Configuring preferences in the DefiniteSEO WordPress Plugin is a critical step to ensure your website is optimized for search engines and tailored to meet your specific SEO goals. The Preferences section acts as the control center where you can define how DefiniteSEO interacts with your site, from setting up metadata and schema types to enabling advanced features like redirection management and link analysis.

Proper configuration not only helps in improving your site’s rankings but also ensures that your SEO strategies are aligned with your website’s goals and audience. Whether you’re a beginner looking for straightforward SEO solutions or a professional aiming for advanced customization, DefiniteSEO’s Preferences are designed to offer flexibility and ease of use.

This guide will walk you through the process of accessing and configuring these preferences, ensuring you make the most of the features available in DefiniteSEO to supercharge your website’s performance.

Accessing the Preferences Panel

To configure your preferences in the DefiniteSEO WordPress Plugin, you first need to access the Preferences panel. This section provides a step-by-step guide to help you locate and navigate this feature with ease.

• Login to Your WordPress Dashboard
  Begin by logging into your WordPress website. Use your administrator credentials to ensure you have the necessary permissions to access and modify the plugin settings.
• Navigate to the DefiniteSEO Menu
  On the left-hand menu of the WordPress dashboard, locate the DefiniteSEO.
• Select “Preferences”
  From the dropdown options under the DefiniteSEO menu, click on Preferences. This will take you to the central configuration panel where you can customize the plugin’s settings.

1. Website Info

In today’s digital landscape, appearing in the Knowledge Graph is a powerful way to boost online visibility and credibility. However, achieving this depends on multiple factors, including providing search engines with comprehensive and structured information directly on your website. To simplify this process, DefiniteSEO offers a “Website Info” option within the Preferences panel.

This feature allows users to input key details about their website or business, which are then automatically embedded in the website’s front-end HTML using schema markup. This makes it easier for search engines to understand and utilize the information effectively.

Here’s what you can configure in the “Website Info” section:

• Website Type: Specify whether the website is a Personal Blog or a Business Website.
• Website Name: Provide the official name of your website for search engines to recognize.
• Avatar for Search Engines: Upload an avatar image to represent your website across search engine results.
• Default Social Sharing Image: Add an out-of-context image that serves as the default preview image for social sharing. This ensures that when your website URL is shared on platforms like Facebook, Twitter (X), or LinkedIn, it appears visually appealing with proper Open Graph (OG) and Twitter Card integration.

By leveraging the “Website Info” feature, users can seamlessly enhance their website’s relevance for search engines and improve the likelihood of appearing in Knowledge Graph results, all without requiring technical expertise.

 

2. Website Verification

Website owners often need to verify their websites on various platforms like Google Search Console, GA4, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, or Pinterest to access valuable analytics and performance data. Typically, this process involves creating an account on the desired platform, obtaining an HTML verification code, and manually embedding it into the website’s HTML. In WordPress, this may require editing theme PHP files, which can be complex and error-prone for many users.

DefiniteSEO simplifies this process by providing a user-friendly “Website Verification” option within the Preferences panel. Instead of manually editing code, website owners can easily copy the verification HTML codes from their respective platforms and paste them directly into the Website Verification section of DefiniteSEO. Once saved, the codes are automatically output into the website’s front-end HTML, allowing the platforms to verify ownership seamlessly.

This streamlined approach eliminates the need for manual coding, ensuring a hassle-free experience while maintaining accuracy and efficiency in the website verification process.

• • Google Search Console

    Simply navigate to the “Website Verification” section under the Preferences panel in the DefiniteSEO plugin. Copy the verification HTML code provided by Google Search Console, paste it into the respective field in the “Website Verification” option, and click save. DefiniteSEO will automatically embed the code into your website’s front-end HTML. Once this is done, return to Google Search Console and complete the verification process. Your website will be successfully verified without requiring any technical intervention.

