Wordpress in a subdirectory?

[GregDixson]

Hi, I've used this method a few times of developing Wordpress websites in a subdirectory and only moving the index.php file to root when the site is ready to launch. (full details of how this is done in the link below)

The sites I've used this on all index correctly and rank for their terms, so I haven't seen any negatives at all. However moving forward I would like to know for sure if this is indeed SEO-friendly?

note: The site functions as any other at www.domain.com, it's only the Wordpress install & admin etc. resides at: www.domain.com/wordpress/ -the pages are served to root ie. www.domain.com/about)

Details.. WordPress from a subdirectory to the root directory:

http://askwpgirl.com/how-do-i-move-wordpress-from-a-subdirectory-to-the-root-directory/

thanks in advance.

[ahockley]

Having worked quite a bit with WordPress (since version 1.2) I can't think of an SEO reason why this would cause a problem.

The only potential gotcha that comes to mind is that I'm not sure how well WordPress' one-click updater feature is going to work when WP has been spread amongst multiple directories.

[Guest]

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[Marcus_Miller]

Hey, I have been working like this for years and my own site uses this approach. However, I have come across a few premium themes and a smaller amount of plugins when it can cause a few problems, usually these are things you can easily hack in the source but it may break things when you update your theme and you have to hack again (yoothemes always have this bug).

So, I tend to keep sites in the root now if possible just to simplify things as much as possible.

Moving the site to a different URL / Directory is a pretty simple process:

1. Move all of the relevant files

2. Run the following queries in PHPMyAdmin (or whatever DB tool you use)

**UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'OLDSITE', 'NEWSITE') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';

UPDATE wp_posts SET guid = replace(guid, 'OLDSITE','NEWSITE');

UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = replace(post_content, 'OLDSITE', 'NEWSITE');

UPDATE wp_postmeta SET meta_value = replace(meta_value, 'OLDSITE', 'NEWSITE');**

• URLs are full paths without a trailing slash so

OLDSITE = http://www.url.com/subdir

NEWSITE = http://www.url.com

---

Obviously, back up the DB and test the water first but I have used this SQL a bunch of times (even in the last week) to move sites from one server to another (testing to live) or to even move sites from a sub directory to the root. Or, even to move sites from a sub directory on a testing server to the root on the live space.

So, it is not an essential change by any means but in the spirit of keeping things as simple and straightforward as possible, the root tends to work a little better in my experience.

Hope that helps! 
Marcus

[GregDixson]

Thanks for your reply Marcus, and also for the details for moving to root. That may come in handy, and anyone else who stumbles across this thread too.

It's good to know there appear to be no issues for SEO in Wordpress residing in a subdirectory, yet I am appreciating more and more the need to keep things as simple and straight forward as possible.

Greg