Category Archives: aioseo

33 Unique Things You Didn’t Know About All in One SEO (Pro Tips)

If you have been reading WPBeginner for a while, then you know that we believe All in One SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market.

It is our #1 recommendation as the must-have SEO toolkit, and this is the exact tool that we use on our website. For beginners, All in One SEO provides the most comprehensive SEO features in one plugin.

In this article, we’ll share some of the AIOSEO power hacks that will help you take your WordPress SEO to the next level.

Things you didn't know about All in One SEO for WordPress

What Makes All in One SEO The Best SEO Toolkit for WordPress Users?

All in One SEO for WordPress is the original WordPress SEO plugin on the market.

Currently over 3 million websites use AIOSEO including WPBeginner, and it is one of the top 20 most installed WordPress plugins of all time.

There’s also a free version of AIOSEO available that you can use if you’re just getting started.

All in One SEO was first released in 2007, just a few years after WordPress introduced the ability to install plugins to extend WordPress functionality.

All in One SEO plugin

In 2020, AIOSEO was acquired by Awesome Motive (the management company of WPBeginner). Since then, it has evolved into the most powerful and modern WordPress SEO plugin.

We use it on all our websites to improve our WordPress SEO rankings, including WPBeginner. That’s because the features are unmatched by any other SEO plugin on the market.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the coolest things that you can do with All in One SEO.

Here is a list of topics we’ll cover in this guide.

  1. Ability to Add Dynamic SEO Title and Descriptions
  2. Helps You Write Good Headlines and SEO Titles
  3. Comes with a Dynamic and Customizable Table of Contents Block
  4. Easily Add NoFollow Attribute to External and Referral Links
  5. Generate Keyword Ideas while Writing Posts
  6. Get a Practical SEO Score for Your Content
  7. Comes with The Most Comprehensive Schema Mark up Support
  8. Easier and Extensive Social Media Integration
  9. Add New Links or Cleanup Bad Links with LinkAssistant
  10. Comes with Extensive XML Sitemaps with Powerful Customization Options
  11. Appear in Google News with News XML Sitemaps
  12. Easily Create Customizable HTML Sitemaps
  13. Appear in Video Results with Video Sitemaps
  14. Get Indexed Faster with RSS Sitemaps
  15. 15. Easily Add Your Site to Webmaster Tools & Google Search Console
  16. Get New Content Indexed Quickly with IndexNow
  17. Hack Your WordPress RSS Feeds
  18. Helps You Fix Search Crawl Budget Issues
  19. Easily Setup 301 Redirects
  20. Detect 404 Errors and Fix Them
  21. Easy Full Site Redirects when Moving Site to Different Domains
  22. Faster Redirects Using Server Instead of PHP
  23. Easily Import / Export Redirects
  24. Advanced Yet Easiest Breadcrumb Navigation
  25. Turn On REST API for Headless WordPress
  26. Control Which Users Have Access to SEO Features and Settings
  27. Seamless E-commerce Integration
  28. Powerful Image SEO Features
  29. Safely Edit Robots. txt and . htaccess Files From WordPress Admin
  30. Perform a Quick SEO Audit for Your Site
  31. Compare Competition with Built-in Competitor Analysis
  32. Easily Add No Index to Content You Want to Exclude from Search Engines
  33. Easily Import SEO Data from Other SEO Plugins
  34. Bonus: Getting Started with All in One SEO for WordPress

1. Ability to Add Dynamic SEO Title and Descriptions

SEO titles and descriptions are highly important when optimizing your content for SEO. Search engines assign them slightly more weight than other parts of your content.

The SEO title also appears in search results and can help you get more clicks and bring more traffic to your site.

SEO title appearing in search results

Many site owners often go back to old posts and edit their SEO titles to help optimize them. For instance, you may have mentioned the Current Year or pricing in the title which may become outdated.

All in One SEO allows you to use smart tags in SEO title and description fields. These tags dynamically update to match the conditions they are used for.

For instance, you can add the ‘Post Title’ tag, and it will automatically use your post or page’s title as the SEO Title.

Dynamic SEO title and descriptiion

Similarly, you can use the ‘Current Year’ or ‘Current Month’ tags, and it will automatically display the current year or month in your post title.

AIOSEO comes with the following smart tags that you can select by clicking on ‘View all tags’.

  • Author First Name: The first name of the post author.
  • Author Last Name: The last name of the post author.
  • Author Name: The display name of the post author.
  • Categories: All categories that are assigned to the current post, comma-separated.
  • Category Title: Current or first category title.
  • Current Date: The current date.
  • Current Day: The current day of the month.
  • Current Month: The current month.
  • Current Year: The current year.
  • Custom Field: A custom field from the current post.
  • Permalink: The permalink for the current post.
  • Post Content: The content of your post.
  • Post Date: The date when the post was published, localized.
  • Post Day: The day of the month when the post was published, localized.
  • Post Excerpt: The excerpt defined in your post settings.
  • Post Excerpt Only: The excerpt defined in your post.
  • Post Month: The month when the post was published, localized.
  • Post Title: The original title of the current post.
  • Post Year: The year when the post was published.
  • Separator: The separator is defined in the search appearance settings.
  • Site Title: Your site title.
  • Tagline: The tagline for your site, set in the general settings.
  • Taxonomy Name: The name of the first term of a given taxonomy that is assigned to the current post.

Want to make your SEO title even more attention-grabbing?

How about adding emojis into your post title or description? All in One SEO makes it super easy to use Emojis in your SEO title and descriptions.

Simply click on the emoji button to search and add an emoji.

Adding Emojis to your post title and description

2. Helps You Write Good Headlines and SEO Titles

Now you might already know that CTR (click through rate) plays an important role in SEO rankings.

This means that you have to write good headlines and SEO titles that encourage users to click when your site appears in search results.

All in One SEO comes with a built-in headline analyzer tool. It will automatically show you a score for your post title or headline.

Analyze and improve your headlines

Plus, it will also show you practical tips to improve the effectiveness of your title.

For instance, it may recommend using power words or removing stop words from your SEO title.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to use the headline analyzer in WordPress to improve SEO titles.

3. Comes with a Dynamic and Customizable Table of Contents Block

Reading longer articles can be difficult for your users, and they may lose interest in scrolling down while looking for the information they need.

This is where the Table of Contents block comes in.

It creates a list of topics covered in an article, and you may have seen them in articles here at WPBeginner. In fact, this post has an AIOSEO table of contents at the top!

Clicking on an item in the list takes you to that section in the article.

Table of content example

Not only does a table of content help users, but it also improves SEO.

Search engines like Google may display your table of content items as ‘Jump to section’ links in search results.

Table of Content in SERPs

A table of contents can also make your website appear as the featured snippet for a search keyword.

Google may display it above all results with a much larger excerpt.

Table of content as featured snippet

Previously, WordPress users had to use a separate plugin to generate tables of contents or manually create them.

All in One SEO comes with a dynamic Table of Contents block. Simply add the Table of Contents block to your post or page, and it will automatically generate a table of content based on the headings present in your article.

Add table of content block

You can edit any item in the table by simply clicking on it or hide an item by clicking on the hide button.

You can also reorder items by clicking on the Reorder button. This only adjust the order of the list, not the placement of content in your article.

Rearrange TOC items

Optionally, you can choose a list style for your table of contents.

Currently, it allows you to choose from a plain bulleted list or a numbered list style.

Table of Content list styles

For more information, see our tutorial on how to easily add table of contents in WordPress.

Links or backlinks are an important search engine ranking factor.

When you link to an external website, search engines consider that as a ranking signal. They will pass a small portion of your domain authority (link juice) to the other website.

Many SEO experts believe that they can rank higher in search results by adding the nofollow attribute to external and referral/affiliate links.

All in One SEO makes it super easy to add the nofollow attribute to links in your posts and pages.

Simply select the text that you want to link to and then click on the link button in the block toolbar.

You’ll see the option to add the link URL and a check box to add the nofollow attribute.

Add nofollow to a link using All in One SEO

You can learn more about nofollow by viewing our article on how to easily add nofollow links in WordPress.

5. Generate Keyword Ideas while Writing Posts

Keywords are the focus keyphrases that your users may type in a search engine to find your content.

You can set a focus keyword or keyphrase for an article in All in One SEO settings and then optimize your content around it.

The plugin will show you an SEO score for your focus keyphrase with practical tips to improve it.

Set focus keyphrase and generate additional keywords

The best part is that it also helps you generate additional keyword ideas with Semrush.

