WordPress SEO: 15 Tips On How To Improve SEO for WordPress -You must take your SEO seriously if you want to rank well in Google.
Fortunately, using WordPress puts you in front of the pack because it is SEO friendly right out of the box. It’s just one of the many reasons why people prefer WordPress to other platforms.
Even so, there are a few things you can do to improve the SEO of your WordPress site. This guide was created to assist you with your task. You’ll find 15 of the best tips for increasing site traffic listed below.
WordPress SEO: 15 Tips On How To Improve SEO for WordPress
1. Make Sure You Have a WordPress SEO Plugin Installed
WordPress already comes with a number of useful SEO features. However, using an SEO plugin will help you take your optimization to the next level.
Yoast SEO is the best SEO plugin on the market so far in my opinion, and it’s the one I use on all of my blogs and clients’ websites I manage, including here on Online Store Kit.
You can use this plugin to perfectly optimise each page and post for the keyword you’ve chosen. It also comes with an built-in analysis feature based on the most recent algorithm updates. You can also create an XML sitemap and incorporate structured data into your website.
To begin installing Yoast SEO on your site, go to your WordPress dashboard and select Plugins > Add New. Type ‘Yoast SEO‘ into the search bar, then click the ‘Install now‘ button in the plugin that appears.
When the option appears, finally click on ‘Activate.’ The plugin will begin to operate on your site, and you can access it by selecting the SEO icon from the left-hand menu.
It’s not too complicated to configure Yoast SEO. You can also find how to configure it by simply Googling it.
2. Keyword Research
The importance of keyword research in your WordPress SEO strategy cannot be overstated. When you conduct keyword research, you will be able to:
- Make sure you’re providing content that your visitors want.
- Develop a better understanding of your market’s requirements.
- Keep track of how well everything you write is received.
- Increase the amount of valuable traffic to your website.
There are a number of tools available to assist you with keyword research. Ahrefs, KWFinder, SEMRush, and even the Google Keyword Planner are some of the best tools available.
Although a number of articles would be required to cover the subject of keyword research, the following are the essentials:
- Make a list of keywords that are relevant to your topic.
- Enter them into a keyword search tool to find phrases with a high volume of traffic and little competition.
- Investigate your competitors by using keyword search tools to look at similar sites to see which keywords are bringing them the most traffic.
- Check to see which of these keywords have a low enough level of competition for you to compete on.
Now that you’ve compiled your keyword list, it’s time to start creating content and optimising it using thethose keywords.
3. WordPress SEO: Allow Search Engines to See Your Content
WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to hide your site from search engines.
This option may be useful when building a website for the first time, but it may make achieving any rankings impossible. This could be the issue if you’ve been following some of the suggestions on this page but haven’t seen an improvement in your rankings.
Go to Settings > Reading from the WordPress dashboard to see if this setting is enabled. A section titled “Search Engine Visibility” can be found by scrolling down.
Search engine visibility is an important aspect of WordPress SEO.
Make sure this box isn’t checked. After that, select “Save changes” from the drop-down menu.
4. Modify the Structure of Your WordPress SEO Permalinks
Your site’s pages and posts will have an unusual URL structure when you first instal WordPress. Your WordPress site’s SEO will suffer as a result of this default structure.
The Entry Name setting produces the cleanest and most search engine friendly URL structure. You can include your post or page title, as well as a keyword, in your URL if you switch to this setting. Go to Settings > Permalinks to change this setting.
My suggested permalinks structure that’s best for WordPress SEO is Post name. But be careful before changing your permalinks structure as it will affect the old URLs using the old structure.
If you wait too long to make this change, you may have to redirect the old URLs. Using a plugin like Change Permalink Helper, you can accomplish this. Simply type in your old URLs, and they will be redirected to your new ones.
This one is also the most basic tips on how to improve SEO for WordPress.
5. Immediately Verify Your Site on Google Search Console
Google Search Console will show you how well your site is performing in search engines and will notify you if there are any errors.
To add your site, go to Google Search Console and type in your domain name or URL, including the prefix. Then press the Continue button.
You’ll need to check with your web hosting provider if you entered your domain or a subdomain. Simply follow the on-screen instructions and click the Verify button.
If you enter the URL and prefix, you will be presented with the various options for verifying your site.
The HTML tag is one of the most basic methods of verification. Let’s take a look at how to put this technique to use.
Yoast SEO already has a feature to help you verify your site to Google Search Console. Simply head over to SEO menu on admin dashbaord, then click General > Webmaster Tools tab. Find Google verification code label then paste in the HTML tag that Google Search Console gave you.
If you don’t use Yoast SEO, just look for the ‘Insert Headers and Footers‘ plugin under Plugins> Add New.
Insert Headers and Footers for WordPress is a WordPress plugin that allows you to add headers and footers to your site.
