[WordPress] Remove Stopwords for Better SEO

[Rocke]

I found this when googling about pluginless solution for cleaning up your post/page titles from stopwords. on the themes function.php file, before the closing ( ?> ), add this code snippet.

add_filter('sanitize_title', 'remove_false_words');
function remove_false_words($slug) {
    if (!is_admin()) return $slug;
    $slug = explode('-', $slug);
    foreach ($slug as $k => $word) {
        //false words list separated for commas
        $keys_false = 'a,about,above,across,after,again,against,all,almost,alone,along,already,also';
        $keys = explode(',', $keys_false);
        foreach ($keys as $l => $wordfalse) {
            if ($word==$wordfalse) {
            unset($slug[$k]);
            }
        }
    }
    return implode('-', $slug);
}

you can get list of stop words anywhere on the internet.

Note: This will automatically change your old posts url only if you edit them, so you don't have to worry about 404 errors

Source: WPSnipp.com

 

[fdls]

Well I guess I will give it a shot Good share.

 

[foxman]

Didn't know abt this!

 

[toRRfriend]

can you explain a bit about it......??

stop word related to SEO........?? how

 

[Rocke]

I'm following the idea of that stop words are bad for SEO from 'Clean SEO Slugs' and Slug Optimizer Feature in 'SEO Ultimate' plugin, the writer of both plugin stated that stop words are redundant and unnecessary information in the eye of search engines, so cleaning them from your post / page titles will make it 'keyword rich' which will help your post / page to rank.

For example, you have 'How to Write a Nice Article' for a post / page title, if you don't clean the stop words then your slug will be 'how-to-write-a-nice-article'... it's long and filled with unnecessary information, after you clean up the stop words it will be 'write-nice-article'... which is exactly the idea in your post / page.

Personally, I prefer to not use a plugin for a simple fix if there's a generic solution like this.

 

[Rocke]

List of stop words, taken from 'SEO Slugs' plugin.

a, able, about, above, abroad, according, accordingly, across, actually, adj, after, afterwards, again, against, ago, ahead, aint, all, allow, allows, almost, alone, along, alongside, already, also, although, always, am, amid, amidst, among, amongst, an, and, another, any, anybody, anyhow, anyone, anything, anyway, anyways, anywhere, apart, appear, appreciate, appropriate, are, arent, around, as, aside, ask, asking, associated, at, available, away, awfully, b, back, backward, backwards, be, became, because, become, becomes, becoming, been, before, beforehand, begin, behind, being, believe, below, beside, besides, best, better, between, beyond, both, brief, but, by, c, came, can, cannot, cant, caption, cause, causes, certain, certainly, changes, clearly, cmon, co, co., com, come, comes, concerning, consequently, consider, considering, contain, containing, contains, corresponding, could, couldnt, course, currently, d, dare, darent, definitely, described, despite, did, didnt, different, directly, do, does, doesnt, doing, done, dont, down, downwards, during, e, each, edu, eg, eight, eighty, either, else, elsewhere, end, ending, enough, entirely, especially, et, etc, even, ever, evermore, every, everybody, everyone, everything, everywhere, ex, exactly, example, except, f, fairly, far, farther, few, fewer, fifth, first, five, followed, following, follows, for, forever, former, formerly, forth, forward, found, four, from, further, furthermore, g, get, gets, getting, given, gives, go, goes, going, gone, got, gotten, greetings, h, had, hadnt, half, happens, hardly, has, hasnt, have, havent, having, he, hed, hello, help, hence, her, here, hereafter, hereby, herein, heres, hereupon, hers, herself, hes, hi, him, himself, his, hither, hopefully, how, howbeit, however, hundred, i, id, ie, if, ignored, im, immediate, in, inasmuch, inc, inc., indeed, indicate, indicated, indicates, inner, inside, insofar, instead, into, inward, is, isnt, it, itd, itll, its, its, itself, ive, j, just, k, keep, keeps, kept, know, known, knows, l, last, lately, later, latter, latterly, least, less, lest, let, lets, like, liked, likely, likewise, little, look, looking, looks, low, lower, ltd, m, made, mainly, make, makes, many, may, maybe, maynt, me, mean, meantime, meanwhile, merely, might, mightnt, mine, minus, miss, more, moreover, most, mostly, mr, mrs, much, must, mustnt, my, myself, n, name, namely, nd, near, nearly, necessary, need, neednt, needs, neither, never, neverf, neverless, nevertheless, new, next, nine, ninety, no, nobody, non, none, nonetheless, noone, no-one, nor, normally, not, nothing, notwithstanding, novel, now, nowhere, o, obviously, of, off, often, oh, ok, okay, old, on, once, one, ones, ones, only, onto, opposite, or, other, others, otherwise, ought, oughtnt, our, ours, ourselves, out, outside, over, overall, own, p, particular, particularly, past, per, perhaps, placed, please, plus, possible, presumably, probably, provided, provides, q, que, quite, qv, r, rather, rd, re, really, reasonably, recent, recently, regarding, regardless, regards, relatively, respectively, right, round, s, said, same, saw, say, saying, says, second, secondly, see, seeing, seem, seemed, seeming, seems, seen, self, selves, sensible, sent, serious, seriously, seven, several, shall, shant, she, shed, shell, shes, should, shouldnt, since, six, so, some, somebody, someday, somehow, someone, something, sometime, sometimes, somewhat, somewhere, soon, sorry, specified, specify, specifying, still, sub, such, sup, sure, t, take, taken, taking, tell, tends, th, than, thank, thanks, thanx, that, thatll, thats, thats, thatve, the, their, theirs, them, themselves, then, thence, there, thereafter, thereby, thered, therefore, therein, therell, therere, theres, theres, thereupon, thereve, these, they, theyd, theyll, theyre, theyve, thing, things, think, third, thirty, this, thorough, thoroughly, those, though, three, through, throughout, thru, thus, till, to, together, too, took, toward, towards, tried, tries, truly, try, trying, twice, two, u, un, under, underneath, undoing, unfortunately, unless, unlike, unlikely, until, unto, up, upon, upwards, us, use, used, useful, uses, using, usually, v, value, various, versus, very, via, viz, vs, w, want, wants, was, wasnt, way, we, welcome, well, went, were, werent, weve, what, whatever, whatll, whats, whatve, when, whence, whenever, where, whereafter, whereas, whereby, wherein, wheres, whereupon, wherever, whether, which, whichever, while, whilst, whither, who, whod, whoever, whole, wholl, whom, whomever, whos, whose, why, will, willing, wish, with, within, without, wonder, wont, would, wouldnt, x, y, yes, yet, you, youd, youll, your, youre, yours, yourself, yourselves, youve, z, zero