WordPress

PWA Progressive Web App And Google Adsense

PWA Progressive Web App And Google Adsense – I wrote the following article after my initial experiences with PWA in WordPress using the AMP version on a mobile phone.

When it comes to using AMP in WordPress, there are two main plugins that are used; the original AMP version by WordPress.com or AMP for WP by Ahmed and Mohammed Kaludi.

I use the AMP for WP plugin on all of my websites, as it is much more versatile and allows you to do things like converting Pages to AMP not just Posts, personalise the look of Posts and Pages and allowing easy insertion of the two codes for Google Adsense Auto AMP ads in the head and content sections of just the AMP pages.

pwa progressive web app and google adsense desktop screen — PWA Progressive Web App And Google Adsense

PWA Progressive Web App Features

For those who have not had an app constructed for their website, then this is the next best thing in my opinion.

You can activate the PWA module within the AMP for WP plugin, which is currently free of charge.

Once the PWA is activated, it launches a new separate WordPress plugin, in which you can change the styling options, etc.

If you style in the same colours as your original website, it really does work well and looks much better.

PWA Progressive Web App And Google Adsense Problems!

After getting all the settings and visuals I wanted to make, I was kinda pleased with the final look of the websites on AMP using PWA.

However, (why is there always a “however” when I try things out for the first time?) my Google Adsense earnings for the next couple of days were only a fraction of what they normally were! They had tanked.

I kept checking the websites and eventually I noticed the Adsense Auto Ads for AMP stopped showing completely on the mobile versions.

Panic stations!

I quickly removed the PWA plugin and cleared the cache, but it took a couple of days for my normal traffic and Adsense earnings to return.

PWA and Adsense Don’t Play Well Together!

So my conclusion is that if you do not use Adsense ads, by all means use the Progressive Web App from the free AMP for WP plugin.

BUT if you use Google Adsense ads in any of your websites, then according to my own experience, your ads will not show up properly and your earnings will drop significantly.

You have been warned!

Rank Math SEO Plugin Review

Rank Math SEO Plugin Review – Sometimes something comes along that puts a bit of excitement in your tummy!

That is exactly how I feel after using the Rank Math SEO WordPress Plugin from MyThemeShop.

Which WordPress SEO Plugin Is Best?

Haven’t you searched for which WordPress SEO plugin is best, read a lot of articles and still been not sure which one to try?

You are no different to me either, as I have tried most of them out there including Yoast SEO, All In One Plugin, SEO Framework, Squirrly, etc.

In fact, I even removed the Yoast SEO plugin from one of my websites as an experiment which you can read about, but having done it, I would not recommend having any website without a SEO plugin at all to be honest.

$Rank Math SEO Plugin Review logo$

Rank Math SEO Plugin Review

Why Rank Math SEO Plugin?

So far, from my initial experiences, it is like:

“you have tried the rest, now try the best!”

Well, at the moment it is free to download, but you must register on their Facebook page in order to get the download link.

MyThemeShop are still debating as to whether they will eventually charge for the plugin or maybe even have a basic free version with premium addons, but at the minute, if you download the plugin from their closed Facebook page, they say you will never have to pay for it, ever!

MyThemeShop have just released the Rank Math SEO plugin download into the WordPress area and you can either search for it in the “Add Plugin” section of your WordPress website or use this link.

What Is So Good About Rank Math SEO Plugin?

It has everything you need in one place and it works well.

I also use the Schema Theme from MyThemeShop, which is one of the fastest and cleanest WordPress themes around and it works seamlessly together with the Rank Math plugin.

This is a huge advantage when your WordPress theme and the SEO plugin that you are using on the same website, is from the same supplier. I did an article on comparing the themes of MyThemeShop and the Genesis Framework when I had just moved to MyThemeShop and I am really now very glad I did so at the time.

I do not think there is any point me repeating the details of the Rank Math SEO plugin here and it would be far better to direct you to their website for full details, including how to set it up. I do propose to do a future article about the best settings to use, however, as I have found out be trial and error.

You might also like to read the honest reviews of people who have been using the plugin for a while, as they do read really well on the plugin website.

My Own Findings?

I thought you might ask that!

Just look at this chart! You can guess when I added the Rank Math SEO Plugin. I have enjoyed a huge increase in traffic as you can see:

As you can see, I am truly happy with the performance and I am going to be sticking with it.

Why not give it a try? You can migrate your settings over and retain them if you ever want to go back to your original plugin.

This is really a game changer i my opinion and I have no doubt it will affect the existing big names in WordPress SEO plugins.

I am happy to answer any questions or queries that you might have after reading this article on the Rank Math plugin review, but I would advise you to just at least download the Rank Math SEO plugin today whist it is still free and give it a test!