Install and activate the plugin depicted in the preceding image. Then, go to Settings > Insert Headers and Footers to open the plugin.
Then, in the Scripts in Header box, paste the code and click Save.
After you completed the above steps, return to Google Search Console and click the Verify button to complete the process.
6. Integrate Your Site to Google Analytics
Google Analytics is another Google tool that you should have in your toolbox. This tool will show you how well your WordPress site’s SEO strategy is working by providing you with detailed information about your site’s traffic.
To get started, go to the Google Analytics home page and sign up for an account. If you already have a Gmail account, then just go ahead and login to Google Analytics.
Create a new Property for your site by entering required information such as Property Name, site URL, timezone and currency, etc.
The next step is to look for your tracking code. Tracking Info > Tracking Code is where you should find it. Then copy the code that appears to be similar to the following:
Add the Google Analytics website tracking code to your WordPress website.
Depending on your topic, you may be able to add the Google Analytics tracking code directly to your website. If this isn’t possible, you can use the same Insert Headers and Footers plugin as before.
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Go to the header section of the plugin and paste your tracking code there. That concludes our discussion. You can now look at your website’s statistics. Check out our step-by-step guide on how to integrate Google Analytics with WordPress for more information.
7. Submit XML Sitemap to Google Search Console
Search engines use sitemaps to crawl your site more efficiently. Your site will be crawled even if you don’t have a sitemap, but having one allows you to report the information you want search engines to look for.
This is the most effective way of ensuring that pages that do not contribute to your ranking are not crawled, as well as prioritising your most important pages.
After verifying your site to Google Search Console, then this is the next step you have to do.
You can easily create and submit a sitemap if you’re using the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress.
Go to SEO > General > Features to see all of the features available. Then scroll down and select ‘XML Sitemaps‘ from the drop-down menu.
XML sitemaps should be enabled in WordPress for SEO purposes.
When you click the ‘See XML sitemap‘ link, your sitemap will open, allowing you to double-check that it was actually created.
That sitemap will now be submitted to Google. Select ‘Sitemaps‘ from the control panel of your Google Search Console.
On Google Search Console page, you can find the Sitemaps menu under the Index menu. There, you can type in your sitemap’s URL, usually sitemap_index.xml if you’re using Yoast SEO or just sitemap.xml.
Submit your sitemap then you’re good to go. This is also one of the best tips on how to improve SEO for WordPress.
8. Create a Mobile-friendly Version of Your Site
Google is currently experimenting with indexing that prioritises mobile devices. This means that they’ll start judging your rankings based on the performance and functionality of your mobile pages. So, if you don’t have a responsive theme, now is the time to get one.
However, in addition to selecting a responsive theme, you can assess how your site currently performs on various mobile devices. To do so, go to Google’s mobile device compatibility test and type in the URL for your website.
test-for-mobile-friendliness-on-google
This will provide you with a breakdown of how your site’s mobile version works, as well as a screenshot and some suggestions for how to improve it.
Since by default Google now switches to Mobile-first Indexing algorithm, follow this step to fulfill the guide on how to improve SEO for WordPress.
9. Improve the Speed of Your Website
The importance of website speed has always been recognised. Your rankings and user experience will suffer if your website takes a long time to load. Page speed is rapidly gaining traction as a ranking factor.
It’s fortunately not difficult to fix a slow-loading website. The steps below will assist you in getting started:
Establish a starting point.
To begin, you’ll need to determine how well your website is currently performing. Open the GTMetrix tool and check your site there. This will provide you with a breakdown of your current performance metrics, allowing you to see where you need to improve.
Your server needs to be updated.
Slowness can sometimes be caused by incorrect server settings. That is why it is critical to select the appropriate web hosting environment. We recommend choosing a custom WordPress specific hosting package tailored to your site configuration to improve the performance of your WordPress site.
Use a content distribution network (CDN). Cloudflare is mostly enough.
By storing copies of your site on servers all over the world, a CDN will help it load faster. As a result, when someone visits your website, they will see the version that is closest to their physical location. Integrating your site with a CDN like Cloudflare is a free and reliable solution.
Take advantage of a cache plugin.
Instead of the PHP files that WordPress normally requires, a caching plugin will generate static HTML files. This reduces the number of requests made between the server and the browser of your user, which slows down the loading process.
W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache are two of the most popular WordPress caching plugins. WP Rocket, Autoptimize and Litespeed Cache plugin are also some great choices.
Increase the efficiency of your multimedia assets.
If you’re going to upload images to your website, make sure they’re optimised.
10. Repair Every Broken Link
It’s not good for your readers or your ranking to have a lot of broken links. Additionally, they make crawling your site by Google bots more difficult.
The simplest way to find broken links on your website is to go to Google Search Console and click Links.
