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Category: wpbeginner.com

  • How to Create Advanced Search Form in WordPress for Custom Post Types

    Do you want to create an advanced search form in WordPress for custom post types?

    If you use custom post types, then you may want to create a form that allows visitors to search only that content. This can help people find what they are looking for and keep them on your site for longer.

    In this article, we will show you how to create an advanced search form for custom post types in WordPress, step-by-step.

    How to create advanced search form in WordPress for custom oost types

    Why Create an Advanced Search Form for Custom Post Types?

    Custom post types allow you to go beyond posts and pages and make different content types for your website. For example, we use custom post types here at WPBeginner to organize our Deals and Glossary sections.

    However, WordPress doesn’t include custom post types in its search results by default. As a result, visitors may miss out on important content, and you will miss out on pageviews.

    Thankfully, you can include custom post types in your search results using a WordPress search plugin. You can even go one step further and create an advanced form that searches custom post types only.

    For instance, at WPBeginner, we have created custom post type search forms on our Deals and Glossary pages.

    An example of a custom search form on the WPBeginner website

    Often, this kind of advanced search form will help visitors find what they are looking for faster, which will improve the visitor experience and reduce the bounce rate.

    First, you can see our guide on how to make custom post types in WordPress. Then, you can jump into our tutorial on how to create an advanced WordPress search form for custom post types.

    Create a New WordPress Search Algorithm With a WordPress Plugin

    The easiest way to create an advanced search form for custom post types is by using the SearchWP plugin. It’s the best search plugin and allows you to search content that WordPress ignores by default.

    For example, you can make blog comments searchable and add PDF indexing and searching to your website.

    How to Set up SearchWP

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate the SearchWP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you must go to SearchWP » Settings and click on the ‘General’ tab.

    Activating the SearchWP search plugin

    You now need to enter your license in the ‘License Key’ box. You can find this information in your account on the SearchWP site.

    Once you are done, make sure to click the ‘Verify Key’ button.

    Creating a Custom Search Algorithm

    Your next task is creating a custom search algorithm. It allows you to specify the content that SearchWP includes in its search results, like pages, posts, media, and any custom post types.

    To get started, you need to go to SearchWP Â» Algorithm in your WordPress admin dashboard.

    Creating a search algorithm using SearchWP

    Here, you will see a section for every content type that SearchWP includes in its search results.

    To add your custom post type, just click the ‘Sources & Settings’ button.

    How to add custom post types to a WordPress search engine

    In the popup that appears, check the box next to each custom post type that you want to include in the search results.

    After that, click on ‘Done’.

    Creating a WordPress search form for custom post types

    SearchWP will add a new section for each custom post type. Each section shows all the attributes that SearchWP will include in its searches, such as the title, slug, and excerpt.

    If you want to add or remove attributes, then simply click on ‘Add/Remove Attributes’.

    Creating a search form for custom post types

    In the popup, check the box next to each attribute you want to include in the search results.

    To remove an attribute, you can uncheck its box instead.

    Adding attributes to the SearchWP search algorithm

    In this popup, you can also make custom fields searchable in WordPress.

    When you are happy with the changes you have made, go ahead and click on ‘Done’.

    You will notice that each attribute also has an Application Attribute Relevance slider. This controls how SearchWP ranks the content when building its search results page in WordPress.

    If an attribute has high relevancy, then it will have a bigger impact on the search results. By contrast, content that matches an attribute that has less relevancy will appear lower in the search results.

    For example, if you move the ‘Title’ slider to the right and the ‘Content’ slider to the left, then a post’s title will carry more weight than the content.

    Creating a custom search form for your WordPress blog or website

    Every WordPress website is unique, so you may want to try different relevancy settings to see what gives you the most accurate and helpful search results.

    For example, if you have created a ‘customer reviews’ custom post type for your online store, then this is important content, so you may want to give it a high relevance.

    When you are happy with how the search feature is set up, just scroll to the top of the screen and click the ‘Save’ button.

    Saving the custom post type search algorithm

    SearchWP will now rebuild the index automatically. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection and your WordPress hosting provider, this may take a few minutes.

    As soon as you see ‘Index Status 100%’, you will know that SearchWP has added your custom post types to its search index.

    Adding custom post types to the WordPress search index

    Your WordPress blog, website, or online marketplace will now include custom post types in its search results.

    Create an Advanced Search Form for Custom Post Types

    With that done, you are ready to make an advanced form that searches your custom post types only.

    To get started, head over to SearchWP » Search Forms and click the ‘Add New’ button.

    Creating a new custom search form

    This creates a new form, ready for you to customize.

    To give this form a unique name, click on the small pencil icon next to ‘Search Form 1’.

    Renaming the custom search form using SearchWP

    You can now type in a name for the custom search form.

    This is just for your reference, so you can use anything that helps you identify the form in your WordPress dashboard. This is particularly important if you plan to create multiple search forms in WordPress.

    Creating an advanced search form using SearchWP

    After that, you can choose the layout you want to use using the ‘Layout Theme’ thumbnails.

    Simply click on the different themes to see a preview of how this style will look on your WordPress website.

    Choosing a theme for the custom search form

    To create a search form for custom post types, you will typically want to use either ‘Basic’ or ‘Quick Search’.

    These styles don’t allow visitors to search by category, which helps to keep them focused on custom post types.

    Creating a quick search form for your WordPress website or blog

    After making your decision, scroll to the ‘Custom Styling’ section.

    The settings you see may vary depending on your theme layout. For example, if you selected ‘Quick Search’, then the ‘Quick Search’ setting will be enabled by default.

    Adding custom styling to a search bar in WordPress

    You can disable and enable the different options using their toggles.

    The live preview will update automatically as you make changes, so you can try different settings to see what works the best.

    By default, the form will search media, pages, and posts and ignore custom post types. To include custom post types, you need to find the ‘Type of search’ field and give it a click.

    Searching posts, pages, media, and more using SearchWP

    You can now type in the name of each custom post type.

    When the right post type appears, give it a click to add it to the search.

    Adding custom types to a WordPress search bar or form

    Do you want to search custom post types only and ignore all other content?

    Then just click the small ‘X’ next to ‘Media’, ‘Pages’, and ‘Posts’.

    Removing post types from a custom search algorithm

    With that done, the form will search your custom post types only.

    When you are happy with how the form is set up, scroll to the ‘Form Style’ section. Here, you can choose between different form styles, add a border, change the font size, and more.

    Changing the WordPress form style

    Under ‘Button Style’, you can customize the ‘Search’ button that appears in the form.

    When you are happy with how the form is set up, scroll to the top of the screen and click on ‘Save’ to store your settings.

    Saving the custom search settings on your website or blog

    How to Add the Custom Post Types to WordPress

    Now, you are ready to add the search form to WordPress using either a shortcode or block.

    The easiest method is to use a block, so head over to the page or post where you want to add the custom post type form.

    You can then click on the ‘+’ icon and type in ‘Search Form’.

    Adding a search block to your WordPress blog or website

    When the right block appears, give it a click.

    Next, open the ‘Select a Form’ dropdown menu and choose the search form you made during this tutorial.

    Showing a custom search from in WordPress

    When you are ready to make the search form live, simply click on either ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’. Now, you can visit your website to see the search form in action.

    Another option is to add the search form using a shortcode.

    To get the shortcode, you need to head over to SearchWP » Search Forms. Here, find the search form that you want to show and copy the value in the ‘Shortcode’ column.

    Getting the shortcode for a custom search form

    You can now add the shortcode to any page, post, or widget-ready area. For step-by-step instructions on how to do this, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to create an advanced search form in WordPress for custom post types. You may also want to see our custom post types tutorials and our expert picks for the best WordPress plugins to grow 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 Create Advanced Search Form in WordPress for Custom Post Types first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Use Google Trends to Improve SEO and Grow Your Business

    Are you wondering how to use Google Trends to improve your WordPress website?

    Google Trends is a tool that enables you to find popular keywords, identify trending topics, and research your competitors, which can help improve your website’s rankings.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily use Google Trends for search engine optimization (SEO) and growing your business.

    How to use Google Trends to improve website SEO

    Google Trends is a tool that helps you analyze the popularity of a search term on the Google search engine. It gets data from Google Search, Google News, Google Images, Google Shopping, and YouTube.

    Created by Google, this tool helps you find searches or keywords that are currently trending. Then, you can compare how the search volume for different keywords changes across locations.

    Use Google Trends to improve website SEO

    Using Google Trends can improve the SEO on your WordPress site by helping you find target keywords, research your competition, identify trending topics, and more.

    It’s a completely free Google tool that can also help you find related content ideas for your WordPress blog.

    Plus, if you have an online store, then you can also use Google Trends to help you plan when to display Google Shopping Ads for your products or choose new products for your store.

    That being said, let’s see how to use Google Trends to improve your website SEO and grow your business.

    How to Use Google Trends to Improve Website SEO

    There are many ways to use Google Trends to improve WordPress SEO, improve your website rankings, and get more customers to your website.

    The tool provides you with a bird’s eye view of what’s trending in the world of search, helping you browse through the latest data and find keywords that are related to your niche.

    You can use the quick links below to jump to different parts of our beginner-friendly guide on how to use Google Trends:

    1. Find Search Volume Trends

    Google Trends makes it super easy to find search volume trends for keywords.

    This lets you see how many people are searching for a particular keyword over time. In turn, this can help you decide if you want to use that keyword in your blog content.

    By tracking the search volume for different keywords, you will get a sense of what people are interested in at any given time and identify topics that are currently gaining popularity.

    You can also use Google Trends to research your niche and see what is popular within your industry. For example, if you are thinking of starting a WooCommerce store that sells standing desks, then you can use Google Trends to find out if people are actually interested in that product.

    This way, you can avoid making decisions that won’t make you money and instead focus on niches that have more chance of success.

    To find search volume trends, head over to the Google Trends website and type a keyword of your choice into the search field.

    After that, just click the ‘Explore’ button to continue.

    Find Search volume trends

    Google Trends will now display the search volume of the keyword that you typed as an ‘Interest Over Time’ graph.

    From here, you can even select a region, category, or period of time for the search volume.

    For example, if you want to find the search volume of the keyword ‘Paris’ in 2021 in the USA, then you can use the dropdown menus to configure the settings.

    Once you do that, the search volume trends graph will adjust itself according to the settings.

    Adjust search volume trends

    You can then use this information for different keywords and target audiences from specific regions, languages, and more. This will help you decide if it’s a niche that you want to write about or not.

    If the search term has a downward trend, then the niche may be irrelevant now, and it will be more difficult to sell products and services or reach users with blog posts that target that keyword.

    Similarly, if the search term only peaks during specific seasons, then this means that it’s a seasonal keyword that will only make sales during a certain time of year.

    2. Find Relevant Keywords

    Another amazing feature of Google Trends is that it lets you find keywords that are related to the keyword that you initially searched for.

    For example, if you used Google Trends to search for the Keyword ‘Beach Reads’, then the tool will also show you other relevant terms that you can use in your blog post.

    This can be helpful for targeting a wider audience and improving your website’s SEO.

    To find relevant keywords in Google Trends, you will first need to type a keyword into the search field and click the ‘Explore’ button.

    Find relevant keywords with Google Trends

    Once the search volume for the keyword is shown on your screen, you need to scroll down to the ‘Related Queries’ section.

    Here, you will see the rising related keywords to the one that you searched for.

    Find related queries

    Alternatively, if you want to see the related keywords that are currently trending for this topic, then you can select the ‘Top’ option from the dropdown menu at the top. Google Trends will then display these keywords, along with their search volume.