How To Delete WordPress Theme Completely

How to delete WordPress Theme completely is a fairly simple operation to do, but I suppose it is only simple if you know how to do it!

There are so many new people starting to use WordPress and finding there way around that I thought it might be useful to throw this brief one in.

Find Out How To Delete WordPress Theme Completely

You need to have an active WordPress theme and you should not try to delete all themes in your administration area.

When you first install WordPress, it will automatically install free themes for you if you choose.

Themes like Twenty Sixteen, Twenty Seventeen, Twenty Eighteen, Twenty Nineteen, etc.

You can use any of these free themes already installed or upload your own free or paid theme as well.

What is not a good idea is to have redundant themes sitting in your admin area doing nothing, but taking up space and maybe also exposing you to security vulnerabilities too.

How To Delete WordPress Theme Completely twenty seventeen — How To Delete WordPress Theme Completely

Delete WordPress Themes

You will clearly see what themes you have there.

It will also show you the theme that is currently active and that you are using.

Decide which theme you want to keep and make sure it is live.

On the other themes you are not using, hover over the theme picture near the centre and click on Theme Details.

On the extreme bottom right you will see Delete and it is just a matter of clicking on this once and then clicking on Ok to remove the theme completely.

Didn’t I tell you it would be easy?

CDN Enabler, Cache Enabler and Optimus WordPress Plugins?

This looks like a bit of an unrelated, catch-all heading for this article, but read on to find out how these 3 plugins work hand in hand to speed up your WordPress website.

KeyCDN Plugins

If you search for new plugins in your WordPress admin area and then type in “Keycdn”, you will find that these 3 plugins pop up near the top of the list and that is because they are all made by KeyCDN.

KeyCDN have produced these 3 plugins so as they talk together and behave nicely to each other and produce a complete jigsaw of CDN with caching and image optimisation all in one, to enhance performance.

CDN Enabler Plugin

The CDN enabler plugin is free and although designed specifically for the KeyCDN service, it can be used with other CDN services as well.

Full details on the plugin are here.

Cache Enabler Plugin

The cache enabler plugin is free and you can use it stand alone as well if you want to, but it works best integrated with all 3 services.

More details can be found on the KeyCDN website for this plugin and you can download it there too.

Optimus Plugin

The third plugin is for reducing the size of your images in order to speed up the loading of your pages and full details can be found here.

Testing Performance

I am currently testing the performance of using all 3 plugins along with the KeyCDN cdn service as well.

So far it seems to be working well, but I would like to do further tests and reports.

Price is the big bonus here. I have already said that the plugins are free and whilst the CDN service is not free, it is as close to free as I have seen!

KeyCDN really do have very cheap services and you should have a look and compare them to others.

SEO WordPress Checkup

Why Not Ask For A SEO WordPress CheckUp?

Avail yourself of a SEO WordPress CheckUp on your website today and make sure there are no lurking errors.

How many times have you thought to yourself as to whether you have set up your WordPress website correctly?

Do you have niggly thoughts of whether your current setup is holding back traffic you should be getting?

seo wordpress checkup playing doctor and nurse — SEO WordPress CheckUp

Sleep better after a SEO WordPress Checkup!

I have found a lot of simple, but critical errors when doing a full review of WordPress websites.

You might have lots of unresolved queries and questions, like:

- Not sure how to do something on your WordPress website and it is holding you back?

- Are all the settings on your SEO plugin correct?

- Is your site loading slowly? The speed a website loads is now a ranking factor with Google, so you need to make sure it is running at optimum speed.

Not sure where to start?

Why not get in touch with any queries you might have free of charge by emailing me at: brian@brianhillier.co.uk

For a limited time, I will take a look over your WordPress website to see if there are any obvious errors to be fixed and I will also make any suggestions for improvements and changes to help increase your traffic.

Get in touch now by email and have a SEO WordPress Checkup started right away.

Why You Should Delete Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin – NOT!

(This is a genuine experiment and is still ongoing. You need to read it all and not skip to the bottom first!)

I have always been a great believer in the Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin and have been using it for years, so why on earth would I be writing a page on my website stating Why You Should Delete Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin?

The Reasons Why You Should Delete Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

At the start, I was really thrown in the deep end of website development and SEO and it took me a while to do a lot of reading on the web and to dissect what experts were saying to do and what I truly believed would work.

Over and over again I came across the Yoast SEO plugin and was told by many authorities about how great it was, so I decided initially to try the free version on one of my websites.

Soon I was adding the free version to all websites and then eventually upgraded to the Pro paid versions as well. I suppose I am an all or nothing guy!

