{"id":3718,"date":"2015-05-08T04:49:09","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T04:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpopal.com\/?p=3718"},"modified":"2015-05-08T04:49:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T04:49:09","slug":"seo-quick-wins-six-on-site-seo-strategies-for-wordpress-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/seo-quick-wins-six-on-site-seo-strategies-for-wordpress-users\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Quick Wins: Six On-Site SEO Strategies for WordPress Users"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays,<a href=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> Envanto&nbsp;market<\/a> is very popular with all software companies with a big number of fan and readers. They have developed many qualified themes in kinds of open sources to publish on Themeforest. From they can earn profit from this global market. <a class=\"blue\" href=\"https:\/\/wpopal.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Opal WordPress<\/a> is a faithful cooperator of Envato market, we always follow their good blogs to get more knowledge in many different fields. Accidentally, we visit their blog and read a great article of SEO strategies. We think it is really useful for all WordPress Users, so today Opal will share this article <strong>&#8220;SEO Quick Wins: Six On-Site SEO Strategies for WordPress Users&#8221;<\/strong> on our blog. Hoping all Opal&#8217;s customers in personal and readers in general can read and follow those tips. Once again, thanks so much the author <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sqwriting.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Shaun Quarton<\/a>&nbsp;writing a wonderful blog like so!<br \/>\nBefore you concern yourself with specific SEO strategies, first you need the right foundations<br \/>\n<strong>SEO starts with a good website<\/strong>.<br \/>\nYou might think the search engines only exist to help people find <em>your<\/em> website, but of course, that isn\u2019t the case. There\u2019s a lot of competition vying for that same top ranking spot.<br \/>\nGoogle cares about one thing: creating the best possible experience for its users by helping searchers find what they\u2019re looking for. If they can do this, more people will use Google, and more people will click on their paid ads \u2014<em>that\u2019s <\/em>Google\u2019s business model. To Google, it doesn\u2019t matter which website ranks top, just that the best site for each search query wins.<br \/>\nBut Google understands your Google experience doesn\u2019t start and end with the&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Search_engine_results_page\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">SERPs<\/a>: it continues <em>after <\/em>you\u2019ve clicked a link. Google is judged by the quality and relevance of the page you\u2019re taken to, too.<br \/>\nSo if I search for \u201c<em>Manchester United<\/em>\u201d and land on a rival team\u2019s website, I\u2019m going to be pretty disappointed \u2013 the site just isn\u2019t relevant, and that\u2019s Google\u2019s fault.<br \/>\nEqually, though, I\u2019d be just as disappointed if my search took me to \u201c<em>The Greatest Manchester United Blog in the Whole Wide Universe Written by John from his Bedroom<\/em>\u201c. Sure, the relevancy is there, but the quality is (I assume) lacking.<br \/>\nMost SEO strategies focus on relevancy. In other words, how your website communicates with Google to rank for the right keywords. And this <em>is<\/em>important, and we\u2019ll get to that soon.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Website Quality is Most Important<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>However, before you build a single link, you need to get your own house in order \u2013 you need to get your website right. Google factors in several important metrics when judging your site. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Load times: <\/strong>who likes a <a href=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/tips\/wordpress-speed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">slow website<\/a>?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bounce rate: <\/strong>if people leave your site immediately it indicates a lack of relevancy, low quality, or an unusable website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Time on site:<\/strong> more engaged visitors will spend longer on a website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With this in mind, your first step towards building an optimized website is to make sure it\u2019s somewhere people want to visit. I would focus on several things:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>1. Great content: <\/strong>your content <em>is <\/em>your website, so you need to make sure it\u2019s as good as it can possibly be \u2014 500-word, keyword-stuffed articles just won\u2019t cut it anymore. At the very least, it should be on a par with competitors\u2019 content.<\/li>\n<li><strong>2. Well designed: <\/strong>people are more likely to spend time on an aesthetically pleasing website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>3. Quick loading: <\/strong>this is a ranking factor singled out by Google, so you\u2019d better make sure your website is lightning quick. (I wrote about this in more detail&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/tips\/wordpress-speed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>4. Usable: <\/strong>it should be easy for a first-time visitor to figure out how to navigate your website<\/li>\n<li><strong>5. Working: <\/strong>pretty self-explanatory, everything on site should be working as intended.