Most of this website is dedicated to supporting the Stallion Responsive WordPress SEO Package I develop. You’ll find various Stallion Responsive Tutorials and plenty of references to how Stallion works throughout articles within this website even when the articles aren’t specifically about the Stallion SEO package: examples include the general SEO Tutorial Series and the WordPress SEO Tutorial Series. Over the years I’ve offered a lot of free tech support for WordPress users and it can get frustrating when asked the same question that is answered and just a couple of clicks away from the visitor. You will find a simple list of all main articles on this website within the Sitemap, the sitemap is categorized so easy to find […]
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No option to "un-mark" the "Use Yoast SEO settings"
Hi there: I am using Stallion SEO on my blog site, however, the old site description shows whenever you share my website on Facebook or otherwise. I cannot see where to change this, as the description in my settings are accurate. In searching your tech-support comments, I saw that we can un-check that box to tell it not to use Yoast or WordPress SEO, however, I do not have that option in my Stallion settings. I am not advanced at this stuff. I generally just muddle through and fix things I’ve screwed up as I go… can you help a newbie out? LOL!!!
No option to "un-mark" the "Use Yoast SEO settings"
Stallion Responsive SEO Theme vs Stallion SEO Plugin
Had a look at your site (assuming it’s the domain you use for an email address lisajeydavis.com) and you are using the Stallion SEO Plugin not the Stallion SEO Theme.
The Stallion SEO Plugin is one small feature to stop wasting link benefit through noindexing sections of a site as wrongly recommended by the Yoast SEO Plugin and All In One SEO Plugin. Those plugins can cause serious SEO damage, set the wrong options and half your site isn’t indexed by Google!!! The Stallion plugin adds an alternative way to not index some parts of a site.
The Stallion SEO Plugin doesn’t do anything else (has no impact on what is shared on Facebook etc…), so you won’t find the Use Yoast SEO settings with the plugin, it’s a Stallion theme feature: though those options aren’t related to social media sharing.
This is what the Stallion Responsive SEO Theme Advanced SEO Options page looks like (click the image below to see full screenshot):
That’s the Stallion Responsive 8.0 version, not made a screenshot of the latest 8.1 update which has more options.
The above is one of over 10 Stallion options pages.
Looks like you are using Jetpack Open Graph Tags which will automatically generate a description for Facebook, Google+ etc…
Jetpack automatically adds this to your posts code:
I studied genetics at University, that post caught my attention :-)
I don’t use Jetpack, don’t think there’s a way to change it.
The Shareaholic plugin you use (that’s the Facebook like button etc…) will probably use the Jetpack description.
If you wanted a specific description I think you’d have to disable the Jetpack Open Graph Tags (pretty sure that’s completely automated) and use another plugin to manually set a description for social media sharing.
I run all my sites using Stallion Responsive and haven’t added the social media data as a feature because there’s no evidence it has a direct SEO value sharing on Facebook etc… I tend to concentrate on Google SEO, if it’s not SEO valuable (better rankings on Google) I avoid it.
Next Stallion theme update adding social media data (description etc…) for those that think it’s important. If you don’t use a plugin for setting social media information (the description), Facebook etc… will take the first lines of a posts content which is the same as you see when using Jetpack Open Graph Tags.
David
Stallion Responsive SEO Theme vs Stallion SEO Plugin
Trackbacks / Pingbacks - To Allow Or Not
When creating new posts and/or editing pre-existing posts and pages, is it recommended to select to allow trackbacks and pingbacks or not and why?
I am using the new Stallion Responsive theme and was just wondering what the difference is when checking or not the box(s) under the heading DISCUSSION
Allow comments.
Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page.
Could use some insight into this please.
Thanks
Trackbacks / Pingbacks - To Allow Or Not
WordPress Trackbacks and Pingbacks SEO
There are two SEO aspects to WordPress trackbacks and pingbacks, one positive SEO the other negative SEO.
Let’s deal with the positive SEO impact of trackbacks and pingbacks.
Under “Settings” >> “Discussion” if you tick “Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article” when you add a link to another website from one of your WordPress posts it will ping the webpage linked to.
If you link to a webpage that shows webpages that have linked to it (via Trackbacks) you will gain a backlink to your WordPress post.
The vast majority of CMS’s like WordPress which have a trackback link system like this adds a rel=”nofollow” attribute to the trackback link which means Google ignores it for ranking purposes (so your page doesn’t gain any direct SEO benefit from a nofollow link).
