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How WordPress Conflicts Hurt SEO

Do you know if your wordpress plugins are competing to display your on page seo?

There are many many themes and plugins that try to help WordPress site owners with their SEO. Specifically on page SEO.

Sometimes these things don’t play well with each other.

That means that search engines might be showing page titles, descriptions, and keywords for your site that you didn’t intend!

Here’s a real life example

Today I logged into Google + to share a link to affiliatejitsu.com with my “circles.” When I used the “link” icon and entered the info I realized my page title was wrong. That might not seem like a big deal to you. To me though, it’s a big one.

Your page title is how people on other websites “see you” online.

It’s what people see on Google.

It’s what people see on Facebook.

It’s what people see everywhere.

If your page title doesn’t read well you’ve lost that visitor. Maye even forever. Your page title (and description) is an ad. It should be written as one (with a keyword sprinkled in for best results).

Eventually I figured out that my theme (Thesis) and a SEO plugin (Yoast SEO) I’m using were fighting over which displayed my meta title, description, and keywords. The plugin was winning that battle and the page title I wanted as written in my Thesis on page SEO area.

To fix the problem I copied the correct title and description from Thesis over to the Yoast SEO plugin. Crisis over.

So, how do you find out if your on page SEO is being displayed right?

Well here’s a Google + quick and dirty trick to find out.

1.     Login to your Google account and head over to your Google + home page.

2.     Click the link icon next to the “share what’s new” text field

3.     Analyze your page title and description.

Is that the title you were expecting to see?

If not you might want to examine your WordPress setup. Do you have a theme and a plugin that both handle on page SEO factors? If so login and get that optimized title in the right spot so your links are read the way you want them to be.

 

This article was brought to you by: Dustin Bow

Dustin Bow is on the cutting edge of Internet Marketing.  His 8 years of experience in SEO, affiliate marketing, teaching, and consulting combines to create a unique voice in our industry.  He writes from an “in the trenches” perspective any level of marketer could find useful in their own campaigns.

 

10 thoughts on “How WordPress Conflicts Hurt SEO

  1. Thanks for the tip. SEO is not an easy task when considering all the work in not just implementing it but also seeing the end result of your work!

  2. You know I often wonder if activating these plug ins etc, how do you know if there is a conflict until you check it yourself. Myself being new at this I can’t help think I have issues I am not aware of.

  3. A very interesting point, and one that was specifically brought up by Joost in a webinar a week or two ago, specifically regarding Thesis and his plugin. I think the actual point here is that we have to check and double check to ensure that what we want to appear is appearing in the way and manner that it should be doing so.

  4. Not like I need anymore ideas for posts (still have too many drafts that are not yet completed), but this is nonetheless and awesome post and a great resource for any blogger.

  5. Great advice and thank you for the heads-up on this. It’s always good to know what the spiders are seeing especially the big guy on the block regarding the posted pages.

    Thanks!
    Brad

  6. Good point
    I use Yoast WP SEO Plugin and using it, you’re able to preview and control the way your snippets are being seen.
    Works like a charm

  7. I’m trying to figure out if my site has been adversely affected by switching to thesis 2.0 as well as having yoast seo plugin installed…..any experience with this?

  8. Hey – that sounds like a question for the Thesis support team to me. I don’t have any experience with 2.0 yet. Good luck

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