Every time you setup a new WordPress self-hosted blog there’s certain things you have to do if you want to be successful. One of them, which is possibly the most important, is search engine optimization or simply SEO. Good SEO practices ensure Google and other search engines can find and correctly list your blog content in the search results.

WordPress is a great blog and CMS, but the default install needs a bit more attention to reach the optimum amount of search engine love. Fortunately for us WordPress users, thousands of people have been contributing to WordPress plugins which provide us with all the necessary SEO tools.

Use this tutorial as a guideline to chose which WordPress SEO plugins are right for your new or existing blog.

1. Google (XML) Sitemap

This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog. With such a sitemap, it’s much easier for the crawlers to see the complete structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. The plugin supports all kinds of WordPress generated pages as well as custom URLs. Additionally it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content. - Author

A must for all blogs. Use in conjunction with the Google Integration Toolkit WordPress plugin.

2. Google Integration Toolkit

Google provides a lot of useful services, which can be integrated with your blog. With them you can check how your site is indexed in Google (using Google Webmaster Tools), get detailed statistics (Google Analytics), earn money (Google AdSense) and more. This plugin allows to easily integrate them with your blog. - Author

This plugin is another must if you intend on using Google Webmaster Tools or any of the other Google services (which you should do). This is the method I use to verify my WordPress sites and track visitor statistics.

3. SEO Plugins

The two most popular SEO plugins are All in One SEO Pack and Platinum SEO Pack. Both these plugins offer unique ways to optimize your blog’s search engine listings and I would recommend using at least one of them. I will be discussing the pros and cons of both plugins in an upcoming post.

Platinum SEO

Platinum SEO Plugin offers Complete on-site SEO solution for your WordPress blog. Platinum SEO Plugin offers all the functionalities of All in One SEO Pack and a bit more. - Author

All in One SEO

Automatically optimizes your WordPress blog for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization). - Author

I will be covering ways to setup the above mentioned plugins and more in the WordPress SEO Tutorial Part 2. Also look out for Platinum SEO Pack vs All in One SEO Pack, How to Socialize your WordPress Site and How to Turn Your WordPress site into a Social Network.