Still it’s a link a real visitor can click and a minority of websites don’t add the rel=”nofollow” attribute, so could have a small positive impact (for you there’s no negative SEO impact).
Because of these automated links some blackhat SEO’s will ping webpages they know will add a trackback back to their sites. You have to remember most webmasters don’t understand Google SEO, many wrongly believe a nofollow link does pass direct SEO benefit, so for those with trackbacks and pingbacks turned on they will get trackback and pingback SPAM.
And that brings us to the negative SEO impact of trackbacks and pingbacks.
Under “Settings” >> “Discussion” if you tick “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)” and/or on Edit Post and Edit Page screens tick “Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page.” your WordPress posts and pages will generate trackback and pingback links to websites linking to your posts and you’ll be sending automated links to any webpage which links to you!
This is negative SEO wise, anything automated link wise will be manipulated by blackhat SEOs. You have no control over who links to a WordPress post, if a porn site links to a post, you’ll send a trackback link to the porn site.
As mentioned above the link will include rel=”nofollow” so Google will ignore it SEO wise, BUT nofollow actually deletes the link benefit that would have flowed through the link. So every trackback link from your site is wasting the SEO link benefit equivalent of linking to a webpage!!!
I recommend these settings.
Under “Settings” >> “Discussion”
Tick : “Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article”
Untick : “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)”
Under Edit Post and Edit Page screens:
Untick : “Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page.”
You will benefit from trackbacks to your site, but not damage your sites SEO by having trackbacks from your site.
David
WordPress Trackbacks and Pingbacks SEO
Several Issues
I seem to be having an issue. If you were to go to my site these are the things I do not seem to be able to fix and don’t know why they have happened in the first place. If possible can you help me please.
1. On my sidebar some of my affiliate links including images have simply vanished. I have verified the code in the Stallion Custom Ad Widget and it seems to be correct. Verified in DreamWeaver.
2. I seem to be generating some comments; however they do not all generate an avatar automatically — see the third or last one. Why? Can I fix that or should I bother.
3. Can I set a different sidebar on different posts / pages easily? Or do I need to install a plugin widget for this purpose? The reason for this is that I have different affiliate products linked to specific categories.
My site is Cannabis-Seeds-Canada.ca in case you wanted to have a look. I use FireFox as my main browser; however it displays the same in Chrome.
Several Issues
Adding Affiliate Links to WordPress
I see one affiliate link with a broken image, look through your widget code and you are linking to an image:
http://original-ssc.com/affiliates/banner/image/id/12/account_id/371/store_id/1/?Load it in a browser and you can see why it’s not showing: broken image maybe.
The Gravatar issue, it’s because it’s a trackback and trackbacks don’t have an email address associated with them, so no Gravatar loaded.
Hadn’t taken this into account in the Stallion SEO Comments Widget. Working on the Stallion Responsive 8.2 update so will take a look at the code for a better way to deal with trackbacks (will probably remove them from the widget output, only get user comments).
Regarding different sidebars. You can set where most widgets will load/not load, so not set full sidebars, but set individual widgets.
Under “Stallion Theme” >> “Layout Options” : Tick “Widget Display ON”.
Under “Appearance” >> “Widgets” most widgets you add to a widget area will now have new options for deciding where to load/not load them. The options range from show/hide on one page to show/hide on specific categories and everything in between.
I needed the same feature you want, so built it exactly how I wanted it :-) I wanted to be able to show ads on every page within a category, but not the posts and wanted the option to only load on the 1st page of a category set, but not the rest and a bunch of other options, so there’s not a lot you can’t achieve with the Stallion widget display options.
Go to the Website Hosting Category and you’ll see on the left sidebar an ad to Godaddy. That’s a Stallion Custom Ad widget using the custom code form with this code:
If you check posts I’ve made related to autoblogging https://stallion-theme.co.uk/?s=autoblog the main ones have an affiliate link to the WPRobot Autoblog plugin. That’s a WordPress Text Widget with this code:
I’ve used the Stallion Cloaking feature for the affiliate links with a PHP redirection script.
The WPRobot widget I’ve added a list of post ID’s (192,461,322,332,102) where that Text Widget should load. So it only loads on those 5 posts. The Godaddy ad loads on the Webhosting category and the posts under that category.
David
Adding Affiliate Links to WordPress
Stallion seo responsive theme - where to put script so they are in the site header
Hi Dave,
Merry xmas!
