I’ve had several inquiries on how to seo a WordPress blog. If you are able to know you need it, and capable of doing it – I doubt I’ll be able to sell you any service. So, here’s a list of tips that will get your WordPress blog rollin’. First of all, WordPress is a great launch pad for seo. Not too much is needed, but there are some things you should do to leverage the capabilities. The plugins I mention can be downloaded at the end of this article.

1. Permalinks. Log into your blog and go to options. Select ‘permalinks’ and then choose ANYTHING but the default url structure. This will give you friendly url’s. There are a couple of benefits here – It gets rid of the ?= parameter in the url but it will also include your titles or post slug as part of the address.
2. Titles. Maybe this makes too much sense but we all fail with it at times. If you altered your permalinks described in tip 1 then your titles will be in your url as well. Use keywords in your post title, use those words again in the post.
3. Sitemap. Though there is some argument about using sitemaps from Google I really feel using it with a blog is a benefit. A blog, by nature, is constantly updated so using this will only help you. If you are working on a static site, then I would consider a simple html sitemap, but with WordPress, use the sitemap plugin.
4. Ping Them. WordPress by default will notify ping-o-matic, but why stop there? Ping everyone. (i have a list at the bottom)
5. Simple Tags. This plug-in will allow you to tag words for Technorati at the base of your posts.
6. Ultimate Tag Warrior. I like this better than the above plug-in. It allows site-wide control of all your tags.
7. Header.php. Clean up this file – most likely it’s filled with all kinds of credit tags and other crud you don’t need. Delete it.
8. CSS Sheet. Clean this up. Make a backup first and delete everything not used in your project.
9. Footer Credit. Use this area to credit yourself, and do it on other sites under your control to link to your blog.
10. Do Follow. By default, WordPress injects a no-follow tag to comment links in attempt to discourage comment spam. I believe that fair credit should be given to those that contribute to your blog, so using the Do-Follow plug-in will do that. Be sure to use akismet spam control though, or you’ll be buried in spam. Encourage your blogroll buddies to use this so you get fair credit for commenting.
11. Social Bookmarks. Bookmark yourself, I mean bookmark EVERY post. Tag it with keywords and your industry. Do it again with another account. Do it again. Also, get the “Sociable” plug-in – it adds social networking links at the base of your posts.
12. Subscribe to Comments. This plugin when activated will notify commentors by email when future comments are made to a post. It’s great for bringing past visitors back again.
13. Blogroll Your Competition. You may say “WHAT!?” Yes – linking to relevant sources boosts your credibility.
14. Tell The World. Get your blog url in your email signatures and link to it relevant ways from other sites under your control. Use MySpace to post a bulletin about your blog. Climb a tower and scream – just tell someone!
15. Your Behavior. This is very important – DON’T be a blog spammer. If you try to gather links by commenting on every blog you find then you may be flagged as a comment spammer by akismet. If this happens then kiss your link building goodbye. Just be smart, make smart comments relevant to the post, don’t overtly promote yourself or drop url’s in the comment. This will help, I promise.

I hope this list helps.

Ping list:

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

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

http://1470.net/api/ping

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://api.feedster.com/ping.php

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

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

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

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://bitacoras.net/ping

http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

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

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

http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://coreblog.org/ping/

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

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

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

http://ping.blo.gs/

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

http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc/

http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc

http://ping.myblog.jp

http://pingqueue.com/rpc/

http://ping.blogg.de

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

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

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

http://ping.weblogs.se/

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.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://rpc.wpkeys.com/

http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx

http://signup.alerts.msn.com/alerts-PREP/submitPingExtended.doz

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.holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/

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

http://www.imblogs.net/ping/

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/

Plug-in download