     

    

  • Bing Webmaster Tool

    Verifying your website on Bing is equally simple with DefiniteSEO’s “Website Verification” option. Begin by logging into your Bing Webmaster Tools account and generating the HTML verification code for your website. Next, open the Preferences panel in the DefiniteSEO plugin and navigate to the “Website Verification” section. Paste the verification code into the designated field and save your changes. DefiniteSEO will automatically add the code to your website’s front-end HTML, making it accessible to Bing’s verification process. Finally, return to Bing Webmaster Tools and confirm the verification. This seamless process eliminates the need for manual code editing, allowing you to verify your website effortlessly.

     

    

  • Yandex Webmaster Tool

    To verify your website on Yandex using DefiniteSEO, start by logging into your Yandex Webmaster account and obtaining the HTML verification code for your site. Once you have the code, access the Preferences panel in the DefiniteSEO plugin and navigate to the “Website Verification” section. Paste the Yandex verification code into the corresponding field and save your changes. DefiniteSEO will embed the code into your website’s front-end HTML, ensuring it is accessible to Yandex for verification. Finally, go back to Yandex Webmaster, initiate the verification process, and your website will be successfully verified without requiring any manual file editing.

     

    

  • Baidu Webmaster Tool

    To verify your website on Baidu using DefiniteSEO, log in to your Baidu Webmaster Tools account and generate the HTML verification code for your site. After obtaining the code, head to the Preferences panel in the DefiniteSEO plugin and navigate to the “Website Verification” section. Paste the Baidu verification code into the designated field and click save. DefiniteSEO will automatically insert the code into your website’s front-end HTML, making it visible to Baidu for verification. Finally, return to Baidu Webmaster Tools, initiate the verification process, and your website will be successfully verified without the need for manual code edits.

     

    

  • Pinterest Webmaster Tool

    To verify your website on Pinterest using DefiniteSEO, log in to your Pinterest account and navigate to the Claim Website section in Pinterest Settings. Generate the HTML verification tag provided by Pinterest. Next, open the Preferences panel in the DefiniteSEO plugin and go to the “Website Verification” section. Paste the Pinterest verification code into the designated field and click save. DefiniteSEO will automatically add this code to your website’s front-end HTML. Once done, return to Pinterest, initiate the verification process, and your website will be verified quickly without requiring manual edits to your theme files.

     

    

  • URL Preferences

    This section allows you to add specific links to your website content. If you want your content to rank on the search engines then it is important to link web pages and make it easier for the search engines to understand the importance of each web page on the site. It also helps in building a hierarchy and structure for your site.

    With Definite SEO, you can upgrade your site’s SEO performance by configuring the links. The SEO plugin allows you to tell the search engine crawlers the pages that are most important for your website and the less important ones. So it helps in building a powerful link strategy for your website.
    

    • Remove Category Base

      DefiniteSEO includes a option to remove unnecessary words, such as “category,” from category URLs. For instance, WooCommerce by default includes the word “category” in all category URLs, resulting in links like https://DefiniteSEO.com/category/category-name. By enabling this option in DefiniteSEO, users can automatically streamline their URLs, transforming them into cleaner, more SEO-friendly formats such as https://DefiniteSEO.com/category-name. This not only improves readability but also enhances search engine optimization by creating more concise, relevant, and user-friendly URLs without the need for manual adjustments.

    

    • Open External Links in New Tab:

      DefiniteSEO provides a convenient option under URL Preferences to automatically open all external links on your website in a new tab. This feature enhances user experience by ensuring visitors remain on your site even when they click on external links. By opening external links in a new tab, users can explore additional resources or references without losing their current browsing session on your website. This simple yet effective setting improves navigation and helps retain user engagement, all without requiring manual adjustments to individual links.

    

    • Change URL in Content when Slug is Updated:

      When managing a website, you may occasionally need to update the URL or slug of a post or page. However, if that post or page is linked from multiple other pages or posts, manually editing each instance of the link can be a tedious and time-consuming task. DefiniteSEO simplifies this process with its Change URL in Content when Slug is Updated option. When enabled, this feature automatically updates all occurrences of the old URL across your website’s content with the new URL whenever you update a post or page slug. This eliminates the hassle of manual edits, ensuring your internal links remain accurate and functional without any extra effort.

