16 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Greetings,

I'm sure the actual question is ridiculous due to the fact that Wordpress also uses various forms of HTML, etc. Though, I'm not really certain how else to ask the question. Basically, in Wordpress you can add various plugins that will assist with SEO optimization and so on. If you build a site using straight HTML with an editor such as dreamscape how do you optimize the site for SEO?

How do you clue in the search engines that they need to check out this site, etc? Sorry for my ultra noob question but I'm building a site from the floor up for one of my projects and am about to the point where I can go live but I've no idea how to make sure the site gets crawled, etc. Thanks
#html #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Alfred Shelver
    Not knowing enough, I would suggest the answer is not one specific thing and rather technical.

    Having said that I would really like to see the answer to as I have people asking me a similar question often.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Russell
    Search engine optimization occurs in similar ways on Wordpress and HTML sites (no matter what kind of site you build, the search engines still value the same things - keywords in h tags, meta tags, etc). The only difference is that when coding in HTML, you're able to add them yourself. The structure of Wordpress makes it more difficult to edit the code yourself, which is why we have plugins to achieve the same things.

    As for getting indexed, the fastest way to do this is to get a backlink from another site pointed at yours. Most people do this by posting articles to article directories, creating social bookmarks or making small Web 2.0 sites to point to your main site.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Tiger, you SEO an HTML site the same way the plugins do...

    > Use search-friendly urls
    > Put your keyword in your page title
    > Use your keyword in your description and keyword metatags
    > Use appropriate linking within your site

    To get the site crawled, build a link from a site that gets crawled often. That could mean posting an article with a directory like EzineArticles or GoArticles. It could mean using one of the social bookmarking sites like Digg. Maybe tweet a link or post it to Facebook. Or all of the above.

    At the end of the day, the plugins simply allow you to do something within the Wordpress structure (database) vs. adding them to plain pages.

    Add an xml sitemap and register it with Google webmaster tools.

    None of it is rocket science, unless you don't know...
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  • Profile picture of the author bfas
    As noted above, on-page optimization is essentially the same - or at least you want to accomplish the same things. In Wordpress, most theme's take care of your tags, where as straight HTML you might have to specify your H1, meta tags, etc.

    Also, most Wordpress themes support RSS feeds, where you'll need to create one for an HTML site.

    By and large, you can accomplish the same things with either 'platform' these days. The benefits to using Wordpress are ease of setup & use, and available plugins.

    On the other hand, with Wordpress, you're 'forced' into a hierarchical site structure that you aren't with an HTML site. In other words, your content is 'seen' by the search engines as a long chronological string of pages. Of course you can use Wordpress 'Pages' to add 'stand alone' URLs/pages, but that defeats some of the purpose & benefits of Wordpress.

    bfas
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  • Profile picture of the author AFI
    Building an HTML site lets you have GREATER CONTROL over SEO than WordPress, I highly recommend it if you know what you're doing. I use Dreamweaver to builld my sites. Not saying that I don't have blogs too though.
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  • Profile picture of the author NerdGary
    AFI, I have to disagree... wordpress is fast, direct, and clean. Wordpress structure is superior to most hand coded html sites. WP leaves virtually zero room for error.
    And try changing meta tags on hundreds of pages (of coarse when your site grows)...with WP you can do it in just a few clicks.

    I am a huge fan of wordpress... but of coarse html is the backbone of the internet, and will always suffice if needed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tiger_Claw
    Thanks for all the great responses. I'll look into adding meta tags and keyword tags into the HTML index page. I was familiar with using backlinks and articles. I was wanting to make sure I did not miss any steps or do anything that would prevent the site from being indexed.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by bfas View Post

      On the other hand, with Wordpress, you're 'forced' into a hierarchical site structure that you aren't with an HTML site. In other words, your content is 'seen' by the search engines as a long chronological string of pages. Of course you can use Wordpress 'Pages' to add 'stand alone' URLs/pages, but that defeats some of the purpose & benefits of Wordpress.

      bfas
      While this is true if you use Wordpress 'out of the box', it doesn't have to be that way.

      It's very easy to set up 'pretty' urls that are not date-dependent. The last time I converted an html site to WP, I set up the link structure so that the two versions were indistinguishable.

      I see people building WP sites using only pages, and I wonder at the waste. It's so simple to tweak a theme to remove the 'bloggish' features, there's no reason not to use categories and posts to take the place of sub-directories and web pages.
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      • Profile picture of the author JasonValens
        While this is true if you use Wordpress 'out of the box', it doesn't have to be that way.
        Agreed, posts can be made pretty and seo friendly with a custom permalink /%category%/%postname%/ or just /%postname%/
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarah Russell
    I have to second NerdGary's recommendation - building HTML websites is cumbersome, and there's so much room for error when you're first getting started. Wordpress sites are easy to launch and most of the SEO is done for you automatically, so that you don't have to worry about coding a tag wrong or missing a step.
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  • Profile picture of the author SirHarrrison
    Originally Posted by Tiger_Claw View Post

    Greetings,

    I'm sure the actual question is ridiculous due to the fact that Wordpress also uses various forms of HTML, etc. Though, I'm not really certain how else to ask the question. Basically, in Wordpress you can add various plugins that will assist with SEO optimization and so on. If you build a site using straight HTML with an editor such as dreamscape how do you optimize the site for SEO?

    How do you clue in the search engines that they need to check out this site, etc? Sorry for my ultra noob question but I'm building a site from the floor up for one of my projects and am about to the point where I can go live but I've no idea how to make sure the site gets crawled, etc. Thanks
    The only SEO plugin I use for wordpress is "All in Ones SEO" It does everything and works great. There are alot of other imitators that try to mtch it, but don't even come close, and it's FREE.
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    "This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."

    Thank you,
    Harrison

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  • Profile picture of the author NerdGary
    TO take it a step further... If you're really new to html/coding... you can even install the WP site in Cpanel with one click using the "Fantastico" installer...

    Highly recommended... you dont have to worry about setting up the database or anything like that...

    GL
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  • Profile picture of the author Tiger_Claw
    Oh. I've setup quite a few Wordpress sites using the Thesis theme on most of them. I was just having trouble finding a theme that would properly fit the current project I'm working on, so that's why I went with the HTML this time around. Maybe someday I'll take the time to learn how to build wordpress themes. Thanks for the great responses.
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  • Profile picture of the author joshuagan80
    You can actually edit WP theme if you know some html code. This is what I did for my WP blog. I'm lazy to start from scratch so I used WP blog for my site.

    You can remove the comments, date, side bars, anything, and even add in some graphics, but definitely there are some limitations to what you can do.

    Since you are using HTML to create your site, be sure to have your targeted/buying keywords in the title, meta description, etc. Add in as many as possible in your site.

    How to get search engine notice you:
    Comment on high PR blogs or blogs with high traffic,
    create YouTube videos & remember to add your link,
    submit articles with anchor at the bottom of your article (not resource box), Ezine & ArticleBase allow,
    use social bookmarking (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc) to bookmark your site,
    use Social Networking (Twitter & Facebook).

    If you can, write as many article (with anchor text) as possible and post them on others blogs. You want to get as many links as possible so that search engines will crawl to your site.

    Also add a link to high PR site or .gov/.edu site, by doing this, you are also creating opportunity for the spider to notice your site.

    Type info:yourdomainname.com in Google to see if Google has crawled your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris DeMarco
    Ping your website.

    When you ping you let blog directories and search engines know that you have new material on your site and they will come and index it. A service like Pingomatic (Google it) will do it but there are others. WordPress should also automatically ping after a post. Only ping once after you add content because the search engines don’t like multiple pings for the same content.
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