    This can help you choose related keywords with the highest search volume and add them to your blog posts or design new content around them.

    Find the top relevant keywords

    Expert Tip: Are you looking for a quick and easy way to generate new keywords and content ideas for your blog? You can use our free WPBeginner Keyword Generator Tool and Blog Post Idea Generator to create hundreds of content ideas in just seconds.

    3. Compare Different Keywords

    With Google Trends, you can also compare different keywords to find the one that has more search volume and is more popular with your target audience.

    This can help you discover how each keyword is performing and identify the perfect one that will grab your users’ attention.

    First, you will have to visit the Google Trends website and search for a keyword of your choice. Once the trends for that search term have loaded on your page, just type another related search term into the ‘+ Compare’ field.

    Compare different keywords with Google Trends

    Next, the ‘Interest over time’ graph on the page will show the search volume of the two different keywords.

    You can then make a decision on which keyword to target based on the graph.

    Compare the graph for different keywords

    However, if you are still not sure which keyword to choose, then you can scroll down to the ‘Compared breakdown by subregion’ section, where you will see the search volume of both keywords in different subregions of the country that you chose.

    You can now make a more informed decision by choosing the keyword that is more popular in the region where most of your audience lives. This can be very helpful for local SEO.

    Compare keywords by subregion

    4. Find Trending Topics for Blog Content

    With Google Trends, you can also find new ideas for your WordPress blog content by looking at trending topics.

    By writing about topics that a lot of people are currently interested in, you may be able to increase the traffic to your WordPress website and reach new readers. This is particularly helpful if you run a news website or simply want to jump onto the latest trend.

    To do this, head over to the Google Trends website and switch to the ‘Trending’ tab.

    Take a look at trending topics for blog post ideas

    Here, the tool will display all the topics that are currently trending across the internet.

    You can also choose a country from the dropdown menu to take a look at the topics that are trending in areas where most of your audience is.

    5. Analyze Competitors

    You can also use different features in Google Trends to analyze the growth of your competitors.

    For example, you can compare your competitors with your business by typing in both business names. Google Trends will then show you a graph detailing the growth of each term over time.

    You can then further analyze the countries where your competitors are more popular by using the dropdown menu at the top.

    Analyze competitors with Google Trends

    You can also see the regions where your competitors are more popular by scrolling down to the ‘Compared breakdown by subregion’ section.

    You can even download this comparison as a comma-separated values file by clicking on the ‘CSV’ button.

    Compare competitors by subregion

    To further analyze your competitors, just type their company or blog name into the keyword field.

    Once you do that, you can scroll down to the ‘Related Queries’ and ‘Related Topics’ sections to see the topics and keywords that your competitors are associated with.

    You can then start planning to create your own content that targets these keywords and topics.

    Keyword search for competitors

    6. Use Google Shopping Data to Advertise Your Products

    If you run a WooCommerce store, then you may wish to submit your products to Google Shopping. This means that your items will be displayed in the Google Shopping tab and may even appear at the top of the search results for some keywords.

    Google Trends can help you design your ad campaigns on Google Shopping and decide the best time to advertise particular products on that platform. The data can also tell you the best time to design your own marketing campaigns.

    For example, you can get more sales by displaying a Google Shopping ad for your coats during the winter. Using a popup marketing tool like OptinMonster, you can also showcase your winter products to visitors on your website at the same time.

    To see Google Shopping data, you will need to type the search term for a product into the Google Trends website. Once the search volume for the term loads on your screen, simply select the ‘Google Shopping’ option from the dropdown menu on the right.

    Plan Google Shopping ads with Google Trends

    After that, Google Trends will show the popularity of the product in Google Shopping using the ‘Interest Over Time’ graph.

    You can also select different regions and time periods to collect further information about the product.

    Google Shopping ads trends

    If there is a high interest in a particular kind of product during particular months, then this is a sign that you should advertise your product at that time.

    7. Generate Ideas for YouTube Videos

    If you have a YouTube channel for your WordPress website, then you can also use Google Trends to generate ideas for your videos. This will help you make YouTube videos for topics and keywords that are currently trending on the platform.

    To do this, simply type a search term of your choice into the Google Trends website and wait for the search volume to load on the screen.

    After that, simply select the ‘YouTube Search’ option from the dropdown menu on the right. Google Trends will now display the search volume of the keyword on YouTube.

    Generate ideas for YouTube videos

    This will help you figure out if the keyword you searched for is a topic that users are interested in or if the trend has died down.

    You can also get new ideas for YouTube videos by scrolling down to the ‘Related Queries’ and ‘Related Topics’ sections. Here, you will find more relevant keywords and ideas that you can use to create a YouTube video.

    Bonus: Use AIOSEO to Optimize Your Website for Search Engines

    In this post, we showed you how you can use Google Trends to find target keywords, research your competition, and find the search volume of different topics and keywords.

    However, Google Trends itself can’t actually optimize the content on your WordPress website.

    This is where All in One SEO for WordPress comes in.

    It is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market that makes it super easy to optimize your content to improve search engine rankings.

    The All in One SEO (AIOSEO) search engine optimization plugin

    The plugin comes with a suite of incredible features, including SEO analysis, a headline analyzer, schema markup, XML sitemaps, redirects, and more.

    AIOSEO even offers a Chrome extension, meaning that you can check your website’s SEO without even logging in to your WordPress dashboard.

    Some of its other features that help optimize your content include:

    • On-page analysis that provides recommendations on how to improve your content for specific keywords and general SEO.
    • Social media integrations to attract more visitors to your website.
    • The image SEO feature makes it easier for search engines to index your images.
    • The search statistics feature allows you to track your keyword rankings and monitor SEO metrics to improve your content over time.
    • You can also detect critical errors on your WordPress site and get insights to boost SEO using the SEO audit checklist feature.

    For details, you may want to see our list of unique things you didn’t know about All in One SEO.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to use Google Trends to improve website SEO and grow your business. You may also want to see our ultimate SEO guide and our expert picks for the best analytics solutions for 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 Use Google Trends to Improve SEO and Grow Your Business first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add Custom Post Status for Blog Posts in WordPress

    Do you want to add a custom post status for your blog posts in WordPress?

    Post statuses organize your articles based on where they are in the editorial workflow, such as ‘Drafts’, ‘Pending Review’, or ‘Published’. With the right statuses, you can easily manage your own posts or even blogs submitted by other authors.

    In this article, we will show you how to add custom post statuses to blog posts in WordPress.

    How to add custom post status for blog posts in WordPress

    What Are Post Statuses in WordPress?

    Post status allows users to add a workflow status to a blog post. For example, when you are writing a post, you will typically set the status to ‘Draft’. When you publish the post, the status changes to ‘Published’.

    You can see the post status of all your blogs by going to Posts » All Posts in your WordPress admin dashboard.

    The default WordPress post statuses

    By default, WordPress comes with the following post statuses:

    • Draft. The post is saved but not yet published.
    • Auto draft. As you write a new post, WordPress automatically saves a draft as a temporary revision. This allows you to easily undo changes in WordPress.
    • Pending review. A post that’s complete and submitted for review but not yet published. Typically, ‘pending review’ posts need to be reviewed by an editor.
    • Future. The post is scheduled to be published later.
    • Private. A blog post that’s not visible to the public. By default, only admins and editors can see private posts created by other users.
    • Trash. The post is in the trash.
    • Inherit. Occasionally used when a post inherits the status of its parent page. This is most commonly used for post attachments such as images and videos.

    Why Add Custom Post Status for Blog Posts in WordPress?

    Sometimes, you may need to add your own custom statuses to WordPress. For example, if you accept guest posts on your WordPress blog, then you might create a ‘User Submitted’ status or a ‘Not suitable’ status for guest blogs that don’t quite fit your website.

    This can help you manage all the posts on your WordPress website, even when you are working with dozens of bloggers.

    Even if you are a solo blogger, you can use custom statuses to organize your own posts and ideas. For example, you might create a ‘Brainstorm’ status where you record all your ideas directly in the WordPress dashboard.

    With that in mind, let’s see how you can add custom post status for blog posts in WordPress.

    How to Add Custom Post Status for Blog Posts in WordPress

    The easiest way to create custom post statuses in WordPress is by using PublishPress Planner. This free plugin allows you to create as many custom statuses as you want. You can also assign a color and icon to each status and then see this information in the PublishPress editorial calendar.

    First, you will 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, you need to go to Planner » Settings. Here, select the ‘Statuses’ tab to get started.

    How to add custom post status for blog posts in WordPress

    How to Configure the PublishPress Planner Plugin

    First, there are a few settings you need to configure.

    By default, PublishPress allows you to use the same statuses on pages and posts. However, you may want to use these custom post statuses on only pages or only posts.

    To make this change, simply uncheck the box next to ‘Pages’ or ‘Posts’.

    Creating a custom status for WordPress pages and posts

    If it isn’t already enabled, then you will need to open the ‘Show the status dropdown menu on the post editing screen’ dropdown. Then, select ‘Enabled’. This allows users to change the post status inside the WordPress block editor.

    With that done, just click on ‘Save Changes.’

    Adding the post status settings to the WordPress content editor

    With that out of the way, you are ready to create some custom post statuses.

    Customize the Default Post Status for Blog Posts

    PublishPress Planner comes with a few built-in statuses that you can add to your WordPress blog posts.

    A list of custom post statuses in WordPress

    These statuses already have colors and icons assigned.

    PublishPress Planner shows this information in its content calendar, as you can see in the following image.

    The PublishPress content calendar

    To edit any of these default statuses, simply hover your mouse over it.

    Then, click on the ‘Edit’ link when it appears.

    Editing a default WordPress page or post status

    This opens an editor where you can change the status name, slug, icon, and color.

    When you are happy with your changes, just click on the ‘Update Status’ button.

    Editing a default page or post status in WordPress

    Do you want to delete a custom post status instead?

    Simply hover over it and click ‘Delete’ when it appears.

    Deleting page or post statuses on a website or blog

    Create Custom Post Statuses in WordPress

    PublishPress also allows you to create your own custom statuses.

    To get started, click on the ‘Add New’ tab.

    Improving the editorial workflow with custom page and post statuses

    This opens a form where you can type in a name for the status.

    This will appear in the page or post editor and also in the ‘Quick Edit’ menu, so it’s a good idea to use something descriptive. This is particularly important if you run a multi-author WordPress blog, as it will help other users understand how to use each status.

    In this way, you can avoid confusion and improve the editorial workflow.

    Adding a title to a custom page status

    Next, you can type in a description, which will appear on the Planner » Content Calendar screen. If you are creating lots of new statuses, then the description can be a helpful reminder for yourself and other users.

    If you share your WordPress dashboard with other writers and guest bloggers, then this can also be a good way to share more information about the new workflow.

    Adding descriptions in PublishPress

    After that, you can add a color and icon that will represent the status in your content calendar. This can help you plan your content and schedule posts in WordPress.

    Simply click on ‘Select Color’ or ‘Select Icon’ and then make your choice in the popup.

    Creating a color-coded content calendar for a blog or website

    When you are happy with how the custom post status is set up, click on ‘Add New Status’.

    To create more custom statuses, simply repeat these steps.

    How to Add a Custom Status to any Page or Post

    After creating one more custom statuses, you can add them to any page or post. If you are inside the content editor, simply open the ‘Post Status’ dropdown in the right-hand menu.

    Changing the status of a WordPress page or post

    You can then choose the custom post status that you want to use for the WordPress blog post.

    Another option is to use the Quick Edit setting. This is a great choice for editors or admins who need to quickly change the status of multiple pages or posts.

    To do this, go to either Pages » All Pages, or Posts » All Posts. Then, simply hover your mouse over the item you want to change, and click on ‘Quick Edit’ when it appears.

    Changing a post's publication status using the Quick Edit settings

    You can now open the ‘Status’ dropdown and choose the status you want to use.

    With that done, click on ‘Update’ to save your settings.

    Changing a page or post status using the Quick Edit settings

    Planning Your Content with Custom Post Statuses

    As we already mentioned, PublishPress shows post status icons and color labels in its content calendar. This can help you bulk schedule posts in WordPress and even plan effective content-dripping campaigns on your WordPress site.

    To see the calendar, you need to go to Planner » Content Calendar in the WordPress dashboard.

    An example of a WordPress content calendar

    Here, you will see all your pages and posts. To learn more about a particular blog post, simply give it a click.

    This opens a popup where you can see the post type, categories and tags, author, and other important information.

    How to see more information about a page or post in a content calendar

    To see all the pages and posts that have a specific status, open the dropdown that shows ‘All statuses’ by default.

    You can then choose any post status from the list.

    Filtering pages and posts based on status

    This is a great way to find posts that haven’t been scheduled yet or blog posts that you still need to edit or assign.

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add custom post status for blog posts in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to make money online blogging with WordPress or check out our list of the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools.

    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 Add Custom Post Status for Blog Posts in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • What’s the Difference Between Padding and Margin in WordPress?

    Do you want to know the difference between padding and margin in WordPress?

    In WordPress, padding is the space between the content and the border within a block, while margin is the space between two separate blocks.

    In this article, we will show you the difference between padding and margin and how to use them in WordPress.

    Difference between padding and margin in WordPress

    What Is Padding in WordPress?

    The padding feature on your WordPress website is used to create space inside a block.

    For example, you can add space inside a Text block to make its layout more visually appealing and prevent text from appearing too close to the borders of the block.

    Padding preview

    You can also use padding to control how the content flows on your WordPress blog. For instance, if you add padding to the top and bottom of a Text block, you can make it easier for visitors to read the content.

    What Is Margin in WordPress?

    Margin is the space around the border of a WordPress block and its surrounding elements.

    This can help you add space between two different blocks, creating a more spacious and clean layout for your site.

    Margin preview

    For example, you can add margins to the top and bottom of a Text block so that it remains visible even when the screen is resized.

    Plus, you can also use margins to add space between Image and Text blocks to make your website visually appealing and more accessible for users.

    What Is the Difference Between Padding and Margin in WordPress?

    Here is a quick list of the differences between padding and margin in WordPress:

    Padding Margin
    Padding means adding space between the content and the border of the block. The margin feature adds space outside the border of the block.
    Using padding does not affect the other blocks on your website. Using a margin affects other blocks on your website.
    Padding can create a buffer around a block. Margins can create space between two different blocks.

    How to Use Padding in WordPress

    By default, the WordPress full site editor (FSE) comes with the padding feature.

    However, keep in mind that if you are not using a block-based theme, then you won’t be able to add padding to your WordPress site unless you use custom CSS.

    First, you need to visit the Appearance » Editor page from the WordPress admin sidebar to launch the full site editor.

    Once you are there, just choose the page template where you want to add padding to your blocks from the ‘Templates’ sidebar on the left. This sidebar will display all the templates for different pages on your website.

    Choose the page where you want to add padding from the left column

    After you have done that, the template that you chose will open up on the screen.

    From here, click the ‘Edit’ button to start customizing your page template in the full site editor.

    Click the Edit icon for full site editor

    Next, choose the block where you want to add padding. Remember this means that you will be creating space between the content and the border of the block.

    This will open the block’s settings in the block panel on the right side of the screen.

    From here, you need to scroll down to the ‘Dimensions’ section and click on the three-dotted menu. This will open a prompt where you must select the ‘Padding’ option.

    Choose the padding option from the Dimensions section

    Next, simply use the slider to add padding to your block.

    Keep in mind that this feature will add padding to all the sides of the block.

    Padding in full site editor

    However, if you only want to add padding to the top or bottom of the block, then you can also do that by clicking the ‘Unlink Sides’ icon next to the ‘Padding’ option.

    Then, you can use different sliders to add padding to the right, left, bottom, or top of the block.

    Padding for different corners

    Once you are done, just click the ‘Save’ button to store your settings.

    How to Use Margin in WordPress

    Just like padding, the margin feature comes built-in in the WordPress full site editor. However, this feature won’t be available if you are not using a block theme.

    First, head over to the Appearance » Editor page from the WordPress dashboard.

    Once you are there, choose the page template where you want to add margins from the column on the left.

    Choose page for margin from the left column

    This will open the page template that you chose on the screen.

    From here, just select the ‘Edit’ button to start customizing your template in the full site editor.

    Click the Edit icon for full site editor

    Next, choose the block that you want to edit and scroll down to the ‘Dimensions’ section in the block panel on the right.

    From here, simply use the sliders to set different margins for the top, bottom, left, and right corners of the block. Using this feature will create space around the block that you chose.

    Add margin in the full site editor

    However, if you want to use a single slider to add equal margins around the block, then click the ‘Link Sides’ icon next to the ‘Margin’ option.

    The block panel will now display a single ‘Margin Mixed’ slider on the screen that you can use to create equal margins around the block.

    Use margin slider

    Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your settings.

    More Tips for Full Site Editing in WordPress

    Other than adding padding and margins to your blocks, you can also use the full site editor to customize your entire WordPress theme.

    For example, you can design all your page templates, add your own custom logo, choose brand colors, change the layout, adjust the font size, add background images, and more.

    You can also add patterns and different blocks to your website to further customize it. For details, you may want to see our beginner’s guide on how to customize your WordPress theme.

    Add patterns to your layouts

    You can also use the FSE to add a header, navigation menu, or custom CSS to your website.

    Additionally, you can also use Global Styles to ensure consistency across your site. For more detailed instructions, you may want to see our guide on how to customize colors on your WordPress website.

    Choose a background color from the Color Picker

    However, if you don’t like using the full site editor and would prefer more control over your website’s appearance, then you can use SeedProd to build pages and even your entire theme.

    It is the best landing page builder on the market that comes with a drag-and-drop builder that makes it super easy to create an amazing theme for your website.

    For more details, you can see our tutorial on how to easily create a custom WordPress theme.

    Edit theme template

    We hope this article helped you learn the difference between padding and margin in WordPress. You may also be interested in our beginner’s guide on how to change block height and width in WordPress and our top picks for the best Gutenberg blocks plugins for 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 What’s the Difference Between Padding and Margin in WordPress? first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • Bluehost vs GoDaddy Hosting (Honest Comparison)

    Are you looking for an honest web hosting comparison of Bluehost vs GoDaddy?

    These are two of the most popular affordable hosting companies on the market. However, for beginners, it’s often not clear which one is better for their website.

    In this guide, we will compare Bluehost vs GoDaddy with their pros and cons so that you can make the right decision.

    Bluehost vs GoDaddy Hosting (Honest Comparison)

    Comparison of Bluehost vs GoDaddy

    Bluehost and GoDaddy are two of the most affordable hosting companies for people looking for a low-price hosting option to control their website costs

    Both are very popular. GoDaddy has a large market share and hosts over 40 million websites, while Bluehost is an official WordPress.org recommended hosting provider.

    But which is the best platform for your new WordPress website?

    In this comparison, we will take a closer look into the pros and cons of Bluehost vs GoDaddy in detail. However, if you don’t want to go through the full comparison, here is a quick summary:

    Bluehost GoDaddy
    Pricing $2.75 $2.99
    Hosting Type Shared Managed
    Free Domain Yes Yes
    Free SSL Yes Yes
    Support Live Chat / Email / Phone Live Chat / Phone
    Visit Bluehost Visit GoDaddy

    That being said, let’s compare each one of them and see how they stack up.

    Bluehost Comparison

    Bluehost is one of the biggest web hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress host. They offer WordPress-optimized hosting plans with faster servers and reliable performance.

    Bluehost website

    Their shared hosting prices are lower priced when compared to other hosting companies. This makes them a good choice for beginners and small businesses on a limited budget.

    Pros of Bluehost

    Bluehost offers great value at a low cost, but what are some of their pros and cons? Let’s start with some of the benefits of using Bluehost as your hosting service:

    • Lower Costs â€“ Bluehost’s entry-level plan allows you to get started with your website for a lower price, which is great value for new small businesses, bloggers, portfolios, and other types of websites.
    • Ease of Use â€“ Bluehost has one of the most beginner-friendly hosting control panels that makes it super easy to install WordPress (one click) and manage your website.
    • Free Domain â€“ They offer a free domain name, which saves you additional money on your start-up costs.
    • Free CDN + Free SSL â€“ Bluehost offers a free CDN to speed up your website, and all plans come with a free SSL certificate to improve website security.
    • Website Speed â€“ In our tests, we found that Bluehost performs well, with no performance optimization done on our test sites. You can also add WordPress caching plugins to unlock further speed improvements.
    • Staging Sites + Dev Tools â€“ Bluehost plans come with staging site setup, automatic WordPress updates, the ability to change PHP versions, SFTP access, and more.

    Cons of Bluehost

    Obviously, there are some downsides to using Bluehost as well. Here are some of the disadvantages that you may want to know:

    • Higher Domain Renewal Price â€“ Their free domain renewal price is higher than average. This does not have an immediate impact on most businesses, but it is something you may need to keep in mind.
    • Upselling Addons â€“ You will see a lot of upselling during signup. Most beginners usually don’t need these products right away, so you can skip them.

    Bluehost Review

    Bluehost has a 5-star rating on WPBeginner based on over 300 user reviews and the high value they offer at low prices. We also ran our own performance and stress tests on their servers, which you can read all about in our detailed Bluehost review.

    The best thing about Bluehost is that you get a free domain with all plans, unlimited bandwidth and SSD storage on their Plus plan, and great overall value for what you pay.

    Plus, their eCommerce hosting plan for WooCommerce comes with over $1000+ in premium WooCommerce and WordPress extensions, which is a huge cost saving for online store owners.

    GoDaddy Comparison

    GoDaddy is a famous web hosting company and the world’s biggest domain registrar. They offer a huge variety of hosting plans for individuals and businesses of every size.

    GoDaddy hosting

    GoDaddy has a large market share in the website hosting space, and many popular websites use them. However, they are not always the best option when you are building a website, creating a blog, or starting a new business.

    Pros of GoDaddy

    GoDaddy is a popular low-cost hosting provider, but what are some of their pros and cons? Let’s start with some of the benefits of using GoDaddy as your hosting service:

    • WordPress-Optimized Hosting â€“ GoDaddy’s managed WordPress hosting plans are run on servers optimized for WordPress for faster and more secure hosting.
    • Managed Hosting – GoDaddy handles some basic administrative tasks for you, such as installing WordPress, automated daily backups, WordPress core updates, and server-level caching. Bluehost shared hosting plans also include some of these tasks.
    • Free Domain â€“ They offer a free domain name, which helps you save money on your start-up costs.
    • Free CDN + Free SSL â€“ GoDaddy plans come with the Cloudflare CDN to speed up your website, and all plans come with a free SSL certificate to improve website security.
    • Affordable â€“ GoDaddy has very reasonable prices for all the features they offer.
    • 24/7 Support â€“ No matter when you need help, GoDaddy support is available any time of day or night.
    • Monthly Billing Option â€“ For those who prefer to pay month to month, there is a monthly billing option. However, you get a bigger discount if you pay for at least a year in advance.

