Support

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some quick answers to common questions. For more WordPress-specific questions, please refer to CampusPress Documentation.

Why isn’t my website showing up in Google results?

First, check your website Privacy settings to make sure your site is set to be crawled by search engines. You will find this setting in your Dashboard > Settings > Reading > Site Visibility. Ensure the “Allow Search Engines to index this site” is checked. Make sure you do not have any of the Privacy options selected. Remember that even if your settings are such that your site is publicly viewable, Google (and other search engines) may not know that the site exists yet because no one on the public web is linking to it. To expedite the search indexing process, you can submit your site to Google.

This guide covers tips for Search Engine Optimization, referred to as SEO for short. While you can control your site’s basic privacy settings and content, you cannot control when your site will get picked up by search engines or how they will rank your site. Each search engine handles those processes, and they are always changing. Also, remember that there is an entire industry for SEO analysts, content writers, and marketing specialists. Content is 99.9% the key to good SEO.

Can I change the URL of my site?

As in from sites.psu.edu/currentname to sites.psu.edu/somethingdifferent)

As in from sites.psu.edu/currentname to sites.psu.edu/somethingdifferent)
Once you have created a site and chosen a URL (e.g. sites.psu.edu/currentname), you cannot directly change/edit it to a different URL (e.g. sites.psu.edu/somethingdifferent). You can create a new website with your preferred website address.

Different from requesting a psu.edu mapped domain.

Can I export my site after I graduate or leave the University?

Creating an export of your website before losing access to your Penn State Access Account is recommended. How soon and which services expire when you leave Penn State depends on your role as detailed in What Happens to My Penn State Account When I Leave?.

WordPress enables you to export your entire website or any portion of it. You might need to do this if you are leaving the university, decide to move your WordPress website to a different host, or just want to have a backup.

The Advanced WordPress Importer in Tools > Import allows you to easily export all posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, and tags to another WordPress-powered site. The Bulk Media Downloader plugin allows you to select, zip, and download multiple media files from your media library at the same time. The Customizer Export/Import plugin allows you to export customizer settings to perfect the look of a theme on a site and then export and reuse your theme presets on other sites. The Widget Importer & Exporter plugin makes copying widgets from a site to a new site easy.

Sites Support is here to help