Yoast SEO WordPress Bells and Whistles

I must confess that I have learned so much about SEO in my time of using the Yoast plugin that will stand me in good stead.

I would also encourage anyone new to WordPress SEO to use the plugin for a while to learn the basics.

However, the time has come and now is, when I have removed all of the Yoast WordPress SEO plugins from all of my websites!

Why?

In my opinion, there could be too much “bloat” in the plugin, too many “upsells” and it seems they are adding more and more functions to the plugin on every update.

Why You Should Delete Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin cartoon yoast figure — Why You Should Delete Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

Why does this concern me enough to remove the Yoast plugin after all these years?

Well, let’s just think about it logically.

Yes, it is the best selling WordPress SEO plugin on the market I admit, but it will slow your website down with all the clutter it now has.

What have Google said recently about speed and fast loading websites?

Yes indeed, it is now a ranking factor, but more than that, it is a much better user experience for your site visitors if your posts and pages load quickly as well.

Another logical thought is that WordPress websites are inherently SEO friendly as it is and that is why there are more WordPress websites out there than anything else.

So, why would I want to change, tamper with or add to something that already works?

Get a good WordPress Theme with half decent hosting and that is all you basically need from the technical side of things.

More important is the content you write, headings and overall site structure.

Here Goes!

I have just removed the Yoast plugins, so I am “putting my money where my mouth is” and holding my breath.

I have noticed a definite drop in traffic initially on day 1 and 2, but this is now recovering slightly.

I think this is due to the fact that my meta descriptions have suddenly vanished and Google is re-crawling the websites to produce relevant descriptions to display in the SERPS.

You will already know I’m sure that even if you have meta descriptions for every page, Google will not necessarily show them, but can add what it thinks is more relevant.

So which would you rather have, a meta description you have come up with for a page that “big G” does not like or instead just let Google produce the most suitable and relevant snippet for your page?

It is early days yet, but I will update this page when I learn more.

>Update 1 – Redirecting The Redirects<

If you have the Pro version of the Yoast SEO plugin like I did and if you use the Redirects section like I did, then you would need to add a separate plugin like Redirection to keep redirecting any changed Pages or Posts to stop 404 errors.

If you have a lot of redirects (like I did) there is no way of exporting these from the Yoast plugin up until now unfortunately, so I had to add them manually.

However, if you have Yoast SEO version 5.4+ there is now a facility to export the redirects. (Bad timing on my part!)

>Update 2 – The SEO Framework<

Well, it looks like Google still needs a bit of help trying to figure out what is on each page!

I needed to add meta descriptions back in again, but instead of adding back Yoast, I am testing out The SEO Framework after reading very good reviews.

See also my page Best WordPress Theme Fastest Page Speed on how to make the transition from Yoast to SEO Framework and keep all your hard earned data.

Still testing!

>Update 3 – Back To Yoast!<

Well, this has been a great (terrible!) learning experience!

3 Months later and I have switched back to Yoast.

Yes you read that correctly, I have gone back to my first choice and gone back to the Yoast SEO plugin!

The traffic has just kept going down and down each week, so drastic measures had to be taken.

I will update this again to see if the traffic recovers.

>Update 4 – All In One SEO<

I used the Yoast SEO plugin for about 4 months now and there has been no recovery in traffic to be honest.

I have now switched to the All In One SEO WordPress Plugin to see if I have an joy with it.

After using it for 1 month, there are some small but good signs.

I will update the page again when I find out more.

No real recovery I’m afraid.

>Update 5 – Squirrly<

Switched now to Squirrly SEO plugin, which is not one of the better known ones.

Tried the free version and really liked it.

Upgraded to the Pro version and I am really excited!

I am seeing serious recovery of the traffic at long last.

Will update again when I am sure it is consistent.

>Update 6 – Not Yoast Again?<

It is now nearly a year since I removed the Yoast SEO WordPress plugin.

There have been ups and downs and mostly downs to be honest!

I wonder if I was hit by a Google penalty that made the traffic drop, instead of it being a change of SEO plugin.

I have been using Squirrly for a few months now, but I am not totally happy with the SEO settings they use to be honest.

I am also paying for the privilege of having a plugin that I am not totally happy with.

Guess what? I have gone back to Yoast again!

I started my SEO life with Yoast and I am going to contridict the previous comments on this article and say that I think it is currently the best WordPress SEO plugin.

There, I said It!

I now Have to add one word to the end of the title of this article too! (Not!)

I will update again to see what happens after a few months.

>Update 7 – The Final Solution<

Isn’t funny how things change?

I have now found THE solution and you have to read about it.

I started using the Rank Math SEO plugin and my traffic has taken off! This could be the answer to your traffic problems at last.