Caution When Using the All in One SEO Plugin

all in one seowordpress seo pluginbaidu indexingseo duplicate contentnoindex settings

Published·Sep 7, 2014Modified·Sep 7, 2014

All in One SEO is a powerful SEO plugin that allows you to set article keywords and descriptions individually, as well as automatically add keywords to articles. However, precisely because of its powerful features, we must be more careful when using it.

Many friends install various SEO plugins for website optimization, and I am no exception. I initially installed All in One SEO and found it quite convenient (at that time, I didn't even know how to set keywords and descriptions for my website, and this plugin was a great help). There are claims online that this plugin is not friendly to Baidu search engine, but I personally believe this is not the case; rather, it is due to improper use by many friends.

I asked some friends who said that after installing this plugin, they never managed it again and did not perform any individual settings, keeping all default options. This might be because the settings are in English and they were too lazy to look at them. This is exactly the cause of the problem.

1. Duplicate Keywords and Descriptions

All in One SEO defaults to enabling automatic keywords and descriptions. However, the theme we use might also have built-in SEO functions that automatically set keywords and descriptions. This causes duplication of keywords and descriptions, which is very unfavorable. We can check the source code to see if there is duplication. If there is, we should disable this function, as shown in the screenshot below:

keywords Figure 1-1: Keyword Settings

2. Noindex Settings Affecting Baidu Indexing

Some people claim that noindex causes Baidu to not index content. This has not been specifically verified, but I have already disabled this function. You can uncheck the default option in the backend under All in One SEO >> General Settings >> Noindex Settings.

noindex Figure 2-2: Noindex Settings

This plugin has always been controversial. Some friends say it is not friendly to Baidu, while others have normal indexing. In short, no WordPress plugin can be 100% perfect; they all have two sides. Therefore, you need to consider using it based on your own needs.