=== The SEO Framework === Contributors: Cybr Donate link: https://theseoframework.com/donate/ Tags: google, bing, open graph, seo, xml sitemap, breadcrumbs, meta, search engine, pagerank, serp, facebook, twitter Requires at least: 4.4.0 Tested up to: 4.8.0 Stable tag: 2.8.2 License: GPLv3 License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html The SEO Framework plugin provides an automated and advanced SEO solution for your WordPress website. == Description == **Easy SEO for beginners, an awesome API for experts. WordPress SEO for everyone.** An accessible, unbranded and extremely fast SEO solution for any WordPress website. > This plugin strongly helps you create better SEO value for your content.
> But at the end of the day, it all depends on how entertaining or well-constructed your content or product is. > > No SEO plugin does the magic thing to be found instantly. But doing it right helps a lot.
> The SEO Framework helps you doing it right. Give it a try! > > The Default Settings are recommended within the SEO Settings page. If you know what you're doing, go ahead and change them! Each option is also documented. = What this plugin does, in a few lines = * Automatically configures SEO for every page, post, taxonomy and term. * Allows you to adjust the SEO globally. * Allows you to adjust the SEO for every applicable page, post, taxonomy and term. * Shows you how to improve your SEO with a beautiful SEO bar for each supported Post, Page and Taxonomy. * Helps your pages get ranked distinctively through various Metatag and scripting techniques. * Helps your pages get shared more beautiful through Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. * Allows plugin authors to easily extend this plugin. * Supports custom post types, like WooCommerce and bbPress. * Automatically upgrades itself from Genesis Framework SEO. * Allows for easy SEO plugin switch using a tool. *Read [this guide](https://theseoframework.com/docs/seo-data-migration/) for transferring SEO Content using SEO Data Transporter. = Unbranded, Free and for the Professional = This plugin is unbranded! This means that we don't even put the name "The SEO Framework" anywhere within the WordPress interface, aside from the plugin activation page. This plugin makes great use of the default WordPress interface elements, like as if this plugin is part of WordPress. No ads, no nags. The small and hidden HTML comment can easily be disabled with the use of a filter or extension. Nobody has to know about the tools you've used to create your or someone else's website. A clean interface, for everyone. = Completely automated = **By default, this plugin automatically generates:** * Title, with super-fast 'wrong themes' support. * Description, with anti-spam techniques. * A canonical URL, with full WPMUdev Domain Mapping, subdomain and HTTPS support to prevent duplicated content. * Various Open Graph, Facebook and Twitter tags. * Special Open Graph description, which organically integrates with the Facebook and Twitter snippets. * Extended Open Graph Images support, including automated image manipulation. * Schema.org JSON-LD script that adds extended search support for Google Search and Chrome. * Schema.org JSON-LD script for Knowledge Graph (Personal/Business site relations, name and logo). * Advanced Schema.org JSON-LD script for Breadcrumbs (just like the visual one) which extends page relation support in Google Search. * Schema.org JSON-LD script to show the correct site name in Google Breadcrumbs. * Publishing and editing dates, accurate to the day. * Link relationships, with full WPMUdev Domain Mapping and HTTPS support. * Simple Sitemap with Pages, Posts and Custom Post Types (CPT), which listens to the in-post settings. * Feed excerpts and backlinks to prevent content scraping. **This plugin goes further, behind the screens it:** * Prevents canonical errors with categories, pages, subdomains and Multisite Domain Mapping. * Discourages 404 pages and empty categories from being indexed, even if they don't send a 404 response. * Automatically notifies Google, Bing and Yandex on Post or Page update and deletion when sitemaps are enabled. = Generously personal = **This plugin allows you to manually set various values for each post, page, public CPT and term.** **This plugin allows you to adjust over 90 site settings, including:** * Title and Description Separators and additions. * Automated description output. * Schema.org output, including Knowledge Graph options. * Various robots' options. * Many home page specific options. * Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest social integration * Shortlink tag output. * Link relationships * Google, Bing, Pinterest and Yandex Webmaster verification * Sitemap integration. * Robots.txt sitemap integration. * Feed anti-scraper options. * And many, many more settings. = Openly pluggable = The SEO Framework has been built to go further than just itself. Take a look at the API documentation located at [The SEO Framework API Docs](http://theseoframework.com/docs/api/). = The SEO Bar = **This plugin helps you to create better content, at a glance. By showing you:** * If the title is too long, too short, duplicated, and/or automatically generated. * If the description is too long, too short, duplicated, has too many repeated words and/or automatically generated. * If the page is indexed, redirected, followed and/or archived, while looking at other WordPress settings. **We call this The SEO Bar. Check out the [Screenshots](https://wordpress.org/plugins/autodescription/screenshots/#plugin-info) to see how it helps you!