Hey,

The SEO upgrade of my blog was certainly intense
to some extent.


------------------------------------
The biggest takeaways for you
------------------------------------

 

1) Don't show the date in the header of
   your blog post. Display it! But do so
   in the footer

2) Remove the date from the URL.

3) Use the post ID index number instead of
   categories.

4) Use keywords in your post title and
   permalinks.

   .../243/seo-for-webmasters/

5) Don't use the default settings like
   .../index.php?p=342

6) When changing your link structure, always
   make sure that old links which are pointing
   to your content already remain valid and
   are redirected to the new location with
   "HTTP 301 Permanently Moved" status
   response code.

  That can be very tricky, but it's Mega-
  important to get it right.

7) Make sure your URL is robust against
   typing errors and truncation. A very good
   reason for having the post ID in the URL.
   Redirect wrong URL to the correct one.

8) Specify the canonical URL of the post in
   the meta information.

   (Anyone knows a Wordpress plugin for doing
   this? Or it could be done via the theme
   template as well.

   "All-In-One-SEO-Pack" does not do that
   trick.

   And I use Serendipity S9Y as you probably...
   (Why should you care?)


-------------------------------------------------
Not explicitly mentioned in the blog posts
-------------------------------------------------

9) Use an XML sitemap and have it updated
   with each new blog post.

10) Register your blog with Google Webmaster
   Tools and monitor it.


You can read the full story and also the
implications on social media from changing
a running blog in the following three
blog posts.


* SEO Friendly Permalink Structure
 

* RSS Gone Wild is a SEO side effect. Sorry!
 

  (!important: keep an eye on your RSS feed and services
  that are triggered by it whenever messing around
  with your blog setup!)

And last but not least:

* New SEO Lessons learned already!
 


Of course there is much more to it. If you
want to know reply to this email and let me
know.

If you have a question. Comment on the blog
and let me know.


Yours for More Success, More Often,
John


P.S.: Enough SEO for some time, unless you have specific
questions.

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