    Cons of Bluehost

    Are there any downsides to using GoDaddy? Here are some of the disadvantages that you may want to know:

    • Addons â€“ GoDaddy offers a huge variety of services. During the checkout process, many of these tools and features will be offered to you as addons. These are completely optional, but some users may find all the upsell offers to be too aggressive.
    • Controversial Ads â€“ GoDaddy has come under fire several times over the years due to its controversial advertising. While this does not affect their hosting services, some users have moved away from GoDaddy in protest against their ads.
    • No Email Support – While still offering 24/7 support by live chat and phone, GoDaddy has discontinued email support.

    GoDaddy Review

    GoDaddy has a 5-star rating on WPBeginner, but this is based on 16 reviews compared to over 300 for Bluehost. You will find detailed information about their hosting in our GoDaddy review.

    Like Bluehost, GoDaddy’s plans offer excellent value. You get one year of free domain registration, a free SSL certificate, SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth with all plans. Plus, their hosting plans are managed, saving you some ongoing maintenance work.

    However, GoDaddy’s overall onboarding experience is not as beginner friendly. And while they offer 24/7 support via live chat and phone, they no longer offer email support.

    Bluehost vs GoDaddy – Which Is Better?

    Now that we have compared different features of Bluehost vs GoDaddy, you may still be wondering which one of these hosting providers is better.

    If you are looking for the most affordable hosting, then the best choice is Bluehost. They offer better pricing for small businesses. They also have better support, and their My Sites dashboard and overall onboarding experience is a lot more beginner-friendly.

    But maybe you would prefer the convenience of managed hosting, where the routine maintenance work such as updates, backups, and more is done for you.

    In that case, GoDaddy offers basic managed hosting plans at a very affordable rate. In fact, they are much cheaper than Bluehost’s managed hosting. However, GoDaddy’s managed hosting plans offer fewer features when compared with the best managed hosting providers.

    Although it will cost you more, we recommend WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. They are the best for scaling your website, and they can even offer custom cloud hosting using Amazon’s infrastructure and more.

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Bluehost vs GoDaddy

    Having helped thousands of users choose the best web host for their needs, we have answered quite a few questions. Here are some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions about Bluehost vs GoDaddy.

    Which is better for beginners, Bluehost or GoDaddy?

    Bluehost is the most beginner-friendly WordPress hosting company on the market. They automatically install WordPress for you when you sign up. They also have an easy-to-use control panel that allows you to manage your hosting account by yourself.

    There is plenty of help available with detailed guides, video tutorials, and articles. You also have 24/7 access to their expert support via live chat and phone.

    GoDaddy is also a good option for beginners, but their hosting can be more complex to use.

    Does Bluehost or GoDaddy have the greater market share?

    Over 4 million websites are hosted on Bluehost. Out of the top 1 million websites based on traffic, just 0.37% use Bluehost.

    GoDaddy has a much bigger market share, hosting over 40 million websites. And when we look at the top 1 million websites based on traffic, 2.06% host their sites with GoDaddy.

    Where are Bluehost and GoDaddy servers located?

    Bluehost operates their own in-house data center located in Utah, US. It is a massive 50,000 square feet facility that serves as its primary data center.

    GoDaddy has nine server facilities around the world, located in North America, Europe, and Asia. These facilities house over 37,000 servers in total.

    Can I use subdomains for my site?

    Yes, you can use subdomains on either Bluehost or GoDaddy.

    Are there other hosting providers that you haven’t covered in this comparison?

    Yes, there are literally thousands of web hosting companies on the market, including SiteGround, WP Engine, Hostinger, HostGator, DreamHost, GreenGeeks, Kinsta, A2 Hosting, and more.

    We only compared Bluehost vs GoDaddy in this article because they are the most popular affordable WordPress hosting companies.

    Do you have any special discounts for Bluehost or GoDaddy?

    Yes, because WPBeginner is the largest WordPress resource site, our users can get special discounts on popular hosting providers as well as other WordPress plugins. You can see all 100+ WordPress deals here.

    You can use our Bluehost coupon to get over 60% off + a free domain.

    Our GoDaddy coupon gets you 70% off on web hosting.

    We hope this comparison of Bluehost vs GoDaddy helped you decide which hosting platform is better for your new website. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best domain registrar or our expert picks of the best monthly web hosting plans.

    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 Bluehost vs GoDaddy Hosting (Honest Comparison) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How To Properly Set Up eCommerce Tracking In WordPress

    Are you looking to set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress?

    Setting up eCommerce tracking for your online store will help you find your top-selling products, see which campaigns perform the best, understand how people find and use your website, and more. Then you can use those insights to get more traffic and boost sales.

    In this article, we’ll show you how to properly set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress so you can grow your business and make more money.

    How to properly set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress

    Why Set Up WordPress eCommerce Tracking?

    When starting a new online store, most store owners begin by making decisions based on gut feeling or best guesses.

    That’s good for getting started, but to take your business to the next level of growth, you need to start making data-driven decisions.

    However, what data should you base your decisions on?

    That’s where WordPress eCommerce tracking comes in. It helps you make decisions based on data from your actual visitors and customers. You’ll get tailored insights to boost your sales to make more money.

    For instance, you can find out which products your customers like to buy the most on your WooCommerce store. This way, you can offer similar products to get more sales.

    Plus, eCommerce tracking in WordPress can help you better understand your audience, where they’re from, and how they use your website, so you can invest more in the channels and strategies that are proven to work.

    For example, if you find out that 80% of course sales on your membership site come from Facebook, then you may decide to invest in ads on Facebook and stop spending time on other social media platforms like Twitter that may not convert well.

    With that said, let’s take a look at how to track your eCommerce store’s performance in WordPress.

    Setting Up eCommerce Tracking in WordPress

    The easiest way to track the performance of your online store is by using MonsterInsights. It’s the best Analytics WordPress plugin and is used by over 3 million professionals.

    MonsterInsights helps you set up eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics. The plugin works with some of the most popular eCommerce plugins, including WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LifterLMS, MemberPress, LifterLMS, GiveWP, and more.

    The best part about using MonsterInsights is that you don’t need to edit code or hire a developer to track eCommerce conversions in WordPress.

    That’s because the manual method for setting up eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics requires editing the tracking code or using Google Tag Manager.

    Both of these methods are tricky and can be overwhelming for beginners. If any mistake takes place during the setup process, then it can mess up your analytics and data.

    This is where MonsterInsights comes in handy. It offers an eCommerce addon that automatically configures eCommerce tracking on your WordPress website.

    MonsterInsights

    It also shows important stats inside your WordPress admin area, so you can quickly view how your website is performing and get insights to grow your business.

    Note: You’ll need the MonsterInsights Pro version because it includes the eCommerce addon, dashboard reports, and other advanced tracking features. There is also a MonsterInsights Lite version you can use to get started.

    First, you can install and activate the MonsterInsights Pro plugin on your website. If you need help, then please refer to our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you’ll be taken to the MonsterInsights welcome screen in your WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button.

    Set up MonsterInsights

    Next, follow the steps in the wizard to set up the plugin and connect your website with Google Analytics. For more details, you can go through our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

    After that, you’ll need to navigate to Insights » Addons from your WordPress dashboard. Then scroll down to the eCommerce addon and click the ‘Install’ button.

    Install the eCommerce addon

    The addon will automatically activate, and you’ll see the status change to Active.

    After that, simply navigate to Insights » Settings and click the ‘eCommerce’ tab.

    Next, you’ll need to ensure that the ‘Use Enhanced eCommerce’ option is enabled under the eCommerce Tracking section.

    Use enhanced ecommerce option

    MonsterInsights will now automatically detect your WordPress eCommerce plugin and start recording analytics.

    Next, let’s look at how you can use MonsterInsights’ reports to see your online store’s performance.

    View eCommerce Reports in WordPress

    When it comes to using Google Analytics and finding the data that you need, it can be overwhelming for beginners.

    MonsterInsights makes it super easy to get the data that matters, as it brings all your important stats inside the WordPress dashboard. This way, you see how your eCommerce store is performing and then make decisions to grow your business.

    To see eCommerce reports in WordPress, you can head to Insights » Reports. From here, you can select the ‘eCommerce’ tab and click on Overview.

    View eCommerce report in MonsterInsights

    In the report, you can quickly see how your online store is doing by looking at the conversion rate, transactions, revenue, and average order value.

    Besides that, MonsterInsights also shows your Top Products. It helps you spot your top-selling items along with their quantity, percentage of sales, and total revenue.

    Ecommerce overview report in MonsterInsights

    You can use this data to find out which products your customers like and then offer similar products to boost sales.

    Next, you can scroll down and view the Top Conversion Sources.

    Top conversion sources

    These are the websites that are sending the most sales to your store. You could invest in ads on those sites, create special discount offers or free shipping offers for people that arrive from these sources, or reach out to them to work out a cross-promotion or other partnership.

    Other reports you can view in the eCommerce section in MonsterInsights include the Total Add to Carts, Total Removed from Cart, New Customers, and Abandoned Checkouts.

    Additional ecommerce reports in MonsterInsights

    You can use these reports to better understand your customer’s behavior while shopping and during checkout. Plus, it helps to use the data to optimize your sales funnel and reduce shopping cart abandonment.

    Besides that, you can head to eCommerce » Coupons report in MonsterInsights. If you’re using coupon codes on your online store, then this report will show how people interact with them.

    You can see which coupons drive the most transactions and revenue on your website, what’s the average order value, and more.

    Coupons report in MonsterInsights

    View eCommerce Reports in Google Analytics

    MonsterInsights makes it very easy to find the data you need to make decisions. However, you can also view eCommerce tracking in your Google Analytics account.

    Let’s see how to view eCommerce reports in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics.

    eCommerce Reports in Google Analytics 4

    Google Analytics 4 is the latest version of Google’s popular analytics platform. It uses a new reporting interface, so you’ll find your online store’s data in different reports.

    First, you’ll need to log in to your Google Analytics account. After that, simply head to Reports » Monetization » Overview from the menu on the left.

    Monetization report in ga4

    Here, you can see your store’s performance at a quick glance. Google Analytics will show metrics like total revenue, purchase revenue, total purchasers, average purchase revenue per user, and more.

    Besides that, you can go to Monetization » Ecommerce purchases and see product performance. GA4 will show data about which items people viewed the most, which products got the most purchases, and a breakdown of revenue for each product.

    Ecommerce purchases report

    There are more reports in Google Analytics that you can also view to see eCommerce tracking data.

    For instance, if you have an app, then you can view the ‘In-app purchases’ report to see which products your customers bought using the app. Similarly, you can also view the ‘Publisher ads’ report to measure your paid ads campaign performance.

    If you want to see the purchase journey of your customers, then Google Analytics shows a ‘User purchase journey’ report. Here, you’ll see how many visitors started a session and went to buy your product.

    User purchase journey report

    The report also shows the abandon rate for each step, so you can use this insight and try to boost conversions by making the buying process easier.

    To make the most of Google Analytics reports, you can combine them with other reports like Traffic acquisition and see which channel generates the most revenue.

    Ecommerce revenue by channel

    eCommerce Reports in Universal Analytics

    Note: Universal Analytics is an old Google Analytics version and has now sunset. It will no longer process your website data and record it. However, you can still access your past eCommerce data in Universal Analytics.

    To view eCommerce reports, you can go to Conversions Ecommerce Overview from the menu on the left.

    Ecommerce report universal analytics

    Universal Analytics will show an overview of different metrics in this report.

