Internet guru Yoast has created a new SEO plugin for WordPress – WordPress SEO.
It’s a great plugin and I use it on my sites. However, since I use one of the more flexible themes, Atahualpa, the configuration of WordPress SEO is a little more complex.
So if you are using the Atahualpa theme, here’s my notes on adding Yoast’s WordPress SEO.
First Steps
Wordpres SEO is still beta, so BACK UP. (you have a backup don’t you?) Install WordPress SEO plugin and activate it. Now on the bottom left, expand the SEO section and go to Import and Export. Import your settings from other SEO tools and then deactivate the other plugins.
Fixing the Title
To format the <title> code the way Yoast wants, go to Appreance, Editor and edit the file bfa_meta_tags.php.
Change
<title><?php wp_title('«', true, 'right'); ?><?php bloginfo('name'); ?></title>
To
<title><?php wp_title(''); ?></title>
Then update the file.
Adding the Breadcrumbs
To add the Breadcrumb feature, go to Atahualpa Theme Options, Style and Edit center column. In the Content ABOVE the LOOP section add this code to the bottom to the code:
<?php if ( function_exists('yoast_breadcrumb') ) {
yoast_breadcrumb('<p id="breadcrumbs">','</p>');
} ?>
Then save changes.
Updates to your Theme
If you update or change your theme, you will need to re-do the code changes to the theme. Your WordPress SEO setting are not affected by theme changes.
Configuring WordPress SEO
Now you are ready to configure WordPress SEO. I used a great tutorial over at wpBeginner – How to Install and Setup WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast. Once you have it configured, export your settings to save them to your computer. And you can use the saved configuration as a import on your next install to save time.
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know in the comments section. Enjoy!
DCJ21 Consulting 
Was wondering if YOAST is usable at all with Atahualpa. As your post has seen some days, are all those steps still neccassary or can YOAST´s feature to tick the box “Force rewrite titles” already do the trick?
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It’s still working for me. I’m running Atahualpa 3.6.4 and the latest SEO plugin, but my modifications are still in place.
I might try it “clean” when I update to the latest Atahualpa (3.7) later this month.
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Teh above the loop etc. option is not there anymore.
“Where are the ‘Content ABOVE Loop’, ‘The LOOP’ etc. options?They are now ‘hardcoded’ into Atahualpa’s
index.php. To edit the loop or to add custom code before/after the loop, manually editindex.php.Since 3.6.5 custom PHP code isn’t possible anymore in the Atahualpa Theme Options. Atahualpa was one of few themes, if not the only theme, to allow custom PHP code to be inserted through theme options. The philosophy as to what themes should or should not be able to do (i.e. which PHP functions they can use) has been tightened up quite a bit lately by WordPress, so in order to stay listed on wordpress.org we had to remove this ‘custom PHP’ feature. Check wordpress.bytesforall.com and forum.bytesforall.com for possible workarounds or even alternative theme versions, if you cannot live without custom PHP.”
Would you recommend to edit the index.php or can I just leave the breadcrumbs out?
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“Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.|”
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