Drag and drop has been an important part of most graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for many years, including operating systems and productivity software. It simplifies computer use and makes it easy for beginners.

Many users expect to use drag and drop when they start to build their websites. While the WordPress block editor offers some drag-and-drop functionality, you will have a better experience by installing a WordPress page builder plugin.

What Are the Benefits of Drag and Drop?

A drag-and-drop graphical user interface makes it easier for average users to operate computers. Operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Apple macOS use a mouse-driven interface as a friendlier alternative to typing computer commands.

Drag and drop is a gesture where users point at an object and hold down a mouse button. They then move the object to a different location and release the mouse button. This mimics grabbing and moving something in the physical world.

Many users are familiar with drag and drop and want to use it when managing their WordPress websites. Luckily, WordPress has been regularly adding drag-and-drop features to the platform, but you will have a more complete experience by installing plugins.

Using Drag and Drop With WordPress

WordPress has limited drag-and-drop functionality, and this is being improved over time.

For example, one of the new features listed for WordPress 6.5 was ‘smoother drag-and-drop’.

One place you will find some drag-and-drop features is the WordPress block editor.

For example, you can simply drag and drop a new block onto a post or page.

However, you can’t use drag and drop to change the location of a block once it is on the page.

Similarly, you can’t use drag and drop to adjust the block’s size, add blocks inside other blocks, or create complex layouts using columns and rows.

On the other hand, you can use the Document Overview feature to rearrange your blocks using drag and drop when in ‘List View’.

There are a few other places you will find drag-and-drop features in WordPress, such as when adding a navigation menu to your website and dropping images into the Media Library.

If you would like a more complete drag-and-drop editing experience, then you can install a WordPress page builder plugin.

Using Drag and Drop With a Page Builder Plugin

Many beginners find it difficult to customize their WordPress page layouts when starting a blog.

This is especially true if they are migrating from Weebly to WordPress or Wix to WordPress and are already familiar with drag-and-drop website builders.

The good news is that the best WordPress page builders plugins offer plenty of easy-to-use drag-and-drop features. These let you easily arrange your content elements exactly to your liking.

For example, SeedProd is a premium landing page builder plugin for WordPress. It’s so easy to use because it supports drag-and-drop.

Like the WordPress block editor, you can drag new blocks into a post or page. This includes an expanded set of drag-and-drop blocks designed for conversions, such as optin forms, call-to-action buttons, and testimonials.

Plus, once the block is on a page, you can also change its location using drag and drop.

This allows you to easily build complex layouts and even create complete custom themes without coding knowledge.

You can learn more in our guide on the difference between the block editor and page builders.

Using Drag and Drop With Other WordPress Plugins

If you are looking to use drag and drop outside of the content editor, then there are other plugins you can install.

For example, you can use plugins to organize and reorder WordPress pages and change the category order using drag and drop.

We hope this article helped you learn more about drag and drop in WordPress. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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In more technical terms, a meta description is an HTML element that you can find in the <head> section of your web page. It’s part of on-page SEO (search engine optimization), and you can add this description to give users an idea of what the page is about.

Why Add Meta Descriptions in WordPress?

Many people wonder if meta descriptions are important for WordPress SEO. While they aren’t a ranking factor for many search engines, adding them is a best practice and part of on-page SEO optimization.

Meta descriptions won’t directly affect your keyword rankings, but they can help you get more organic clicks. By providing a summary of your content, you are encouraging users to click on your site’s link in the search results.

In return, your click-through rate (CTR) will increase. And we know that having a high CTR means Google will rank your content higher.

That’s why we recommend adding meta descriptions for all your posts and pages, including the homepage, category pages, tag, pages, custom pages, and more.

It’s worth noting that Google customizes the description based on the search term and sometimes uses the summary you provided. However, it will still show your description on 30% of searches, which will help your SEO.

How to Add Meta Description in WordPress

The easiest way to add meta descriptions to your blog posts and pages is to use a WordPress SEO plugin like All in One SEO (AIOSEO). This plugin allows you to optimize your site for search engines and offers a complete set of tools to grow your site’s traffic.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin on your site. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll see the setup wizard. Simply follow the on-screen instructions to configure the plugin.

For more details, please see our guide on how to set up All in One SEO in WordPress.

Once the plugin is set up and ready to use, you can simply edit a page or post and head to the WordPress content editor. From here, scroll down to the AIOSEO Settings meta box.

Here, you can enter a post title and meta description for your content. AIOSEO will also show a snippet preview of how it will appear in the search results.

You can also see the character count for your meta descriptions.

Besides that, AIOSEO also lets you generate descriptions and titles for your content using AI. Simply click the robot icon in the AIOSEO Settings.

The plugin will then generate a bunch of post descriptions using OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

You can simply click on a description you want to use for the web page.

You may also want to see our guide on if AI content is bad for WordPress SEO (expert insights and tips).

Best Practices for Writing Meta Descriptions

Now that you know how to add meta descriptions in WordPress, let’s take a look at some best practices for writing optimized descriptions.

1. Keep Your Meta Descriptions Under 160 Characters

Google and search engines set limits on how long your meta descriptions should be. We recommend keeping the text of your descriptions under 160 characters.

Otherwise, Google will truncate or cut off the excess text, making your description look incomplete. This doesn’t provide a great reading experience, and it could prevent users from clicking your website link in the search results.

Or if your meta description is too long, then Google might decide to use its own. If you’re using the AIOSEO plugin, then you’ll see the character count for your descriptions.

2. Use a Target Keyword in the Text

Another best practice for writing well-optimized meta descriptions is to include your target keyword in the text.

When you insert the primary keyword in the description, Google will highlight it in the search results.

Now, this will not directly impact your site’s SEO, but it will encourage users to click on your link. Which in return could boost your organic CTR and improve keyword rankings.

3. Include a Call to Action to Boost CTR

You can also boost organic CTR by including a call to action (CTA) in your meta description.

CTA tells users what they should do next and encourages them to perform an action. For example, if you have an online store, then you can add a CTA like ‘shop now’ or ‘buy today’ to your product page’s meta description.

Similarly, you can include CTA for blog posts and guides, like read now, learn more, or try for free.

4. Create Unique and Engaging Descriptions

Lastly, it’s best to try and come up with unique meta descriptions that are also engaging.

Writing generic descriptions doesn’t provide any value to users. Instead, you should look at how other websites are writing their meta descriptions in the search results and then come up with something different.

Similarly, you shouldn’t use the same meta description for all your pages and posts. Duplicate descriptions will not add value and may not encourage users to click on your link.

If you are having trouble creating unique descriptions, AI-powered tools can help. To learn more, please see our guides on using AI for SEO in WordPress and writing powerful headlines using AI.

We hope this article helped you learn more about meta descriptions in WordPress. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Meta Description first appeared on WPBeginner.

Less technical users will never need to use SSH. Advanced users might use it to remotely log in to their web server and transfer files and folders, edit directories, or execute commands.

SSH comes pre-installed on Mac or Linux. On Windows, the PuTTY application can be installed to add SSH support. SSH must also be installed and enabled on your hosting provider’s web server.

What Is a Shell?

Most WordPress websites are installed on a server running the Linux operating system. On Linux, the ‘shell’ is the name given to the command-line interface.

Many advanced users enjoy using the shell because they can type in flexible and powerful commands to manage their websites. However, this is optional.

Here are a few examples of the commands you can use:

• cd directory_name changes the specified directory or folder.
• ls lists the contents of the current directory.
• mkdir directory_name creates a new directory.
• cp source_file destination_file copies a file.
• chmod permissions file_name changes the permissions of a file.
• apt-get install package_name installs new software on the server.

Once you have connected to your website using SSH, you can get a full list of the available commands by entering ‘help’.

Like many users, you may not have technical knowledge of shell commands. In that case, you don’t need to use SSH and can manage your website files using an FTP client or the file manager application provided in your hosting provider’s dashboard.

For more information, see our beginner’s guide on how to use FTP to upload files to WordPress.

How Do You Connect to Your Website Using SSH?

SSH is a client-server technology. This means that you need special software installed on your computer and web server.

So, the first thing to check is that SSH is set up in your hosting account. You can do this by contacting your hosting provider or checking your host’s cPanel or settings.

You will need to keep a record of your website’s IP address and the username and password needed to access SSH.

You will also need to know the port number used by SSH if you changed it from the default setting of 22.

Connecting From a Mac or Linux Computer

Once the server is configured and you have an SSH client, you can connect to your website by typing a command like this into a Mac or Linux terminal app:

ssh username@server_ip_address

Don’t forget to replace the username and server_ip_address with the settings you wrote down earlier.

Connecting From a Windows Computer

If you want to connect to your website over SSH from a Windows computer, then you will need to install and launch the PuTTY application.

You will be asked to type in your SSH IP address and port number. PuTTY will remember your settings for future sessions.

After clicking the ‘Open’ button, you will be asked to enter your SSH username. After that, a terminal window will open where you can type your SSH password.

How Can You Use SSH in WordPress?

Once you are familiar with shell commands, you can use SSH to perform many tasks related to managing and maintaining websites.

These include uploading files, installing and updating software, editing server configuration files, backing up the WordPress database, and troubleshooting issues.

Here are a few tutorials we have written that show you different ways to use SSH to manage your WordPress website:

• How to Enable Imagick on Your WordPress Site
• How to Find a Backdoor in a Hacked WordPress Site and Fix It
• How to Fix Secure Connection Error in WordPress
• How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress
• Useful WordPress Configuration Tricks That You May Not Know

How to Use SSH to Make FTP File Transfer Secure

Once you have enabled SSH on your server, you can also use it to secure your FTP sessions. This is known as SFTP.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is like a file manager for your website, where you can upload, copy, and delete files using drag-and-drop.

When SSH is available, your FTP client can use the SFTP protocol to securely connect to your website. This means that hackers will not be able to intercept your files as they are uploaded.

You can learn more in our glossary entry on SFTP.

We hope this article helped you learn more about SSH in WordPress. You may also want to see our Additional Reading list below for related articles on useful WordPress tips, tricks, and ideas.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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