Simply click on the get additional keyphrases button and a popup will take you to the Semrush website.

login to Semrush

You can login with your existing account or create a free Semrush account.

After that, you will be asked to give Semrush permission to access your WordPress website. Click on the Approve button to continue.

Approve Semrush

You’ll now see a list of keyword ideas that match your original focus keyphrase.

The list is sorted with high search volume keywords appearing on top.

Keyword suggestions

You can click on the Add Keyphrase button next to a keyword and add it to the additional focus keyphrases for your post or page.

You will now see scores for these additional focus keyphrases with recommendations to improve their score.

Optimize for additional keyphrases

This helps you make your content more comprehensive and useful for your users while making it more authoritative for search engines as well.

To learn more, check out our article on how to do proper keyword research for your WordPress blog.

6. Get a Practical SEO Score for Your Content

All in One SEO gives the most comprehensive and practical SEO score to your content.

It appears as a button on the top right corner of the post editor, clicking on it will bring up the TruSEO panel.

TruSEO score panel

You will see a snippet preview and below that, you’ll find tips divided into the following areas:

  • Focus Keyphrase and Additional Keyphrases
  • Basic SEO
  • Title
  • Readability

You can click on any of them to expand and view the suggestions.

SEO score suggestions

Errors will be highlighted in red with helpful descriptions to fix them.

SEO score is just a recommendation tool and does not guarantee search rankings. Any score above 70 is good for most types of content.

7. Comes with The Most Comprehensive Schema Markup Support

Schema markup is a special type of HTML code that you can add to your WordPress website to tell search engines more about your content.

For instance, you can tell the search engines that a particular page is a blog post, a recipe, a FAQ page, a news article, or a product page. Search engines can then use this data to display rich results.

Rich snippets in search results

Other WordPress SEO plugins only ship with limited schema markup support. Users had to install separate plugins to add proper schema markup for different content types.

All in One SEO solves this problem by adding the most comprehensive Schema markup support available.

It allows you to easily add schema markup in WordPress and WooCommerce. You can set the default Schema markup for different content types from plugin settings.

Schema type

You can also change schema markup for individual posts and pages.

This comes in handy if you want to use your blog posts for different types of content such as recipes, product reviews, articles, and more.

Schema generator

Apart from content, All in One SEO also adds structured data required to be listed in Google My Business and Google Maps searches.

This allows your business to appear in Google Maps and business searches. Your listing gets an extended information panel with directions, phone numbers, business hours, and more.

Local SEO example

Simply switch to the All in One SEO » Local SEO page and provide your business information.

If your business has multiple locations, then you can turn on the Multiple Locations option.

Local SEO settings

After that, the plugin will add a new Locations menu item to your WordPress admin sidebar.

You can now go to the Locations » Add New page to add a business location.

Add new location

This will bring you to the Location editor page. First, you need to provide a title for your location and then add a little description.

You can also review options in the left column to set the location category and featured image.

Location title and basic settings

After that scroll down to the AIOSEO Local Business section.

From here, you can add structured data for your location such as business name, logo, address, phone number, opening hours, and map.

Business information

Once you are finished, go ahead and click on the Publish button to save your location settings.

You can now repeat the process to add more business locations as needed.

For more details, please take a look at our article about adding multiple locations schema markup in WordPress.

8. Easy and Extensive Social Media Integration

Social media platforms are a big source of traffic for many website owners.

All in One SEO comes with super easy and extensive social media integration.

1. Easily Add Social Network Profiles and Default Settings

First, you can go to the All in One SEO » Social Networks page. From here, you can provide social media profile URLs.

Add social media profile URLs

If you use the same handle in all your social media profiles then you can simply check the ‘Use the same username for multiple social networks’ option.

After that, provide your username and All in One SEO will fill in the URLs for you.

The plugin also allows you to easily configure your website for popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Setup different social networks

These options allow you to enable Open Graph metadata and provide default information that social media platforms can use when someone shares your content.

For instance, you can choose which image to use when someone shares a post. All in One SEO provides a bunch of options to automatically pick an image for Facebook and Twitter.

Set default image for social media

You can choose the featured image, the first image in the content, any attached image, the author image, any first available image, and more.

After configuring Facebook and Twitter, you can switch to the Pinterest tab. From here, you can also easily add the Pinterest verification code to verify your website on Pinterest.

Pinterest verification code

2. Social Settings for Individual Posts and Pages

Once you have finished the default social networks setup, All in One SEO also provides you options to override these settings for individual posts and pages.

Simply edit a post or page and switch to the Social tab under the AIOSEO Settings section.

Post social settings

From here, you’ll see a preview of how your post will look on Facebook and Twitter.

Below that, you can override the default settings and change the post title, description, and social image.

Override social settings

If you change the data for Facebook, then you can use it for Twitter as well.

Simply switch to the Twitter tab and toggle the ‘Use Data from Facebook Tab’ option.

Use data from Facebook tab

3. Add Social Profiles for Authors

You can also let search engines know which profiles are associated with an author or user on your website.

This allows search engines to discover and display social media profiles when someone searches for a specific person.

User's social media profiles in search results

To add this, administrators can go to the Users » Profile page and other users can simply click on the Profile menu from the WordPress admin sidebar.

From here, switch to the social profiles tab and enter your social media profile URLs.

Author social profiles

Links play a significant role in a website’s SEO rankings. However, as your website grows, you may add more internal links to some older posts than newer posts.

Going back to individual posts and adding links can become a tedious task. Particularly, if you have hundreds of articles.

All in One SEO solves this problem with the Link Assistant. It allows you to easily add links or clean up bad links with one click.

Here is how it works.

First, it automatically crawls your website and shows you a comprehensive link report.

Link assistant overview

From here, you can see an overview of the links with total counts for orphaned posts (posts that are not linked from any other post or page), external links, internal links, and affiliate links.

You can switch to the Links Report tab for detailed information on all your links.

You’ll see a list of all your posts and pages with columns for internal, external, and affiliate links.

Links report

It will also show a number of suggestions where you can add links.

For more details, you can click on the right arrow button next to a post or page.

View links details

This will show all links organized in different tabs. From the suggestions tab, you can quickly view link suggestions and add links without directly editing a post or page.

Want to discover more internal linking opportunities?

Switch to the ‘Linking Opportunities’ tab for more internal linking suggestions or check out the orphaned posts and add links to them.

Linking opportunities

Clean up Bad Links with 1-Click

You can view all external links that your website links to by clicking on the Domains Report tab.

From here, you can select a domain and delete all links to it with a single click.

Easily remove bad or spam links with one click

This makes it super easy to clean up your website if it has been affected by malware that has added links to spam websites.

It also comes in handy when you no longer wish to link to a third-party website and immediately want to remove all links pointing to it.

10. Comes with Extensive XML Sitemaps with Powerful Customization Options

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all your website content in an XML format, so search engines like Google can easily discover and index your content.

WordPress comes with built-in XML sitemaps, but these are too basic and you don’t have any tools to customize them.

All in One SEO comes with extremely powerful XML sitemaps.

Sitemaps in All in One SEO

These custom XML sitemaps are highly customizable. For instance, you can easily include or exclude individual post types or taxonomies.

Plus, you can disable sitemaps for date and author archives.

Sitemap settings

Below that, you can add any standalone page to your sitemap under the Additional Pages option.

For example, you can add your Shopify store or custom landing page hosted on the same domain.

Want to remove some content from your sitemaps? Turn on the Advanced Settings option and you can exclude posts, pages, categories, tags, and more

Advanced sitemap settings

From here, you can also adjust the priority score for your homepage, posts, or taxonomies.

Lastly, you can even exclude images from your XML sitemaps if needed.

11. Appear in Google News with News XML Sitemaps

Do you run a news website or want your blog to appear in Google News?

News results may not only appear prominently on the main search page but can also appear on the News tab or in Google Discover on mobile devices.

News search results

All in One SEO allows you to easily create a News Sitemap which is a requirement for Google News results.

Simply switch to the News Sitemap tab and turn it on.

News sitemap

After that, you can provide a title for your news publication.

Next, you need to choose which post types you want to include in your news sitemap.

News sitemap settings

Need even more control over your news sitemap?

All in One SEO allows you to easily exclude specific items from your news sitemap.

Simply toggle the Advanced Settings switch to show more options. From here, you can search for the post or page you want to exclude and click on the + button to add it.

