WordPress is one of the most SEO-friendly web platforms around, which is why it’s the go-to choice for businesses and hobbyists alike. While there’s plenty of potential, your rankings won’t improve simply by using WordPress itself. There’s a little more to it than that! In this article, you’ll see WordPress SEO made easy, check out 6 tips and tricks to boost search rankings.
WordPress gives you a headstart, but it’s what you do with it that counts. So how do you do that? Keep reading for our top six tips and tricks for using WordPress and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to boost your traffic and search rankings.
Check Your Search Engine Visibility Setting
This first one is the simplest, but you’ll be surprised to learn just how many people forget to flip this switch and then wonder why their site isn’t showing up in Google Search. WordPress has a built-in visibility feature that enables you to hide your website from search engines while you work on your website.
It’s important to monitor this feature from time to time and make sure it stays unchecked. It’s easy to leave this on accidentally, and this one instantly makes your website unavailable. This is the first thing to check if your website fails to appear in search results.
So, Go to Settings – Search Engine Visibility and make sure the box is clear.
Create A Mobile-Friendly Site: WordPress SEO Easy Tips
Google has been using mobile-first indexing since 2016. So, this means Google uses your website’s mobile version to determine its search ranking.
Fortunately, WordPress versions 3.8 and up are already mobile responsive. While this is a great place to start, there are still a few more steps to take before your mobile site is SEO-friendly.
You will need to start by choosing a mobile responsive theme. All of the WordPress themes here at Visualmodo, for example, are responsive and mobile-friendly, which means you enjoy a responsive site that is consistent across desktop and mobile devices.
Another way to optimise your site for mobile devices is to install a mobile plugin. The most popular WordPress mobile plugin is WPtouch. WPtouch can turn your regular theme into a responsive theme – with a few caveats: this isn’t a bespoke theme, rather a one-size-fits-all solution – that ensures your site passes Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
If you’re struggling with a non-responsive theme, then WPtouch should give you the quick-fix you need, but choosing a mobile-friendly theme during the setup process is a much better way to guarantee long-term search success.
Speed Up Your Site
Website speed plays a key role in the user experience. Users won’t stick around if your website is slow, and this will hurt your search rankings. While there are several ways to optimise your site speed, WordPress won’t automatically do this on your behalf. The following actions are fundamental in maintaining a good site speed:
Testing: WordPress SEO Easy Tips
Run your website through GTMetrix to test your website speed and identify the issues slowing your site down.
Installing and enabling WP Super Cache
Caching is important for reducing the load on your hosting server. So, can impact your site speed. Thankfully, there’s a plugin for that! Here’s how to install it:
- Go to Plugins – Add New and type WP Super Cache into the search bar.
- Click on WP Super Cache and then click Install Now.
- Go to Settings – WP Super Cache and select Caching On
- Click Update Status
Optimising images
Image size can significantly impact page speed.
Before uploading images to your WordPress gallery, you should:
- Crop unnecessary areas of the image.
- Resize them using a free online editing tool or paid plugin.
- Finally, make sure they’re in JPEG or PNG format.
Use Yoast SEO ForOptimisation
Many SEO plugins are available for WordPress, but Yoast SEO is the easiest, and the most widely used. Yoast SEO uses a traffic light system to analyze your content and alert you to areas that need improvement.
Yoast SEO’s features include:
- Keyword or key phrase optimization.
- Fast indexing.
- Prompting for content that needs updating.
- Readability and content length analysis.
- Alerts for duplicate content, keywords, and URLs.
- Suggestions for internal linking.
- In addition, mnaging redirects to prevent 404 Not Found pages.
- Background technical configuration.
- Areas for optimising your site’s SEO, including Titles and Metas.
Installing Yoast SEO is easy.
- Select Plugins – Add New on your WordPress dashboard.
- Type Yoast SEO in the search bar.
- Click Install Now.
- Click Activate.
Set an SEO-Friendly Permalink Structure
The default URL in WordPress isn’t exactly SEO-friendly. Rather than manually adjusting your URLs for every post and page, change the default Permalink setting to the Post Name structure.
The Post Name permalink setting produces the most SEO-friendly URL structure. This setting automatically makes your URLs readable by cutting their length and including your post name or keywords.
Go to Settings – Permalink and check the Post Name option.
Fix Broken Links
Broken links can seriously hurt your SEO. Luckily, online tools make it easy to find broken links in seconds and direct you to which ones need fixing. You can run your website through the Online Broken Link Checker to stay on top of broken links and prevent them from impacting your search rankings.
Or…
You could install another plugin!
The WordPress Broken Link Checker plugin does all the manual work for you, continuously testing your site’s internal and external links. Where there’s a broken link that needs fixing, WordPress Broken Link Checker will send a notification to your dashboard and direct you to the link.
Use WordPress For Easy SEO
SEO is a multi-faceted digital marketing strategy where every little thing counts. As the most SEO-friendly CMS available, it makes sense to use WordPress if you take your search rankings seriously. While WordPress alone is not a substitute for a long-term SEO strategy, the tools, plugins, and features will maximize your efforts and set you up for search success.
