Complete user-friendliness and all-around support for SEO are the qualities of WordPress that makes it the most popular content management system today. Extensive SEO support even when implementing out of the box SEO strategies is something that only WordPress can offer which is why 29% of websites use WordPress. Joomla is also a good CMS, but its share is only 3% in terms of user preference. WordPress is available in two variants, wordpress.com and wordpress.org and you can use both tools for creating websites, but for SEO purposes it is advisable to use the latter due to its versatility, SEO support, and branding.
WordPress.org is much superior as it offers thousands of SEO friendly and responsive themes and allows using the Google Search Console as well as alter code if needed and above all use SEO plugins that provide limitless options to innovate and progress. WordPress.org is SEO optimized already but to cover all the SEO bases you need to implement the following strategies and use some selective plugins to give more teeth to the SEO campaign.
1. Place Keywords in Header Tags and Title
Judicious use of keywords helps to realise its true worth. Use keywords throughout your content but take care not to use a single keyword again and again. Use a variety of keywords and phrases closely connected to the topic of the content or post with a focus on one main keyword phrase. Place this keyword phrase in the title tag which is the best location for the keyword to work effectively and do not forget to place it in the URL, too. Try to put the keywords at the beginning of the title as much as possible.
2. Use Static Permalink Structure
The default setting of the permalink or URL structure of WordPress is not much effective for SEO and as users you must change it to make it more SEO friendly. The permalink will now look more revealing to users who can quickly make out what the content is all about and enhances the click-through rates. WordPress allows users to make the change quite easily by choosing the Permalink Settings option under the Settings in the WordPress dashboard.
3. Be in Constant Touch with Google
To make Search engine optimization more effective you must ensure that your website is set up in Google Search Console so that you are always aware of any notifications and or warnings issued by Google. You will receive instant notification if Google encounters problems in crawling your website and even come to know in case it imposes some manual sanctions against your site. Some keywords that drive traffic to your site and even some of the links to your website are visible through the Search Console.
4. Create an XML Sitemap
XML sitemaps facilitate better site navigation by search engine crawlers although it can also do without it. Sitemaps ensure that the search engine bots do not leave out any content for indexing and helps to find it quickly. By using plugins like XML Sitemaps or Google XML Sitemaps, you can automatically generate a sitemap for your WordPress website. It automatically notifies Google whenever you add new content so that the sitemap remains up to date. For the best results, you must ensure that there is no disparity in the information contained in the sitemap and robots.txt. If you block a page in the robots.txt make sure to exclude it in the XML sitemap.
5. Try for Optimal Content-Length
There is no benchmark about the ideal content length for earning high ranks in search results. There is a notion that content of 2000+ words performs well in ranking high, but then again there is much shorter content too that figures in the top ranks. Instead of targeting some fixed content length, focus on creating exhaustive content that provides answers to the questions that the audience generally seeks. See what kind of content is ranking high for your chosen keywords to get some idea and review the content to understand if some betterment is possible without caring for the length. If you can answer the reader’s questions in just 500 words, then it is the best content length for you.
6. Go for the HTTPS site
Remember that every website owner is responsible for ensuring data protection of users. Users share personal data on websites when filling up contact forms or making payments and you incorporate adequate security measures in the website to make transactions wholly confidential and safe. You must use SSL or Secure Socket Layer protection for your website that encrypts user data and protects it. The security net protects any data left on the site by users. If your website is not secured, it will not display the sign HTTPS and Google will warn users that it is not a safe website. Your web host can help you to get your website secured.
7. Enhance Website Speed
Website speed or how soon a web page opens after clicking on the link is a critical factor that affects SEO performance. Everyone likes speedy websites, and you must ensure that pages open promptly on clicking so that it provides the better user experience. In addition, website speed is now a ranking factor, too. If it takes too long for a page to load, visitors will abandon it immediately.
By using Google’s Page Speed Insight tools, you can determine the current loading time on a scale of 1 to 100. It will also recommend what you should do to improve page speed either by compressing and optimising images or fixing browser caching. To tackle different aspects of page speed, you must use some plugins.
8. Give Emphasis to Link Building
Link building is still a powerful SEO strategy that you must pay full attention to it. If your website focuses on keywords with less than 10,000 searches every month, and most websites come under this category. Then it is most important to create an impressive backlink profile.
In addition, give due attention to internal links that help to spread link equity across the website.
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