Sitemap
Included the human-readable Sitemap page (Plugin by dagondesign.com) in the top-level Navigation Menu. I just wish Thesis would have separate menus for Pages and Categories, though, or at least show them on 2 separate rows, like Carrington!
I notice that, even although Allow Comments is unchecked for the Sitemap page, Echo (JS-Kit) still displays a comment box. I’ll have to investigate whether that can be disabled. (There is a Thesis option to “Disable comments on all pagesâ€.)
Add Noindex to Archive Pages
Under “Add Noindex to Archive Pagesâ€, I’ve now also checked “Add noindex to monthly archivesâ€. This was originally unchecked, based on the advice in an unnamed Thesis/SEO blog post. I noticed that it was generating exceptions on Google Webmaster Tools.
WordPress Plugins
A general note regarding plugins. I’ve been installing each plugin in its own folder within the plugins folder, just because it makes things easier to manage (especially when you need to delete all the files for deactivated plugin you want to uninstall). I read today that this is now a best practice, and that you’re likely to encounter problems by dumping all plugins into a common folder.
Installed the following WP plugins, after first doing some basic testing on http://maskiltest.mwadev.co.za/ (I’ve finally started getting into that routine). Just a pity I’m not allowed to use Thesis on a Test as well as the Live blog.
Broken Link Checker
A plugin for WordPress that will check your posts (and pages), looking for broken links, and let you know if any are found.
Broken links are apparently not just irritating for humans, but also for search engine crawlers. You will lose points if the Google Bot keeps bumping up against broken links.
Broken Link Checker for WordPress – W-Shadow.com
No Self Pings
Prevents WP from pinging your own posts when you cross-link posts. Apparently there’s an SEO penalty for this behaviour!
Blogwaffe – WordPress plugin: No Self Pings
Update Notifier
Update Notifier is a WordPress plugin that sends daily email notifications to the admin if there is a new version of WordPress available for download. Notifications about updates for plugins and themes can also be sent.
Not the only plugin of this nature, but this one adds value by notifying for plugin and theme upgrades as well. How cool is that?