I want to add a google font script to the header area of my site.
Where in stallion theme do i find the place to put the script?
Also , would i be right to edit the child css to include the font.
Many thanks and blessings!
Carl :-)
How to Add Google Fonts to WordPress
Adding the Google Font CSS to the WordPress header is easy.
To enqueue the Google fonts via your child theme edit:
/stallion-responsive-child/functionsplus-child.php
Paste this to the very bottom:
add_action('wp_head', 'str_add_google_font', 1); function str_add_google_font() { echo '<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lora|Oswald" media="screen">'; }Modify Lora|Oswald to set the Google fonts you want available.
This will add The Google fonts Lora and Oswald. To add more it’s Lora|Oswald|fontname|fontname
The above enqueues the Google fonts, next you have to use them in the Stallion Responsive CSS files.
The wrong way to do this is manually edit the CSS files, the correct way to do this is via the Stallion Responsive colour scheme creator feature which is described at Stallion Theme Creator and the specific info for fonts Stallion Colour Scheme CSS Creator Fonts.
If you do it the right way it will make future updates far less painful. When I modify colour schemes in the future to add new features, you’ll be able to use your backup PHP file (described in the first link above) to rebuild your CSS file with a few clicks of the mouse. If you do it the wrong way by manually hacking the CSS files, when new features are added some might not look right with your hacked CSS file and you’ll either have to work out what needs adding or again hack the new CSS file (it’s a pain to do it this way).
By following the above you can create your own Stallion colour scheme (it makes CSS files) using the Google fonts you’ve enqueued.
Example by taking one of the Stallion example fonts from the second tutorial link above:
To use a Google font you could use this:
This would result in a web browser first looking for the Oswald font (Google font), if it didn’t find it (not enqueued the font in the child theme as described earlier or Google removes the font in the future) would look for Ariel. If Ariel isn’t available move on to Helvitica….
We use font families (list of fonts) rather than one font because you can’t be 100% certain your font will be available to all web browsers. The above gives 4 fonts of which Arial, Helvetica and sans-serif are similar looking and tend to be available on most browsers.
The end result will be you’ll have a new Stallion Responsive colour scheme (will create a new CSS file) you could use on multiple sites. This is how I build new colour schemes, though not used Google fonts for it because there’s a performance hit enqueueing additional external CSS files: When you check the Google Pagespeed Insights tool results you’ll have a new render blocking issue you can’t fix: price you pay for using Google fonts.
David
How to Add Google Fonts to WordPress
Adding Specific Text to the Footer
I want to change the footer a bit. Where and how can I add some specific text that I want to show on every post and page?
Thanks – regards for a job well done.
Add Content to the WordPress Footer
It depends where in the footer you want the text.
If you are happy with above the footer there’s a Stallion widget area for this sort of thing called “Below Main Footer Area” (it’s called below… because it’s below the 4 widget areas that are above it (not as well named as I thought in hindsight :-)).
If you go to this sites home page that widget area is holding the categories tagcloud widget. I added a tagcloud widget, set the output to categories and set the widget to only load on archive parts of the site.
If you want the text in that area drop a Text Widget in the “Below Main Footer Area” (“Appearance” >> “Widgets”) and add what ever text including HTML formatting you want in the text widget box.
If you want it within the footer area where the copyright info and link to home you can edit the footer.php file (file under /stallion-responsive/footer.php).
find this code: ?php wp_footer(); ?
And add your HTML above or below that line. You’ll need to include a paragraph tag at least.
Other locations are above or below:
get_template_part( ‘layout/footer-menu’
Below the line starting
div id=”footer_stallion
Each one of the above is a different part of the footer.
Another way if you don’t like editing code and you don’t use the Tagline is add your text to the tagline under “Settings” >> “General” : “Tagline”
And set the tagline to load in the footer area rather than the header area by going to “Stallion Theme” >> “Layout Options” : “Location of Sites TagLine” – “Footer: Above Copyright Notice”.
Stallion also includes a navigation menu in that area, but that’s for links not text. You can see on this site I have a link with anchor text “List of All Articles”. Create a new menu under “Appearance” >> “Menus” and set the new menu for the Footer Links location.
David
Add Content to the WordPress Footer
WordPress Footer Widget Area
In Stallion Responsive 8.2 (released January 1st 2015) added a new widget area below the Footer copyright info etc… so it’s much easier to add content below the Footer area.
