. To recap:
- Log in to your WordPress Administration Panel (Dashboard).
- Click the Posts tab.
- Click the Add New Sub Tab
- Start filling in the blanks.
- As needed, select a category, add tags, and make other selections from the sections below the post. Each of these sections is explained here.
- When you are ready, click Publish.