    However, you can switch to different reports to view data on shopping behavior, product performance, sales performance, and more.

    Product performance report in Universal Analytics

    Bonus: Enable Customer Tracking in Google Analytics

    Now that you’ve set up eCommerce tracking, you can take it a step further and enable customer tracking.

    This will allow you to better understand each customer on your store. You can offer a personalized shopping experience for logged-in users, promote products that customers prefer, and boost sales.

    With MonsterInsights, you can easily set up customer tracking using its User Journey addon. It will show all the steps a customer took before making a purchase, like which pages they visited, what they searched for on your site, where they clicked, and more.

    User journey in MonsterInsights

    You can learn more by following our guide on how to enable customer tracking in WooCommmerce with Google Analytics.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to properly set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best business phone services and the best WordPress plugins for business sites.

    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 Set Up eCommerce Tracking In WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 13 WordPress Site Settings That are Critical for SEO Success

    Do you want to learn about WordPress site settings that are most critical for SEO success?

    Many different plugins can improve your search engine rankings and drive more people to your website. However, it is vital that you get your site’s foundations right by fine-tuning the WordPress site settings.

    In this article, we will look at all the WordPress site settings that are critical for SEO success.

    WordPress site settings that are critical for SEO success

    Why Are WordPress Site Settings Critical for SEO Success?

    Search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites, so it’s important to optimize your site for SEO.

    There are countless tips, tricks, plugins, and best practices that can boost your search engine rankings. However, the wrong site settings can completely undermine all your SEO efforts, and may even stop your WordPress blog from showing up in search results.

    If you ignore some basic WordPress site settings, then you’re almost certainly missing out on easy ways to fine-tune your SEO and get more visitors to your WordPress website. Plus, these settings are built-in so you don’t need to worry about installing any extra plugins, making them an easy win even if you’re just getting started with SEO.

    With that being said, let’s look at all the WordPress site settings that are critical for SEO success. Simply use the quick links to jump straight to the setting you want to learn about.

    1. Be Sure Your Site Is Visible to Search Engines

    Before you start changing any WordPress site settings, it’s important to check that search engines can see your content. This is particularly important if you’ve just created a website, or previously made your WordPress blog private.

    To do this, go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard. Then, find the following checkbox: ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site.’

    WordPress site settings that are essential for SEO

    If the box is checked, then uncheck it. Then, click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.

    Now, search engines such as Google should have no problems finding your website, and showing it to people who are searching for content just like yours.

    2. Set WordPress Plugins and Themes to Auto-Update

    WordPress themes and plugins are a big reason why WordPress is so popular and has such a huge CMS market share. However, if you don’t keep this software up to date, then it can damage your website’s search engine rankings.

    When a security vulnerability is discovered in a theme or plugin, the developer will usually release an update that fixes the issue and keeps users safe.

    With that in mind, outdated themes and plugins can put your site at risk. In fact, hackers often target websites that are running older versions of themes and WordPress plugins.

    If your website gets hacked, then it can have a big impact on your rankings and traffic. Search engines such as Google may even remove a hacked website from its index, so your content stops appearing in relevant search results.

    Google Chrome and other browsers will even block visitors from accessing your site if they believe it has been compromised, even if it hasn’t been hit with an SEO penalty yet.

    Outdated software also has a higher chance of causing crashes, conflicts, and many other common WordPress errors. It may even affect your website’s speed and performance. All of this can hurt your site’s SEO.

    The good news is that you can set both themes and plugins to update automatically using the built-in WordPress site settings. For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to enable automatic updates for WordPress plugins and themes.

    3. Organize Your Content With Categories and Tags

    Categories and tags help organize your posts and make it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for. You can even add categories to a custom post type in WordPress.

    Adding categories and tags to a WordPress post

    For step-by-step instructions, please see our beginner’s guide on how to add categories and tags for WordPress pages.

    Categories and tags don’t directly affect your site’s SEO, but they can boost your rankings by improving the user experience and giving you internal linking possibilities. By helping visitors find relevant and interesting content, you can often increase pageviews and reduce bounce rate in WordPress.

    This is a strong sign that visitors are enjoying your content. When ranking pages and posts, search engines such as Google try to show the best content first. In this way, anything that improves the user experience and keeps people on your site can indirectly boost your SEO.

    Once you’ve added relevant and helpful tags to your WordPress posts, you may want to fine-tune how this information appears in the search results.

    The easiest way to do this is by using AIOSEO. It is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and gives you complete control over your WordPress tags and categories.

    AIOSEO's categories and tags settings

    AIOSEO stop can also search engines from indexing your WordPress website’s category and tag archive listings.

    In this way, you can avoid duplicate content, which confuses search engines and forces them to choose which duplicate page should rank higher than the other. This is a waste of crawl budget, since the search engines will spend time analyzing and indexing identical content while ignoring your site’s unique content.

    Excluding categories and tags using the All in One SEO WordPress plugin

    For a complete guide on how to create SEO-friendly categories and tags, please see our SEO best practices for sorting your content.

    4. Add Descriptions to Your Category Pages

    Whenever you create a category, you have the option to add a description. This will appear on the category archive page, and can introduce the content to visitors.

    An example of an SEO-optimized category description

    It can also help the search engines understand the category’s content, and show it to people who are looking for content just like yours.

    To add a category description in WordPress, simply go to Posts » Categories.

    Adding a category description in WordPress

    You can now type in the category name, create a slug, and add an optional parent category.

    To add a description, simply type into the ‘Description’ field.

    How to add a category description to an archive page

    When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on ‘Add New Category.’

    Do you want to add a description to a category that already exists? Then simply click on the ‘Edit’ link next to that category.

    Editing a WordPress category description

    You can then go ahead and type in a description.

    Finally, click on ‘Update’ to save your changes.

    When analyzing your pages, search engines don’t just look at the page content. Instead, they use many different factors to rank and display your content including permalink structure.

    By optimizing your URLs, you can help search engines understand what the page is about, so they can show it to the right people at the right time.

    Note: If your site is over 6 months old, then changing the permalink structure will most likely damage your SEO. If you do decide to change the permalinks on an established website, then it’s important to setup proper redirects.

    By default, WordPress uses the post name in its URL. For example, a post with the title ‘How to Install WordPress’ will usually have a URL like this:

    www.wpbeginner.com/how-to-install-wordpress
    

    This is a great start, but it’s still worth reviewing your website’s permalink structure to make sure it’s working well for your content. To do this, head over to Settings » Permalinks in the WordPress dashboard.

    Optimizing your WordPress permalinks using the WordPress site settings

    Here, you’ll see all the different permalink structures that you can use:

    • Plain (https://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=123). Sometimes also called the Ugly Permalink, this uses the post’s unique ID in the WordPress database. This ID doesn’t give search engines any information about the post’s content, so we don’t recommend using this permalink structure.
    • Day and name (https://www.wpbeginner.com/2016/01/22/sample-post/). This adds the month and year to the URL. This may be a good option if you post time-sensitive content, such as articles on a news website. However, this structure can create very long URLs and your content will start to look outdated very quickly. With that in mind, we don’t recommend using the day and time structure, especially if you’re trying to create evergreen content.
    • Numeric (https://www.wpbeginner.com/archives/123). This option uses the post ID from the row in your database’s wp_posts table. Similar to the Plain structure, this information doesn’t mean anything to the search engines, so this isn’t an SEO-friendly permalink structure.
    • Post name (https://www.wpbeginner.com/sample-post/). This uses the title of the page or post. Post name is a good choice for most websites, especially if you’re using a headline analyzer to improve your titles.
    • Custom (https://www.wpbeginner.com/%category%/%author%/%postname%/). The final option is a custom structure that uses various different tags. This is a particularly good option if you have lots of different content organized into categories. By adding the category name to the permalink structure, you can help search engines understand your content and organize it correctly in the search engine index. Adding the author to the permalink structure can help boost your site’s expertise and authority score with Google, too.

    For more detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to create custom permalinks.

    6. Install an SSL Certificate on Your WordPress Website

    SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It’s an internet protocol that helps you securely transfer data between a user’s browser and your website.

    An SSL certificate is essential if you collect sensitive visitor data, for example if you accept credit card payments in WordPress. However, it can also improve your SEO.

    With an SSL certificate in place, visitors will see a padlock next to your website’s address in their web browser. They can click on the padlock to see information about your SSL certificate, plus a confirmation that the connection is secure.

    An example of a secure website with an SSL certificate

    By making them feel safe, an SSL certificate can keep visitors on your site for longer, which sends positive signals to the search engines. There is also evidence that search engines such as Google use SSL certificates as a ranking factor.

    If you’re just getting started and have a limited budget, then you can get a free SSL certificate for your WordPress website.

    However, many of the top WordPress hosting providers offer an SSL certificate as part of their packages. For example, SiteGround, Hostinger, and Bluehost all offer free SSL certificates to their customers.

    Once you have an SSL certificate, you’ll need to add it to WordPress. For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to properly move WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS.

    7. Add Alt Text to Your Images

    When uploading an image, it’s a good idea to add alt text. Also known as alternative text, this is an HTML attribute that WordPress adds to the image’s ‘img’ tag.

    Accessibility tools such as screen readers use alt text to help visually-impaired users understand a site’s images.

    Even though it’s an important accessibility feature, search engines also use alt text to understand an image’s contents. With that being said, it’s smart to use descriptive alt text and include relevant keywords wherever possible.

    Google also includes the alt text in its image search, so helpful and interesting alternative text may increase your blog traffic.

    An example of a Google image search

    Usually, alt text won’t be visible on your WordPress website, but it may appear if the image is broken or can’t be found.

    In this way, alt text can help visitors understand the image’s contents, even when they can’t see the image due to an error or a poor internet connection.

    An example of a WordPress image error message

    When uploading an image to the WordPress media library, simply type your alternative text into the ‘Alt text’ field.

    WordPress will now use this alternative text every single time you add that image to a WordPress page or post.

    Adding image alt text using the WordPress site settings

    If you’ve already added an image to the WordPress content editor, then simply click to select the Image block.

    Then, type into the ‘Alt Text’ field in the right-hand menu. Just note that adding alt text to an image through the block editor will not add it to the media library.

    Adding alt text to a WordPress image

    For more detailed information on alt text, please see our beginner’s guide to image SEO.

    8. Create a User-Friendly Navigation Menu

    The longer people stay on your website, the more likely you are to rank highly in search engine results. With that in mind, it’s important to create helpful, eye-catching, and logical navigation menus.

    These menus will help visitors find interesting content, which will keep them on your WordPress website for longer. It can also improve important metrics, such as the average number of pages visited.

    The exact location of your menu will vary depending on your WordPress theme, but most themes have several options. This means you can create different menus and then show them in different places.

    For example, most WordPress themes come with a primary menu that appears on the top of the screen. Some themes may include a secondary menu, a footer menu, or a mobile navigation menu as well.

    To create a navigation menu, simply go to the Appearance » Menus page in your WordPress admin dashboard.

    Creating a WordPress navigation menu

    Here, you can create multiple menus, and add pages, posts, and even custom links to those navigation menus.

    For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to add a navigation menu.

    If you have lots of content, then the default navigation menu can quickly become confusing and overwhelming for visitors. If your menu is starting to look cluttered, then you can easily turn the default menu into a dropdown menu.

    An example of a dropdown navigation menu

    9. Protect Against Comment Spam

    A lively comment section can keep people on your website for longer, and encourage them to pay repeat visits, which can indirectly improve your SEO. Even better, if commenters use relevant keywords then their conversations can directly boost your SEO, too.

