Valid XHTML Markup and CSS

We very often suggest WordPress as a component for integration into a web project. We suggest it as a standalone blog, or in conjunction with an eCommerce solution, or as a companion for just about any project. We often suggest that this software may be modified in any number of ways to lend some good, solid, search engine optimization properties to our projects.

We have been asked a few times in response to this, “Why WordPress? And why does WordPress perform so well in the search engines?”

The short answer is that the fine folks who have worked on developing the software know what they are doing.

The long answer could involve descriptions of Apache mod_Rewrite, search engine friendly URL, permalink structure for longevity, semantic presentation, formatting and structure. Link relationship as referenced through multiple URL paths and served dynamically as one. Anchors with no file extensions, RSS feed creation, feed crawlers and Google-bots, any number of topics to discuss or detail.

Then we could mention ease of use, manageable upgrade paths, and a turbo-studdly template system, not to mention numerous handy plugins to extend the experience of our visitors or make life a bit easier on the author.

We could go on about how easy it is to publish our content, or how even the most neophyte of users can make quick use of this platform.

We could detail the technical aspects and point out the intrinsic value of each. Or we could demonstrate how the average user benefits from these aspects without ever having to know how or why, or without having to be an SEO guru or programming genius. We could go through all of that each time we recommend this pivotal software development, but we usually do not.

Most often we just calmly suggest it in passing as a good tool for SEO interests, and leave it at that. Those whom experience what WordPress is capable of will understand what we mean, others will simply think, “Why would I use a blog for that?”

To that we say, WordPress is not just simply a “blog”. It is much more than that, if we wish it to be. The developers of this software have given us a very pliable engine in which the best practice and best use methods have been applied. Created for us to use in such a subliminal and organically natural way, the average user has no idea of what is going on under the hood, and how utterly good it really is.

For those who like to dig deep into the how and why of things, explore the way WordPress outputs the content. See the link relationships, the order in markup where elements are presented, the nested lists of the navigation, and all of the options which we may fine-tune not only as a GUI Admin user, but handily in the markup and styles of the theme system. Well documented and sensibly orchestrated.

So how do we know if it really performs as well as expected? You could invoke Google in a separate window, and paste a few things into it and see what happens. What sort of things to paste? Well, we could start with the Title of this very Blog. Start with that, and then surf through the articles of this site, copy the article titles from our pages here, and paste them into that Google box. We should show up on a few of the first pages along the way, you’ll see.

That is from a little known blog, from a little known author, no pay-links, barely any incoming links at all, if even any. We have never “submitted” this blog to any directories or search services. We’ve moved this blog from one hosting solution to another, re-themed the interface, upgraded the version a few times, and even now, the place could use a few tweaks after that last rebuild.

So did you find some well ranking pages at Google? Especially when considering the obscure nature and name of this domain and subdomain, along with the insignificant size of the resource?

Not really much to base a Search Engine Optimization model on is it? Or is it?

We wouldn’t think so. But remember all of those subliminal functions and unseen behaviors mentioned in the beginning of this page? All of those little things that most users are not even aware of, working it like a champ, while all we have to do, is to paste a little textual content and click “Publish”.

Yes, we recommend WordPress for a good many unorthodox uses. And for very good reason. To find out more, or experience this for yourself, visit the WordPress.org home site.