This article covers the very basics behind SEO and information about the plugin, “WordPress SEO by Yoast”. This is considered the best free SEO plugin for WordPress, for more information please check out the WordPress 
Plugin Page or the Developer Website.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and refers to the process of managing a website or webpage’s position/visibility in search results. As you can probably figure out yourself, the further up the list a website or webpage appears, the more visits it should receive.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
By default, the “WordPress SEO by Yoast” plugin is installed on every MySMARTblog site. Once logged into your SMARTblog (or WordPress site) dashboard, the plugin settings can be found towards the bottom of the menu along the left side of your screen. This is where you can configure the plugin in order to optimize your visibility in search engine results! If you would like us to help you with this, we do offer an SEO setup package. More information can be found on our SEO product page.
What does the red dot labeled “Bad” mean?
Many of our customers may have (or may not have) noticed that when they are creating a new post or page on their SMARTblog (or WordPress), there is a red dot in their publish box that reads, “SEO: Bad” with an option to “Check” next to it. See Screenshot. We get many customers coming to us with concerns that they have terrible SEO configuration and therefore have terrible search engine optimization as well. This is not true, the reason the SEO check is “Bad” is simply because it most likely hasn’t been configured yet, not that your page/post will have terrible search results.
Configuring your Posts!
If you haven’t taken a look, the next time you are creating a new post or page on your site, look directly below the editor and you will see a box containing “WordPress SEO by Yoast” configuration settings (See Screenshot). These are the settings specific to your Page or Post that you are currently working on. These setting will help to optimize your post or page search result visibility and these settings are what affect the “SEO Rating” in your Publish box.
For a very helpful walk-through of the basics behind the plugin, check out “The Beginner’s Guide to WordPress SEO by Yoast: Configuration“.
For more information on the “WordPress SEO by Yoast” Plugin be sure to visit the WordPress Plugin Page or the Developer Website.
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