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you get these things right, your on-site metrics will improve. This will communicate to Google that you have an excellent site, worthy of ranking at the top of the SERPs.<br \/>\nIn my opinion, many webmasters just don\u2019t appreciate this. They\u2019re too concerned with black-hat techniques to give their website a ranking it doesn\u2019t really deserve. That might work for a bit, and you could even get some traffic, but if your site isn\u2019t up to scratch, what\u2019s the point of all that traffic? You\u2019re unlikely to convert customers, anyway.<br \/>\nGet your website in order, and you\u2019ll start ranking well naturally.<br \/>\nThat said, there are still a few things you can do to give your website a helping hand in the SERPs. Here are six on-site optimization tips that every WordPress webmaster should know.<\/p>\n<h2><b>1. Keyword Research<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Your keywords are the phrases you want to rank for. Personally, I prefer not to get too bogged down with keyword research \u2013 I\u2019d rather write an article naturally, and if I use a keyword, all the better. However, there is a place for keyword research, especially for new websites looking to gain traction.<br \/>\nIn a perfect world, you\u2019d be ranking for keywords with millions of searches \u2014 you can check search volume using the free <a title=\"Google Keyword Planner\" href=\"https:\/\/adwords.google.com\/KeywordPlanner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google Keyword Planner tool<\/a>. Unfortunately, with great search volumes comes great competition (usually, anyway).<\/p>\n<p class=\"alert alert--blue\"><strong>My tip<\/strong>: be realistic. Try to find a keyword with a modest number of searches, and one with lower competition. A long tail keyword might only have 20 searches per month, but if it has enough buyer intent, it might convert exceptionally well \u2013 this can make it the ideal search term for landing your first customers, and long tail keywords often have far less competition.<\/p>\n<h2><b>2. Use a Keyword in Post Titles<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Whether you\u2019ve thoroughly done your keyword research or not, you should always have a keyword in mind for each post. When you\u2019ve settled on your keyword, you should always use it in your post title \u2013 the post title communicates with the search engines what your content is about.<br \/>\nGoogle prioritizes keywords at the start of the title, so use it first if it fits naturally.<\/p>\n<h2><b>3. Permalinks<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>WordPress\u2019 default permalink setting is not very handy for SEO. The default setting will give you a URL which looks like this:<br \/>\n<em>www.example.com\/?p=123<\/em><br \/>\nIf your post is about how to bake cupcakes, where is the SEO benefit in the above URL? It\u2019s nonexistent, right? The following URL is far better:<br \/>\n<em>www.example.com\/baking-cupcakes<\/em><br \/>\nThis URL immediately tells the search engines \u2013 and the user \u2013 what the article is about. From an SEO viewpoint, that\u2019s good.<br \/>\nSo, which of the WordPress permalink structure options should you choose? Well, there\u2019s no right answer, but there are definitely two wrong answers: <em>default<\/em>and <em>numeric.<\/em><br \/>\nChoose one of the structures with the post name in the list \u2013 <em>post name, day and name, <\/em>or<em> month and name. <\/em>If you want the date in there it won\u2019t hurt, and could be beneficial for time sensitive searches, like \u201c<em>how to bake cupcakes 2015<\/em>\u201c.<br \/>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-40402 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Permalinks.jpg\" alt=\"Permalinks\" width=\"660\" height=\"343\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<h2><b>4. Optimize Images<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Images are an underestimated component of SEO. For a start, they will impact how quickly your website loads, and we already know that speed is a ranking factor.<br \/>\nWith this in mind, make sure your <a href=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/tips\/image-performance-tips-for-authors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">images aren\u2019t too big<\/a> \u2013 less than 100kb is a good target. You can reduce file size by cropping an image down to display size, and by using a form of lossless compression \u2013 I like the <a title=\"WP Smush.it\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugifns\/wp-smushit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">WP Smush.it plugin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"alert alert--blue\"><strong>My Tip<\/strong>: if you\u2019re using multiple images per page, don\u2019t use the same keyword for each alt text, or you could be penalized.<\/p>\n<p>You can further optimize your images via the WordPress media library, or by clicking <em>Add Media <\/em>when creating a new post\/page.<br \/>\nAn image\u2019s <em>Alt Text <\/em>is most important for image optimization \u2013 this communicates to the search engines what the image is about. It makes sense to pick something related to your content, or even your targeted keyword.