User’s Guide for All in One SEO Pack

If you have checked out any list of most recommended WordPress plugins, or most popular WordPress plugins, You will see a mention of All in One SEO Pack. When we do our free blog setup, we add plugins and other measures necessary to make our user’s blog Search Engine Optimized (SEO). We noticed that one of the things we failed to mention was that just installing this plugin will not help. You have to take some additional steps to get the maximum benefits from this plugin. In this article, we will share with you the recommended settings for All in One SEO Pack, and how you can use this plugin efficiently to maximize the SEO benefits for your blog.

First we will show you the optimal settings you should use. We are using the exact same settings on WPBeginner. Once you have installed the plugin, then go to Settings » All in One SEO. There you will see something like this. Make sure you have the plugin enabled.

Home Title

Home title is the meta title on your homepage. This will be the title that all users will see in their browsers, and this is the title search engine bots use as well. Often bloggers are too focused on the Search Engine bots, that they make their titles full with keywords.

Example of a Bad Title: WPBeginner – WordPress Themes, WordPress Plugins, Resources

Now one would think that this type of title would have SEO Advantage, but it clearly does not because your title is diluted with keywords. Second, it is not user friendly. While search engines will help you get more traffic, it is the word of mouth advertising and user support that counts in blogging.

Good Title: WPBeginner – Beginner’s Guide for WordPress

This title does not dilute itself with keywords. It is essentially the brand name (WPBeginner) and a tagline. Also if you notice, our title is readable. It is something that users can read and not freak out. Search Engines also like this type of titles.

When you are writing your title, make sure that it is under 60 characters and you think it all the way.

Home Description

Also known as meta description. It is solely for search engines, and most users will not see this description at all while they are surfing your site. This description should be no longer than 160 characters because most search engines has a maximum limit of 160 characters. Writing a short description is not easy, because you have to make sure that you can add the right keywords in a sentence.

When someone search for a keyword in google, something like this show up:

The meta description can be seen below the title. If it was less than 160 characters, then you see a full description. Otherwise you will see a cut off version of the description. You need to be smart about the meta description that you are writing so it fits both search engines and your users. This not something that you will get right on the first time. You will have to keep trying and analyze your ranking results.

Home Keywords

This is where you will add keywords that you want to target. Separate them by commas. Make sure you do your research on keywords before targetting the keywords. This is something that you will learn overtime. We have changed our keywords numerous times as the year progresses. If a certain niche or sub-niche is getting you more traffic, you change your keywords in that direction.

Other Title Settings

When you install All in one SEO, the default settings put your home title on all other titles (including single posts title, page title, and others). It also uses vertical bar to separate the titles instead of hyphens. First thing you need to do is get rid of Home title from your single posts title and your page titles. For blogs, you don’t need to have that because it is diluting your title. If you have a title that is 50 characters and a single post title that is 55 characters, then you have exceed your title length. Your page title and post titles are important. If you must, then you can add a custom keyword in your title.

Example: Earthquake in Haiti – CNN

Something like that is good. But something like:

User’s Guide for All in One SEO Pack – WordPress for Beginners.

This is what you will get if you keep the default settings. Probably longer if your blog title is longer than that.

Category titles and all other titles should have your blog name, because those are small words.

Leave other settings as default.

Most people stop at this point. But there is more. Actually the second part is just as important as the first one. You need to add a custom meta title, descriptoin, and keywords for each post and page to maximize the results.

Individual Post Settings

In your post write panel, there is a tab that says All in One SEO Pack. It looks something like this:

Follow the same guidelines for title, description, and keywords. You must fill out these in order to maximize the benefits. Writing a custom meta description, and keywords can significantly help. We have talked with many top bloggers in the industry, and this is something all of them do and recommend to their followers.

Download All in One SEO Pack

For other SEO tips, check our Must see SEO Guide for All WordPress Bloggers.