Today’s tip is going to be super-simple to implement, if it’s even necessary for your site. But it’s one of those really simple, but REALLY important things that if done wrong, can have major consequences on your search engine traffic (or lack-thereof).

You may not know it, but in WordPress, you can actually tell the search engines NOT to visit or index your site. I guess this is for people that want to do a private blog. Many people aren’t aware of this because it’s something they would never think of – “Why wouldn’t I want the search engines to find my site??”

But unfortunately, certain web hosting companies that offer Fantastico or a one-click WordPress install occasionally set the built in default to keep your site private. BAD! This means you are telling the search engines that you don’t want them to go through your site or put it in the search engine results.

To check this on your site, login to your Dashboard, and go to Settings –> Privacy.

It should be set to:
“I would like my blog to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Sphere, Technorati) and archivers”

If it’s not, change it! This should immediately help you start to see more traffic. If it’s correct, good!

As I said, today’s tip may not be necessary for you, but if you have it wrong, you’ll definitely see improvements just with that one simple change.