WordPress SEO Checklist: Essential Steps To Be On Top Of Your Competition

WordPress powers 39.5% of the world’s websites. You must optimize your website if you use WordPress in order for it to appear in search results. Given that 70% of people conduct online research before purchasing or visiting a company, having a website that ranks in search results is critical. But where do you begin when it comes to search engine optimization? Continue reading to learn how to do WordPress SEO for your business!

The Importance of SEO

With the rise of WordPress as the preferred CMS for all websites, website owners around the world are looking for more efficient ways to improve their search engine optimization.

However, many websites do not have a well-defined SEO strategy. Instead, they resort to quick fixes. To get your website to the top of the search rankings, you need a comprehensive strategy that addresses all aspects of SEO. Therefore, it is crucial to seek the help of a WordPress development agency to optimize your websites and posts so that they will rank higher on Google.

Without a doubt, SEO is the most effective digital marketing tool. Because 95% of all search engine traffic goes to the websites that appear on the first results page, your SERPs ranking is critical.

This is especially important for businesses because increased traffic means more chances to convert website visitors into customers. Companies have risen above their competitors as a result of the incorporation of WordPress SEO.

According to research, 80% of local online searches result in a sale. Furthermore, 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to research products and find businesses.

The Complete WordPress SEO Checklist

1. Select A Reliable Hosting Provider

   When you choose self-managed hosting, you rent the hosting space or server and install everything yourself. You have more flexibility with self-managed hosting, but you must maintain the operating system, security, and updates. If your WordPress website receives hundreds of visits per week, a shared hosting service provider can be an excellent choice. However, as your traffic grows, your website’s performance may suffer; then, you may wish to migrate to specialized WordPress hosting.

2. SEO Plugins

   An SEO plugin will assist you in optimizing the content of each page of your WordPress site. This software analyzes the content of your web pages and generates an SEO score that allows you to estimate how well the page will rank. A variety of factors influence the score, including:

   • The number of times your keyword and other related key phrases appear throughout the text.
   • The number of words.
   • The number of images and other multimedia.
   • Utilization of internal and external links.

3. Research Optimal Keywords

   This research enables you to identify the words, phrases, and questions that are most relevant to your target audience and SEO objectives. When researching a keyword or phrase, keep in mind the monthly search volume, difficulty, and websites that are currently ranking on the first SERP. It’s also important to consider the keyword’s search intent. A good practice is to look for relevant keywords with a high monthly search volume but low competition.

4. Optimize URLs

   Adding relevant keywords to your URLs will help your SEO slightly, but the main benefit will be the increased traffic you’ll receive when you have understandable and descriptive URLs. URLs that are shorter are easier to share and embed in blogs and social media. Keep the URL length to under 60 characters, including the domain and extension, as much as possible.

5. Develop Unique HTML Or Meta Tags

   The use of relevant and unique HTML tags or meta tags is an important aspect of WordPress SEO and makes your WordPress site stand out. This helps to organize both your content and the overall page.

   Meta tags are used to highlight the most important parts of your content and increase their relevance in search engine rankings. Some meta tags also assist in communicating the importance of specific pages to search engines.

Conclusion

Improving your SEO process can be a time-consuming task. However, the benefits of having a website that ranks and consistently gains traffic make the effort worthwhile. And a great content management system, such as WordPress, will aid in the refinement of your SEO. The practices we’ve discussed in this article should serve as a good starting point for you.