    This is all good news for your search engine rankings, but there’s still a big problem every website owner should know about: comment spam.

    Spammers and spambots may try to post off-topic, low-quality comments and malicious links on your website. If you publish these comments, then it can hurt your search engine rankings. In the worst-case scenario, your site may even get blacklisted by Google.

    With that being said, it’s important to moderate your comments using the WordPress site settings. To get started, go to Settings » Discussion.

    Changing the WordPress comment settings

    Here, you’ll find lots of WordPress settings that give you more control over comments. For example, you can help combat spam by making it mandatory for comment authors to provide a name and email address.

    For a detailed look at these settings, please see our beginner’s guide on how to moderate comments in WordPress.

    Another option is to disable comments completely. This will make it more difficult for visitors to engage with your content, but it’s also a guaranteed way to block all spam comments.

    If you do decide to disable comments, then uncheck the option that says ‘Allow people to submit comments on new articles.’

    Disabling the comments on a WordPress blog or website

    For a more in-depth look at this topic, please see our guide on how to completely disable comments in WordPress.

    If you do make any changes in the WordPress site settings, then make sure you click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.

    10. Review the WordPress User Permissions

    Some website owners share the WordPress dashboard with multiple people. For example, you might run a multi-author WordPress blog or allow users to submit posts.

    In this case, it’s important to control the actions that users can take on your site, and the information they can access.

    If people have unlimited access to your WordPress dashboard, then they might make changes that affect your SEO. For example, they may change the settings in an important SEO plugin, publish a blog that’s not properly optimized for SEO, or approve spammy comments.

    Thankfully, WordPress comes with built-in site settings that allow you to control what a user can and can’t do. By default, there are 5 roles to choose from: admin, editor, author, contributor, and subscriber.

    To learn more about these default roles, please see our beginner’s guide to WordPress user roles and permissions.

    To change a user’s role, simply go to Users » All Users. Here, hover over the account that you want to change, and click on the ‘Edit’ link when it appears.

    Changing the user permissions on a WordPress website

    With that done, scroll to the ‘Role’ section and open the dropdown menu.

    You can now choose a new user role from the list.

    Boost your SEO using the WordPress site settings

    When you’re happy with these changes you’ve made, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

    Pro Tip: Want to change these default user roles? Then see our guide on how to add or remove capabilities to user roles in WordPress.

    11. Check Your WordPress Sitemap

    A sitemap is a file that lists all your site’s content in a machine-readable format. This acts as a roadmap that helps search engines discover all your pages, and index them properly.

    A sitemap also tells search engines which links are more important, and how frequently they get updated. In this way, you can encourage search engines to prioritize indexing your site’s best or highest-value content, so it appears in search results more quickly.

    The good news is that WordPress creates a sitemap automatically. To see your sitemap in action, simply type in your domain name and then add /sitemap.xml to the end. For example, www.example.com/sitemap.xml.

    The default WordPress sitemap

    The default sitemap may be a good fit for some small business websites, or sites that only have a small amount of content. However, there’s no way to customize the default sitemap, which can be a problem for many website owners.

    The best way to create a powerful, fully customizable sitemap is by using AIOSEO. You can use this plugin to add or remove post types, categories and tags from your sitemap. You can also enable XML sitemaps for date-based archives and author archives.

    Creating a powerful and customizable sitemap using AIOSEO

    AIOSEO even allows you to add external pages to the WordPress sitemap.

    This is perfect if you have stand-alone pages like a contact form, a landing page, or Shopify store pages. With a custom sitemap, you can tell search engines to crawl this content, even if they’re not part of your WordPress website.

    Adding external pages to a WordPress sitemap

    For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to create a sitemap in WordPress.

    12. Test the Mobile Version of Your WordPress Website

    More than 50% of visitors will access your site using a smartphone or tablet, so your WordPress website must be mobile-friendly. In fact, Google will most likely index your site’s mobile version rather than its desktop version.

    Even if you’re using a responsive WordPress theme, it’s still important to check how your site looks on mobile.

    You can preview the mobile version of your WordPress site using the WordPress theme customizer. In the dashboard, head over to Appearance » Customize.

    Opening the WordPress customizer

    At the bottom of the screen, simply click the mobile icon.

    WordPress will now show a preview of how your site looks on mobile devices. You can use this view to locate any mobile-site issues that might cause Google or other search engines to penalize your website.

    For example, if your content is unreadable or doesn’t display at all, Google will note that and potentially deem your site’s UX to be bad for visitors and move you down in search results.

    Testing the mobile version of your website using the built-in WordPress site settings

    For more detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to view the mobile version of WordPress sites from desktop.

    13. Install an SEO WordPress Plugin (BONUS)

    In this guide, we showed you how to improve your SEO using the built-in WordPress site settings. This is a great start, but there are lots more ways to fine-tune your content for the search engines, improve your rankings, and get more visitors to your WordPress website.

    If you want to take your SEO to the next level, then we recommend installing AIOSEO. AIOSEO adds a new area to the WordPress content editor where you can type in the exact post title and meta description that should appear in the search engine results.

    Adding a meta description to a WordPress page or post

    You can also type in the focus keyphrase that you want to rank for.

    AIOSEO will then scan your content and show a list of actions you can take to improve your ranking for that focus keyword.

    Adding a focus keyphrase or word to WordPress

    The key to SEO success is to monitor your site’s performance, and then constantly make changes to improve that performance.

    AIOSEO can analyze your site and show an overall SEO score. In this way, you can quickly and easily check if your website is SEO optimized.

    The All in One SEO's site score feature

    It’ll also create an SEO checklist of any critical issues you need to address, and improvements you can make to boost your overall score.

    For help getting started, please see our ultimate guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

    We hope this article helped you learn the top WordPress site settings that are critical for SEO success. You may also want to see our guide on how to install Google Analytics WordPress, or see our expert picks for the best web push notification software.

    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 13 WordPress Site Settings That are Critical for SEO Success first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Use Multiple Search Forms In WordPress

    Do you want to make multiple search forms in WordPress?

    By default, a search form will look through all your pages, posts, and media on your website. However, you can often improve the visitor experience by creating multiple forms that search specific categories, content types, and more.

    In this article, we will show you how you can add and use multiple search forms on your WordPress site.

    How to use multiple search forms in WordPress

    Why Use Multiple Search Forms in WordPress?

    A search form can help visitors find what they are looking for, fast. However, if you have lots of content, then it might make sense to create multiple forms that search specific types of content.

    For example, if you run an online store, then you might create a smart WooCommerce product search that searches specifically for products.

    You can also create an advanced search form for custom post types. For example, at WPBeginner, we have created custom post type search forms for our Deals and Glossary pages.

    An example of a custom post search form

    By using different search forms in different locations across your site, you can help visitors get accurate and helpful search results, no matter how much content you have published. This will improve the visitor experience and reduce the bounce rate.

    That being said, let’s show you how to create multiple search forms in WordPress.

    Create a New WordPress Search Algorithm With a WordPress Plugin

    The easiest way to add multiple search forms to your WordPress website is by using the SearchWP plugin. It’s one of the best search plugins for WordPress, used by over 30,000 sites.

    SearchWP

    With SearchWP, you can search content that WordPress ignores by default, including custom post types, PDF files, WooCommerce products, and categories. You can also create multiple different search forms and then add those forms to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

    Setting Up SearchWP

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate the SearchWP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, go to SearchWP » Settings and then click on the ‘General’ tab.

    Activating the SearchWP search plugin

    Here, you need to enter your license in the ‘License Key’ box. You can find this information in your account on the SearchWP site.

    With that done, just click the ‘Verify Key’ button.

    Create a Custom Search Algorithm For WordPress

    After entering the license key, it’s a good idea to fine-tune how SearchWP indexes, searches, and displays your content. You can think of this as creating a custom Google search algorithm that’s just for your WordPress blog or website.

    These are the general settings that all search forms will use by default. You can override these settings for the individual search forms.

    To get started, head over to SearchWP Â» Algorithm.

    Creating a search algorithm using SearchWP in WordPress

    Here, you will see a section for the different content types that SearchWP searches by default, such as pages and posts.

    You will notice that each item has an ‘Applicable Attribute Relevance’ scale. This is the weight (importance) that SearchWP will give to each attribute.

    SearchWP's attribute relevance settings

    Content that matches an attribute with high relevancy will appear higher in the search results. By contrast, content that matches an attribute that has less relevancy will appear lower on the search results page.

    To change the relevancy, simply drag the different sliders. For example, if you move the ‘Title’ slider to the left and the ‘Content’ slider to the right, then the content will carry more weight than the title.

    An example of attributes with different relevancy settings in a custom search algorithm

    You can even tell SearchWP to search content that WordPress ignores by default.

    To do this, click on the ‘Sources & Settings’ button.

    How to make more content searchable in WordPress

    You can now check the box next to the different content types. For example, you may want to make blog comments searchable or add PDF indexing and searching in WordPress.

    When you are happy with your changes, simply click on the ‘Done’ button.

    How to add comments, media, and more to the WordPress search results

    This adds a new section for each content type. Once again, you can change the attribute relevance using the different sliders.

    When you are happy with how the search algorithm is set up, just scroll to the top of the screen and click the ‘Save’ button.

    Saving your improved WordPress search settings

    SearchWP will now rebuild the index automatically. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection and your WordPress hosting provider, this may take a few minutes.

    As soon as you see ‘Index Status 100%’, you will know that SearchWP has indexed all your content and settings.

    Rebuilding the WordPress search index

    Create Multiple Different Search Forms in WordPress

    Now, you can create as many different search forms as you want.

    To get started, head over to SearchWP » Search Forms and click the ‘Add New’ button.

    How to create a new search form using SearchWP

    This creates a new search form, ready for you to customize. For example, if you run a review website, then you might create a form that searches for product review posts and ignores other content like your blog posts and media.

    To start, you will need to give the form a unique name by clicking on the small pencil icon next to ‘Search Form 1’.

    Adding a name to the search form

    You now type in a name for the custom search form.

    Since you are going to make multiple search forms in WordPress, it’s important to use a name that helps you identify this form in the WordPress dashboard.

    Adding a title to a custom search form

    After that, you can choose a layout using the ‘Layout Theme’ thumbnails.

    Some of these layouts are designed for specific search forms. For example, if you are creating a form that searches by category in WordPress, then we recommend selecting ‘Category Search’, as it already has many of the settings you need.

    Choosing a layout for a custom search form

    Simply click on the different themes to see a preview of how this form will look on your website. After making your decision, scroll to the ‘Custom Styling’ section.

    The settings you see may vary depending on your theme layout. For example, if you selected ‘Quick Search’, then the ‘Quick Search’ setting will be enabled by default.

    The quick search SearchWP theme and settings

    You can disable and enable the different options using their toggles. The live preview will update automatically as you make changes, so you can try different settings to see what works the best.

    Depending on your layout and the kind of form you want to create, you may need to enable and disable some of the ‘Custom Styling’ settings.

    Do you want to create a form that searches by category? Then you will need to enable the ‘Category Search’ toggle.

    After that, find the ‘Select Category’ field and type in each category that you want to include in the search results. For example, if you run an online store, then you may want to create forms that search specific WooCommerce product categories.

    Creating multiple search forms for WordPress

    If you want to allow visitors to filter their search results using factors like the author, post type, and tag, then you will need to click to enable the ‘Advanced Search’ toggle.

    After that, scroll to the ‘Advanced Search Filter/s’ field. By default, SearchWP allows visitors to filter their results using Authors, Post Types, and Tags.

    Creating an advanced search form in WordPress

    To remove any of these filters, just click on its ‘X’ button. If you want to add more filters, then simply type their names into the field.

