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SEO techniques specifically for WordPress websites

  • ninegravity1
  • Sep 12, 2024
  • 3 min read

As intimidating as it may sound, WordPress SEO techniques are not complicated. Yet some of these are often overlooked. Let’s fill some knowledge gaps to create a top-ranking WordPress website.


Before we dive deeper into the specifics of WordPress SEO techniques, make sure the basics of your website are streamlined. Some of the questions you can ask yourself beforehand:


Why is Your Website Not Appearing in Search Results?

You can voluntarily hide your WordPress website from search engines. A lot of users choose to do this when they are building their websites prior to going public. You might have forgotten to change those settings before publishing the website.


To recheck the same:

  • Go to the Admin Area > Settings > Reading Page.

  • Find the option – Search Engine Visibility.

  • Deselect the box – Discourage search engines from indexing this site.

  • Click Save Changes before exiting the page.


Are You Creating SEO-Friendly URLs?

SEO-friendly URLs only talk about the content on your page. Humans and search engines find them easy to read and appreciate the clarity. That is why having a consistent permalink structure can prove to be a beneficial practice. For example:


Ninegravity, the WordPress development agency, published a detailed comparison of WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace:WordPress vs Wix vs Squarespace: Which Platform is Right for Your Website?



However, the ideal URL for the blog should be:https://ninegravity.com/comparisons-wordpress-vs-wix-vs-squarespace//


The Ninegraivity team also chose the latter because the ideal URL informs readers that they can expect a comparison between the three website builders.

  • Click Settings > Permalinks > Select the Post Name option to update your permalink’s structure.

  • Do not forget to Save Changes.


Pro Tip: This permalink structure (post and name option) is highly readable by search engines and helps you rank.


Are You Analyzing the SEO Performance Of Your Website?

Before you start working on improving your website’s SEO, run a simple audit check. It will help you identify and resolve underlying issues while also helping you improve your content strategy.


You can use the All in one SEO plugin to perform the SEO audit on your WordPress website. It will monitor your pages, offer insights about potential improvements, and point out the roadblocks to help achieve a higher rank on the search engines.


Once you have got these out of your way, it’s time to up your SEO game.


Creating XML Sitemaps

Many users implement the basic practices of SEO and forget about sitemaps. While search engines index your website automatically, creating XML sitemaps and submitting them to Google makes the process even more efficient. It is an additional tool to help Google understand your website’s structure intricately. 


XML sitemaps not only present all the pages within your site but also define their importance and relationship with each other. It is also beneficial because it points out the structured hierarchy of your site, helping search engines crawl the content easily and effectively.


Pro Tip: Ensure your WordPress Sitemaps store all your website’s public URLs.


Using SEO Plugins

WordPress plugins exist in abundance. Even for SEO, you can find solace in one of them. There’s no point in using SEO plugins separately for all the tasks. Users can install and activate only one entity, free of cost, and streamline all their functions. The WordPress plugin directory will tell you everything you need to know to make an informed decision.


PS. While everyone knows about WordPress SEO plugins, many users activate multiple plugins to work on various tasks. Instead, users should activate only one, which can handle a maximum number of functions, to avoid confusion or slow down the website.


Optimizing Meta Tags

Together, titles, meta descriptions, and meta robot tags make up meta tags. These factors affect your website’s SEO more than you would like to think. Let’s see how to optimize meta tags in WordPress:


 
 
 

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