{"id":138836,"date":"2015-03-27T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/premium.wpmudev.org\/blog\/?p=138836"},"modified":"2019-04-25T21:31:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T21:31:01","slug":"post-page-tweaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/post-page-tweaks\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Not-So-Obvious WordPress Tweaks to Improve Posts and Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posts and pages are the backbone of a WordPress environment.<\/p>\n

They can be filed under the umbrella term singular page<\/em> because they show a single piece of content from your database. Optimizing these can increase your click through rates, time spent on page and various other statistics.<\/p>\n

In this post we’ll take a look at some of the things you can do to make your posts and pages better. This includes changing built-in settings, using plugins and using code to get things done.<\/p>\n

Changing Built-In Settings<\/h2>\n

If you look around on the edit page for your posts and pages you’ll notice a lot of settings you can change.<\/p>\n

I recommend going to the Screen Options<\/strong> tab at the top of the page and switching everything<\/em> on. If you don’t know what something is, give it a go \u2013 you never know what you may find!<\/p>\n

Changing Permalinks<\/h3>\n

Editing permalinks is a common practice for a number of reasons. When you start an article you may have given it a placeholder title like “My New WordPress Post.” In this case, the slug will be “my-new-wordpress-post,” which means the URL will be “http:\/\/yourdomain.com\/2015\/03\/29\/my-new-wordpress-post”. This is not good at all \u2013 it should be changed.<\/p>\n

There’s an edit button next to the permalink, but you can also click on the end bit (highlighted in yellow) to edit it. A neat trick I use often: delete the string completely and press enter or click ok – the permalink will be generated anew from the title.<\/p>\n

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\"Editing<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Another useful scenario can be seen in the image above. Sometimes you may want the article title and the permalink to differ for SEO reasons. If your title is “Top Tips To Establish And Improve Your WordPress SEO” you may want the permalink to omit all the unnecessary words \u2013 “improve-wordpress-seo.”<\/p>\n

Image Metadata<\/h3>\n

When uploading images always make sure to add alt text and a description, even if you don’t use the image. This can be a nuisance at times but it may increase your search engine rankings and it makes your website more complete.<\/p>\n

Each image has its own page called the attachment page, which exists even if you don’t link to it, even if you don’t use the image anywhere. Take a look at this example attachment page<\/a> from Twenty Fifteen.<\/p>\n

The title and description of your image show up, giving you additional content, which can be targeted just like any other content. It also gives you the opportunity to create useful functionality like download links, RAW image information and more.<\/p>\n

Regretfully, many themes overlook the attachment page. If you happen to use a theme which doesn’t have a great looking view you can follow our guide to creating attachment pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Custom Excerpts<\/h3>\n

If you’re displaying excerpts on your website I highly suggest using the dedicated excerpt field in the editor. This may be hidden so you will need to go to the screen options to get it to show up.<\/p>\n

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\"Excerpt<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The theme will display your hand-crafted excerpt instead of the automatically generated one. This allows you to create more enticing excerpts without having to worry about the 55 word cutoff point of auto-generated ones.<\/p>\n

Plugin Enhancements<\/h2>\n

There are some great plugins available that can add even\u00a0greater\u00a0functionality to posts and pages, from improving commenting and SEO to adding polls and meta data.<\/p>\n

The plugins below include both free and premium options, as well as two from our own catalog of plugins.<\/p>\n