Written by Nicholas
As search engine optimization is almost a requirement for driving traffic to the website, many organizations and individuals are investing thousands of dollars in platforms and content management systems (CMSs) that are already optimized for search engine ranking. Many are acquiring these platforms and CMSs with the hope that they will not need website optimization.
This is a common misconception that many users fall for, and CMS sellers are not making it any easier for them, as they boldly market their CMSs to be SEO optimized and customized. As such, many developers and business owners have implemented WordPress in the hope that it is SEO optimized. It is however important to differentiate between Search Engine optimized and Search Engine friendly.
Here is a simple guideline of how you can easily achieve SEO on your WordPress website;
- Build backlinks
It is important to build links from other sites and pointing to your websites and vice-versa. Most search engines will rank websites with many backlinks higher than those with less.
- Use ALT attributes well
Google, of late, has put greater emphasis on the use of ALT attributes for their search results and ranking. WordPress, by default, applies the ALT attribute to images depending on the name that you use in saving the image. It is therefore important to use appropriate names for your image, as the names will impact their ALT attribute names as well.
Moreover, Google is also using the ALT attribute in ranking the posts, not just images, so it is important to include ALT attribute name for your website posts, and WordPress does provide for this feature.
- Optimize your website around a key phrase
You need to identify a unique and appropriate key phrase, which will be able to drive traffic to your website, and one that the website will be about. This key phrase can be derived through the use of Google’s keyword tool, which will give you keywords that are high in the search ranks.
This key phrase can then be used in the logo, website title, in the body, title tag of your home page, heading tags, etc.
- www and non-www compatibility
It is good practice to include www and non-www of address resolution compatibility for your websites url. There are many users who will try to access your website using the www address and others won’t, thus if your website does not allow for a non-www resolution, the website will appear as unavailable, hence losing the client.
Most CMSs and platforms return a 302 redirect in resolving this compatibility, although this is not the appropriate redirect code as it informs the search engine that the redirect is temporary. The appropriate one is 301 redirect – which is a permanent redirect.
- Search engine optimized themes
WordPress does provide a wide array of themes that you can use to build your website upon, and the trick here is to choose one that is optimized for search engines. Such a theme does give your website speed, responsiveness to mobile platforms and well optimized code. It is therefore easy to be accessed and well indexed too, giving it a high rank in the search engine results.
- WordPress landing page themes
There are many WordPress landing page themes, which enable you to optimize your website’s landing page, which is key to the success of your webpage in driving traffic. These landing pages are the main and initial points of interaction for users visiting your website, so they need to be appealing, user friendly, giving good user experience, and above all contain the crucial information that you wish to pass to the user.
An easier way to optimize your website on WordPress is to install an SEO plugin, which will give you numerous settings and options that will help you automate the optimization process. Some of these plugins are free with basic options, but if you wish for more comprehensive one, you may need to part with a few dollars to purchase on.
AUTHOR BIO
Nicholas is a WordPress developer and writer on WordPress landing page themes with vast experience in developing WordPress business templates, and writer. He has been greatly involved in SEO optimization and website development on WordPress for many of his web-based clients.