Exclude post or pages from news sitemap

12. Easily Create Customizable HTML Sitemaps

HTML Sitemaps are sitemaps for your users and can be added anywhere on your website.

HTML sitemap example

They help users easily navigate a website and find the information they need. Many organizations, government websites, and small businesses find them quite helpful.

All in One SEO lets you easily create HTML sitemaps.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » Sitemaps page and switch to the HTML Sitemap tab.

HTML sitemap

From here, you can switch to the toggle next to Enable Sitemap to turn on HTML sitemap.

Below that, you can choose how you want to display the sitemap by choosing one of the following options.

  • Dedicated Page
  • Gutenberg Block
  • Shortcode
  • Widget
  • PHP Code

Click to select your option and it will tell you how to use it.

For instance, choosing the Dedicated Page option, you will be asked to provide URL for a page where you want to display the Sitemap.

Below that, you can choose which post types and taxonomies to include, sorting options, and enable compact archives.

Select post types to include in HTML sitemap

Want to exclude some posts or pages from your HTML sitemap?

No worries, you can simply click on the Advanced Settings section to exclude any content from your HTML sitemap.

Exclude from HTML sitemap

13. Appear in Video Results with Video Sitemaps

Videos are the most engaging type of content and for some search keywords, Google may automatically include video results at the top.

Now, if you regularly publish video content or add video embeds to your posts, then this gives you a huge opportunity to rank higher.

Video search results

Research shows, that users are more likely to click on a result with a video thumbnail than just plain text.

All in One SEO’s Video Sitemaps help you get ready to appear in video search results.

Simply go to All in One SEO » Sitemaps page and switch to the Video Sitemap tab.

Enable video sitemaps

From here you can turn on Video Sitemap and choose which post types or taxonomies to include.

By default, the plugin will divide your sitemap into indexes. These are smaller files containing a limited number of links.

You can also adjust how many links you want to include in a sitemap.

Video sitemap settings

Just like any other sitemap, you can click on the Advanced Settings section to exclude any content that you don’t want to appear in video sitemaps.

14. Get Indexed Faster with RSS Sitemaps

Unlike regular XML sitemaps which have a complete set of links to your content, RSS sitemaps provide search engines links to recent changes on a website.

This helps search engines more easily discover recent changes on a website. Google recommends using both XML sitemaps and RSS sitemap for optimal crawling.

All in One SEO allows you to easily generate an RSS sitemap for your website.

Simply go to the AIOSEO » Sitemaps settings page and switch to the RSS Sitemap tab.

Add RSS sitemap

From here, toggle the Enable Sitemap switch to turn on the RSS sitemap.

Below that you can choose the number of posts and which post types to include.

For more information, take a look at our guide on how to easily add RSS sitemap in WordPress.

15. Easily Add Your Site to Webmaster Tools & Google Search Console

All top search engines provide website owners with easier tools to see how their website is performing in search and get alerts if something goes wrong.

Google calls it Google Search Console. Bing and other search engines call their programs webmaster tools.

Once you sign up for them, you will be asked to verify your ownership by adding a code snippet to your website.

All in One SEO makes it super easy to add the verification code for all webmaster tools under one place.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » General Settings and switch to the Webmaster Tools tab.

Webmaster tools

Now simply click on a search engine, and then add the verification code.

Below that you will also find a text field called Miscellaneous verification. This allows you to add verification codes from any other third-party platforms to your website.

Now if you are wondering how to take advantage of webmaster tools, then you may want to see our expert tips on using Google Search Console like a pro.

16. Get New Content Indexed Quickly with IndexNow

IndexNow is an automatic ping that lets search engines know when a post or page (URL) on your website has been added, deleted, or updated.

This allows search engines to quickly update their search results speeding up overall SEO results.

Simply put, it’s instant indexing!

Currently, it is supported by Bing, but Google has indicated they will be testing it too.

All in One SEO allows you to implement IndexNow on your website with a few clicks.

First, you need to visit All in one SEO » Feature Manager page and toggle the Acivate switch under IndexNow box.

Turn on IndexNow in All in One SEO

That’s all, the plugin will now automatically set up IndexNow for your website by generating an API key.

You can verify it by visiting the All in One SEO » General Settings page and switching to the Webmaster Tools tab.

IndexNow enabled

From here, click on the IndexNow box and you’ll see the API key in place.

To learn more, you may want to see our guide on how to add IndexNow in WordPress for faster SEO results.

17. Customize Your WordPress RSS Feeds to Boost SEO

RSS feeds provide an easier way for users to subscribe to your content using feed readers like Feedly.

WordPress comes with built-in support for RSS feeds and generates separate feeds for your recent posts, categories, tags, archives, authors, and more.

All in One SEO allows you to customize your WordPress RSS feeds and make them more useful for your website.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » General Settings page and switch to the RSS Content tab.

Customize RSS feeds

From here you can add any content you want to display before and after content in RSS feed.

You can even use emojis and smart tags to automatically add elements like post, category, author link, and more.

After content RSS

For instance, All in One SEO automatically adds links back to your original post and website after each post in the RSS feed.

Now if someone uses your RSS feed to steal content from your website, they will be forced to display a link back to your website.

For more information, see our guide on how to optimize WordPress RSS feeds for your website.

18. Helps You Fix Search Crawl Budget Issues

SEO crawl budget is the number of times search engines like Google will crawl pages on your website.

Google sets a crawl budget for different domains based on its own algorithms. However, sometimes this budget is wasted if search bots spend most of the budget crawling less important pages on your site.

All in One SEO helps you fix that problem with the Crawl Cleanup feature. Simply go to the All in One SEO » Search Appearance page and switch to the Advanced tab.

Search appearance advanced

From here, you need to scroll down to the bottom and switch the toggle next to the Crawl Cleanup option.

This will expand the section and will show you a bunch of options that you can exclude from crawling.

Crawl cleanup

For instance, each WordPress category, tag, comments, archive, and author pages has its own RSS feeds. These get crawled, too, but are not highly important.

You can Disable them so that they are excluded from the crawl budget.

Exclude from crawl

For more information, see our article on how to easily fix the SEO crawl budget issues in WordPress.

19. Easily Setup 301 Redirects

The 301 redirect is when a post or page on your site has been moved, and you want to point the user to the new location instead.

All in One SEO comes with a powerful Redirects Manager tool, which allows you to create and manage all sorts of redirects including 301 redirects.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » Redirects page to add a new redirect.

Add 301 Redirect

Enter the old URL in the source field and the new URL in the target field. After that, choose 301 Moved Permanently under the Redirect type option.

Click on the Add Redirect button to save your settings.

The best part is All in One SEO will show all redirects you set up and you can edit or disable a redirect any time you want.

Manage redirects

For more information, see our tutorial on how to create 301 redirects in WordPress.

20. Detect 404 Errors and Fix Them

A 404 error occurs when a user visits a page on your website which is not there anymore. Perhaps it was deleted, the user entered an incorrect URL, or followed an incorrect link.

These errors create a bad user experience and can negatively impact SEO rankings.

Often, they go unnoticed by website owners until a user reports them.

All in One SEO fixes this problem by keeping a log of 404 errors on your website.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » Redirects page and switch to the 404 logs page to view them.

404 error logs in AIOSEO

Now some of these links may be misspelled URLs with few hits, you can safely ignore those. Others would be links to posts that you may have deleted or changed their URLs.

In that case, you can simply click on the Add Redirect button and point that URL to the new location or any other relevant page.

For more details, see our article on how to easily fix 404 errors in WordPress.

21. Easy Full Site Redirects when Moving Site to Different Domains

Are you moving your WordPress website to a new domain name and worried about the SEO consequences?

All in One SEO’s redirect manager comes with super easy Full Site Redirects.

Basically, you can just paste the URL of your new domain name and it will redirect all users coming to your old domain to the exact pages on your new domain name.

Full site redirect in All in One SEO

This helps your new domain to rank quickly in search engines and also reduces the negative SEO consequences of moving to a new domain name.

For more on this topic, check out our guide on moving WordPress to a new domain name.

22. Faster Redirects Using Server Instead of PHP

WordPress comes with a built-in redirects system written in PHP. Many redirect plugins take advantage of it, including All in One SEO.

WordPress is used on many different types of servers and they can have different configurations that may affect redirects. Using PHP avoids dependency on server settings and makes sure that redirects work.

However, these PHP redirects are a bit slower. It is a small compromise and for most users, it is not even noticeable.

Still, some users may want to use the server to set up redirects for improved performance and speed.

