In this post, we’ll cover 8 steps you need to follow in order to make your WordPress website SEO-friendly (with a few bonus tips).
In my latest blog post, I’ve talked about the top 10 free WordPress themes you can use for your current online business or next big project. As a matter of fact, after you choose the right domain name for your business and the proper web hosting solution, you should make every effort to create a seamless website that everyone would like to spend time on. However, even though your website is flawless, none of it matters if no one can find it. So the next step is to optimize your website!
Whether you’re a blogger, an artist, or just starting a small business online, or you have a big retail or wholesale web store, or maybe you’re moving your business online, what’s important is that all of us have the same goal in mind. And that is to increase the number of visitors to our website thereby increasing the number of potential customers. And to do that, there are several simple SEO steps that you need to follow.
To get your project to the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) page, you need to do everything in your power! Moreover, we will try to help you. If you’re wondering, “How do I SEO my WordPress site?” we’ve got you covered. We have simplified the entire SEO process for you by providing the best SEO practices checklist for your WordPress project.
☑️ Do In-Depth Keywords Research
First of all, the first thing you need to do is perform a competitive analysis. Explore for what keywords your biggest competitors are ranking. But be careful. If your website is relatively new or lacks authority, you should pay attention to the keyword difficulty (KD). In fact, you need to eliminate keywords with a KD greater than 50. You can use this superb tool from ahrefs for this purpose. And below, you can watch a short demo of this tool.
Make extensive keyword research, and carefully select the right keywords that you want to use.
Bonus Tip: If you want to properly do your WordPress SEO, use only one primary keyword per page!
☑️ Always Analyze Your Titles
Consider the page title in the same way you would a book title. Take the fact that we commonly judge books only by their title. Therefore, you should put your effort into creating a title that stands out. That will improve your organic CTR (Click-Through-Rate). And always make sure that you have your focused keyword in your title! Better yet, make sure that your keyword is at the beginning of the title.
Bonus Tip: Focus on improving the clickability of your title! You should ask yourself if the visitors will also think it’s worth clicking on your title.
☑️ Use Just One H1 Tag on Every Page
Each page on your website should have an H1 tag. Better yet, each page should have only one H1 tag. This is critical because search engine bots can use these tags to identify the most relevant content on a particular page. Moreover, if you use more H1 tags, the bots will get confused and won’t know what content to rate you for.
You can use ScreamingFrog SEO spider to see which pages on your website don’t have an H1 tag. If you find such, add the H1 tag right away.
Bonus Tip: Use descriptive headings.
☑️ Enhance Your WordPress SEO by Optimizing Your Content
Do your best when creating content. It would be best if you brush up on your copywriting skills. Create content that is relevant to the keywords you’ve chosen. First, pick the topic you want to write about. Next, make your keyword analysis, as we mentioned in the first step of this SEO checklist, and choose your focus keyword. After that, you can begin creating comprehensive content that will, first and foremost, provide the reader with information about which he has visited your site.
Bonus Tip: Keep in mind that keyword stuffing is bad for your SEO. Keywords should be used carefully and without exaggeration.
☑️ Put Your Primary Keyword in Your URL
Even if it’s not as influential as having the primary keyword in the title, placing your focused keyword in the URL is also a good practice because it can improve your website’s SEO. Bear in mind, though, that you should not go overboard. For example, our primary keyword for this article is “WordPress SEO” and our URL slug is “wordpress-seo-checklist”. However, do not use keyword stuffing in your URLs, for instance, “wordpress-seo-wp-search-engine-optimization-wordpressseo-checklist”.
Bonus Tip: Try to use shorter URLs! Although it has nothing to do with SEO, using shorter URLs is beneficial for the user experience.
☑️ WordPress Helps You to Easily Optimize Your Images
Always use unique HQ images, compressed and sized appropriately. Google recommends using accurate and descriptive file names, titles, and captions. So, before uploading an image to your site, you should think about optimizing the file name first. Upload your photos to your WordPress Media Library with optimized file names. Next, set descriptive alt tags, captions, and titles to your images as soon as you upload them, and then you’re ready to use the images on your website.
Bonus Tip: It’s worth noting that alt tags, image descriptions, and captions aren’t changed automatically from Media Library to the page where the images are placed.*
* We once ran into this issue with one of our blog articles. And we ended up with an image that didn’t have an alt tag because the alt tag was not changed automatically.
☑️ Video Content Should Not Be Overlooked
Google encourages the use of videos on websites, so when you have the chance to use them, take advantage of them. First and foremost, use a video that is relevant to your content. And if you can, create your own valuable video content. Make your video responsive and HQ. Take your time when you’re choosing the right platform for hosting your video. That’s important from an SEO perspective also.
Bonus Tip: Use your primary keywords in the title of your videos.
☑️ Use Internal and External Links on Your Website
It is good WordPress SEO practice to use internal and external links in your content.
When you’re using internal links in your content, you should use descriptive and keyword-rich anchor text. Attempt to avoid link stuffing, and use only the links that might be helpful, relevant, and add value to your users.
Bonus Tip: Set links to open in a new tab and perform regular checks to see if any of the links you’ve been using are broken.
Takeaway
Do not expect instant results! You must go through this process step by step. Please try not to skip any of the steps. Because every step, big or small, will help you improve your SEO. And if you need further assistance, you can install Yoast SEO, the most popular WordPress plugin ever.
Also, there is one more thing that significantly will help you improve your SEO. And that is choosing a web hosting service that is both fast and reliable for your project. And we’re offering four WordPress hosting plans with some awesome features.
It’s time to start optimizing your website! 🚀