In Stallion 8.2 can add any widget that can be added to a widget area including text widgets which can be used for adding all-sorts of custom content.
David
Additional Footer Text
You have a link in the footer with anchor text “List of All Articles” on your site. You suggest to create a new menu under “Appearance” >> “Menus” and set the new menu for the Footer Links location. This all makes sense.
However I want to know if the “List of All Articles” actually links to your sitemap or somewhere else and how I could specifically set this up on my site. I think this is a terrific option.
Thanks Dave
Additional Footer Text
WordPress HTML Sitemap Linked from Footer Area
This is how I added a simple HTML sitemap to this site and linked to it from the footer area with anchor text “List of All Articles”.
Created a new static Page (Dashboard, left menu hover over “Pages” click “Add New”) which I titled “Stallion Responsive Sitemap” (didn’t add any content to the content form, but could). To simplify could have called the new Page “List of All Articles” in hindsight :-)
Since I wanted the title tag and the H1 header to be “List of All Articles on WordPress SEO Packages Website” I used that text as the All In One SEO Title (on the edit Page screen): this bit isn’t that important, it’s just an HTML sitemap.
There’s multiple sitemap page templates built into Stallion, on the edit Post screen on the right menu under “Page Attributes” : “Templates” I set “Sitemap All Posts Organised by Categories”.
The name of that Page template is self explanatory.
Publish the Page and we have an HTML sitemap listing all posts organised by category. Since it’s a static WordPress Page it won’t be linked by default by WordPress unless you’ve set a navigation menu which automatically adds new Pages to it.
Next to link to it. You can link to it from any navigation menu, I added it to the footer navigation menu (the only link added to that nav menu).
Under “Appearance” >> “Menus” if you don’t already have a footer menu, create a new menu (doesn’t matter what you call it, all that matters is you set that menu as the “Footer Links” menu). If you already have a footer links menu, edit it. Either find the new sitemap Page on the left menu under Pages or use the Links option where you can add any custom link.
If you add the Page via the Pages option the anchor text would be in my case “Stallion Responsive Sitemap” (title of the Page). So I edited the link and changed the anchor text to “List of All Articles”.
Saved the menu etc… and we have a sitemap that’s linked sitewide from the footer.
David
WordPress HTML Sitemap Linked from Footer Area
Change the Color of Back to Top Arrows
Is it possible to change the color and size of the ‘back to top/bottom’ arrows used in the Stallion Responsive theme?
I have a background image on my site and the arrows do not display prominently.
Thanks
Bud
How to Modify WordPress Theme Colours
There’s two built in ways to change colours for pretty much everything within Stallion Responsive.
Create a new WordPress theme colour scheme based on one of the defaults or override a small number of colours to one of the built in colour schemes. The end result (what you see on the page) is pretty much the same, which you choose to use depends on how many changes you want to make and if you want to use the same modifications on multiple sites.
For a few minor colour changes on one website we’ll use the inline option.
Go to “Stallion Theme” >> “Colour Options”.
Tick “Colour Scheme CSS Inline/File Creator Selector” : “Colour Scheme CSS Inline ON” and click the “Save Settings” button.
There will be a new options page under “Appearance” >> “Colour Scheme CSS Inline”, open the options page.
Here you will find all the Stallion Theme colour options and fonts including the one for the arrows.
As you’ll see every colour and font can be changed on that screen.
There’s also a new theme creator version which makes new colour schemes. More details about this at Stallion Responsive Colour Scheme CSS Creator and Stallion Responsive Theme Colour Scheme CSS Creator Fonts.
Working on the Stallion Responsive 8.2 update which has improved the theme creator further, this post you are reading now is running Stallion Responsive 8.2 and a new colour scheme (this one isn’t part of Stallion 8.1): have added half a dozen new colour schemes. Also split the creator into two parts. Colours and fonts which means it adds a lot more options. In 8.2 there’s 26 new font combinations (all websafe fonts) and 33 colour schemes which means there’s 858 combinations, add on the 12 layouts and Stallion can output 10,296 combinations of colour, fonts and layouts without understanding any HTML/CSS.
On top of this in 8.2 every post can set a unique combination of layout, font and colour scheme (plus most of the options you’ll find under the Stallion Theme options pages, there’s an almost infinite number of outputs).
Got caught up in feature creep again and the results are awesome.
David
How to Modify WordPress Theme Colours