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40400\" src=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Image-optimization.jpg\" alt=\"Image optimization\" width=\"300\" height=\"448\" title=\"\"><br \/>\nIt\u2019s debated whether the image title impacts SEO, but I always give my images a relevant name \u2013 this will also improve the organization of your media library, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"alert alert--blue\"><strong>My Tip<\/strong>: if you\u2019ve used your main keyword in the alt text, you don\u2019t need to re-use it in the image title. Use something else instead, and you could rank for two keywords.<\/p>\n<h2><b>5. Internal Links<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Internal links are important for any website \u2013 they move visitors around your website by pointing them towards relevant content.<br \/>\nFrom an SEO perspective, internal links can help in four ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When a visitor clicks the internal link, they are no longer classified as a \u201cbounce\u201d \u2013 bounce rate reduces<\/li>\n<li>Internal links move visitors around your site, meaning they spend longer there<\/li>\n<li>Internal links pass link juice around your website<\/li>\n<li>You can use anchor text to tell Google what the content is about, which improves ranking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I want to look at the fourth point in a bit more detail. Your anchor text is the visible part of the hyperlink.<br \/>\nFor example, let\u2019s say I wanted to talk more about <a title=\"Productivity tips for developers\" href=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/tips\/productivity-tips-developers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">productivity<\/a>. In this example, \u201c<em>productivity<\/em>\u201d is the anchor text. Wherever possible, use a keyword in your anchor text.<br \/>\nDon\u2019t go overboard with internal links, though: <strong>only link when it feels natural<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><b>6. Meta Description<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Below every result in the SERPs, Google displays a brief description \u2013 this is called the meta description tag.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-40401\" src=\"http:\/\/marketblog.envato.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/meta-description.jpg\" alt=\"meta description\" width=\"660\" height=\"270\" title=\"\"><br \/>\nMeta tags are used to communicate directly with the search engines, and the meta description tag is no different. Although the meta description is primarily used to encourage searchers to click your link, it also has SEO benefits. Google uses the meta description to better understand your content, so include relevant keywords and you could rank for them.<br \/>\nThe easiest way to add a meta description with WordPress is using an SEO plugin \u2013 my personal choice is <a title=\"WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordpress-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">WordPress SEO by Yoast<\/a> (there are <a href=\"http:\/\/codecanyon.net\/category\/wordpress\/seo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">others<\/a>). After installing the plugin, you\u2019ll be able to see a WordPress SEO meta box below the visual editor.<br \/>\nFrom here, you can write up your meta description, as well as your SEO title \u2013 the SEO title determines how your page title appears in the SERPs.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Final Thoughts<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Although SEO isn\u2019t what it used to be, SEO is certainly alive and well. As Google\u2019s algorithms get increasingly sophisticated, it becomes harder and harder to game the system. This means the best content should, in theory, rise to the top \u2013 as it should.<br \/>\nManipulate Google at your peril: even if what you\u2019re doing is working today, there\u2019s no guarantee you won\u2019t be slapped with a hefty penalty tomorrow when Google figures it out.<br \/>\nThere\u2019s nothing \u201cgamey\u201d about proper on-site optimization, though. Better still, on-site best practices are unlikely to change any time soon \u2013 good on-site optimization is good on-site optimization.<br \/>\nEven if you don\u2019t have time for a sophisticated SEO strategy, the six tips today are easy to implement, and will give you a significant advantage over an unoptimized website. That translates to better ranking in the SERPs, and, best of all, more traffic.<br \/>\n<strong>All in all<\/strong>, the tips in this blog are really very simple and useful to follow. If you are a wordpress writer, surely you will read and learn then apply them into your writing. Like me &#8211; a blog writer of Opal WordPress, I will read all this article and follow step by step so that I can write more qualified blog to serve our customers. Once again, say faithful thanks to <strong>Shaun Quarton<\/strong>. Hoping he will have better articles to contribute for reader loving him. Remember to follow our social media (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/opalwordpress\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>, Twitter) to get the latest information!<br \/>\nThanks so much!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays, Envanto&nbsp;market is very popular with all software companies with a big number of fan and readers. They have developed many qualified themes in kinds of open sources to publish on Themeforest. From they can earn profit from this global market. Opal WordPress is a faithful cooperator of Envato market, we always follow their good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":30911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-tricks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dev.wpopal.com\/wpopal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}