     

    

    • Redirect Orphan Attachments:

      Over time, websites can accumulate orphan attachments—media files like images or documents that are not linked to any posts or pages. These orphan attachments can lead to unnecessary standalone URLs, potentially diluting your website’s SEO and creating a poor user experience. DefiniteSEO addresses this issue with its Redirect Orphan Attachments option. When enabled, this feature automatically redirects all orphan attachment URLs to your homepage or a custom page of your choice. This ensures a clean URL structure, prevents unnecessary indexing of attachment URLs by search engines, and enhances the overall user experience on your site.
      

    • Nofollow/Follow All External Links:

      This option provides you with control over how external links on your site impact SEO. When enabled, it automatically applies the nofollow tag to all external links, ensuring that link equity is not passed to third-party websites. This can be particularly useful for controlling the flow of link juice, especially when linking to untrusted or paid sources. By using the nofollow attribute, you signal to search engines that you do not endorse the linked content for ranking purposes, helping to maintain your site’s SEO integrity.Enable this option to ensure that external links on your website do not inadvertently affect your site’s search engine ranking or pass link authority. It’s a proactive approach to SEO management, particularly for managing outbound links on blogs, articles, or product pages.
      Additionally, you can exclude specific domains from the nofollow tag by using the sub-option to whitelist trusted sites. This allows you to maintain control over which external links are treated with the nofollow attribute and which can pass link equity.

   

  3: Keyword Settings

  The Keyword Settings feature allows you to fine-tune the calculation of keyword density across various content elements of your website. This enables you to optimize your content by ensuring that the target keywords are appropriately distributed throughout the page. You can configure the following sub-options based on your SEO needs:

  

  • Include Meta Title while Calculating Keywords Density: Enabling this option ensures that the Meta Title of your page is included in the keyword density calculation. Since the Meta Title is a key element for search engine ranking, this helps you evaluate how well your target keywords are integrated into this important SEO component.
  • Include Meta Description while Calculating Keywords Density: When this option is activated, the Meta Description will be taken into account during keyword density analysis. Since the Meta Description influences click-through rates from search results, it’s crucial to maintain the right balance of keywords here for both SEO performance and user engagement.
  • Include Image Names while Calculating Keywords Density: This option allows Image Names (file names) to be included in the keyword density calculation. Image file names are an important SEO element, as they provide additional context to search engines about the content of your page. Including them in the analysis ensures that your image naming conventions align with your SEO strategy.
  • Include Image Alt Tags while Calculating Keywords Density: Activating this option includes Image Alt Tags in the keyword density calculation. Image Alt Tags are vital for SEO, especially for accessibility and ranking in image search results. Including them in keyword density calculations helps you optimize image-related SEO factors alongside the rest of the page content.
  • Include Image Captions while Calculating Keywords Density: When this sub-option is enabled, Image Captions are considered in the keyword density analysis. Image captions provide valuable context to both users and search engines, so incorporating them into your keyword strategy ensures that all textual content on your page is optimized for SEO.
  • Include/Exclude Stopwords or Add new Stopwords: This option allows you to decide whether you want stopwords to be included in the calculation of keyword density. Stopwords are common words such as “and,” “the,” “is,” “in,” and others that generally do not contribute significant meaning for SEO purposes. The Include/Exclude Stopwords in Keyword Density Calculation option allows you to customize how stopwords are treated in your keyword density analysis. When enabled, stopwords—words that are typically ignored by search engines—are factored into the calculation, offering a broader view of how often target keywords appear in relation to the total word count. On the other hand, when disabled, stopwords are excluded from the analysis, focusing only on the relevant keywords and providing a more accurate reflection of their frequency in the content. Excluding stopwords can help highlight the most important keywords for SEO, ensuring that your keyword strategy is aligned with search engine optimization best practices.
    

