4 replies to this topic

[mee]

How to optimize and rank Wordpress category pages ?

should we display the full articles in category page or should we just use a excerpt of 100-150 words ?

[Jill]

You'll want to add content to the top that explains what the category is about, then just a small excerpt from the posts in that category.

[mee]

You'll want to add content to the top that explains what the category is about, then just a small excerpt from the posts in that category.

yes, I have a website is a ~30 words description and 25 word excerpt for each post and new posts are being regularly added, however I have noticed that people who have more content on their landing page are outranking me
may be I need to add a bit longer description

one more thing

should I leave the "post title" published under "category name" on the category page ? so If you have ten posts on the page than you will get the category name repeated 10 times
it is the default behaviour of most themes , an easy way to increase keyword density but is it beneficial to have the keyword repeated like that ?

Edited by mee, 06 October 2010 - 09:47 PM.

[Jill]

however I have noticed that people who have more content on their landing page are outranking

Now don't go mixing up cause and effect. What makes you know that this one factor (more text) is what's causing them to outrank you?

And on which phrases? Every single phrase or just one specific phrase. If it's just one, then why would longer text have any effect, it doesn't make any sense.

[Michael Martinez]

Are you trying to compete category-page-to-category-page or are you trying to compete category-page-to-post-page?

If the former, it's possible that including full posts on your category pages will increase the repetition of keywords on your category pages but you could probably increase that repetition by carefully using your keywords at the top of each category-relevant post.

If you're comparing your category page to other people's individual posts, I think you're making an inefficient comparison. You should either compete post-to-post or category-to-category. Asking a user-friendly category page to compete like an optimized article/post is asking a lot.