|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
WordPress is one of the most commonly used content management systems (CMS), and with good reason. It comes optimized, and even a beginner may not need WordPress SEO services when starting if they are willing to learn.
That said, putting a little SEO work into the website can substantially increase its chances of ranking. Is it necessary? Yes. You want to increase your site’s chances at every turn.
There are so many strategies you can use to boost SEO, and in this post, we’ll highlight a few to get you started. Let’s get to the heart of the matter.
11 Useful Approaches That WordPress SEO Services Employ
Here we take a deeper dive into these waters.
1. Site Visibility Settings
Imagine your site not featuring anywhere! When a website is still under construction, developers usually keep it invisible as they build the content and improve its look. Sometimes they forget to switch back, meaning search engines won’t index the site.
This feature should be turned off when the site is ready to go live.
2. URL Structure
Your post URLs take the default ‘example.com/?p=345’ format. This isn’t an ideal structure. Honestly, it makes your posts look irrelevant to the subject matter and could therefore be easier to ignore.
What should it look like? ‘Example.com/post-name/’ or if there are different categories you want to highlight, ‘example.com/category/post-name/’ will suffice. Changing it at the outset will give your website proper structure and keep SEO issues at bay.
Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi
3. Use a WordPress SEO Plugin
There’s a plugin for everything! A plugin is software you can install and add to your website to serve a certain function. An SEO plugin improves SEO on your site, making it rank higher.
4. Add Relevant Internal and External Links
Search engines are looking at your website as part of a larger group. Links to other websites and pages on your site tell them your work is related to other people’s work. Other websites are more likely to link to your posts, saying that your work is valuable.
Don’t go adding links everywhere yet! Sites need a good balance of internal and external links to relevant and useful content to improve their rankings. Add them where they fit in naturally, so your rankings won’t take a hit.
5. NoFollow Links
When you link to other websites, you share a little of your SEO score with those links. You need to bring in more than you’re giving out to rank highly.
You can tell search engines not to follow the external links. How? By adding the ‘nofollow’ attribute to external links. Problem solved.
6. Google Search Console
This tool analyzes your website’s search traffic and SEO performance and points to issues that need fixing.
Create your Google Search Console account and verify website ownership. It’s a free service, and you only need to follow instructions to start enjoying its benefits.
Image by Diggity Marketing from Pixabay
7. Optimize Content
Whether it’s the posts or images, you need to optimize them for SEO. Make sure your posts are long since Google prefers longform posts. Quality should be top-notch with relevant information. Add headers and make it easier to navigate. Update it regularly to keep content fresh.
Keywords are a major ranking factor too. Conduct proper keyword research and create useful content around them because that’s what your audience is looking for. Be careful not to overuse them, though. It’ll make your work look unnatural and unprofessional. Try reading the post out loud. If you wouldn’t use your keywords in conversation the way you’ve written them in the post, you should probably edit it.
Optimize your images by compressing them. They’ll load faster this way. Ensure you add alt text with relevant keywords, and the file name matches the item in the image.
8. Improve Website Speed with a Cache Plugin
Users stay longer on sites that load fast. Site speed affects ranking, so you want to make it faster. One way to do this is by installing a caching plugin.
This plugin will make your posts static instead of dynamic. It means they’ll be ready for use when users visit the website instead of generating them afresh. Engaging experts in WordPress SEO services can take it a notch higher since it can get technical.
Image by Werner Moser from Pixabay
9. Security
It is the most widely used website management platform, making WordPress a huge target for hackers. The CMS offers basic security, of course, but you can improve it yourself.
The first step is to change your admin username and use a complex password. Better yet, use a password manager like LastPass. Add another plugin to set up two-factor authentication to boost it even further. There are many more tactics you can use with the help of WordPress SEO services.
10. Mobile Friendly
More often than not, visitors to your website access it on their phones. This experience needs to be flawless. An adaptive design gives your visitors a seamless experience regardless of screen size.
Consider the fonts and images used in relation to your target audience’s internet speed and adapt accordingly. You want them to have a good user experience.
Many WordPress themes fit the bill these days, but if the one you’re using isn’t responsive, you can use CSS media queries to solve it.
Look at your website from a consumer’s point of view. What do you want the most on the website? Check analytics to see the most visited pages and work on these to make accessing them easier.
Photo by Stephen Phillips – Hostreviews.co.uk on Unsplash
11. Choose Your Host Wisely
We mentioned speed as a ranking factor, and a good hosting company will ensure there’s minimal lag. It’ll also keep downtime to a minimum. Your visitors will find your website active and responsive as often as they need to.
Pick a host with a good reputation. If your current host keeps disappointing you, you might want to look for a new one.
Conclusion
SEO is king when ranking. WordPress is a great platform for your website. Put them together to snag a good portion of online real estate. Implementing it may seem like a lot, but your website will thank you.
Enjoy optimization
