If you have a website, understand that over one billion websites worldwide compete for the same small webspace and search engine ranking. Ranking gets more complicated when you are in a more competitive niche such as health, fitness, and beauty.
To beat your competition, you have to prove your relevance to search engine crawlers and meet your visitors’ expectations. Here are WordPress SEO tips to increase search engine rankings.
Use a Reliable SEO Plugin
To rank highly for every published page, use a reliable SEO plugin to boost the platform’s already installed SEO features. Yoast makes an excellent choice as it enables you to optimize every post with relevant keywords.
Make Your Site Visible to Search Engines
WordPress has an inbuilt option that blocks search engines from crawling or ranking your site. When it’s on, you’ll receive little or no online visibility. If you suspect this is affecting your ranking, go to Settings, Readings, and check the search engine visibility button if it’s ticked. It should be blank for maximum visibility.
Carry Out In-depth Keyword Research
Keyword research will enable you to create content your visitors are looking for and at the same time remain relevant to search engine crawlers. With keyword research, you’ll find out your competitor’s activities, gauge content success, and understand market dynamics.
Create Useful Content
The reason you get site visitors is that they believe you have something they need. After analyzing your target market needs and expectations, take time to create valuable, easy-to-understand, but engaging content that will keep them glued to the page for long.
Add The Site to Google Search Console
Having your site on Google search console enables you to detect problems fast and analyze your site performance on search engines. You’re also be alerted on any site errors such as broken links allowing you to sort them quickly restoring traffic.
Set Up Custom Permalinks
The default WordPress permalinks can be confusing to visitors and search engines. Changing the settings to allow customizable links makes your site more user and search engine-friendly.
Use SEO Friendly Themes
WordPress has many SEO-friendly themes you can use to rank your site quickly. Ensure the theme loads fast, has easy-to-navigate options, and is appealing to your target traffic.
Use a Mobile-Friendly Theme
Google wants to find a mobile version of your site similar in content and quality as the primary site. Choose a theme with an easy-to-navigate mobile version that will make your site rank highly. It also pays to optimize your site for mobile traffic.
Use a Reliable Host
Going with a WordPress customized hosting package prevents misconfigurations that can affect your site performance. Also, slow servers affect traffic flow to the site. The bounce rate will be higher as visitors opt for more reliable options.
Optimize the Images
Images are a valuable addition to your content as they give your audience a more engaging and captivating narrative. To reap the most from the images, use the alternative text option to optimize them with competitive keywords.
Discovering the best tools, including plugins and themes that work best for your site, might take some time. Be patient as you find out what works best for your site, as no two sites are the same.