Wondering how to improve the SEO of your WordPress Website? Then this article is for you.
Introduction
The term “search engine optimization” (SEO) is an acronym for “search engine optimization.” It’s a strategy used by website owners to boost traffic by enhancing search engine results.
Well, it’s not about deceiving Google or manipulating the system when it comes to SEO. It’s as simple as making a website with optimized code and design that makes it easier for search engines to find.
Thus, when people look on the internet for the topics you publish about, your SEO-optimized material will show up higher in the search results, resulting in more people visiting your website.
Importance of SEO
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The cornerstone of effective digital marketing tactics is search engine optimization (SEO). Besides, Search engine optimization (SEO) can make your website score higher in search engine results pages (SERP), resulting in more visibility and organic search traffic.
Furthermore, advanced techniques are used by Google and other search engines to comprehend and rank content properly in search results. Those algorithms, however, aren’t flawless, and they still require your help to figure out what your work is all about.
Search engines can’t be sure how to rank your content if it isn’t optimized. Your website will not appear immediately when the user searches for the topics you blog about, and you will miss out on all of those visitors.
Steps to SEO your WordPress website in 30 minutes:
1. Select a Reliable Web Hosting Company
You need to ensure your site is hosted by a reputable company – site performance, uptime, and security are all important factors to consider when choosing a host.
Poor availability and cybersecurity weaknesses can both lead to site quality concerns, and loading time has a direct effect on your WordPress SEO site’s performance. Don’t be lured to go with the cheapest option because you’ll be more likely to have problems with performance.
WordPress recommends three hosting companies, and it’s a good idea to look into these possibilities if you’re not sure where to begin.
2. Install a WordPress Theme that is SEO-Friendly
You’ll almost probably see the platform’s basic ‘Twenty Twenty’ theme when you initially install WordPress. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to use it for your website.
There are possibly thousands of free themes and many other paid themes available right from the dashboard; however, you would have to choose wisely or you may end up with one that isn’t SEO-friendly.
While many themes promise to be SEO-friendly, it’s not unusual for them to include scripts and plugins that you won’t use, slowing down the performance of a website. Run a theme demo with Google’s web. dev tool before downloading it to get an idea of effectiveness and SEO issues.
You can also check your site’s SEO friendliness using SEO Checker. There are numerous tools available in the market that you can use to check your SEO score.
3. Install a free SEO Plugin for WordPress.
You must first install an SEO plugin before you can begin optimizing your site. Fortunately, two main choices are frequently recommended and both are free to install:
i)SEO by Yoast
ii)SEO All-in-One Pack
Logging into the admin panel and going to the Plugins > Add new page along the left-hand menu is one approach to installing a plugin on WordPress SEO.
Once you’re there, look for the plugin you would like to install and click the ‘install now’ button. You must activate the plugin after the installation.
4. Set Your Favorite Domain
Your SEO will be unaffected by whether you choose https://domain.com or https://www.domain.com as your desired domain, but you must ensure that your site is available on only one of them, as Google contemplates these to be separate URLs.
To get started, go to Settings > General. You can select your favorite domain here.
After that, the other site will be redirected to your desired domain. If you’re establishing a new website, you can use either option, but if you’re updating an existing one, make sure to stick with the version you’ve always used.
As a separate note, check to ensure you have an SSL certificate installed and that your website is operating over HTTPS. If you don’t already have a certificate, talk to your web host or designer, or look into the free Let’s Encrypt solution.
5. Check your Site’s Visibility Setting
Make sure your site’s visibility settings are correct.
WordPress allows you to ‘dissuade search engines from crawling your site, therefore preventing it from ranking. This is a typical technique used by programmers to prevent a site from getting indexed while it is still under construction.
This barrier is more frequent than you may imagine being left in place after release. Under Settings > Reading, look at your site’s visibility settings.
At the end of the page, you’ll notice a checkbox. You must untick this box if it is checked.
6. Make SEO-Friendly Permalinks Available
You have a few choices for how URLs are formatted in WordPress SEO, and you also have to be sure you’re choosing the most SEO-friendly one.
WordPress employs URLs like this by default: https://domain.com/?p=123. You can see that these URLs are not at all search engine friendly, and you can’t tell what the site is about just by looking at the URL.
Fortunately, you can customize your URL structure by going to Settings > Permalinks.
For most websites, the permalinks must be set to ‘Post name.’
7. Upload Your XML Sitemap and Validate Your Site Using Google Search Console.
You’ll need to validate your site with Google Search Console if you haven’t already. If you’ve never done this before, our authoritative guide to Google Search Console will show you how.
Now, Choose the ‘HTML tag’ technique from the list of verification procedures. Go to SEO > General > Webmaster Tools to access the Yoast plugin. Then, in the ‘Google verification code’ box, paste the contents of the HTML tag.
So, after you’ve confirmed your website, go to the ‘Sitemaps’ tab and upload your XML sitemap. After that, you can send your sitemap location (sitemap.xml).
8. Conduct a Keyword Search
You won’t know which search terms to optimize your blog content for unless you conduct keyword research. Thus, keyword research should be the first step in any SEO effort, as it will help you design your site’s content as well as optimization. Also, Knowing the keywords you’re seeking to score the page for is critical if you’re starting afresh or adding new material to your site.
9. Install the SEMrush SEO Writing Assistant Plugin and Begin Writing Great Content
Install the SEO Writing Assistant plugin when you begin generating or optimizing the content on the website. The plugin will assist you in writing (or reviewing) content in an SEO-friendly manner and will provide recommendations and analyses based on your Google top 10 competitors for a specific term. Make sure your site’s visibility settings are correct.
Now, Simply input your targeted keyword(s) and click “get suggestions” to obtain a list of content improvement suggestions for your website. It may go without saying, but if you want your WordPress site to rank at the top of Google, you have to make sure you’re writing outstanding content. The SEO Writing Assistant will help in making sure your material is optimized and formatted in a search-engine-friendly manner, as well as suggesting extra keywords to include in your copy.
10. Set up Custom URLs for your Pages and Posts
By default, WordPress generates URLs based on the title of your page, which means they can be long and truncated in the SERPs.
Assume you’ve just published a piece of material named “The Best Shirts for Men” You’ll most likely wind up with a URL like https://domain.com/the-best-shirts-for-men, depending on how you set up your URL structure.
Furthermore, there’s no denying that WordPress is one of the most SEO-friendly content management systems available for WordPress SEO, which is one of the reasons for its popularity. It’s not only consumer-friendly, but it’s also simple to incorporate a variety of SEO strategies with just a few great plugins.
You’ve made a wise decision if you are using or planning to use WordPress. You’ll be in an excellent position to surpass your opponents if you follow the procedures above.
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