Have you opted WordPress content management system for your brand new website? Luckily every hosting service providing the easiest way to install WordPress on their server with few clicks. After installation, the WordPress starts with default settings, which are not suitable for professional use. We are here to help WordPress beginners to customize WordPress settings, read our full “10 Modifications You Should Do After Installing WordPress” to optimize your site
How to Optimize WordPress Installation
1. Permalink Structure Change
After installation, the WordPress starts with default permalink structure. It is always advisable to change the structure suitable to your need. For example date in the permalink not suggestable for sites like Coupons and Deals offering sites. The link structure can cause problems in Google rankings, for example.
Example: BlueHost BlackFriday Deal (Published on 11-25-2013) Link: http://example.com/2015/11/25/sample-post/
You can use this post for the upcoming years too. You can update the content every time. But the date present in the link is not suitable for the content published in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016. It is always advisable to change the permalink structure to http://example.com/sample-post/ or http://example.com/category/sample-post/.
2. Installation of Necessary Plugins
Some hosting service providers automatically install some popular plugins like JetPack and Yoast for you. If it is not done by them you can manually install Plugins from WordPress Dashboard. You can find your installed Plugins list in the below link.
http://example.com/wp-admin/plugins.php (Replace example.com with your site name)
Must Have Basic Plugins for WordPress Site
3. Adding Site Icon
In a heavy browsing session, the site icon is helpful to identify the site from a list of opened tabs. Luckily, WordPress 4.3 has built-in favicon function. You can set favicon from Appearance > Customize > Site Identity > Site Icon. The site icon must be 512×512 pixels.
4. Customizing Robots.txt file
It is not advisable to Google crawl your site including PHP files and WordPress installation directories. You can tweak the Robots.txt file from FTP or by using Yoast SEO Plugin. You can easily find your Robots.txt file in Yoast SEO > Tools > File Editor. An ideal Robots.txt file looks like below.
User-agent: * Disallow: /cgi-bin/ Disallow: /wp-admin/ Disallow: /wp-content/plugins/ Disallow: /wp-content/themes/ Disallow: /recommended/ Disallow: /comments/feed/ Disallow: /trackback/ Disallow: /index.php Disallow: /xmlrpc.php
5. Changing Default Site Name and Description
After installation, any WordPress site starts with Title: A WordPress Site”. It is a must to change the site name and tagline before submitting the XML sitemap to Google and other search engines indexing. You can change your site title and tagline in WordPress Dashboard > General > Site Title.
6. Check for Latest Updates
Most hosting service providers do not update their WordPress installation tools. It is simply maintained by the automatic tools, you may experience an outdated version of WordPress after installation. First, go to the Updates page and check for available updates.
7. Change the Post Auto-Save Interval
Post-Auto-Save feature is a WordPress auto draft save feature. When you are editing an article in WordPress the draft will be automatically saved every 60 seconds. If you are writing a long article you can expect a ton of revisions. It results in unnecessary tables and burden on Database. You can change the auto-save duration to two minutes (120 seconds) by simply adding this code to the wp-config.php file.
define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 120 );
8. Delete Sample Post and Page
Post installation of WordPress, it welcomes with two sample posts. One is sample page and another one is a post. They are unnecessary post and page and you should delete them in the first run. To delete these unwanted things head over to the Posts page and delete the Sample post.
9. Enable 2-factor Authentication
Coming to a site security, it is highly recommended to add an extra layer of protection. A WordPress site can be protected by a 2-Factor Authentication. Plugins like Clef and Authy adds 2-Factor authentication to your WordPress site.
10. Delete Unused Themes and Plugins
The WordPress starts with a set of Themes and Plugins. Most people prefer installing Premium or Custom built themes. If you find an unnecessary Plugin or Theme simply remove them. If you leave the undeleted, they intimate a message every time when they receive an update. Moreover, outdated Themes and Plugins are vulnerable to attacks and cause security issues.
That’s it, hopefully, our guide will help your WordPress needs. If you liked this article, please don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter.