How To Boost SEO on a WordPress Website

Small Business Corner

    Additional Reporting by
    icon Feb 24, 2023
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Just last year, over 80% of businesses that employed a robust SEO strategy reported marketing and profit gains. In a digital world where 200 million websites compete for viewer attention, making your presence known — let alone generating online traffic — can be challenging. You must take advantage of processes like search engine optimization (SEO) to improve your site’s online visibility.

SEO refers to the process of enhancing your website’s design, layout, and content to drive organic search results and improve overall search ranking. Read on to learn five ways you can boost SEO on your WordPress Website.

 

1. Streamline Your Permalinks

One way to boost SEO is to streamline permalinks. Permalinks are the permanent URLs attached to different sections of your WordPress website. These include the web pages and each of your blog posts. You’ll see them in the address field of your browser and as part of search engine result previews. 

A streamlined permalink allows search engines to easily see if your site has the answers viewers are looking for, so the search algorithm is able to give a proper ranking for your site. 

Moreover, it makes your site more credible since readable permalinks are easier to trust than just a bunch of random characters. This is important as 75% of consumers determine a site’s credibility based on its overall design.

To change the default permalinks, go to your WordPress dashboard and then click “Settings.” You’ll find a “Permalinks” tab where you can either select “Post Name” or create a custom structure for your permalinks. Just be certain that the URL you make and save clearly and concisely represents the content of the page they link to.

 

2. Utilize Categories and Tags

A cluttered and disorganized site hinders search engines from effectively classifying your website and the content it produces. It also makes it hard for your readers to navigate the interface. Over 40% of online consumers will leave a site that’s not user-friendly. To improve both user experience and SEO search ranking, utilize categories and tags. 

Categories separate different sections of your website into groups and subgroups. Meanwhile, tags are keywords used to describe what the posted content is about. Both of these tools will help you create an organized website. 

To create a category, you have to access your WordPress dashboard and click the “Posts” tab. You’ll then click the “Categories” tab to see the list of categories you can use to divide different segments of your site. You can likewise make and save a new category or subcategory. Meanwhile, you can create a tag by selecting “Tags” under the “Posts” tab. 

If you want a more strategic implementation of categories and tags, a Michigan website design company like Hieographx can give you a hand.

 

3. Always Include Internal Links 

Customers want quick results, and this also applies to WordPress sites. More than 40% of online customers will leave a site that’s either slow or unresponsive. By using hyperlinks to direct online customers to pages within the same site, you speed up the navigation process and help your viewers get to the page they want.

These internal links make it easier for search engines to understand the relationship between your WordPress site’s different posts. Moreover, as the information from one post gets linked further, the post gains credibility and traction. All of these can result in a website that search engines deem reliable enough to put in the top search slot.

Creating internal links is simple. The first step is to highlight a word or phrase on the page where you want to insert the link. You’ll find a link button in the WordPress toolbar. Click that and then copy and paste the URL you want to be linked. 

You’ve done it right if the word or phrase you highlighted earlier turns blue and redirects you to the URL you pasted. 

 

4. Boost Site Security

Security is something that search engines take seriously, especially since malware and other forms of viruses remain rampant on the internet. Every day, Google quarantines around 10,000 unsecured and suspicious sites. 

Being put on this blacklist is devastating to any WordPress website. Search engines and anti-virus software will both mark your site as unsafe to visit. This warning is enough to dissuade a lot of viewers and prompt them to visit your competition instead. Your site might not even appear in search results at all, throwing all the hard work you placed on your site down the drain.

To avoid getting blacklisted, you can install a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This is an encryption protocol that secures the connection between your WordPress site and the internet browser. It prevents unauthorized parties or bots from accessing confidential data from your site. Alternatively, you can install site protection plugins like Wordfence Security. 

To get a more robust security platform, you can get Hieographx’s Michigan website design services. We offer proprietary protections that will keep your intellectual property and trade secrets safe. 

 

5. Choose the Right Images

Unlike text — which would take your viewers a few seconds to process — image recognition is instant. Around 60% of consumers are likely to transact with a business site that contains relevant images. Choosing the right pictures to upload is just as important as knowing what words to use. 

The images you include must represent or contain the information your viewers are looking for. WordPress has an “Image-Alt Text” feature that allows you to add descriptions to the photos you post, making them more optimized and accessible for your website visitors. This makes your WordPress site more engaging to users and boosts its overall searchability.

 

Final Thoughts

If you're looking to improve your website's search engine ranking and increase your online visibility, partnering with an expert SEO company like Hierographx can make all the difference. With their industry-leading techniques and advanced strategies, Hierographx can help you optimize your WordPress website for maximum search engine visibility.

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