  • Add/Remove Stopwords from the List

    With the ability to add or remove words from the stopwords list, you have complete control over which terms are considered in the keyword density calculation. By adding words to the list, you can exclude irrelevant or low-value terms that don’t contribute to SEO. Conversely, you can remove specific words from the list if they hold importance for your content or niche, ensuring they are included in the keyword density analysis. This customization allows you to fine-tune your SEO approach and improve the accuracy of keyword density assessments.

  

  4: RSS Feed

  The RSS Feed settings allow you to enhance your website’s feed by adding custom content before or after the main feed content. These options help you provide additional information, branding, or promotional content to your subscribers.

  

  • RSS Before Content: The RSS Before Content option allows you to display custom content or a heading at the beginning of your RSS feed. This feature is ideal if you want to introduce your feed with a brief message, important announcements, or promotional content, ensuring your subscribers receive it first as they view your updates.
  • RSS After Content: The RSS After Content option gives you the ability to display custom content at the end of your RSS feed. This can be useful for adding a call-to-action, footer text, or any additional information that you want to appear after the main content of your feed, ensuring it is the last thing your subscribers see.

  5: Redirection

  The Redirection feature in the DefiniteSEO plugin is essential for managing URL changes across your website, ensuring that visitors and search engines are automatically redirected to the right content. Redirections are often necessary when pages, posts, products, or taxonomies are moved, renamed, or deleted, preventing 404 errors and preserving your site’s SEO value. They can also be used when restructuring your site, consolidating content, or migrating to a new domain. With DefiniteSEO, you can easily set up redirections to improve user experience, maintain link equity, and guide both users and search engines to the most relevant pages.

  

  The Redirection feature in the DefiniteSEO plugin allows you to easily manage and configure URL redirections for any page, post, product, or taxonomy on your website. This feature ensures that users and search engines are directed to the right content, enhancing user experience and SEO performance. DefiniteSEO supports a variety of redirection types to cater to different needs:

  • Exact Match Redirection:

    With Exact Match Redirection, you can redirect a specific page, post, or taxonomy to another exact destination. This option ensures that visitors accessing the exact URL you define are automatically taken to the designated location. It’s ideal for precise and controlled redirects.

  • URL Starts with:

    The URL Starts with option allows you to redirect all URLs that begin with a specified word or phrase to a chosen page, post, or taxonomy. This is useful when you want to implement a redirect for a group of URLs that share a common prefix, such as a category or section of your site.

  • URL Ends with:

    Using the URL Ends with option, you can redirect all URLs that end with a given word or phrase to another location. This feature is particularly helpful when you need to target a set of URLs that share a common suffix, such as specific types of posts or products.

  • URL Contains:

    The URL Contains option redirects all URLs that contain a specific word or phrase to the desired page, post, or taxonomy. This allows for broader redirection rules that capture a variety of URLs containing the target string, making it ideal for handling complex redirect needs.

  Enter source url: Here you need to enter the URL, Title, or post ID in the box. Similarly, click on the save button to add more URLs.

  Enter destination url: Here you need to enter the URL where you want the users and search engines to redirect to. This is where the source URL will redirect the users to.

  Now choose the Type of Redirections you want to add to your WordPress Site:

  Definite SEO allows you to redirect users for various reasons. We have 5 types of redirects to serve various purposes.

  • 301 Redirection:

    A 301 redirect is a permanent redirection that is used if the page has been permanently removed. It lets the search engines and users know that the page has been permanently moved or changed with another valid page. So the search engines change the original URL with the replaced one in the index.

  • 302 Redirection:

    A 302 redirect is used to move the web traffic to a temporary URL. So, if you want to send your website users to another URL while visiting a specific page, and want to save or reuse the URL for future use, then you can use the 302 redirect.