    Then, when the right option appears in the dropdown, give it a click.

    Adding filters to the WordPress search

    By default, the form will search media, pages, and posts. If you have created custom post types, then you may want to include these in the search results.

    To do this, find the ‘Type of search’ field and give it a click.

    Adding multiple search forms to a WordPress website

    You can now type in the name of each custom post type.

    When the right custom post type appears, click to add it to the search.

    How to search custom post types in WordPress

    Do you want to exclude media, pages, or posts from the search results?

    Then just click the small ‘X’ next to ‘Media’, ‘Pages’, or ‘Posts’.

    Removing content types from your WordPress search results

    When you are happy with the type of content that SearchWP will search, you may want to add some placeholder text to the search bar.

    Here, we recommend letting visitors know how the search form works and the results they should expect to get. For example, if you have an online marketplace, then you may want to use text such as ‘Search for products’ or ‘Start shopping’.

    By default, SearchWP will show a generic ‘Enter keyword and search’ message. You can replace this with your own messaging by typing into ‘Field Label’.

    Adding a label to a search form on your WordPress blog or website

    By default, the search form shows a magnifying glass and a blue ‘Search’ button.

    To remove the ‘Search’ button, simply click to deactivate the ‘Search Button’ toggle.

    Customizing a search form in WordPress

    When you are happy with these settings, scroll to the ‘Form Style’ section.

    Here, you can choose between different form styles, add a border, and change the font size.

    Changing the SearchWP for style

    Under ‘Button Style,’ you can customize the ‘Search’ button that appears in the form.

    Finally, when you are happy with how the form is set up, you can scroll to the top of the screen and click on ‘Save’ to store your settings.

    Saving your custom WordPress search form

    To create more custom search forms with unique settings, simply repeat the exact same process described above.

    Add Multiple Search Forms to Your WordPress Site

    You can add multiple search forms to any page, post, or widget-ready area using either a shortcode or the Search Form block.

    Since it’s the easiest, let’s start by looking at the block method.

    How to Add Search Forms to a Page or Post

    You may want to add a search form to a specific page or post or even show it inside the post content.

    For example, you might add a search form to your FAQ page, documentation, help desk, knowledge base, or similar. This can improve the customer experience by helping users find answers and useful resources.

    Search form in page example

    To get started, simply head over to the page or post where you want to add the form.

    You can then click on the ‘+’ icon and type in ‘Search Form’.

    Adding a search form to a page or post using a block

    When the right block appears, give it a click.

    You can now open the ‘Select a Form’ dropdown and choose the form you want to show on this page or post.

    Choosing a search form

    When you are ready to make the search form live, just click on either ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’. Now, simply visit this page or post to see the search form in action.

    How to Add Search Forms to a Widget-Ready Area

    Another option is to add a search form to a widget-ready area, such as the sidebar or similar section. This is an easy way to show the same search bar across multiple pages on your WordPress website.

    Go to Appearance » Widgets to see all the different areas where you can add widgets.

    Adding a search widget to a blog or website

    The options you see may vary depending on your WordPress theme. For example, if you are using the Astra theme, then the sidebar widget area is called ‘Main Sidebar’.

    Simply click the ‘+’ block icon in the area where you want to add a widget.

    Add new block widget

    Then, type in ‘Search Form’.

    When the right block appears, click to add it to your website.

    Adding a search form widget to your website

    You can now open the dropdown menu and choose the search form that you want to use.

    When you are finished, just click the ‘Update’ button to make the search form live.

    Adding a search form to a blog or website

    Now, you can visit your site to see the improved search form.

    For more on this topic, please see our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

    How to Add Search Forms Using the Full Site Editor

    If you are using a block WordPress theme, then you can add search forms using the full site editor. It includes areas that you can’t edit using the standard WordPress content editor. For example, you can add a search form to your 404 template in WordPress.

    To get started, head over to Appearance » Editor in the WordPress dashboard.

    Launching the full-site editor (FSE) in WordPress

    By default, the full site editor shows your theme’s home template, but you can add a search form to any template.

    In the left-hand menu, simply click on ‘Templates’ or Template Parts’ depending on where you want to add the search form.

    Editing a block-based template or template part

    You will now see a list of all the templates that make up your WordPress theme.

    Simply find the template or template part that you want to edit, and give it a click.

    Adding a custom search form to a website template or template part

    WordPress will now show a preview of this template.

    To go ahead and edit the template, click on the small pencil icon.

    Adding a search form to an archive template

    Now, click on the ‘+’ icon.

    In the panel that appears, type in ‘Search Form’.

    Adding the SearchWP search widget to WordPress

    When the right block shows up, drag and drop it into your layout.

    You can now open the dropdown menu and choose the search form that you want to use.

    Showing different search form widgets in WordPress

    With that done, just click on the ‘Save’ button to make your changes live.

    How to Add a Search Form to WordPress Using a Shortcode

    Another option is to add a search form using its shortcode. This may be an easier option if you want to add the same search form to multiple pages, posts, or widget-ready areas, as you can simply paste the same shortcode into multiple locations.

    To get a search form’s shortcode, head over to SearchWP » Search Forms. Here, find the search form that you want to show and copy the value in the ‘Shortcode’ column.

    How to add a search form to WordPress using shortcode

    You can now add the shortcode to any page, post, or widget-ready area. For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to use multiple search forms in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to increase your blog traffic and our expert picks for the best WordPress form plugins.

    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 Use Multiple Search Forms In WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • Should You Keep or Delete Old Content in WordPress? (Expert Opinion)

    Are you wondering about the best way to handle old posts in WordPress?

    Over time, some of your content may become outdated, irrelevant, or inaccurate. This can lead to a bad user experience and a drop in your site’s SEO rankings.

    In this article, we will discuss whether it’s better to keep or delete old posts in WordPress.

    Should You Keep or Delete Old Content in WordPress? (Expert Opinion)

    What Is the Problem With Old Content in WordPress?

    As you grow your website, you might focus on creating new content. However, old content can quickly become a problem on growing WordPress blogs. It can affect your business, sales, and profits if left unchecked.

    Depending on your niche, your content may become irrelevant, incorrect, or inappropriate over a period of time. This may cause a bad user experience, a higher bounce rate, and lower search rankings. It can also hurt your credibility.

    In our guide on content decay, we explain why some of your older articles decline in rankings. We also show you how to find decayed content using an SEO plugin like All in One SEO.

    Content rankings in AIOSEO

    You may also have old articles that are still ranking but now contain outdated information. There is no easy way to find this content except to systematically review all of your articles. Then, you can decide if you should keep or delete the old content.

    Should You Keep or Delete Old Content in WordPress? (7 Scenarios)

    Luckily, there are a number of ways you can handle old posts so that your website doesn’t suffer. The best approach will vary depending on each post, and it normally won’t be a choice between simply keeping or deleting the content.

    For example, you may want to keep evergreen content that is decaying in rankings. However, you will also need to update that content so it’s up-to-date and accurate to boost rankings.

    On the other hand, deleting old posts that are no longer relevant can improve user experience and your site’s SEO. But you will also need to redirect the posts to avoid 404 errors.

    For most blogs, a combination of strategies will be the right answer.

    With that being said, let’s take a look at some different ways you can deal with old content on your WordPress website:

    1. Schedule Regular Content Updates

    Whether your old posts contain outdated information or not, it’s important to update or rewrite them from time to time to keep them fresh.

    That’s because Google takes into account the freshness of an article when ranking your content. In general, it will prioritize newer posts over older posts.

    At WPBeginner, we update our old content at least every 6 months. In fact, as soon as a post is published, we schedule an update.

    We recommend that you schedule regular content updates on your own website.

    Start a new revision to schedule for a content update

    You will need to update any details of the post that are now out-of-date and add any new information that wasn’t available when the post was first written.

    You can also add internal links to relevant posts that you have recently published, and you may need to update the keywords used in the article to match current search trends.

    Don’t forget to also update the images in the post, and you can improve engagement by embedding video content.

    We recommend that you work through our checklist on how to optimize your blog posts for SEO when updating or rewriting content. This post even has a section on how to optimize older blog posts.

    2. Promote Your Old Evergreen Posts

    If an old post contains evergreen information that is still accurate, then it may be overlooked as it gets buried deeper on your website.

    Promoting older relevant articles allow you to maximize your traffic potential. It gives your visitors the chance to read old and evergreen content.

    Plus, you can attract new visitors to your site by sharing old valuable blog posts. This way, your best content always stays visible to users on your WordPress site, and they help generate more traffic.

    You can make regular time in your schedule to share your old posts on social media, link to them in your new articles and roundup posts, or use an automated plugin like Revive Old Posts.

    The Revive Old Posts Plugin

    You will find the details for these and other proven methods in our guide on how to promote old posts in WordPress.

    We also have a post on some ways you can automatically share your old WordPress posts.

    3. Add Old Post Notifications

    Once you start scheduling post updates, you won’t be able to update them all at once. So, what should you do with the old posts until you find the time?

    For posts that are not as fresh as you would like but are still accurate, you can add an old post notification at the top of the post. This will make your readers aware that they are not reading the latest information on the topic.

    Old post notification displayed on an article

    Another solution that many blogs use is simply adding the ‘Last updated date’ instead of the publishing date. That way, readers can quickly see the last time that you changed the content.

    For further information, you can see our guide on how to add an old post notification on your WordPress blog.

    4. Unpublish Posts While Waiting to Rewrite Them

    If an old post now contains inaccurate information that you don’t want visitors to see, then you can unpublish it until you find time to update it with accurate information.

    The post will no longer be visible to your website visitors but will remain in your dashboard as a draft. Once you update the post, you can publish it again.

    To unpublish a post, you need to start by editing it. After that, you should click the ‘Switch to draft’ button at the top of the page. This will bring up a popup confirming that you want to unpublish the post.

    Click switch to draft

    Alternatively, instead of unpublishing an article, some website owners prefer to password-protect the content or make it visible to members only. We have detailed instructions on all of these methods in our guide on how to unpublish a WordPress page.

    Keep in mind that removing a live post from your site can cause broken links and may affect your WordPress SEO, so you will want to think about this carefully.

    You can temporarily redirect the URL to another relevant page so you don’t lose SEO rankings. We show you how to do this in the ‘Redirect Deleted, Archived, and Unpublished Posts’ section later in this article.

    5. Delete or Archive Old Posts You Want to Remove From Your Site

    What if you have content that you no longer wish to show on your WordPress website? Maybe the post is no longer relevant, or you have decided to take your website in a new direction.

    In that case, you can delete the post or archive it like you archive your emails.

    To delete a post, you just need to edit it and then click the ‘Move to trash’ button in the right-hand menu. WordPress will send that page to the trash.

    Move page to trash

    By default, WordPress automatically deletes anything in the trash after 30 days, so you still have time to change you have time to change your mind.

    We show you how to recover deleted posts from the trash later in this article.

    To archive a post, you need to install and activate the LH Archived Post Status plugin. Upon activation, the plugin adds a custom post status called ‘Archived’ to your posts, pages, and custom post types.

    You can archive a single post or page by editing it. When you click on the ‘Status’ dropdown menu, you will see the new ‘Archived’ post status.

    Archiving a Single Post

    Simply select the ‘Archive’ status, and then click the ‘Update’ button at the top of the screen.

    Your post will be marked as archived, and it will stop appearing on the front end of your site. Your website visitors will no longer be able to see it.

    If you want to use the content again in the future, then you can edit it if necessary and then publish it by changing the post status back to ‘Published’.

