More Catalyst Theme SEO Options

A few weeks back in a previous Feature of the Week Post, I took a brief look at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and some of the main factors that can influence it.

It showed how Catalyst Theme includes a full set of SEO options to help provide a solid foundation for optimizing a site for better search engine results.

That post looked at the the main On-Page SEO options provided within Catalyst Theme – for example the Catalyst Post/Page SEO options included within each and every Post or Page for the Title, Meta Description and Keywords.

It also looked at the extensive Catalyst Theme SEO settings available for the site as a whole and also the ability to set SEO options specifically for the Homepage too.

The SEO options included within Catalyst Theme at the time of writing that feature post meant that each Post and Page as well as the Homepage could be well optimized easily and effectively, but that when an Archive Page was generated – such as a list of posts within a particular Category or Tag say – there were no specific SEO options available for an individual Category Archive Page, or individual Tag Archive Page.

That omission was noted in the subsequent comments to that post.

And of course, such is the nature of the development behind Catalyst Theme that very shortly afterwards, this feature is now built into the theme!

So Catalyst Theme now includes SEO options for Category, Tag and Author based Archive Pages.

To optimize a Category Archive Page, select the Categories option in WordPress > Posts, select the Category required, and click Edit.

You will see something like the image below displayed.

Catalyst Theme SEO for Individual Category Archive Page

Here we can add a description that will appear at the top of the Archive Page above the posts displayed for this particular Category.

The Catalyst Archive Options allow for this description to be included or not, as well as the Category Name, when the Page is displayed.

Both of these are likely to be preferable options especially if they contain keywords relevant to the Archive Page being generated.

Here’s how this Archive Page looks when the Category Page is viewed on the site itself:

Category Archive Page with Name and Description Included

In the Catalyst SEO Options, you can specify a Document Title (Page Title) as well as Meta Description and Keywords that appear in the source code for the Page.

Source Code for Category Archive Page Showing SEO Options

Likewise, Catalyst Theme provides similar SEO options for Tag Archive Pages and Author Archive Pages.

To optimize a Tag Archive Page, select WordPress > Posts > Post Tags and then Edit the Tag in the same way as shown above for a Category.

To optimize an Author Archive Page, select WordPress > Users and then Edit the details for the Username concerned.

Even before the addition of this SEO functionality, sites developed using Catalyst Theme benefitted from its rock solid SEO – and without the need for additional SEO plugins..

Now the Catalyst Theme SEO options have been even further extended to help ensure your sites can be super optimized for SEO and help achieve better rankings.

Have fun.

David.

David Pritchard is the author of the Catalyst Theme Cheat Sheet – the 250+ page guide that helps users make the most of Catalyst Theme – and which has been made freely available to licenced Catalyst users in the downloads section of the Catalyst Theme forum. David also has a site that covers WordPress, SEO, internet marketing techniques and other topics not directly related to Catalyst Theme itself at http://www.FastStepInternetMarketing.com