All in One SEO gives those users an option to use faster redirects using the web server instead of PHP.

Note: This is a method for advanced users only, as you will need to edit not only your .htaccess file, but also your server configuration files for Apache or NGINX.

To use this method, you’ll need access to your server’s configuration files. You’ll also need to know how to safely make changes to those files.

To set it up, you can go to the All in One SEO » Redirects page and switch to the Settings tab. From here, you can click on the Web Server option under Redirect Method.

Web server redirects

The plugin will then detect your web server and will show you an option to export redirect rules files for your web server which you can then manually place in your .htaccess file or your Nginx config file.

Next, click on the save change button to store your settings.

After that, the plugin will display a line of code that you need to add to your server’s configuration file.

Server configuration code

If you’re using Apache as your web server, then the line should be included in the Apache virtual hosts file. You will then need to restart Apache.

If you’re using NGINX as your web server, then the line should be included in your nginx.conf file. You will then need to restart NGINX.

Keep in mind, too, that using server redirects will prevent AIOSEO from keeping logs of all redirects that occur.

23. Easily Import / Export Redirects

Want to import redirects you set up earlier using some other redirects plugin? Or perhaps you want to export your All in One SEO redirects to use elsewhere?

All in One SEO’s redirects manager can magically import redirects from other popular redirects and SEO plugins.

Simply go to All in One SEO » Redirects page and then switch to the Import / Export tab.

Import or export redirects

From here, you can import redirects from other plugins. All in One SEO can automatically import redirects from the following plugins:

  • Redirection
  • Yoast SEO Premium
  • Simple 301 Redirects
  • Safe Redirect Manager
  • 301 Redirects Pro
  • 30 Redirects
  • Page Links To
  • SEOPress Pro

It can also import redirects from All in One SEO as well.

In the right column, you’ll see options to export All in One SEO redirects data. You can choose to export different types of redirects or export all of them.

Lastly, the plugin also allows you to export your 404 error logs in CSV format. This comes in handy if you want to analyze the data in spreadsheet software like Google Sheets.

24. Advanced Yet Easiest Breadcrumb Navigation

Breadcrumb navigation is a navigational aid that provides users links in relation to where they are on a website’s navigational layout.

It’s like a path to show them how to get back to earlier parts of the website they may have visited before landing on their current page or post.

Breadcrumb preview

This provides users context, helps them discover more sections of your website, and improves user experience.

Search engines also use this information in the result snippet next to the URL.

Breadcrumbs in search results snippet

All in One SEO comes with the easiest and most customizable breadcrumb navigation settings of any WordPress plugin on the market.

First, it automatically adds markup required by search engines to display breadcrumbs without you having to do anything.

It also gives you a full set of tools to customize breadcrumbs and display them on your website.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » General Settings page and switch to the Breadcrumbs tab.

From here, you’ll see different ways to easily display breadcrumbs on your website.

You’ll also see a link that will show you how to use these methods to display breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs All in One SEO

Scroll down a little and you’ll find customization options for your breadcrumbs navigation links.

For instance, you can choose which separator you want to use, include a home link, set a prefix, and more.

Customize breadcrumbs

Want to edit the Breadcrumbs template?

Scroll down to the Breadcrumbs template section. There you’ll see tabs for content types, taxonomies, and archives sections.

For instance, under Content Types, you can change templates for posts, pages, products, and attachments.

To edit the template switch the toggle next to ‘Use a default template’ option to reveal the settings.

Override default template

You can then edit the default breadcrumbs template by switching toggles to show or hide the homepage or taxonomy links.

You can also use smart tags and even some HTML if needed. Simply insert the smart tags inside the HTML code anywhere you would put the same static information.

Edit and override breadcrumb templates

For more details, see our guide on how to add breadcrumb navigation in WordPress.

25. Turn On REST API for Headless WordPress

Are you building a headless WordPress website and don’t want to compromise on SEO?

All in One SEO allows you to turn on REST API for headless WordPress development.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » Feature Manager page and activate the REST API feature.

Activate REST API

This allows you to use the All in One SEO metadata and output it into the front end of your website.

See the notes on All in One SEO website on how to fetch SEO data with REST API and output it in your source code.

26. Control Which Users Have Access to SEO Features and Settings

Want to hire an SEO expert to work on your website? All in One SEO gives you powerful access control features so that you can control which parts of your website they can access.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » General Settings page and switch to the Access Control tab.

Access control

First, you’ll see access control options for default WordPress user roles such as Editor, Author, and Contributor.

By default, they will have access to SEO settings for the content that they are allowed to edit in WordPress. To learn more see our WordPress user roles and permissions guide.

Editors also have permission to access SEO settings for General Settings, Search Appearance, Social Networks, and Redirects.

You can change options for each user role by switching the User Default Settings toggle next to a user role.

Edit access options

All in One SEO also adds two new custom user roles that you can use.

  • SEO Manager – By default, they can access SEO settings for General Settings, Sitemaps, Link Assistant, Redirects, Local SEO, and individual pages and posts.
  • SEO Editor – By default, they can access SEO settings for individual pages and posts.
SEO user roles

You can also change their access by switching the Use Default Settings toggle.

To assign a user an SEO role on your website, you will need to add them as a new user in WordPress and set their user role to SEO manager or SEO Editor.

Assign SEO user role

All in One SEO will then immediate apply the right permissions for them to do their job and boost your site’s rankings.

27. Seamless E-commerce Integration

All in One SEO provides the easiest WooCommerce SEO features. It allows you to add an SEO title, description, and product image which is then used by search engines.

It automatically applies schema markup which gives search engines more information to display in rich results for your products.

WooCommerce SEO in All in One SEO

Plus, it includes product sitemaps, breadcrumbs, image SEO, and local SEO features. This makes All in One SEO the most comprehensive toolkit for eCommerce stores.

For more information, see our ultimate WooCommerce SEO guide for beginners.

28. Powerful Image SEO Features

Google image search can be a major source of traffic for many websites.

However, many users forget to add image alt and title tags when uploading images. If you have multiple authors then it becomes harder to notice if someone has missed those tags.

All in One SEO comes with an extensive image SEO addon that allows you to fix this by automatically generating these tags. To keep the software lightweight, it is not enabled by default.

You’ll need to activate it by visiting the All in One SEO » Feature Manager page.

Activate image SEO feature

After that, you need to visit the All in One SEO » Search Appearance page and switch to the Image SEO tab.

The first option here is to redirect attachment URLs.

All in One SEO automatically redirects attachment URLs back to the attachment because the attachment page itself only contains an image and does not have any SEO benefit.

Image SEO settings in All in One SEO for WordPress

Below that, you will find options to set up Image SEO settings. The two most important options here are the Title and Alt tags.

Under the Title tab, you can choose a default title scheme using the smart tags. AIOSEO will use your image file name as the title.

Generate image title for SEO

You can choose to remove punctuation like dashes or underscores. This allows you to convert your image title from ‘our-family-picnic’ to ‘our family picnic’.

Below that, you can also choose the casing for the tags. For instance, you can use all lowercase, title case, or sentence case.

Choose letter case

Optionally, you can exclude posts, pages, or terms where you don’t want the plugin to automatically generate from image titles.

Next, you need to switch to the Alt tag tab and repeat the process.

Set image alternate tags

Similarly, you can also generate captions and descriptions and modify filenames upon upload in a similar manner.

For more details, see our complete tutorial on Image SEO for beginners.

29. Safely Edit Robots.txt and .htaccess Files From WordPress Admin

You may sometimes come across tutorials asking you to edit your robots.txt or .htaccess file.

Editing these files can be difficult for beginners. Not to mention that a mistake there can break your website or affect its SEO.

To make this easier and safer for beginners, All in SEO comes with a built-in file editor where you can edit your robots.txt and .htaccess files without using FTP.

You can do that by visiting the All in One SEO » Tools page. For the robots.txt file, you can click on the button to view your current robots file.

Robots file editor

You can also enable a custom robots.txt file and create an all new one.

Below that, you can allow or deny any user agents, and they will be added to robots.txt.

Allow or block user agents

The .htaccess Editor tab will display the contents of your current .htaccess file.

You can simply edit it right there.

.htaccess file editor

Note: You need to be very cautious about editing these files. A tiny mistake can break your website or damage its SEO.

30. Perform a Quick SEO Audit for Your Site

A lot of businesses hire SEO specialists and pay them to perform SEO audits for their websites.

All in One SEO helps you save money by allowing you to do a quick SEO audit for your website. This allows you to save money by fixing important SEO issues on your own.