    You can learn more in our guide on how to archive posts without deleting them in WordPress.

    Whether you delete or archive the post, you should redirect the URL to a relevant post that’s still visible on your website. Otherwise, your users will see a 404′ page not found’ error message when they try to visit the page

    See the next section for details.

    6. Redirect Deleted, Archived, and Unpublished Posts

    Once you have deleted, archived, or unpublished a post, your visitors will see a 404 ‘page not found’ error if they try to visit the page by clicking on a link or bookmark they have saved.

    This provides a bad user experience and can impact your WordPress SEO, so we recommend you send the user to a different but related page on your website using a 301 redirect.

    The simplest way to manage and create redirects is with the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) WordPress plugin. It’s the best SEO plugin for WordPress and is used by over 3 million professionals to improve their site’s SEO.

    On the All in One SEO » Redirects page, you can enter the ‘Source URL’ of the page you deleted and the ‘Target URL’ of the post you want to send your visitors to.

    Enter Source URL and Target URL

    Now make sure that the Redirect Type is ‘301 Moved Permanently,’ and then click the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

    There are several other ways you can create redirects, and you can learn about them in our beginner’s guide to creating 301 redirects in WordPress

    Bonus: Recover Deleted Posts

    If you unpublished a post and changed your mind, then you can simply publish it again.

    But you might be wondering what to do if you change your mind about a post you deleted. Luckily, you may be able to recover it from the trash.

    Just like your computer, WordPress moves deleted items into a trash folder. This removes those items from your website and admin screens, but they are not deleted permanently right away.

    After 30 days, WordPress will permanently delete the item from the trash and database. If the page you deleted is still in the trash, then you can go ahead and restore it.

    You will need to go to Posts » All Posts (or Pages » All Pages if you wish to restore a page) inside your WordPress admin area.

    From here, you must switch to the ‘Trash’ tab to view all the posts that have been deleted during the last 30 days.

    Restoring a Post From the Trash

    If the post you want to recover is listed there, then simply take your mouse over the page title, and you will see the option to ‘Restore’ it.

    If it is not still in the trash, then you may be able to restore it from a backup. For this and many other reasons, we recommend setting up regular WordPress backups.

    You will find detailed instructions on all of these methods in our guide on how to recover and restore deleted pages in WordPress.

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn whether to keep or delete old content in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to write a great blog post or our expert pick of the best content marketing tools and plugins for 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 Should You Keep or Delete Old Content in WordPress? (Expert Opinion) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site

    Are you wondering how to add push notifications to your WordPress site?

    Push notifications let you send messages to users even when they are not on your website. This helps you bring back users to your website, increase traffic, and make more money.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily add web push notifications to your WordPress site.

    Add web push notifications to your WordPress site

    We will cover everything you need to know about sending push notifications in our tutorial, and you can use the quick links below to jump to different sections:

    What Are Push Notifications?

    Push notifications are short, clickable notification messages that appear as a popup on users’ desktop or mobile devices.

    They display on top of the desktop or in the notification area on a mobile device. The best thing is that they can be shown even when the user’s browser is not open.

    Here’s an example of a push notification.

    Web Push Notification desktop preview

    Push notifications let you reach users across devices with your latest updates and offers, making them an effective way to convert website visitors into loyal followers and customers.

    Why Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site?

    Did you know that 70% of people who leave your website will never come back? This is why you need to convert those WordPress website visitors into subscribers and customers.

    You can do this by using multiple channels at once. These can include email marketing, social media, mobile or SMS marketing, and web push notifications.

    Email lists are still the most powerful marketing tools available, with 51% of consumers preferring to be contacted by businesses via email. However, we are finding that push notifications are also very effective.

    On the WPBeginner site, push notifications are consistently one of the top 5 traffic sources.

    Here are just some of the reasons that make push notifications a great marketing tool:

    • Users need to give their explicit permission to receive push notifications. This means they are already interested in what you have to offer and are more likely to engage with notifications.
    • Push notifications are shorter and demand less attention than email or social media updates.
    • There is no algorithm like on social media to limit your reach. Nearly 100% of messages are delivered.
    • Users can control how their devices display notifications. They can snooze them or turn them off entirely.
    • Not as many companies are using push notifications.

    Popular sites, including Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and many others, understand the importance and are already using web push notifications as a marketing strategy.

    Push notifications have a 10X higher open rate than email and a 14X higher click rate. They are more engaging than SMS, email marketing, and social media platforms.

    Having said that, let’s take a look at how to easily add web push notifications to a WordPress website.

    Setting Up Web Push Notifications in WordPress With PushEngage

    PushEngage is the best push notification service on the market that allows you to easily add push notifications to your WordPress site.

    This helps you connect with visitors even after they leave your site with targeted push messages.

    Step 1: Creating Your PushEngage Account

    First, you need to go to the PushEngage website and click the ‘Get Started For Free Now’ button.

    PushEngage

    The free plan covers you for up to 200 subscribers and 30 notification campaigns each month. You will have to upgrade as you get more subscribers and need to send more campaigns.

    After selecting a pricing plan, you will need to create a PushEngage account. You can use your existing Google account to register or create a new account.

    Register for a PushEngage account

    Once you do that, you will be taken to the ‘Setup Your Account’ page, where you have to add your website domain, industry, and company size.

    Your subdomain will automatically be generated according to this information. After that, you will also need to provide your credit card details here.

    Provide website details to complete the signup process

    Upon signing up, you will be taken to your PushEngage dashboard.

    Keep in mind that if you signed up using your Google account, then this is where you will need to provide your website details.

    Once you have done that, just visit the Site Settings » Site Details page from the left column in the PushEngage dashboard.

    From here, you can edit your site name and URL if you want. After that, you myst upload an image that will be used as a site icon for your web push notifications.

    To do this, click the ‘Choose Image’ button.

    Choose an icon image for push notifications

    This will open up a prompt on your screen where you can upload an image from your computer.

    You can also add an image using its URL. Once you have selected an image, just click the ‘Use’ button.

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

    Upload an image from the computer

    Remember that your image needs to be in PNG or JPG file format, and the recommended size is 192×192.

    You have now completed the key information for your PushEngage account.

    Step 2: Connecting Your WordPress Site With PushEngage

    The next step is to connect your WordPress website to PushEngage.

    To do this, you need to install and activate the PushEngage WordPress plugin. For more details, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, the ‘Welcome to PushEngage Setup Wizard!’ prompt will open up on your screen, where you have to click the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button.

    Click Connect to your existing account button

    This will open the ‘Add Your Site to PushEngage’ prompt in a new window. Here, you have to make sure that the site registered with PushEngage is the same one that you are using now.

    After that, just click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

    Connect PushEngage account to WordPress

    Once your PushEngage account is connected with WordPress, a setup wizard will be launched on your screen that you can configure according to your liking.

    After you are done, just click the ‘PushEngage Dashboard’ button to be redirected to your WordPress dashboard.

    Click the PushEngage dashboard button in the setup wizard

    Now it’s time for you to start creating a web push notification for your WordPress blog or website.

    Step 3: Setting Up Your Push Notification Messages

    To create a push notification, head over to the PushEngage » Campaigns page and click the ‘Add New’ button.

    This will direct you to the ‘Create New Push Broadcast’ screen in your WordPress dashboard.

    Create a new push engage campaign by clicking the Add New button

    From here, you can start by typing a name for your push notification in the ‘Notification Title’ field. Then, type the message that you want to display in the push notification in the ‘Message’ field.

    Next, you need to add your website URL to the ‘Notification URL’ field.

    Upon adding the title and message, you will be able to see the preview of your push notification in the right corner of the screen.

    Type the title, message, and URL for the push notification

    Next, scroll down to the ‘Show Large Image’ section and toggle the switch to active if you want to add an image to your push notification.

    This image will be displayed at the top of your notification and will not disturb the alignment of the notification title and message.

    Add image to the push notification

    Next, you need to scroll down to the ‘Notification Duration’ section and toggle the switch to active.

    Once you do that, you can now check the ‘Keep notification open until interaction’ option. This means that the notification will be constantly displayed unless the user interacts with it.

    You can also customize your push notification duration from the dropdown menus. This setting controls how long the push notification will be displayed for.

    Keep in mind that these features only work for Chrome 47 and above versions and not other browsers.

    After configuring the settings, just click the ‘Save & Select Audience’ button at the top.

    Add duration for push notification

    This will direct you to the next step, where you must select the audience that you want to send push notifications to.

    Here, we will be choosing the ‘Send to All Subscribers’ option so that our push notification will be displayed to all our subscribers.

    Next, click the ‘Send/Schedule’ button at the top to move forward.

    Choose an audience to send push notifications

    In the next step, you need to schedule your web push notification timing.

    For example, if you want to start sending your push notifications immediately, then you can select the ‘Begin sending immediately’ option. However, you can also schedule your notification to be sent at a particular time or be turned into a recurring push notification.

    Although, keep in mind that you will need a paid plan from PushEngage to access these two features.

    Schedule and send your notification to your users

    Finally, click the ‘Send Notification Now’ button to save your campaign and start sending your web push notifications.

    Once you have set up push notifications, it’s best practice to check that they are working as you expected.

    To test your push notifications, open your website on your computer or phone. Here, you should immediately see the web push notification that you just created.

    Here’s ours on a desktop computer:

    Push notification preview

    However, keep in mind that this web push notification will only be displayed to users who are part of your PushEngage subscriber list.

    Create a Subscribers List With PushEngage

    If you don’t already have a subscribers list with PushEngage, then you must visit the PushEngage » Design page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

    Once you are there, simply toggle the switch to active for a popup template that you like. Then, click the ‘Edit Popup’ button.

    Choose popup template

    This will open the PushEngage website dashboard on a new page.

    From here, you can configure the layout, message, and subscription rules for your popup.

    Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save & Choose Display Options’ button at the top.

    Configure popup design

    This will now show you the display options, where you can choose the cookie duration, enable the subscription trigger, and more.

    Finally, click the ‘Save and Enable Popup’ button to store your settings and activate the popup.

    Save and enable popup

    Now, you need to visit your website using another Google account. Here, you will see a popup at the top of your website asking users to allow it to show notifications.

    Now once the users will click the ‘Allow’ button, they will automatically become a part of your PushEngage subscribers’ list.

    Allow notification preview

    Send Push Notifications to Subscribers Every Time You Publish a New Post on WordPress

    With PushEngage, you can also send push notifications to subscribers every time you publish a blog post in WordPress.

    To do this, visit the PushEngage » Settings page from the WordPress dashboard and switch to the ‘Auto Push Settings’ tab. From here, toggle the ‘Auto Push’ switch to active.

    After that, you need to choose if you want to display the post’s featured image in the push notification and enable multi-action buttons.

    Toggle auto push switch

    With multi-action buttons, you can allow users to interact with your push notifications in multiple ways, like visiting your blog post, subscribing to your YouTube channel, and signing up for your email newsletter.

    You can also use the blog post’s featured image or the site icon as the notification icon image.

    Finally, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Now create a new post in the WordPress block editor and scroll down to the ‘PushEngage Push Notifications Settings’ section.

    From here, you can add a title and message for your web push notification and even select an audience for it.

    Add title and message for blog post push notification

    Once you are done, simply click the ‘Publish’ button to save your changes and make your post live.

    Now your subscribers will receive a notification for the new blog post on your website.

    Preview for push notifications for blog post publications

    We hope this article helped you learn how to add web push notifications to your WordPress site. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide on how to build an email list and our expert picks for the best email marketing services for small business.

    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 Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site first appeared on WPBeginner.