Getting WordPress SEO right is not difficult provided you follow a logical process. The five steps to success are below.

1. Selection of Keywords

The key to the success of all your on page SEO (and off page SEO) efforts is the choice of keywords. Rushing this step will be a major disadvantage in the long term. You need to find keywords which have a good search volume but do not have too much competition. It is also important who the competition is, it is impractical to think you can outrank an established big company.

2. Domain Name/URLs

On Page SEO starts with the choice of your domain name. This should include your primary keyword which should be as near the beginning as possible e.g. keywordnow.com is better than mykeyword.com. Use of hyphens will not impact SEO but can be a problem if people need to type in your URL.

Each page and post should have its own keyword in its URL.

3. Themes and Plugins

Some themes are designed to simply look good whereas others are designed with on page SEO in mind (particularly premium themes). You should use one of the latter.

A standard WordPress installation does need some help for on page SEO purposes. You should change the permalinks to show the "pagename" and install a plugin to generate a site map for the search engines. You should also install an SEO plugin such as "All in One SEO Pack" which will, amongst other things, give control of titles, noindex duplicate content and provide facilities for the entry of metadata.

4. Standard Pages

Your On Page SEO will be boosted by having the standard pages that Google likes to see - About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, DMCA Policy, Anti-Spam Policy, Terms of Use. There should be links to these pages in the header or footer.

5. SEO Optimised Content

Having got the site set-up you then need to consider on page SEO for each page post. It is easiest to use a single keyword per page/post and you should then:

• Include the keyword in the title (at the beginning if possible).

• Use the keyword in all the headings (h1 - h3).

• Use the keyword at a reasonable density in the content and in particular in the 1st sentence.

• Include a graphic and include the keyword in the Alt text.

• Link to other pages on the site.

• Link to relevant external pages.

This is quite a lot to remember but you can install a Plugin to check this on page SEO for you.