Google Search Console will show you where the broken link is located so that you can correct it.
Since Core Web Vitals rolled out, it’s now mandatory to improve your site speed, performance, and page experience that will engage users more. This is one of the must follow tips on how to improve SEO for WordPress.
11. Each Post Should Have a Specific Keyword in Mind
Despite the fact that the way we optimise for keywords has changed, they continue to play an important role in WordPress SEO. Every time you write a blog post on your site, you should have a specific target keyword in mind.
When it comes to optimising a keyword, here are some best practises:
- Use the keyword sparingly in your post; only include it when it makes sense.
- If at all possible, start your text with your keyword in the first paragraph.
- In the title and captions, include your target keyword.
- Your target keyword should be included in your URL and meta description.
- The WordPress plugin Yoast SEO makes it simple to put the suggestions above into practise.
Enter your target keyword into the tool every time you write a post. You’ll get a report on how well the post is optimised for the keyword you’ve chosen.
You’ll get tips on how to improve your website’s search engine rankings by optimising your keywords.
12. Produce High Quality Contents Regularly
Google is a huge fan of high-quality content. When you look at the top 10 results for any keyword, you’ll notice that the content meets two criteria:
- In general, the content is longer and of higher quality.
- The content fulfils the intent of the search.
- It’s fantastic to have content that’s both long and well-written. You may, however, be unaware of what search intent is. In a nutshell, search intent is the reason for using a particular keyword.
When creating any type of content, you should do some research to see what is currently ranking well and try to figure out why.
Content is sometimes ranked solely on the basis of domain authority. However, if each site has a similar level of authority, the content will be the distinguishing factor.
Ask yourself the following questions to gain a better understanding of your keyword and what users are looking for:
- Is the user looking for content that is informative or that sells a product?
- If you’re looking for something more substantial, this is the place to go. Is it a quick read, or a longer one?
- What are the characteristics of the pages that are currently ranking well?
- What kind of content will be most effective for the keyword?
- You’re ready to create an epic piece of content now that you have a better understanding of the keyword, the pages that rank well, and what the user wants.
The most recommended tips on how to improve SEO for WordPress is by creating high quality content that’s unique and readable which contains the focus keyword you’re targeting. So be sure to regularly produce high quality contents.
13. Produce Longer Contents
Longer content is more likely to rank higher in search results. According to recent studies, longer content receives more social shares and backlinks in general, resulting in higher rankings.
Another study discovered that the majority of the content on Google’s first page is over 2,000 words long. This does not imply that every post on your website should be this long, but it should be a goal.
However, just because you want to meet your word count goals doesn’t mean you have to stuff your content with unnecessary words.
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Instead, you should concentrate on the keyword’s intent. That is, why is the user searching for that particular keyword in the first place? Then, as completely and helpfully as possible, respond to the keyword’s intent, which may require typing fewer words in some cases.
14. Produce Content that Will be Remembered
Enduring (or Evergreen) content can be a very effective way to drive traffic to your website. Because the relevance of this type of content is not dependent on the date of publication, it will always be relevant.
Instead of What You Need to Know About Google’s Latest Update, consider a title like The Definitive Guide to On-Site SEO.
The former will be useful for a long time, whereas the latter will be dependent on data that is updated on a regular basis. This does not imply that you should publish your evergreen content once and then forget about it. Instead, update the content on a regular basis to reflect the most recent and relevant aspects of your industry or topic.
Content from Evergree is valuable because it retains its relevance over time. This means that you can share, promote, and link to this content indefinitely. This type of content has a long history of holding high rankings.
Although creating content for children will take more time and effort, it will pay off in the long run.
15. Provide Links to Reputable and Trusted Sources
Linking to high-quality sources will not harm your WordPress site’s SEO; on the contrary, it may benefit it. When you link to high-quality sources, you’re telling Google that the content they’re linking to is similar to your own. Additionally, you enhance the user experience by providing more information on the subject to readers.
Creating outbound links is a good way to avoid your site becoming a dead end on the Internet. Make it a habit to link to useful sources because it will help you establish your credibility and trustworthiness. Connecting with others also provides you with an opportunity to communicate and initiate a conversation.
You understand the value of links, but you also want to make sure that they are used correctly. It’s a good idea to open all external links in a new window to avoid sending readers away from your site.
Last But Not Least: How To Improve SEO for WordPress
As you can see, there are a lot of things to think about when it comes to optimising your website for search engines. Fortunately, the previous post has provided you with a great starting point for optimising your website.
Finally, keep in mind that search engine optimization is a long-term endeavour. The more time and effort you put into improving the SEO of your WordPress site, the more results you’ll see, but these results usually take time.
Is there anything you’d like to add that we didn’t mention? Have you noticed any changes since implementing some of the suggestions in this article? Please let us know what you think in the comments section below.
