Improve SEO on WordPress
Do you use WordPress for your website or blog? Want your site to rank higher in search results for targeted keywords and phrases?
On this page, we’ll talk about the importance of SEO and how you can improve SEO on WordPress to boost your site’s ranking in search engine results.
What is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization refers to the process by which a website is optimized to rank higher in search results for targeted keywords and phrases.
Basically, SEO includes anything you do to improve your website so that it achieves a higher ranking.
SEO is valuable for any company, no matter your size or industry, and it helps search spiders discover and index new pages.
Why is SEO important?
If people in your area search for products or services related to your company, you want your business to appear at the top of search results, ahead of the competition.
Using SEO, you can position your company where your most important prospects are searching online.
Ultimately, this will help your business attract and convert more leads, resulting in increased revenue for your company.
Tips for improving SEO on WordPress
Many businesses host their websites or blogs on WordPress, one of the best content management systems when it comes to SEO.
Let’s look at some specific tips you can implement today to improve your SEO on WordPress.
Use optimized themes
WordPress themes use codes to create various layouts and designs, and Google sifts through the code to uncover relevant content.
If you have lots of code on your pages, you will have less room for optimized content and targeted keywords.
Additionally, since website speed is a ranking factor for Google, choosing a fast-performing theme will help to boost your search rankings.
Set your permalinks
In WordPress, the default setting for permalinks isn’t SEO-friendly.
Instead of http://yourwebsite.com/page-id?322/, set your permalink to http:yourwebsite.com/seo-for-small-business/.
You can also change your settings to Post Name (/%postname%/) or use /%category%/%postname%/ to improve your WordPress permalinks for SEO purposes.
Use header tags
You can also incorporate HTML elements, like header tags, into your WordPress posts to highlight important information.
Header tags make it easier for search spiders to interpret your content, and they also help humans pick up on important information in your posts.
Simply switch from visual to text editor in WordPress to incorporate HTML elements.
Optimize your image files
Google displays both text and images on its results pages, and including relevant images in your posts can boost your rankings.
In addition, it’s important to name your image files appropriately. Instead of naming your file “H234JL.jpg,” you can create a more descriptive title, such as “central-park-new-york-city.” Including keywords in the names of your photo files can help improve your rankings in search results for those terms.
You can also create alt and title tags to better optimize your images.
Create an XML sitemap
Including an XML sitemap will help search engines better index your WordPress site.
Sitemaps make it much easier for crawlers to uncover the complete structure of your site. And WordPress plugins, like Google XML Sitemaps can simplify the job. This plugin supports WordPress-generated pages, and custom URLs.
In addition, it notifies major search engines each time you post about new content, helping them to discover and index new pages.
Use an SEO plugin
You can also consider adding an SEO plugin, such as Yoast, to your WordPress site.
This plugin includes everything from a snippet editor to real-time page analysis. With SEO plugins, you can ensure that your page content is optimized for search, create helpful meta descriptions, generate an XML sitemap, and more.
SEO plans from WebFX
WebFX is an award-winning leader in the SEO industry.
We’ll work with your company to understand your goals, and our team of SEO experts will create a custom plan designed to boost your rankings, attract more site visitors, and increase conversions.
And we offer guaranteed SEO services! So if you don’t see results, we’ll give you your money back.
We also publish our SEO prices to help you make informed decisions about our plans. Don’t see a plan that works for you? We’ll work to create a custom SEO plan to meet your business goals.
At WebFX, we’re dedicated to our clients, and it shows.
Want to learn more?
Interested in learning more about how you can improve your WordPress SEO?
Contact WebFX for more information and to receive a free quote. We work with hundreds of businesses across the United States, and we would love to work with you!
What are you waiting for? Start improving your SEO to drive qualified traffic to your website today.
*Last updated: 1/21/22
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