This guide will teach you all you need to know about SEO for your fresh new WordPress website.
Let’s get started right away:
- What Is WordPress And Why Do I Need SEO For My New Website?
- Checklist of SEO Fundamentals
- WordPress SEO Tips: Getting Your Website to the Next Level
#1: Using WordPress to Create a New Website
WordPress powers the majority of the websites you visit on a daily basis, including BBC America, Time.com, and TechCrunch. WordPress powers 35% of the internet, including the majority of blogs, news sites, and social networking services. WordPress is used to build the official websites of several well-known brands. This is why so many web designers rely on it as a go-to option.
WordPress was originally designed for blogging, but it swiftly evolved into a versatile and powerful platform for operating full websites. By 2020, the platform may also be utilized as an eCommerce platform.
Reliable hosting providers
Your website should be hosted by a reputable company – site performance, uptime, and security are all crucial factors to consider when selecting a host.
In addition to sluggish loading times, low uptime and security flaws can have a severe impact on the SEO performance of your WordPress site. Choose the greatest technology for your needs, not the cheapest one.
If you don’t know where to begin, you might want to examine these possibilities. WordPress recommends three hosting companies.
SEO-friendly WordPress themes
When you install WordPress, the Twenty Twenty theme is installed by default. This one, on the other hand, is unlikely to be used for your website.
When you install WordPress, the Twenty Twenty theme is installed by default. This one, on the other hand, is unlikely to be used for your website.
It is typical for themes to contain scripts and plugins that you will never use, which slows down your site. Despite the fact that the majority of themes promise to be SEO-friendly, many come with scripts and plugins that you won’t require. Before installing a theme, run its demo with Google’s web.dev tool to uncover potential performance and SEO concerns.
WordPress with a free SEO plugin
The first step in optimizing your site is to install an SEO plugin. Both of them are completely free to download and install.
Permalinks that are search engine friendly
It is essential for your WordPress site to have the most SEO-friendly URL structure possible. URLs can be organized in a variety of ways, and you must ensure that you select the correct one. It uses URLs like this by default: https://domain.com/?p=123. In addition to being search engine friendly, the URLs provide no indication of what the sites are about.
You may alter the URL structure by going to Settings > Permalinks.
The most popular permalink choice is ‘Post name.’
Check Google Search Console to ensure that your XML sitemap is integrated into your website.
If your site hasn’t previously been confirmed in Google Search Console, you should do it right now. If you’ve never used Google Search Console before, you can learn how to do so in our comprehensive tutorial.
After completing the verification stages, pick the ‘HTML tag’ technique. Next, go to SEO > General > Webmaster Tools and pick the Yoast plugin.
After you have confirmed your site, you should submit the XML sitemap under the ‘Sitemaps’ page. Finally, press the submit button.
#2 Checklist of SEO Fundamentals
Some fundamental ideas are as follows:
- Google Console and Google Analytics must be installed on your website.
- Installing and Configuring the SEO Plugin
- Sitemap creation and distribution
- Ensure that Google has indexed your website.
It’s not as often as you may believe that a website isn’t truly indexed by Google. In fact, you might be shocked at how frequently these de-indexings occur as a result of errors made by developers when migrating code from a staging environment to a live environment. You may use the Semrush site audit tool to guarantee that search engines can crawl and index your website.
Start a crawl for internet users to see your site; if this is prohibited, search engines will not be able to see it. Check that your primary pages that should be indexed can be indexed so that you don’t have to deal with problems afterwards.
Performing keyword research
- Competitors, you must be aware of
- By using Keyword Overview, you can research goods, services, and your rivals, as well as identify what your important “$” phrases are.
- To locate long-tail keywords, use the keyword magic tool.
- Increase the speed of your website.
- Websites that are mobile-friendly are vital.
#3 WordPress Site Optimization Suggestions
Page headings should be improved.
In addition, the page title sets your H1 header and creates your default URL. Is this something you’re unfamiliar with?
By using the H1 header, both users and search engines should be able to comprehend what your website is about. Similar to the title of a book. It is normal practice to use an H1 heading (the page title), but you should also use H2 – H6 headers since they provide structure and make the content easier to read.
An H1 may be the title of your book, and an H2 could be a chapter. The tags that follow are subheadings. Put your core keywords and variations in page headers, but don’t overdo it or include a term where it doesn’t belong.
Internal links must be utilized
Internal linking will assist people to traverse your website more effectively, in addition to establishing a topic’s relevance between multiple pages on your site and transmitting authority obtained via external links.
You can simply link to other pages inside WordPress. Select the text to link (the anchor text for your link) and press the “link” button. You may then paste a URL or search for it within your site.
Image File Names Should Be Optimized
Images and rich media should be used in your content. In fact, Backlinko research discovered a link between putting at least one picture on a website and higher ranks.
It’s all too simple to just submit a snapshot or image with a meaningless file name, and it’s something we don’t often notice, but we should.
Before uploading a picture to the WordPress media library, be sure to use optimal file names — this helps to provide more context to a page. Instead of /image123.jpg, use /big-dog-bed.jpg to see an image of a huge dog bed. It’s easy; make sure the image’s file name accurately represents what it depicts.
There’s no doubt that WordPress is one of the most SEO-friendly CMSs available, which is one of the reasons it’s so popular. It is not just user-friendly, but it is also simple to incorporate a variety of SEO methods by a local SEO agency to utilize a small number of amazing plugins.
You’ve made a wise decision if you’re using WordPress. By following the procedures outlined above, you will be well on your way to outranking your opponents.