Simply go to the All in One SEO » SEO Analysis page and the plugin will show you an SEO score of your website.

SEO analysis

Below that, it will show you a checklist of SEO recommendations.

From here, you can see the issues that it found. Clicking on them will display a description of how to fix them.

SEO checklist

As you can see in the image above, AIOSEO often has a button directly on the audit screen for you to use and fix the issues immediately.

31. Compare Competition with Built-in Competitor Analysis

Want to see how your competition is doing in terms of SEO?

All in One SEO can perform a quick SEO audit of your competitor’s websites too.

You can simply go to the All in One SEO » SEO Analysis page and switch to the Analyze Competitor Site tab.

analyze your competition

To learn more see our guide on how to do an SEO competitor analysis in WordPress.

32. Easily Add No Index to Content You Want to Exclude from Search Engines

Want to exclude some posts or pages from search engine?

All in One SEO makes it super easy to No Index any content on your website with a click.

Simply edit the post, page, product, custom post type, or taxonomy that you want to remove or exclude from search engines and scroll down to the AIOSEO settings section.

From here, you need to switch to the Advance tab and toggle the switch next to the Use Default Settings option. This will reveal a bunch of options.

No Index content

You can check No Index and No Follow to make sure that search engines don’t include this item in search results.

Additionally, you can block any archival of this page, translation, image index, snippet, or no ODP (open directory project). You can also set Max video preview to -1 to ensure that no embedded video preview is displayed.

33. Easily Import SEO Data from Other SEO Plugins

Want to switch from your old WordPress SEO plugin to All in One SEO for WordPress?

The good news is that All in One SEO comes with a built-in SEO data importer tool that fetches SEO data from your old plugin and imports it into All in One SEO.

Once you install and activate the All in One SEO plugin it will launch the setup wizard. During this, it will detect your old SEO plugin and give you the option to import SEO data from that plugin.

Import SEO data from other plugins

It will automatically detect your old SEO plugin when you run the setup wizard and offers to import your SEO data.

You can also manually import SEO data by visiting the All in One SEO » Tools page and switching to the ‘Import/Export’ tab.

Import SEO data manually

Find the ‘Import Settings From Other Plugins’ section and select your old SEO plugin from the drop-down list and then select the items you wish to import.

After that, simply click on the ‘Import’ button to fetch the data.

Import settings

All in One SEO can fetch the following SEO data.

  • Your plugin’s SEO settings
  • Post meta such as SEO title and description
  • Term meta such as SEO title and descriptions for your categories and tags.

Bonus: Getting Started with All in One SEO for WordPress

Did you know that getting started with All in One SEO for WordPress is super easy?

All you have to do is simply install and activate All in One SEO for WordPress plugin. For more details, see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: All in One SEO for WordPress is a premium plugin but it also has an incredibly powerful free version called All in One SEO Lite.

Upon activation, the plugin will launch a step by step set up wizard. Simply answer a few questions to complete the setup wizard.

After that, you’re ready to go!

Click let's get started AIOSEO setup wizard

Need more help? See our tutorial on how to properly install and set up All in One SEO for WordPress.

We hope this article helped you discover unique things that you probably didn’t know about All in One SEO. You may also want to see our complete WordPress SEO handbook for beginners or take a look at our pick of essential WordPress plugins for all websites.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 33 Unique Things You Didn’t Know About All in One SEO (Pro Tips) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Write Content Using AI Content Generator in WordPress

Do you want to use AI (artificial intelligence) to write content in WordPress?

Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT and GPT3 can produce well-researched content in natural language. Many users want to explore it to see if it can help with writing content.

In this article, we’ll talk about how to write content using artificial intelligence like ChatGPT and GPT3 in WordPress as well as the pros and cons of it.

How to Write Content Using AI in WordPress

What are ChatGPT and GPT3 AI?

ChatGPT is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to have conversations in a chatbot-like interaction environment.

GPT3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) is a similar artificial intelligence based computer program that is designed to be more generic and broader than ChatGPT.

Both programs use a type of machine learning called Natural Language Processing that allows them to understand and respond to user input.

In simpler words, they learn by going through vast amounts of information publicly available, so they can answer your questions in a well-thought out manner.

You can visit the OpenAI website and try both tools for free. Following are a few examples of what it can do.

Example 1:

Asking questions to ChatGPT

You can provide more details in your prompt to adjust the response according to your given parameters.

For instance, here we asked it to write an essay about black holes at a 6th grade reading level, using simple words, and keeping the response between 600-800 words.

This is how it responded.

ChatGPT response example 1

Example 2:

ChatGPT can also write code, poetry, music, explain mathematical equations, and more.

ChatGPT example 2

Are ChatGPT and GPT3 AI Good Enough to Write Content?

ChatGPT and GPT3 are really good at providing detailed responses that are very well written. This leads many users to believe that it can be used to write content for their websites or be used as an autoblogging tool.

However, before you put it to the test on your actual website, the following are a few things that you need to be mindful of.

1. Accuracy of Information

The information provided by ChatGPT could be outdated or sometimes even false. It’s critical that you double-check all the information included in the article.

2. No Recent Events Are Considered

ChatGPT is trained on resources up to the year 2021, so it has limited knowledge of events after that. This may get fixed soon, but if the content you want to generate is time sensitive, then keep this in mind.

3. Doesn’t Give Strong Opinions

ChatGPT is trained to be impartial and unbiased. Unlike a human writer, it lacks the creativity required to argue for a particular opinion, be passionate, and have preferences.

Can ChatGPT AI be Good for SEO?

ChatGPT AI can generate content in a web-friendly format. However, it does not specifically follow any SEO best practices.

Researchers at Google have worked for years to detect content generated by artificial intelligence tools. In the past, they have penalized them for being low quality.

We feel that artificial intelligence tools like GPT3 can be used as writing assistants rather than full writers.

For instance, GPT AI can be used to create an article outline, gather information, and pick up some key research points.

After that, a human writer can work on it to make it more comprehensive, opinionated, factual, and SEO-friendly.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to use ChatGPT AI to create content in WordPress.

Using ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence to Write Content in WordPress

First, you need to install and activate the GPT3 AI Content Writer plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to click on the GPT3 AI Content Generator menu from the admin sidebar to view plugin’s settings page.

GPT 3 AI Content Generator

From here, you need to provide an API key. You can get one by creating a free account on the OpenAI website.

After copying and pasting your API key, don’t forget to click on the Save button to store your plugin settings.

Other default options would work for most users but you can review and change them if needed.

For instance, you may want to change the image size generated by the AI or leave it blank if you would want to generate AI images by yourself or add other images.

Now you are ready to start generating AI content.

Simply create a new post or page, and you will find the GPT 3 Content Generator settings below the text editor.

AI content settings

First, you need to choose a language for your article.

Currently, the plugin supports English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Dutch, Indonesian, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Romanian, Greek, Czech, Bulgarian, Swedish and Hungarian.

Below that, you can provide a title for your article. The Pro version of the plugin also allows you to add or exclude keywords.

After that, you can set the number of headings you want to include in your article and which heading tag to be used.

Fine tune content settings

Next, you can choose a writing style and tone for your article. For example, you can choose an informative writing style with a casual writing tone.

Below that, you can add an anchor text and set a link. However, we’ll recommend that you manually enter internal links when you are editing the article.

The plugin also allows you to add a call to action and choose position where you want to display it.

Finally, click on the Generate button to start generating content.

Generate content

The plugin will then begin generating content using artificial intelligence.

It may take a while depending on your settings and the topic of your article. Once finished, you will see the generated text in the box.

Save generated text as draft

From here, you can simply click on the Save Draft button. The plugin will then load the text inside the WordPress editor wrapped in the Classic block.

This will allow you to edit the text using the block editor. You can convert the text inside the Classic block into regular blocks and start editing.

Edit AI generated content

Tips on Editing AI Generated Content

GPT3 AI content generator will write a comprehensive article covering different aspects of the topic you choose as your article title.

However, it is far from perfect.

It can be easily identified by search engines as AI generated content, and you could get penalized and lose your search rankings.

We recommend only using GPT3 AI content for research and quick outlines. Once you have an outline, you can then thoroughly review, fact check, and edit it by yourself to expand the article further.

Following are a few things you can do to make the article unique and in your own voice:

1. Check All Information for Accuracy

Depending on your topic, GPT3 can make mistakes and may sometimes include information that is incorrect.