  • 307 Redirection:

    The 307 redirect is initiated with HTTP/1.1 and is used to show that the page has been temporarily moved to another location. You can use the 307 redirect to make sure that the redirect is temporary and you will need the original URL later. However, you should not use this redirect while forwarding the traffic from one URL to another permanently.

  • 410 Redirection:

    The 410 content deleted which means the content of the page has been removed or deleted permanently. So if the 410 redirect is added, it confirms to Google that you have permanently removed the URL, so it should also remove the URL from the index, and not crawl the page.

  • 451 Redirection:

    The 451 redirection is set up when the content is unavailable on your website for legal reasons or because the law requires you to remove the content. For example, if your website receives a request to take down the content, or the law requires you to delete the content, then a 451 redirect is applicable. And the status code or the maintenance code shows as 451 Content Unavailable for Legal Reasons

  Lastly, click on Make Direct after choosing the type of direction you would like to apply.

  Also, click on the link below to check the redirect data as shown below.

  6: WooCommerce:

  The WooCommerce preferences in the DefiniteSEO plugin provide advanced control over the way URLs and metadata are structured on your WooCommerce-powered site, allowing you to streamline the user experience and enhance SEO. These options are particularly useful for customizing how WooCommerce integrates with your site and making URLs cleaner and more SEO-friendly.

  • Remove Base (Prefix) from URL:

    By default, WooCommerce adds a prefix, such as “/shop/” or “/product/”, to your store URLs. With the Remove Base (Prefix) from URL option, you can eliminate this prefix, simplifying your URLs and improving their readability. For example, the URL “example.com/shop/category/product” can be transformed to “example.com/category/product,” making it cleaner and more SEO-friendly.

  • Remove Category Base from URL:

    The Remove Category Base from URL option is specifically for product category pages. WooCommerce adds a “/product-category/” prefix to your category URLs, but this option allows you to remove that prefix. This results in more concise and optimized URLs, such as changing “example.com/product-category/category-name” to “example.com/category-name.”

  • Remove Parent Slug:

    For subcategories (child categories) in WooCommerce, the default URL structure includes the parent category slug, like “/product-category/parent-category/child-category.” The Remove Parent Slug option lets you eliminate this parent category prefix from the URL, making it simpler and more straightforward. For example, “example.com/parent-category/child-category” would become “example.com/child-category.”

  • Remove WooCommerce Generator Tag:

    WooCommerce automatically adds a generator meta tag to your pages, like <meta name="generator" content="WooCommerce x.x.x" />. By enabling the Remove WooCommerce Generator Tag option, you can remove this tag from your page’s HTML output, enhancing the cleanliness of your source code.

  • Remove Schema Markup from Shop Archives:

    Schema markup helps search engines understand the content of your pages, but in some cases, you may want to remove it from your shop archive pages. The Remove Schema Markup from Shop Archives option allows you to disable this schema markup for better customization of how your shop is presented to search engines.

  7: Email Alerts

  Email alerts for website audits are an essential tool for maintaining a healthy and optimized website. Regular SEO audits help identify issues such as broken links, slow page speeds, or missing metadata that can negatively impact user experience and search engine rankings. By receiving automated email reports, you can stay on top of these issues and quickly take action to resolve them, without having to manually check your site. These alerts provide a convenient and efficient way to monitor your website’s SEO performance over time, helping you stay proactive in improving your site’s visibility, user engagement, and overall search engine optimization strategy.

  

  The Email Alerts feature allows you to receive audit reports directly in your inbox, providing you with detailed findings from the DefiniteSEO plugin’s website audits. Enabling this option ensures you stay informed about your site’s SEO performance and any areas that need attention.

  You can choose to receive the audit reports at your WordPress admin email or specify a custom email address for delivery. Additionally, you can customize the frequency of these reports by selecting how often you’d like to receive them—whether daily, weekly, or monthly—giving you flexibility in how often you are updated on your site’s SEO health.

  To ensure everything is working smoothly, the plugin also includes an option to send a test email, allowing you to verify the setup and ensure you’re receiving the reports as expected.