There is no reason to have a feature-rich website with a stunning layout and design if it doesn’t rank well in a search engine results page. Your website is only successful when people can find it easily, and the quickest way to achieve this is to optimize it for SEO. WordPress is one of the most SEO-friendly platforms you can build your website with. It comes with a lot of SEO features built in that can significantly improve your website’s visibility. However, you still have your own role to play if you want to increase brand awareness and compete favorably in the market.
The following are techniques that will help you boost your WordPress website’s visibility and, conversely, increase your conversion rate and sales.
1. Create and Submit a Sitemap
A site map is an important SEO element that helps search engines index your website fast and properly. In simple terms, it is a structural representation of all the links on your website. There are two different types of sitemaps you need to create for your WordPress website. One is called an XML sitemap: this is used by search engines to understand and index the links on your website. The other is an html sitemap which is used by visitors to your site.
There are several plugins, such as Google XML Sitemaps, that make creating these sitemaps easy. Once you have created the XML sitemap, the next step is to submit it to Google search console.
2. Set your permalinks
In WordPress, permalinks are what visitors see in their address bar when they visit any page on your website. These are essentially links that lead to different areas on your website. They are also used by search engines to index your website, and by other websites to build backlinks.
The only problem is that WordPress comes with a default permalink setting that is not search-engine friendly. Fortunately, you can change this configuration to suit your preference. The permalink settings can be found when you go to settings and then permalinks. In WordPress, permalinks are set to default, however, it is better practice to change it from default to post name. This way, your links inherit the names of your pages and post. This makes it easier for search engines and users to understand the purpose of the page without clicking on it. By changing your permalink structure to post name or custom, you have effectively changed your links to SEO-friendly URLs.
3. Use Google Analytics
Google analytics is a well-known tool developed by Google that allows you to keep track of, and monitor, your website traffic. With Google analytics, you can find out where your traffic is coming from, user behavior and the areas of your website where visitors spend the most time. With this information, you will be able to prepare better content that suits the needs and preferences of your target visitors.
Enjoying the benefits of these features is easy in WordPress; you simply need to install the available Google analytics plugin. You can also use this resource to identify broken links, error pages and identify sources of spam. If these conditions are not resolved, it can result in your website getting penalized by Google.
4. Use search engine optimised themes
As pointed out previously, WordPress makes it very easy to build a search engine optimized website. One of the reasons for this is the tons of SEO optimized free and premium themes you can install on your website. A WordPress theme optimized for SEO has several advantages over the regular, yet stunning theme, you may be using. From the get go, the code is written with search engines in mind. This makes it possible for your website to load faster. It makes no difference how beautiful your layout and design is, studies have shown that visitors will abandon your website if it takes more than a few seconds to load. SEO optimized WordPress themes also make it easier to insert the relevant codes and analytics that will boost your SEO. Don’t forget that you can also easily integrate Meta descriptions and titles directly into your content, to help your post rank high for relevant search.
5. Use SEO plugins
Another way to boost SEO on your WordPress website is to install plugins designed to improve the visibility of your website. These plugins are tiny code files that you install on your WordPress site, which will make it easier to manage different SEO activities. Some of these plugins can also help you generate the much-needed XML plugin for your website. It doesn’t matter if you are a WordPress rookie or an advanced WordPress user, these plugins are easy to use and will take care of everything from page analysis to adding Meta information. You can install free plugins which come with limited features or get premium for more functionality.
6. Host right
Since 2016, Google has been using website load speed as a ranking factor for SERP. This means that your SEO efforts are incomplete if your website can’t load fast enough. As I pointed out above, one of the most popular causes of webpage abandonment is slow speed. Therefore your website needs to be fast enough to meet with the expectations of your visitors. Apart from the different techniques you can use to boost your WordPress SEO, it is also vital that you work with the right hosting provider. A good hosting provider has the features needed to ensure that your website performs optimally. For instance, you will have almost zero downtime and quick response to technical issues, as well as up to date hardware and software for your website security. Wherever your business is, anywhere in the world, there are good web hosting providers that you can work with. In New Zealand for instance, you can find reasonable hosting options at https://www.freeparking.co.nz/web-hosting.
Wrapping it up
There are a huge amount of other techniques and tips you can use to boost the visibility of your WordPress website. The 6 explored above, however, will make for a good place to start. It is essential that you give your website the best opportunity to be found on the internet. Not only will this increase your credibility and trust, it can significantly increase your sales, leading to more profit and expansion.
