As a content creator using WordPress, you may have asked yourself at some point whether saving a post as a draft rather than publishing it live on your website can have an impact on your SEO. After all, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a crucial aspect of any online business or blog, as it determines how well your website ranks in search engine results. So, it’s natural to want to make sure that everything you do on your website, including writing and saving drafts, doesn’t negatively affect your SEO.
Do Draft WordPress Posts Unpublished Affect Your SEO?
The short answer to the question of whether draft WordPress posts affect SEO is no, they do not. When you save a post as a draft in WordPress, it is not visible to anyone except for users with access to the WordPress dashboard. This means that search engines cannot see or index draft posts, and therefore they do not impact your SEO.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can completely ignore SEO when writing draft posts. It’s important to keep SEO in mind while writing and editing your content, as it will ultimately improve the chances of your post ranking well in search results when it is published.
There are several things you can do to optimize your draft posts for SEO:
- Use relevant keywords: Including relevant keywords in your content can help search engines understand what your post is about and improve its chances of ranking well in search results. Make sure to include your target keywords naturally in your content and use them in your title and headings.
- Optimize your title and headings: Your post’s title and headings (H1, H2, etc.) are important for both users and search engines, as they provide an overview of the content and help determine its relevance to a particular search query. Make sure to include your target keywords in your title and headings, and use them in a way that is clear and concise.
- Use alt tags for images: Alt tags (also known as “alt descriptions”) are used to describe the content of an image to search engines. Including alt tags for your images can help improve the SEO of your draft post, as it gives search engines more context about the content of your post.
- Use internal and external links: Linking to other relevant content on your own website (internal links) or on other websites (external links) can help improve the SEO of your draft post. It shows search engines that your post is valuable and well-researched, and it can also drive traffic to your website.
How to Publish Draft or Unpublished Posts on WordPress?
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Go to the “Posts” section in the left-hand menu.
- Click on the title of the draft post you want to publish.
- Make any final edits or changes to the post.
- In the right-hand column, under the “Publish” section, click the “Publish” button.
- A pop-up window will appear asking you to confirm that you want to publish the post. Click “Publish” again to confirm.
Your draft post is now live on your website and visible to anyone who visits your site. It’s also important to note that you can also schedule a post to be published at a later date by clicking the “Edit” button next to the “Publish immediately” option in the “Publish” section.
How to Schedule Posts on WordPress For Automatically Publishing
- In the right-hand column, under the “Publish” section, click the “Edit” button next to the “Publish immediately” option.
- Select the date and time you want the post to be published from the calendar and drop-down menus.
- Click the “Schedule” button.
Your post is now scheduled to be published at the date and time you specified. You can view and manage your scheduled posts by going to the “Posts” section in the left-hand menu and clicking the “Scheduled” link. You can also edit or delete a scheduled post by hovering over it and using the options that appear.
Remember, it’s always a good idea to double-check your scheduled posts and make sure they are set to be published at the correct date and time. Scheduling a post for future publishing is a useful feature that allows you to plan and organize your content in advance, but it’s important to make sure everything is set up correctly.
Final Words
Draft WordPress posts do not affect your SEO, but it’s important to keep SEO in mind while writing and editing your content. By optimizing your draft posts for SEO, you can improve the chances of your post ranking well in search results when it is eventually published.