Here’s a list of 21 tips (original list consisted of 20 tips but i realized I missed out one important tip) to optimize WordPress (the article now has thirteen tips and 8 more to go – will be updated daily) in terms of design, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), standards compliance, usability and cross-browser compatibility.

Please feel free to share tips that have worked for you in making WordPress better. I’d appreciate it!

1. Choose a Good Domain Name

A good domain name should incorporate some of your main keywords and be easy to remember. Nameboy is a fantastic service for brainstorming and buying domain names. OneLook is not a domain registrar but is another great service that can be used for brainstorming domain names. After deciding upon a domain name, register it with a service like Nameboy or GoDaddy.

2. Evaluate WordPress Recommended Hosting

WordPress recommends the following hosting providers:

Evaluate these hosting providers based on:

  • Disk space
  • Bandwidth per month
  • Number of email accounts provided
  • One click installer for WordPress like Fantastico (preferable) or SimpleScripts
  • Price
  • Number of databases (useful if you intend to host more than one WordPress installation per account)
  • Add-on domains (useful if you intend to host more than one domain per account)
  • Demo login is important if you want to familiarize yourself with the hosting control panel interface.
  • Customer service factors like 24/7 customer service via telephone, live chat or email is important. Especially if you live in a different timezone, 24.7 support is vital.
  • Reliability can be gauged by the number of issues reported on public websites like Google Groups and WordPress.org support forums. However, this cannot be absolutely accurate because the number of problems is usually directly proportional to their number of customers. Additionally, check whether they have a server status monitoring system.

3. Change the WordPress Default Theme/Template

Nobody wants a cookie-cutter website or blog so it is important to change the default theme to make it look unique. Contrary to popular belief, customizing a WordPress template is not ‘rocket science’ and there’s always help at sites like eLance or Rent-A-Coder.

First things first, start with an existing theme (there are loads of premium and free WordPress themes available) that fits your intended design closely. After that, either customize it yourself or hire a WordPress professional at eLance or Rent-A-Coder (you can also get a good deal and complete the site/blog faster if you are using a free or premium theme because they don’t have to create the theme from scratch).

Second, find a theme that suits your requirements. Some premium WordPress themes (most are under $100) I like are:

If you can’t find a premium theme that meets your needs or if you don’t want to pay for a premium theme then consider free themes. However, finding a good free theme is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Here are some of my favorite free themes:

4. Update Permalinks to Create Search Engine Friendly URLs

By default, WordPress creates ugly URLs like http://example.com/?p=N which is not exactly ideal. However, creating a user and search engine friendly URL is not difficult at all. Here’s what you do:

  1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  2. Click the “Settings” tab followed by “Permalinks” link.

    WordPress PermaLinks Settings
  3. Choose any structure apart from “Default”. I like to use the Custom Structure of “/%category%/%postname%/” that makes my URL look like http://example.org/category/postname/
  4. If the permalink doesn’t work then it is most likely because of the .htaccess file permission issues (assuming the server is Apache). Open the .htaccess file and add the following code (if WordPress is installed in the root directory):

    # BEGIN WordPress

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

    # END WordPress
  5. Open the .htaccess file and add the following code (if WordPress is installed in a directory called ‘blog‘):

    # BEGIN WordPress

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /blog/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule . /blog/index.php [L]

    # END WordPress

5. Ditch the WYSIWYG Editor

By default, WordPress provides a visual WYSIWYG Editor to edit content. I strongly recommend to turn this visual editor off because a lot of times it creates unnecessary extra code especially when you copy and paste from word processors like Microsoft Word. Do the following to turn the visual editor off:

  1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  2. Click on your profile name link on the top right corner of the administrator’s interface (highlighted in red).

    WordPress profile link
  3. Uncheck the “Use the visual editor when writing” (highlighted in red) box and click the “Update Profile” button.

    Turning WordPress Visual Editor Off

6. Change Date and Time Option

By default, WordPress is set to the UTC timezone which is most likely not your timezone. Do the following to change the date and time option:

  1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  2. Click the “Settings” tab followed by “General” link.
  3. Scroll down to “Timezone”, “Date Format”, “Time Format” and “Week Starts On” settings and change it according to your timezone and preferences.

    Timezone settings in WordPress
  4. Click the “Save Changes” button.

7. Update Akismet

Comment spam is a nuisance for WordPress blogs and websites. Spammers usually use automated software to post comments that promote their commercial services. Akismet (comes bundled with WordPress) is the plugin of choice to protect against comment spam.

  1. Log into your WordPress account.
  2. Click on the “Plugins” link on the top right side of the Dashboard.
    Note: Download and install Akismet if it is not already there on the plugin list.
  3. Click the “Activate” link (assuming that Akismet is already in the list of plugins) for Akismet.
  4. A note saying “Akismet is almost ready. You must enter your WordPress.com API key for it to work.” will be displayed. Open a new window and go to www.wordpress.com and sign up at http://wordpress.com/signup/. At the end of the registration, an API key will be emailed to you.
  5. Go back to the WordPress administrator and click the “enter your WordPress.com API key” link. Enter the API Key and click the “Update options” button.
  6. Now Akismet is configured and ready. Your WordPress website or blog is effectively protected against comment spam.

8. Expand Ping List

By default, WordPress only pings one service and does not notify other blog directories and search engines that your website or blog has been updated. So it is a good idea to expand this list and notify more services.

  1. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  2. Click the “Settings” tab followed by “Writing” link. Scroll to the “Update Services” box and enter the following list of ping services.

    http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

    http://1470.net/api/ping

    http://api.feedster.com/ping

    http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

    http://api.moreover.com/ping

    http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

    http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

    http://bblog.com/ping.php

    http://bitacoras.net/ping

    http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

    http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

    http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

    http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

    http://coreblog.org/ping/

    http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt

    http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

    http://ping.amagle.com/

    http://ping.bitacoras.com

    http://ping.blo.gs/

    http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

    http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc

    http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/

    http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc

    http://ping.feedburner.com

    http://ping.myblog.jp

    http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

    http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

    http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

    http://ping.weblogs.se/

    http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

    http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

    http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

    http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

    http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/

    http://rpc.newsgator.com/

    http://rpc.pingomatic.com

    http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

    http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

    http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

    http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

    http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

    http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

    http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

    http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

    http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

    http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

    http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

    http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

    http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

    http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

    http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php

    http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

    http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

    http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

    http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

    http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/

    http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

    http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

  3. Click the “Save Changes” button. That’s it! Now your WordPress blog or website is pinging many more blog directories and search engines.

9. Install and Configure Redirection Plugin

The Redirection Plugin is important for SEO purposes. Whenever a URL changes for whatever reasons then it creates an issue with search engines. For instance, lets say http://example.com/category/postname changes to http://example.com/category/name-of-the-post and the former URL has already been indexed by the search engine. Then there will be SEO consequences. The Redirection Plugin comes in handy in such cases to do a 301 redirect which means that it tells the search engine that http://example.com/category/postname has permanently moved to http://example.com/category/name-of-the-post.

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

  1. Download Redirection Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
  2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the top right side of the Dashboard.
  4. Click the “Activate” link for the Redirection Plugin.
  5. After successful activation, click the “Manage” tab followed by “Redirection” and “Options” link.
  6. Under “URL Monitoring” set the values to “Modified Posts” and click the “Update” button.

    WordPress URL Monitoring via Redirection Plugin

The Redirection Plugin is also very useful for affiliate marketing but that’s a slightly advanced topic that I’ll cover in the future.

10. Install and Activate SEO Slugs Plugin

The SEO Slugs plugin removes common words like ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘in’ from URLs to improve search engine optimization. For example, http://example.com/category/how-to-install-wordpress becomes http://example.com/category/install-wordpress

Do the following to activate the plugin:

  1. Download SEO Slugs plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
  2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
  4. Click the “Activate” link for the SEO Slugs plugin.

11. Install and Configure All-in-One SEO Plugin

All-in-One SEO Plugin is one of the most comprehensive and popular SEO plugins for WordPress. It optimizes titles (titles are very important for search engine rankings) and automatically generates META tags (which can also be over-ridden manually).

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

  1. Download All-in-One SEO Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
  2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
  4. Click the “Activate” link for the All-in-One SEO Plugin.
  5. After successful activation, click the “Settings” tab followed by “All in One SEO” to configure accordingly. It allows setting of titles for homepage, categories, posts and more…
  6. You can also manually create title, description and keywords while writing posts or pages in WordPress. Just scroll down to see the options.

12. Install and Configure Robots Meta Plugin

The Robots Meta Plugin allows you to set which parts of the WordPress blog or website can be indexed by search engines. For example, it makes it easy to prevent pages like registration, login, search results and categories to be indexed.

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

  1. Download Robots Meta Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
  2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
  4. Click the “Activate” link for the Robots Meta Plugin.
  5. Click the “Plugins” link followed by “Robots Meta” link to set the configuration. I recommend preventing the following from being indexed:
    • Site’s search results pages
    • Login and register pages
    • All admin pages
    • Author archives
    • Date based archives
  6. Additionally, you can manually allow or prevent a post or a page to be indexed while writing posts or pages in WordPress. Just scroll down to see the options.

13. Improve Navigation with the Breadcrumbs Plugin

The Breadcrumbs Plugin is a great navigation tool because users are often lost within a website, especially if they came to an internal page or post via search engines. An example of a breadcrumb would be “Blog Home > Category > Breadcrumbs R Us”.

Do the following to activate and configure the plugin:

  1. Download Breadcrumbs Plugin and FTP to the server’s “wp content/plugins” folder.
  2. Log in to your WordPress administrator account
  3. Click on the “Plugins” link on the right side of the Dashboard.
  4. Click the “Activate” link for the Breadcrumbs Plugin.
  5. Click the “Settings” link followed by “Breadcrumb NavXT” link to set the configuration.
  6. Open the appropriate file for your theme (usually header.php). This can be done by clicking the “Design” tab followed by the “Theme Editor” link.

    <div class="breadcrumb">
    if(function_exists('bcn_display'))
    {
    bcn_display();
    }
    ?>
    </div>
  7. Save the file and the breadcrumbs are now active.

Status: Until complete, this post will be updated almost daily. For now, its thirteen tips and 8 to go!

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