2. Create and Use Your Own Images

GPT3 AI Content Generator can generate images using artificial intelligence. However, for most topics these images they do not look very good. Here’s an example image that it generated for us.

Image with gibberish text

Create images for blog posts as you would normally do for any article that you write.

3. Add Internal and External Links as Needed

GPT3 AI doesn’t know which articles on your website are related to the topic and it cannot automatically generate internal links.

You need to manually add internal and external links to provide more context and make your article more user-friendly.

4. Use Table of Content, FAQs, and Lists

GPT3 is a text generator and does not concern itself with formatting to make the reading experience better.

You need to manually add any table of contents, lists, and FAQs needed make your content more user-friendly.

5. Personalize the article with your expertise & knowledge

As AI-content gain in popularity, it will become more critical for authors to add their own voice, expertise, and experiences. This differentiator will play an important role in determining authentic content vs not.

It’s important to personalize the article with your experience and make it more coherent, so it’s user-focused.

6. Optimize Content for SEO

By default, GPT3 generates easy to read text. However, this text is not exactly optimized for on-page SEO.

You need to optimize your content with All in One SEO for WordPress. It is the best WordPress SEO toolkit on the market.

It allows you to easily check your content for SEO, add SEO title and description, social media images, and schema markup.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to optimize a blog post for SEO.

Final Thoughts on AI Content in WordPress

This is just the beginning, and there will be many other tools that will come to the market in the coming months and years.

If you don’t want to use an AI content plugin for WordPress, then you can directly go to ChatGPT website and write the prompts there to experience the technology for yourself.

We hope this article helped you learn how to write content using AI in WordPress. You may also want to see our pick of the most useful WordPress plugins, or see our complete WordPress SEO handbook to grow traffic on your website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Write Content Using AI Content Generator in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Properly Change, Move and Delete WordPress Categories

Do you want to change, move, or delete WordPress categories?

Categories help organize your content and make it easy for visitors to find interesting posts. However, as your website grows and you learn more about your audience, you may need to change your categories.

In this article, we will show you how you can easily change, move, and delete the categories on your WordPress website.

How to properly change, move and delete WordPress categories

Why Change, Move or Delete WordPress Categories?

Categories help sort your blog posts and make it easier for users to find what they are looking for. This will keep them on your website for longer and encourage them to convert.

However, it can be difficult to plan all your categories in advance. This is especially true if you’re just getting started with WordPress, or aren’t sure which direction to take your new blog, online store, or small business website.

You may also want to try out different categories and content, and then analyze what works the best by installing Google Analytics in WordPress. You can then use this insight to fine-tune your categories.

With that being said, at some point, you may need to change your WordPress categories. This might involve renaming a category to include the keywords that got the most clicks during A/B split testing, or fixing a spelling mistake.

You might even organize your categories and subcategories into new parent-child relationships to help visitors discover new content.

If you don’t make these changes carefully, then it could hurt the visitor experience, damage your SEO, and make it more difficult for visitors to navigate your website.

With that being said, let’s see how you can properly change, move, and delete WordPress categories. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the change you want to make.

How to Rename or Edit a WordPress Category

To start, you can change a category’s name, assign it to a different parent category, or display a category description to help other authors understand how to use that category.

To make any of these changes, head over to Posts » Categories.

How to change WordPress categories

Here, find the category that you want to change and hover the mouse over it.

When the ‘Edit’ link appears, give it a click.

How to edit the categories on your WordPress website

This will take you to a screen where you can rename the category, add a parent or subcategory, or write a category description. For example, if you’ve used a keyword research tool to find some new keywords or phrases, then you may want to change the category’s name to include these words.

To rename a category, simply type the new title into the ‘Name’ field.

Renaming a WordPress category

When you’re happy with the changes you’ve made, don’t forget to click on ‘Update’ to store your settings.

After that, WordPress will automatically update all the posts within this category.

Every category has an archive page in WordPress, as you can see in the following image. These pages help visitors find related content, which can increase your pageviews and reduce the bounce rate in WordPress.

The WordPress category archive page

Sometimes you may want to change where this archive page is located. For example, if you’ve renamed a category, then you might also change its archive URL to avoid confusing visitors.

However, changing the slug means that anyone who tries to visit the original URL will get a 404 error.

A 404 error page on a category archive page

This is a bad user experience and can impact your WordPress SEO. Thankfully, you can easily fix this problem by creating a redirect.

With that in mind, go ahead and change the slug by going to Posts » Categories. Then, find the category that you want to edit and hover the mouse over it.

When the ‘Edit’ button appears, give it a click.

How to move a WordPress category to a new slug

In the ‘URL’ field, you’ll see the current slug for this category’s archive page.

Simply type in the new URL that you want to use. Just be aware that you can only use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens in the URL.

How to edit the URL slug for a category archive page

When you’re happy with how the slug looks, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Update’ to store your changes.

Now, you’ll see the archive page if you visit the new URL, but you’ll get an error if you type in the original link.

The easiest way to redirect from the old URL to the new link is by using AIOSEO.

AIOSEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress and can help you get more visitors from search engines like Google. It even has a setup wizard that will help you choose the best SEO settings for your website and improve your rankings, even if you’re completely new to search engine optimization.

For this guide, we’ll be using the AIOSEO Pro version because it has the Redirection Manager that you’ll need to set up a redirect. However, there is also a free version of AIOSEO that you can use to optimize your website no matter what your budget.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, AIOSEO will automatically launch the setup wizard. You can simply click on ‘Let’s Get Started’ and then follow the onscreen instructions to improve your site’s search engine rankings.

Click let's get started AIOSEO setup wizard

To learn more, please see our step-by-step guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

Since we want to use the plugin’s premium features, you’ll need to enter a license key when asked. You can find this information under your account on the AIOSEO website.

Enter AIOSEO license key

After entering the license key, click on the ‘Finish Setup’ button to save your settings and close the setup wizard.

With that out of the way, head over to All in One SEO » Redirects in the WordPress dashboard. You can then go ahead and click on Activate Redirects.

Activating the AIOSEO redirect feature

Now you’ve activated the Redirection Manager, you can start by typing in the source URL. This is the category archive’s original web address, and will usually start with /category/ followed by the original category name.

Here, we’re redirecting anyone who tries to visit /category/search-engine-optimization.

Adding a source URL for your category redirect

After typing in the source URL, make sure you click on the small cog icon to see some extra settings that you can configure.

You’ll need to check the box next to ‘Regex.’

Creating a regex redirect in WordPress

Now, it’s time to move to the target URL, which is our new category archive page.

In the following image, visitors will be redirected to /category/seo.

Adding a 301 redirect to your WordPress website

Your next task is choosing the type of redirect that AIOSEO should use. There are various types of redirects that are identified with numbers such as 301, 302, and 307.

If you’re permanently moving the archive to a new location, then you’ll want to use a 301 redirect as this tells search engines that the page will always be at this new location. This way, all the old archive’s traffic and backlinks are transferred to the new page.

Simply open the ‘Redirect Type’ dropdown and choose ‘301 Moved Permanently.’

Choosing a redirect type for your WordPress website

If you’re only temporarily moving the category archive page to a new URL, then you should choose ‘307 Temporary Redirect’ instead.

When you’ve done that, go ahead and click on the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

Now, if you try to visit the original category archive page, AIOSEO will automatically redirect you to the new target URL.

How to Properly Delete a WordPress Category

Sometimes you may no longer need a particular category. For example, you may have accidentally created two very similar categories or changed the direction of your WordPress blog so you no longer cover the same content.

Before deleting a category, it’s important to think about how this will affect your WordPress website. Firstly, WordPress will remove the deleted category from all your posts. Any posts that no longer have a category, will be marked as ‘uncategorized.’

Lots of uncategorized content will make it more difficult for visitors to explore your website. With that being said, you may want to look through all the posts within the category you plan to delete, to make sure they have at least one alternate category.

You can also set up a redirect for that category’s archive page by following the same process described above. This can help you fix any broken links before they hurt your search engine rankings or the visitor experience.

When you’re ready to delete the category, simply go to Posts » Categories. You can then hover the mouse over the category and click on the ‘Delete’ link when it appears.

How to delete a WordPress category

How to Change the Default Uncategorized Category

If you don’t assign a category to a post, then WordPress will assign one automatically. By default, this is ‘uncategorized’ but you may want to change this to an alternative category.

Another option is to continue using the ‘uncategorized’ category, but give it a more descriptive and useful name.

