SEO is one of the most important tools at your website’s disposal. When done well, you will be able to rise above the competition and grab people’s attention. This increases traffic and boosts conversion rates.

Here are 13 of the easiest ways to improve your WordPress SEO

Pick the Right Keywords

One of the most important parts of SEO is knowing which type of keywords you should be focusing on. Remember to factor in the amount of competition. If a term is getting millions of searches each month, the odds of a small company ranking number one is low. Yet, if you go for a term that is only getting 10,000 searches a month, you should be able to achieve the top result.

Check Your Load Speed

Many things will determine whether Google sends traffic to your site. But one of the most important is how long it will take for the site to load. This can often come down to your WordPress web development. There are lots of things you can do to boost speed. For example, you can compress your photos.

The longer your site takes to load, the less likely the algorithm will send traffic to it. Google recommends that your page loads in under two seconds. Any longer than this people will start to abandon the site.

Write a Compelling Description

When faced with a page of search results, the only thing users have to determine the quality of your posts is the description. You need to use it to convince users that you have what they are looking for. If you get a good SEO plugin, you’ll be able to see what your description will be. You can then alter the content, if needed, to make it more compelling.

Gather External Links

If you can get high-authority sites to link to your website, it shows the algorithms that you can be trusted. Because of this, it’s important to make sure that you can gather plenty of quality external links. There are a few ways you can do this. One of the best options is to reach out to the high-authority sites and ask if you can contribute a guest blog post.

Use Quality Outbound Links

You should also consider the type of outbound links you are using. Ideally, you should be linked to high-authority sites. This indicates to the search engines that your content is accurate, supported by scientific facts. There is an easy way to check how much authority the site holds, through this authority checker tool. You should try to use sites that score over 70.

Use Tags to Classify Your Content

It’s important to consider the way that people will use your site. Tags are a good way of doing this. If you write frequently about a topic, you can use these tags to connect all your posts. This makes it easy for people to navigate around your site, finding things that interest them. You can also use broader categories to classify your content. A WordPress development company can help you set up these systems.

This approach isn’t just good for users, it also benefits your SEO. This site organization makes it easier for the algorithms to know what your site is about. This allows them to find the ideal audience to present your content to.

Encourage Feedback

You should always be looking for ways to increase user engagement on your website. Because of this, a priority of your WordPress website design should be making it easy for users to add a comment.

There are a few ways these comments can boost your SEO. First, they give you a method of getting feedback from users. This will allow you to keep improving your content, so people want to keep coming back to your site. Furthermore, each comment increases the length of your posts. The longer the post becomes, the more likely it is that the search engine will recommend it, as it seems like it offers plenty of resources for the user. This is why the average length of blog posts keeps increasing. A few years ago, it was 1,400 words. Today, it’s around 2,500.

Avoid Using the Same Keywords Across Multiple Blog Posts

This is a common mistake of SEO. It can be tempting to try and rank for the same phrase with multiple pages. But this isn’t a good idea. It can often lead the ratings for each site to fluctuate. The algorithms don’t know which is one is the best.

If you notice that this is a problem, there are some ways that you can solve it. First, you can combine the two posts. This will create a more powerful piece of content, giving you a better chance of being ranked number one. If the keyword isn’t very competitive, you might want to change the keywords, so each of the articles is ranking for a different search term.

Use the Keyword Quickly

This tip stems from the way that the algorithm will ‘read’ your content. It goes from the top of the page to the bottom. Because of this, if you put the keyword into the first few paragraphs, the algorithm has a better chance of finding it.

This is also a good way to keep users on the page. It lets them know that they have found a blog that will suit their needs. Ultimately, this will keep people on your site, increasing the chances that they will make a purchase.

Remain Active

The search engines are looking to promote active sites. You don’t necessarily need to be posting every day. But it’s a bad idea to go a month without adding something to your blog. This has a few other benefits. For example, you will find it easier to build an engaged fan community. Over time, people will naturally be attracted to your site, checking for new content.

Try to Pick Long-Lasting Keywords

If you want to have reliable organic traffic, you should try to write about evergreen topics. Do this in a comprehensive post, linking to a lot of high-authority content. You’ll then need to use keywords that will last for a long time.

For example, “Games for lockdown” will start to lose relevancy once the pandemic ends. But “family games” will always be a popular search term.

Use an SSL Certificate

Using an SSL certificate is a factor that the algorithm considers when deciding where to rank your content. Though it’s not the most important factor, getting a certificate can still help you move up a few places.

Plus, it’s a good way of putting the people who use your site at ease. Without it, they will get a warning that your site isn’t secure. This can make people wary, especially if you are an e-commerce site.

Give it Time

Getting organic traffic from WordPress SEO is a process. It requires a lot of elements. It will require you to write high-quality articles. You’ll need to research keywords, finding the ones that deliver the best results. There will need to be a greater focus on WordPress web development. It will usually be a few weeks before the algorithms start to reward your efforts and you improve your rankings.

Conclusion

It’s estimated that over 90% of traffic comes through a search engine. So, implementing SEO strategies to improve your ranks is a good way of improving your website visibility and rank. The good news is that there are lots of simple improvements you can make today.