When you are creating a new WordPress website, it is important that you focus on how it will perform in the search results of Google and other search engines. We have seen many rookie WP developers focusing only on the looks of their site and ignoring search engine optimization factors.
Well, you must know that your site has no value if it doesn’t intrigue the search engines. Here in this post, we have discussed some of the most effective tips following which you can easily take your website to the next level.
If you want to see your WordPress website on the top search results, then it is important that you consider SEO factors and the tips we have mentioned below:
Seven Tips to Improve Search Rankings of a WordPress Website
Out of at least a hundred tried and tested tips/strategies, we have selected the most helpful ones for your site.
1. Select Search Engine Optimized Themes
When building or updating a WordPress website, it is important that you choose the right theme. On WP, you can find over a hundred different pre designed website themes.
You have to pick the one which is not only well-designed but is also simple for your audience. If your site’s design is complex, then it isn’t going to engage your audience, nor would it let you enjoy any SEO benefits.
When selecting a WordPress theme, we would suggest you take into account the following factors:
- Fast page loading time
- Responsive design elements
- Easy navigation panes
- Clean and concise code
You can try utilities like the page speed checker and markup validator tools for testing a WP theme before finalizing it.
2. Use Search Engine Optimization Plugins
WordPress sites are quite popular, and this is because this platform offers a lot of plugins that make it easier to manage for even users who have no experience in website development.
Now there are many plugins offered by this platform that can specifically help in the optimization of a site according to the requirements of Google.
WordPress plugins for business website includes SEO Framework, Yoast SEO, and All-in-one SEO popular plugins that can assist users in getting on the top search ranking. With the SEO plugins, you can easily:
- Optimize website content; the plugins would help you optimize meta titles, descriptions, tags, URLs, and also keywords being targeted.
- SEO Plugins would also help users create sitemaps for different posts, images, and webpages on the website.
- They also help in internal linking in the RSS feed of the site.
3. Always Encrypt Your Site with SSL
Sites that do not have an SSL certificate would never get good positions in the search results. Online security assurance is one of the basic requirements of Google and other search engines too. This is because, today, users have become more aware of security risks in the digital world.
Non-SSL sites would always rank lower than the ones having SSL, which is why it is important that your site has one. You don’t have to pay for the SSL certificate these days, as there are many online forums that can provide free integration after checking your site for encryption measures.
As a website owner, your priority should be the security of your target audience. Other than getting the SSL, you also have to ensure general security measures.
4. Make Your WordPress Site Mobile Friendly
If your site is not responsive for small-screen devices, then there is no way you can get it ranked on the higher search ranking. Today more than 40% of people prefer using their mobiles for web searches instead of using desktops and laptops.
So if your site is not optimized for mobile devices, then you are missing out on a big opportunity to secure a position in higher SERPs. You have to make sure that you choose themes that are responsive for small devices, including tablets and mobiles.
Make sure that you don’t use flash as it would not work on mobiles; instead, you should use HTML 5. The most important thing you need to focus on is page speed. Your site should not take more than three seconds to load on mobiles.
5. Make Sure Your Site Content Is Unique
If your website content has plagiarism in it, then it is going to be penalized by the search engine. A site having duplicate content on it can never make it to the top, and there shall be no doubt about it. Plagiarism isn’t always intentional. There is always a chance that your content can be similar to another site working on the same niche.
The best way to authenticate the originality of your website content is by using an online plagiarism checker. A plagiarism checker can scan and highlight duplicate content on your site. It is best that you remove or rephrase the duplicate sentences before you submit them for indexing.
If you are unable to manually remove similarities found by the tool, then it is best that you use an online sentence rephrase. The best paraphrasing tool can rewrite duplicate content in a unique way without compromising its context.
It is a short and simple solution to remove similarities. Here an important point that you need to note is that Google bots are quite intelligent and can easily detect the smallest traces of plagiarism. This is why it is best to add personal value to content.
6. Create Relevant and Purposeful Content
A very common mistake that newbie WP developers make is that they create short-form content, which is also known as thin content. This content is one which has under 300 words; it is considered to be purposeless for the search engine, which is why you need to avoid it.
Today search engines are more interested in crawling long-form content. There are many benefits of creating lengthy articles. You can add tons of information to it, and you can stuff keywords without making it wordy, add images to it, and make it engaging for the target audience. Experts recommend that your site’s content should be relevant to the interest of your target audience.
7. Get Good Quality Backlinks for Your Site
Link building is very important if you want to see your site on the top search ranking. You must know that building links with high authority sites is surely going to help you get to the next level, even if you have just started.
When building backlinks, it is important that you connect with sites that are working on a relevant niche to yours. Building links with irrelevant sites is going to put a bad impression and is not going to add much value. Experts recommend that you earn quality links naturally instead of buying them. This way, you can get on the top SERPs in very less time.
End Words
These are the most crucial and basic tips that would help you boost your site’s ranking. As a website owner, it is important that you are well aware of the ranking factors of the search engine.
Optimizing your site according to the instructions of the search engine is very important. The tips mentioned above would help you build your site’s authority in no time at all.