** = Hardcore caching = This plugin's code is highly optimized on PHP-level and uses variable, object and transient caching. This means that there's little extra page load time from this plugin, even with more Meta tags used. A caching plugin isn't even needed for this plugin as you won't notice a difference, however it's supported wherever best suited. = Compatibility = * Full internationalization support through WordPress.org. * Extended Multibyte support (CJK). * Full Right to Left (RTL) language support. * Extended Color vision deficiency accessibility. * Screen reader accessibility. * MultiSite, this plugin is in fact built upon one. * Detection of robots.txt and sitemap.xml files. * Detection of theme Title output "doing it right" (or wrong). * Automatic detection of various other popular SEO tools. **If you have other popular SEO plugins activated, this plugin will automatically prevent SEO mistakes by deactivating itself on almost every part.** = An additional sitemap = The Sitemap generated with The SEO Framework is sufficient for Search Engines to find Posts, Pages and supported Custom Post Types throughout your website. It also listens to the noindex settings on each of the items. If you however require a more expanded Sitemap, feel free to activate a dedicated Sitemap plugin. The SEO Framework will automatically deactivate its Sitemap functionality when another (known) Sitemap plugin is found. If it is not automatically detected and no notification has been provided on the Sitemap Settings, feel free to open a support ticket and it will be addressed carefully. = Hidden breadcrumbs = The Breadcrumb script generated by this plugin on Posts will also make sure Google easily finds related categories which aren't included within the Sitemap of this plugin. == Installation == 1. Install The SEO Framework either via the WordPress.org plugin directory, or by uploading the files to your server. 1. Either Network Activate this plugin or activate it on a single site. 1. That's it! 1. Let the plugin automatically work or fine-tune each page with the metaboxes beneath the content or on the taxonomy pages. 1. Adjust the SEO settings through the SEO settings page if desired. Red checkboxes are rather left unchecked. Green checkboxes are default enabled. == Screenshots == 1. This plugin shows you what you can improve, at a glance. With full color vision deficiency support. 2. Hover over any of the SEO Bar's items to see how you can improve the page's SEO. Red is bad, orange is okay, green is good. Blue is situational. 3. The dynamic Post/Page SEO settings Metabox. This box is also neatly implemented in Categories and Tags. 4. The SEO Settings Page. With over 90 settings, you are in full control. Using the Default Settings and filling in the Knowledge Graph Settings and Social Meta Settings is recommended to do. == Frequently Asked Questions == = Is The SEO Framework Free? = Absolutely! It will stay free as well, without ads or nags! = I have a feature request, I've found a bug, a plugin is incompatible... = Please visit [the support forums](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/autodescription) and kindly tell me about it. I try to get back to you within 48 hours. :) = Is this really a Framework? = This plugin is not in particular a framework in a technical sense, but it is built with a framework's mindset. It is however a framework for your website's SEO, a building block that keeps everything together. This means that this plugin will do all the great Search Engine Optimization, and also allows for extensions and real-time alterations. For when you really want or need to change something. Extensions built for this plugin might just as well work as a standalone. The SEO Framework provides an easier and cached way of doing so, however. = I am a developer; how can I help? = The SEO Framework is currently a one-man project. However, any input is greatly appreciated and everything will be considered. Please leave feature requests in the Support Forums and I will talk you through the process of implementing it if necessary. = I want to remove or change stuff, but I can't find an option! = The SEO Framework is very pluggable on many fields. Please refer to the [Other Notes](https://wordpress.org/plugins/autodescription/other_notes/). Please note that a free plugin is underway which will allow you to change all filters from the dashboard. No ETA yet. = The sitemap doesn't contain categories, images, news, etc. is this OK? = This is not an issue. Search Engines love crawling WordPress because its structure is consistent and well known. If a visitor can't find a page, then why would a Search Engine? Don't rely on your sitemap, but on your content and website's usability. = What's does the application/ld+json script do? = The JSON-LD scripts are Search Engine helpers which tell Search