This change is particularly important if you run a WordPress multi-author blog or accept guest contributions, as these people may forget to add a category to their posts.

Changing the default category can also improve your WordPress SEO by making sure that every post has a descriptive category.

Let’s start by renaming the uncategorized category by going to Posts » Categories.

Here, find ‘Uncategorized’ and hover your mouse over it. When the ‘Edit’ link appears, give it a click.

Renaming the default uncategorized category

You can now type a new title into the ‘Name’ field.

After that, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save.’

How to rename the default WordPress category

Another option is to change the default category. This can be useful if you’ve already created a general category, and now want to use it as your default.

To make this change, head over to Settings » Writing in the WordPress dashboard. You can then open the ‘Default Post Category’ dropdown and choose any category from the list.

How to delete a WordPress category

After that, don’t forget to click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.

How to Add a Subcategory in WordPress

WordPress allows you to add category hierarchy, so you can add sub categories as needed.

You can do this easily by using the Parent category dropdown on the Add New Category screen.

Select a parent category in WordPress

For more details, see our step by step guide on how to add subcategories in WordPress.

How to Easily Convert Categories into Tags

Categories and tags are both important ways to organize and group your posts. However, to help visitors find their way around your site, you should use them in slightly different ways.

Categories are great for broadly grouping your posts, while tags are meant to describe the specific details of each post.

Visitors can use categories to quickly find the type of content they’re interested in, or their favorite subject. They can then use tags to pinpoint the exact post within that category.

At WPBeginner we have a Beginner’s Guide category, which is aimed at new WordPress users. Each post in the Beginner’s Guide has different tags, such as custom taxonomy, SEO, and sorting your content.

It’s easy to get categories and tags mixed up, especially if you’re just getting started with WordPress. Your website may also change over time, to the point where one of your tags would now work better as a category.

You can easily turn categories into tags, using the Categories to Tags Converter plugin. For example, you can turn a ‘Beginner’s Guide’ category into a ‘Beginner’s Guide’ tag with the click of a button. Even better, all posts that were categorized as ‘Beginner’s Guide’ will be assigned the new ‘Beginner’s Guide’ tag automatically.

This can save you a ton of time and let you test different ways of organizing your content.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Categories to Tags Converter plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Tools » Import. Here, find ‘Categories and Tags Converter’ and click on its ‘Run importer’ link.

Converting a WordPress category into a WordPress tag

You’ll now see all the different categories and tags you’ve created for your website, organizied into tabs.

To convert a category into a tag, simply check the box next to it. You can then click on the ‘Convert Categories’ button.

Easily turn a category into a tag

After a few moments, you’ll see a ‘Converted successfully’ message. To turn more categories into tags, simply repeat the process described above.

To turn a tag into a category, select the ‘Tags’ tab. You can now check the box next to the tag that you want to change, and click on the ‘Convert Tags’ button.

Converting a WordPress tag into a WordPress category

We hope this article helped you learn how to properly change, move, and delete WordPress categories. You can also go through our guide on the best email marketing services and proven ways to make money online blogging with WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Properly Change, Move and Delete WordPress Categories first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Easily Create a Multilingual Sitemap in WordPress

Are you looking to improve the search engine rankings of your site’s multilingual pages?

Creating a multilingual sitemap helps Google, Bing, and other search engines easily find your content and index it. You can get more international search traffic simply by giving search engines an easy way to find multilingual content on your WordPress site.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create a multilingual sitemap for WordPress.

How to create a multilingual sitemap in WordPress

Why Create a Multilingual Sitemap in WordPress?

A sitemap is a file that contains all the important content on your WordPress website. It is in the XML format and is targeted toward search engines instead of people.

Creating an XML sitemap for your multilingual website helps search engines find and index your content faster. For instance, if you have different domains or subdomains translated into multiple languages, then you’ll need to create a sitemap for each website.

Note: If you’re looking for an easy way to set up a website in different languages, then follow our step-by-step guide on how to easily create a multilingual WordPress site.

A sitemap is extremely important for your WordPress SEO. Let’s say you just created a new multilingual website. Your new site won’t have many backlinks, and it can be hard for search engines to discover your new articles and pages.

The sitemap provides a way for search engines to learn about your new content in another language. This way, your multilingual pages will start to get indexed and appear in search results.

That being said, let’s take a look at how you can create a multilingual sitemap in WordPress.

Creating a Multilingual Sitemap in WordPress

By default, WordPress automatically creates an XML sitemap for new websites. You can add wp-sitemap.xml at the end of the domain, and WordPress will display the default XML sitemap.

View default sitemap

However, this feature is fairly limited and not very flexible. You can’t control which content to add or remove from the sitemap.

The best way to create an XML sitemap in WordPress is by using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. It is the best WordPress SEO plugin and helps you optimize your site for search engines.

It also automatically creates a sitemap for a multilingual site and gives you more control over which pages and website sections you want to show in the sitemap.

The sitemap feature is available in the AIOSEO Lite version for free. However, if you’re looking for more features like video sitemaps, news sitemaps, redirections manager, and link assistant, then we recommend using the AIOSEO Pro version.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Click let's get started AIOSEO setup wizard

Upon activation, you’ll see the AIOSEO setup wizard. Simply click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button and follow the onscreen instructions. For more details, you can visit our guide on how to set up All in One SEO plugin for WordPress.

After that, you’ll need to go to All in One SEO » Sitemaps from your WordPress dashboard and ensure that the ‘Enable Sitemap’ option is enabled.

AIOSEO sitemaps

AIOSEO will automatically create a sitemap for your multilingual website.

You can click the ‘Open Sitemap’ button to preview it or simply add ‘sitemap.xml’ to your website URL.

XML sitemap preview

Please note that if you’re using WPML to create multilingual sites, then AIOSEO will automatically serve sitemaps across different languages.

For instance, your sitemap URL will be something like /nl/sitemap.xml, /de/sitemap.xml, or /fr/sitemap.xml.

If you’re using TranslatePress to create your WordPress multilingual site, then you will need to install their SEO pack addon which is fully compatible with AIOSEO.

Configuring Additional Multilingual Sitemap Settings

To further customize your multilingual sitemaps, you can scroll down in AIOSEO Sitemaps settings to view more options.

By default, the plugin lets you include all post types and taxonomies in the sitemap. It also gives the option to include date archives and author sitemaps.

View more sitemap settings

However, you can uncheck the ‘Post Types’ and ‘Taxonomies’ options and view more options.

For example, let’s say you have translated content as a custom post type. You can simply check that option to include in the sitemap and exclude other post types.

Add translations to sitemap

Besides that, you can also add more pages from your multilingual website to the sitemap.

For example, let’s say you’ve translated a pillar article or an evergreen content into another language. You can add the page URL to the sitemap using AIOSEO and help search engines easily find your content.

Simply scroll down and click the ‘Additional Page’ toggle to enable the option. After that, you can add the page URL, and choose the priority and the frequency.

Add additional pages to sitemap

AIOSEO lets you exclude posts, pages, and specific terms from your WordPress sitemaps.

For instance, you can add different multilingual posts and pages that you don’t to include in the sitemap. These can be contact us page, or terms of service pages translated in another language.

First, you’ll need to enable the ‘Advanced Settings’ option. Then enter the URLs in the ‘Exclude Posts / Posts’ field and the terms in the ‘Exclude Terms’ field.

View additional settings in sitemap

Submitting Your Multilingual Sitemap to Search Engines

Now that you’ve created a multilingual sitemap, the next step is to submit it to different search engines. This way, Google, Bing, and other search engines can easily find new content.

Submit Multilingual Sitemap to Google

Google Search Console is a free tool by Google that you can use to monitor your site’s performance on search results. It helps you see which keywords people use to find your website and resolve any errors that might prevent you from appearing on Google.

Submitting your multilingual sitemap to the Search Console helps Google quickly discover new content.

You can simply log in to your account and head to the ‘Sitemaps’ option from the menu on your left. Next, enter your multilingual sitemap URL under the ‘Add a new sitemap’ option and click the ‘Submit’ button.

Submit your site to search console

For more details, please see our guide on how to submit your website to search engines.

Submit Multilingual Sitemap to Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo

Similarly, you can submit the sitemap to Bing using the Webmaster Tools. The best part is that, when you submit your site to Bing, it’s also automatically submitted to the Yahoo and DuckDuckGo search engines.

Submit sitemap in Bing

You can see our step-by-step tutorial on how to add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools for more details.

