5 Ways How To Fix Common WordPress Mistakes

Posted by TotalDC

As you may guess we all started blogging from the beginning and made some mistakes. But knowing some WordPress basics can help you avoid mistakes that can easily be averted. Here are 5 of the most common WordPress mistakes beginners make and how to fix them.

Blocking Search Engines

WordPress gives you an option to ‘discourage search engines from indexing pages. And maybe by accident, you turned this feature on. What it does it’s like saying to Google “Hey, please pretend this page doesn’t exist”. And that could be disastrous. Especially when you don’t know that you turned it on.

If your site is still under development, it makes sense to check this box (temporarily) but once you’re ready to launch Google needs to know that you have a new website.

Solution: Allow Indexing

search engine visibility screen on WordPress dashboard

From your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > Reading

Make sure that the checkbox is not checked and press Save.

Keeping the “Admin” Username

Using the default “Admin” username for your WordPress login is a huge no-no. Because I guarantee you that it is the first guess for anyone who is trying to get access to your website.

Solution: Change Your Username

Make sure your username is not easy to guess and always ensure that it is completely different from your published screen name. Try not to use your email, name, or something that someone could easily guess.

If you already have “admin” as a username – there is an easy way to fix this.

user settings menu on WordPress dashboard

Create a new administrator account by navigating to Users > Add New > choose a new username and fill out the required fields > Save.

Now you have a new user account which you will use to login to your WordPress dash.

Using The “Uncategorized” Category

WordPress allows you to organize blog posts in categories, making it easy for your readers to navigate your blog. And when you just install WordPress you have only one category already available. That is “Uncategorized”.

If you don’t create any other categories or don’t assign posts to a category at all, all of your blog posts will fall under “uncategorized.”

That will be super uncomfortable for your readers.

Solution: Rename “Uncategorized”

A simple solution is to rename the “Uncategorized” category to “Other” or to something more relevant to your blog.

Go to Posts > Categories > and click “Quick Edit” on “Uncategorized”
Then just rename the category > Save.

change category name

All the posts that were posted under Uncategorized will automatically be updated. Another solution would be to go through every single post and changing categories one by one or uncheck that dreaded “Uncategorized” checkbox.

Not Updating Your Tagline

When you set up your site on WordPress, it will automatically add a “Just Another Blog” tagline. A tagline is a short description of what your site is all about and it shows up in search results.

So important to take advantage of this, making it your own by creating a tagline that reflects your brand.

Solution: Update Your Tagline

Navigate to Appearance > Customize > Site Title > Tagline > Publish

Not Selecting An SEO-Friendly URL Structure

SEO-friendly URLs contain keywords that easily explain to readers and search engines what each page or post is about within your website.

For example, an SEO-friendly URL looks like this https://simplywebstuff.com/how-to-sort-array-in-javascript-everything-you-need-to-know/. And non SEO friendly URL would look something like this https://simplywebstuff.com/?p=10467

Google like people prefers easy-to-read ULR. Your permalink structure also plays a role in onsite optimization which helps you rank in search engines.

Solution: Select “Post-Name” Permalink Structure

Navigate to Settings > Permalinks > select “Post Name” > Save.

select post name permalink on WordPress dashboard

Now all your pages and posts will be highly relevant which makes a big difference in SEO and your visitor’s ease of navigation.

I hope that you found this post helpful in avoiding or fixing some of these common mistakes.