Engines how to connect and index the site. They can tell the Search Engine if your site contains an internal search engine, what sites you're socially connected to and what page structure you're using. = The meta data is not being updated, and I'm using a caching plugin. = All The SEO Framework's metadata is put into Object cache when a caching plugin is available. The descriptions and Schema.org scripts are put into Transients. Please be sure to clear your cache. = I want to transport SEO data from other plugins to The SEO Framework, how do I do this? = Please refer to this small guide: [SEO Data Migration](http://theseoframework.com/docs/seo-data-migration/). Transporting Terms and Taxonomies SEO data isn't supported. == Changelog == = 2.8.2 - Immaculated Perception = **Release date:** * January 28th 2017 *If you haven't read the [2.8.0 upgrade notes](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1792) yet, please do.* **Summarized:** * The 2.8.0 release didn't contain everything I wanted. So, two new features in a minor release? Certainly! * First, there's now a fallback Social Image uploader. * Second, when scheduled posts are published they now trigger a sitemap cache flush and Search Engine pinging. * Moreover, this update fixes a few bugs: namely ones that caused character encoding issues in the admin area. **Detailed log:** ***I don't believe in luck, but I do believe in assigning [value to things](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1832#detailed).*** = 2.8.1 - Integral Adroitness = **Release date:** * January 23rd 2017 *This update fixes a corner case bug with mbstring compatibility. If you haven't read the [2.8.0 upgrade notes](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1792) yet, please do.* **Detailed log:** ***What truly is [logic](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1812)?*** = 2.8.0 - Ventricular Perspicacity = *In a dream it's typical not to be rational. - John Forbes Nash, Jr.* **Release date:** * January 22nd 2017 **Upgrade Notes:** ***WordPress recommends using PHP 7.0+*** ***1: PHP 5.2 support has been dropped. Here's why:*** * PHP 5.2 hasn't received updates for [over 6 years](http://php.net/eol.php) and using it is a major security risk. * **This major release completely drops support for PHP 5.2**. So, if you're using PHP 5.2, from this version on you can no longer run The SEO Framework. * PHP 5.2 is a practicality and convenience hindrance for developers and is also source for bugs. Sometimes, we have to split otherwise simple code over multiple lines just to support it. * Inform your host to keep updated! Read more about informing your host [here](https://wordpress.org/about/requirements/). If they decline, I'd urge you to switch hosts for your website's sake. ***2: The minimum required WordPress version is now 4.4. Here's why:*** * The SEO Framework uses lots of functionality given by WordPress. All this functionality will be maintained internally by WordPress. * If we require functionality of WordPress that hasn't been included yet, we need to check for its existence or copy its functionality within this plugin. * This not only slows down the plugin, but it also makes the plugin much more complex and prone to annoying bugs. * The WordPress Core team constantly provides updates to give you the best blogging and CMS experience, and The SEO Framework follows their footsteps. * If we constantly require to do multiple version testing, then this slows down the progression we wish to make. *If, for whatever reason, you still wish to use PHP 5.2 and/or WordPress 4.3, The SEO Framework 2.7.3 still supports them.* **Summarized:** * This major release not only fixes various bugs, but also introduces new options for you to fiddle with. * You're now able to adjust General Settings easily! These settings include options to adjust the cache, (re)move the SEO Bar, and set a Canonical Scheme. * Google's Knowledge Graph has been transformed into something much bigger last year, so the related settings now fall under a new name: "Authorized Presence". * You can now select your website's social images. With this much asked for feature, you're now really in control. * You can now also control the style of your sitemap. The sitemap title will link back to your homepage when clicked upon. **Survey:** * After updating, please fill in our [Update Survey](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1781): tell us what can be done better. **Love this plugin?** * Please consider [making a donation](https://theseoframework.com/donate/). Or, even better: [get yourself an Early Bird premium license](https://premium.theseoframework.com/shop/). **New plugin logo!