We hope that this article helped you learn how to create a multilingual sitemap in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert SEO tips to optimize your blog posts, and our expert pick of the best keyword research tools to improve your SEO rankings.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Easily Create a Multilingual Sitemap in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What’s the Difference?

Did you know that every WordPress post or page can have two titles, and they are used for different purposes?

These different post titles help you attract potential readers by showing them what your content is about in a clear and interesting way. They are also used by search engines when it comes to SEO rankings.

In this article, we’ll explain the difference between SEO titles and H1 post titles, so you can better optimize your content for higher rankings.

SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What's the Difference?

Here’s what we’ll cover in this tutorial:

What’s the Difference Between SEO Titles and Post Titles?

Every post and page on your WordPress website will have two titles, one that visitors will see at the top of the post, and one that search engines use when indexing your site. While these are two completely different use-cases, the two titles will most often be the same.

The title that is displayed at the top of every WordPress post is called the H1 post title, because WordPress will surround it with <h1> HTML tags to show that it is the most important heading in the post.

This title should let your visitors know what the post is about and attract their attention, so they click on the post and read it.

Example of a H1 Post Title

Search engines like Google pay close attention to your <h1> header tags, but they also look for a different title, one enclosed in HTML <title> tags. This is your post’s SEO title and is also known as the meta title.

The SEO title is used when search engines rank your page and display it in search results.

Example of an SEO Meta Title on a Search Engine Results Page

Your visitors won’t see the SEO title anywhere on your website. However, it will be used as the page title in the browser tab, and other websites may use it when linking to your post.

By default, the SEO title will follow the following template: ‘Post Title — Site Title’. This will work fine for most blog posts. However, if you wish to customize the SEO title of a post or page, then you will need to use a WordPress SEO plugin.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to add H1 post titles and SEO titles in WordPress.

How to Add H1 Post Titles in WordPress

Adding a title to your post is simple. When you add a new post in WordPress, the block editor will ask you to add a post title, and then allow you to create blocks where you can add the content of the post.

Empty Post in the WordPress Block Editor

If you’re new to the block editor, then you can learn how to use it step-by-step in our guide on how to use the WordPress block editor.

You can add a post title by simply typing it on the first ‘Add title’ line of the post.

Adding an H1 Post Title in the WordPress Block Editor

Your website visitors will see this title displayed at the top of the post on your blog, and it will also be used in the post list on your blog’s home page.

When you view the HTML source of the post, you will notice that WordPress has wrapped the title in <h1> tags to identify it as the post title.

Viewing HTML H1 Tags for the Post Title

The <h1> tag is the most important heading tag, and should be used only for the post’s title. If you use subheadings in your post, then you should use less important heading tags, such as <h2>, <h3>, and <h4>.

How to Add SEO Titles in WordPress

The easiest way to add and customize SEO titles is with the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. AIOSEO is the original WordPress SEO plugin that’s used on over 3 million websites including our own.

In this tutorial, we’ll use the free version of All in One SEO because it allows you to customize the SEO title. However, AIOSEO Pro offers even more features to help you rank better in search engine results pages.

The first thing you need to do is install the free All in One SEO Lite plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will need to configure the plugin using the AIOSEO setup wizard. For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

Now, when you are adding or editing a post or page, there will be an ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section below the post content. Here you will find a section labeled ‘Post Title’ where you can customize the SEO title.

All in One SEO's Default SEO Title

Notice that the default SEO title is the H1 post title followed by a separator and the site title.

You will also see a preview of how the title will look in a Google search and the number of characters you used. This will help you create a title that is not too long. The recommended length of an SEO title is 60 characters so it isn’t cut off on search engine results pages.

You might like to leave the default SEO title as it is, or you can customize it using smart tags (more on that later) or by simply typing a new SEO title like this:

Entering a Custom SEO Title Using All in One SEO

When you view the HTML source of the post, you will notice that WordPress has used <title> tags to identify it as the SEO title.

Viewing the HTML Source of an SEO Title

Visitors to your website will see the H1 post title at the top of the post. They will see the SEO title in their browser tab and on search engine results pages.

Example of an H1 Title in the Post and SEO Title in the Browser Tab

How to Customize the Default SEO Title in WordPress

You can customize the default SEO title used for posts and pages using the All in One SEO plugin.

First, you need to navigate to the All in One SEO » Search Appearance page and then click the ‘Content Types’ tab.

Near the top of that page, you will see the ‘Posts’ section. Make sure you’re on the ‘Title & Description’ tab and you will see the default SEO title used for posts next to ‘Post Title’.

You Can Change the Default SEO Title Using All in One SEO

By default, you will see smart tags for the post title, a separator, and the site title. You can customize the default SEO title by adding or removing smart tags.

For example, to make the SEO title just the post title without the site name at the end, simply delete the ‘Separator’ and ‘Site Title’ smart tags. You can do this with the backspace key on your keyboard, or by clicking on a smart tag and then clicking the trash icon on the popup.

Deleting Smart Tags in the Default SEO Title

You can also easily add smart tags to the default SEO title. You can do this by clicking the buttons for commonly used tags found above the Post Title field, or clicking the ‘View all tags’ link to see a list of all smart tags.

Adding Smart Tags to the Default SEO Title

Simply click on a smart tag to add it to the SEO title. When finished, make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top of the screen to save the new default post title.

You can customize the default page title in a similar way by scrolling down to the ‘Pages’ section below.

Tips for Creating the Best Post Titles in WordPress

Choosing the right title for your blog post can help it rank higher in search results. It can also motivate users to click on your article when they see it in the search results thus boosting your CTR (aka click through rate).

Here are some tips on how to write more effective post titles.

Write Your Posts Titles for Users, Not Search Engines

When you think of a title to use for your post, keep your users in mind, not just search engines.

When you write a title for users, you’re likely to come up with something that’s more engaging, and it will lead to more clicks.

You want to make sure that your title is readable, understandable, memorable, and clearly describes the content of the post.

Make Sure the Title Is Not Too Long

The length of an SEO title is important because if it is longer than 600 pixels, then Google will not be able to display the full title in search engine results. Because of this, we recommend keeping your SEO titles shorter than 60 characters.

You can check the length of the SEO title and see a preview of how it will look in a Google search when you customize it using All in One SEO.

Entering a Custom SEO Title Using All in One SEO

Include the Focus Keyword in the Title

You can make your blog post title more SEO-friendly by using your focus keyword in the title. We also recommend making it catchy and click-worthy. That’s because your organic click-through rate (CTR) plays an important role in SEO.

The best way to improve your titles is with the AIOSEO headline analyzer tool. This will evaluate your headline, give it a score, and offer tips to make your headline even better.

AIOSEO headline analyzer

For more details, see our guide on how to use a headline analyzer in WordPress to improve SEO titles.

Rank Even Higher by Adding a Meta Description and Keywords

Now that you’ve taken time to craft an effective title, you should also add keywords and a meta description to help your post rank even higher. You can learn how to do this step-by-step in our guide on how to add keywords and meta descriptions in WordPress.

AIOSEO meta description

When Should You Use a Different SEO Title?

In most cases, your H1 post title and SEO title will be the same. However, there are times when you may want to customize the SEO title so that it is different from the H1 post title.

A More Engaging SEO Title

For example, you may want to tweak the SEO version of the title, so it is more engaging to potential visitors and more likely they will click on it in a Google search. You could then display a more detailed and descriptive H1 title on your website.

A Shorter SEO Title

Another reason to change the SEO title is if you have created the perfect H1 title for your post, but it is longer than 600 pixels. In that case, Google will not have room to display the full title in the search results, and you should create a shorter SEO title.

A Longer SEO Title

On the other hand, if your H1 title is very short, then you can take the opportunity to make your SEO title longer by adding relevant keywords that will improve your page ranking.

Warning: Google Regularly Changes Your SEO Title

There’s one last thing about titles we should warn you about. Google is likely to rewrite your SEO title to try to make it more suitable for those performing searches. In fact, a study has found that Google is changing more than 60% of post titles to improve search quality.

This can be frustrating if you have worked hard on crafting the perfect SEO title.

What we have found is that your title is more likely to be changed when your SEO title is different from the H1 title. When these two titles match, the study found that Google rewrites the title only 20% of the time. This is a good reason to use the same title in both places if you can.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn the difference between SEO titles and H1 post titles in WordPress. You may also want to learn about what are push notifications and how you can use it to grow your traffic, or check out our list of must-have WordPress plugins to grow your site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What’s the Difference? first appeared on WPBeginner.