In WordPress, by default, when you click on the Read More link, the web page loads and then “jumps” to the spot where the <!--more--> tag is set in the post. Whether you like this effect or not is personal preference, but it can pose an SEO problem.
The Problem
The problem is that it creates two different links to the same page. For example, here would be the two links to Paul’s last article:
http://www.search-this.com/2007/11/26/css-a-recipe-for-success/
http://www.search-this.com/2007/11/26/css-a-recipe-for-success/#more-464
So what can sometimes happen is that if the article becomes popular, half the people will link to it one way while half the people link to it the other way. Thereby dividing the total link juice in half.
The Fix
The only way I have found to fix this is to modify a file in the wp-includes directory.
For WordPress 2.2 and up modify the post-template.php page.
For WordPress 2.1 and below modify the templates-functions-post.php page.
Somewhere around line 124 comment out the $output line with the "#more-$id\" in it and change it to the below:
- //comment out the old line
- //$output .= ' <a href="'. get_permalink() . "#more-$id\" class=\"more-link\">$more_link_text</a>";
- // change to the line below
- $output .= ' <a href="'. get_permalink() ."\">$more_link_text</a>";
Just remember that each time you upgrade WordPress you will need to remod this line. But if it helps out with SEO it’s a small price to pay.
November 30th, 2007 at 9:47 am
I’ve run into this issue before, and it does mess with the link juice. Thats a nice fix you’ve put up here, simple and straight forward and workable. Thanks for the post!
November 30th, 2007 at 10:50 am
np Interwebhunt, glad to help.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Thanks for that, I was just looking into this very issue.
Nice and simple solution.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Great post! I wouldn’t have even thought of that being an issue until you brought it up, kudos on finding a solution too!
December 1st, 2007 at 6:00 am
Great tip for wordpress users, i need similar fixes for my asp.net platform. My current cms application creates duplicate contents for home page.
For example: Logo token links to domainname.com/default.aspx
However my home page is /home.aspx
And this hurts.
December 1st, 2007 at 9:05 am
@dismet – something like that would be handled in the .htaccess file for Apache. Where you could tell it to drop the home.aspx. But you are likely using IIS with ASP.NET?
You may want to look into ISAPI_Rewrite for help there? I wish IIS could take the .htaccess file…
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Thanks for the tip! There is a also WordPress plugin called “Less”, that may be helpful for bloggers without programming skills. It does roughly the same as your code, as far as I can say. Try a search for “Less Thunderguy” to find it.
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:44 pm
This is something I’ll definitely look into. I never knew anchors and their respective links would be classified as different pages.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Oh man I hadn’t even thought of that issue! I haven’t used the ‘more’ WordPress tag before, but I know a ton of people that do. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:05 am
I tend to steer clear of the more link when writing myself. Can’t really see much value in it.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
I use the “more” link in every post as it helps keep the main page a little less cluttered.
This is a great deal of help all in one little package! I’ve stumbled this page, and I’ll probably mention it in my next post. Will send trackback if I do.
Thanks!
Keith
February 21st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
[…] I found this quick 5 minute fix by Golgotha at http://www.Search-This.com. […]
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 am
I also use the “more” link in all my posts, but did not realized about this issue until I stumbled upon this post. Nice catch! Thanks a lot.
Augusto
April 9th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Nice! I’ve never noticed this. I’ll look into getting it changed and thanks for the tip. It could ruin the positive effects of a good article.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:38 am
Thanks buddy, this is what i was looking for as few of my posts are really long and i never wanted to create duplicate links.
Thanks
I have a post how to install wordpress with basic SEOs done here: http://www.sannayak.com/4-easy-steps-to-start-a-personal-blog-with-wordpress
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Thanks for the seo tip. No ..side effects to wordpress URLs.