** * Thank you so much [Terence](https://profiles.wordpress.org/pubdirltd/) for making this! **Feature highlights:** * **Added:** * Canonical SEO settings * Sitemap styling settings * Performance settings * Layout settings * Social image upload * Site logo detection * **Improved:** * Cache validation * Compatibility stability * Security and sanitation * Post status detection * Detection of placeholders **New development technology overview:** * Markdown conversion * RGB luminance detection and conversion * JavaScript compilation prototyping * Namespaces * Magic methods * Class autoloader * Debug autoloader * Object interfaces * Crop ratio conversion * Plugin/Server compatibility autoloading **For everyone - About Canonical SEO:** * A new setting has been added that allows you to adjust the preferred URL scheme of your website. * This new setting influences which pages Search Engines might index. The default setting is Detect Automatically. * This new setting doesn't affect scheme redirection of pages and posts, which should be done using `.htaccess`, when applicable. * Contact your hosting provider if you have any doubts on changing this option. **For everyone - About Sitemap styling:** * New settings have been added that allow you to style your sitemap! * The colors are automatically calculated based on what you put in. This is the most advanced sitemap styling to date! * If your theme supports it, you can also insert a logo for it through WordPress Customizer. * The sitemap title links back to your homepage. All other external links are set to "nofollow". * These styles aren't seen by Search Engines. But it's a very nice addition for your fellow human visitors. * The styles are cached! To refresh this cache, simply hit `CRTL+SHIFT+R` or `CMD+SHIFT+R`. **For everyone - About the Performance settings:** * A few new settings have been added that allow you to adjust the plugin's caching mechanism. * There's a hidden option, only available when you use a dedicated object caching plugin. This option allows you to turn on Object Caching of the plugin. * If the object caching option is enabled, we recommend disabling the Description and Schema output cache. Because otherwise you'll get three times as many cache entries. * Feel free to play with these settings: By default, The SEO Framework outputs its generation time after its meta output to which you can compare. **For everyone - About Social Image selection:** * A new settings has been added to every post, page and applicable custom post type that allows you to select your social image. * This social image automatically gets cropped per Facebook's Open Graph Guidelines. * The default "aspect ratio" for the cropper is automatically set, we recommend not changing this aspect ratio. * You can manually fill in the image URL as well. However, this will disable preemptively caching of the image on the Social Site as we then can't calculate the size. **SEO tip of the Update - Know your Knowledge:** * Not all SEO techniques are actively used on Google outside of the United States. * For example, the Site Name Schema.org script might not have any effect. * This changes over time as Google updates its Search Engine all over the world. * Usage of experimental Schema.org scripts with The SEO Framework cause no harm to ranking. **For developers - About the structural changes:** * ***Are you an avid developer, and have extended The SEO Framework? Please carefully read the detailed changelog, or at least compare it to your implementations. All method, function, action and filter changes are listed there.*** * *In essence, if you've programmed as described within the API, no changes should be made.* * This plugin is now using PHP 5.3+ namespaces and an autoloader. * This plugin now has magic methods that prevent the site from crashing if inaccessible methods or properties have been called. * This allowed me to easily remove redundant public methods and properties without ramification. **For developers - Many new filters and actions:** * Because we've pulled out most of the plugin and theme compatibility from the internal class scope, we've added filters and actions where they previously applied. * Documentation for these new filters and actions will be added soon. Stay tuned! **Detailed log:** ***What is work without [innovation](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1792#detailed)?*** = Full changelog = **The full changelog can be found [here](http://theseoframework.com/?cat=2).** == Upgrade Notice == = 2.8.2 = In the 2.8.0 update WordPress 4.3 and PHP 5.2 support have been dropped for better code quality. = 2.8.1 = In the 2.8.0 update WordPress 4.3 and PHP 5.2 support have been dropped for better code quality. = 2.8.0 = In the 2.8.0 update WordPress 4.3 and PHP 5.2 support have been dropped for better code quality. = 2.7.0 = The 2.7.0 update is required for the upcoming Extension Manager plugin and includes many improvements. == Other Notes == = Filters = = Add any of the filters to your theme's functions.php or a plugin to change this plugin's output. = Learn about them here: [The SEO Framework filters](http://theseoframework.com/docs/api/filters/) = Actions = = Use any of these actions to add your own output. = They are found here: [The SEO Framework actions](http://theseoframework.com/docs/api/actions/) = Settings API = = Add settings to and interact with The SEO Framework. = Read how to here: [The SEO Framework Settings API](http://theseoframework.com/docs/api/settings/) = Beta Version = = Want to test the latest version before it's released? = If there's a beta, it will be available [on Github](https://github.com/sybrew/the-seo-framework). Please note that changes there might not reflect the final outcome of the full version release. Use at own risk.