WordPress SEO: Optimize Your Website for Search Engines

Oleksandr Kruglyak
Head of Dev Department at TRIARE
11 min read
The Importance of WordPress Website SEO. Optimize Your Website for Search Engines

Learn why SEO for WordPress websites is a great opportunity to attract new clients to your digital resources.

Intro. What is SEO for WordPress websites?

More than 43% of all websites are built on WordPress. Every year, the requirements of search engines for website optimization on any engine are increasing. The high competition among website owners on the Internet is one of the main reasons for this situation. WordPress is an open-source content management system. Written in PHP, it uses MySQL as a database. The built-in system of “themes” and “plugins”, together with a successful architecture, allows the users to design almost any project.

One of the main features of WordPress is related to its database structure. The flexibility and functionality of links allow the developers to create and display any material with various parameters on the page. The built-in tagging system introduces additional connections for website materials, allowing users to operate with all records meeting certain conditions. WordPress offers a flexible scheme for organizing the website structure based on taxonomy.

SEO stages for WordPress include the following actions:

  • Choice of a domain name that reflects the theme of the business niche.
  • Selection of a good hosting.
  • Setting up indexing by search engines in the website privacy part.
  • Creation of a website map.

WordPress SEO promotion is based on high-quality research and keyword development. An SEO audit of competitors and their keywords will allow business owners to create a unique semantic core for the website. The skillful usage of special plugins can solve this issue.

Have you already optimized your WordPress website?

What are the requirements of search engines, and how to apply the theme to WordPress

Optimizing a website for search engine performance is one of the key steps in generating traffic from organic search engine results. These steps can be taken directly on the website to prepare it for search engine acceptance and increase the website’s chances of ranking well.

The requirements of search engines include the following aspects: 

  • High functionality of the website.
  • Unique resource content.
  • Availability of optimization for navigation requests of a popular website, business, or service.
  • Correct purpose of the website.
  • Intuitive design.

Optimization means organizing processes in such a way as to obtain maximum effect at the lowest cost. In the context of SEO for WordPress websites, it is about improving and creating a solid foundation for future positioning activities.

The developer can apply a theme to WordPress using the following ways:

  • Installation of the WordPress theme from the official catalog through the website’s administrative panel.
  • Introduction of the downloaded WordPress theme through the website’s administrative panel.
  • Integration of a WordPress theme via FTP.
  • Usage of AI for WordPress design.

The official WordPress theme catalog contains thousands of free and paid themes for every taste and every need. The developers can change the WordPress theme through phpMyAdmin if there are any technical problems on the website.

Stages of website optimization on WordPress

SEO for WordPress websites in its stages and features is no different from promoting resources created using other platforms. SEO plugins are complete sets of tools for website promotion that allow specialists to optimize the resources and each website page. 

The stages of website optimization on WordPress require developers to: 

  • Create templates for meta tags Title, Description, and headings of all levels. 
  • Introduce human-readable page URLs.
  • Configure an XML sitemap
  • Correctly register server redirect. 
  • Optimize image names and size.
  • Speed up site loading due to caching.
  • Add a nofollow attribute to all outbound links so they don’t pass on link juice.

For example, to create and promote an online store based on WordPress, the developers can install the WooCommerce plugin that significantly expands the website’s functionality. It allows the specialists to create attractive virtual storefronts, set individual page options using modular blocks in just a few minutes, inform about new products, and conveniently work with information.

Stages of website optimization 

What are the features of website optimization on WordPress?

Among the basic features of SEO services for WordPress, the developers emphasize free access, open source code, and the presence of a huge number of plugins, by setting which they can radically change the website in case of need.

However, the specialists should think about the choice of the following nuances during website optimization:

Domain name. It should be a word that reflects the theme of the company’s niche.

Hosting provider. The huge number of advertising on the platform or the server in another country can reduce the website’s loading speed by having a bad effect on promotion.

The SEO-friendly theme for website design. This feature allows developers to avoid issues with adaptive layout, loading speed, image compression, etc. It will be easy for a promotion specialist to launch such a campaign.

In addition to the basic functions that a CMS provides for optimization, the specialists can develop a WordPress website SEO strategy, attract traffic to the Internet resource, and improve rankings using additional tools.

Features of website optimization on WordPress

What is the best way to start with search engine optimization?

SEO for WordPress website settings is similar to the process of basic resource setup for its stable and efficient operation. At the same time, the best way to start with search engine optimization includes the following steps:

Research and selection of keywords. SEO for a WordPress website is only possible with high-quality keyword research. Using various tools, the developers can analyze them and select new ones.

Meta description optimization. Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack functionality allows the developers to customize a global meta description template or add them to each page separately. In the first case, the specialists should act carefully and use it only for similar blocks. The second tool is intended to edit the meta description to optimize it.

Website content optimization. WordPress SEO functionality allows developers to place materials so that they are read by search algorithms as quickly as possible.

Website optimization for mobile devices. To optimize the WordPress website, the specialists can check the content using the Mobile-Friendly algorithm, accessible through Google Search Console.

Speed up website loading. Users want to open the entire page immediately. Therefore, website promotion on WordPress requires mandatory measurement of loading speed.

The developers of tools for the platform’s proper functioning offer various services. However, their smart combination and consistent use are best left to professionals.

Start with search engine optimization

What do you need to know about the features of web page structure on WordPress websites?

The structure of a website can affect the ranking of its pages. A clear website page structure is important to its success. If a user comes to the website for the first time, he must be able to quickly find the information he needs, buy a product, or contact a company.

Web page structure on WordPress resources includes the following elements: 

Header. It is an element at the top of the page. This part of the website can involve distinctive company signs, a main menu, contacts, a search field, additional buttons, and a shopping basket.

Footer. It is located at the end of the page. This element helps the user navigate the website and contains such important details as a map, contact information, links to social networks, and copyright symbols.

Body. It is the page’s main part, containing text, pictures, and videos. 

SidebarSiand debar. It represents the side panel of the website. It can be on the page’s right, left, or both sides. 

The properly organized structure of Internet resources is one of WordPress websites’ most significant SEO tips. It directly impacts the time spent by the user on the website, depending on the level of its interface intuitiveness. 

Web page structure on WordPress sites

Features of website code optimization on WordPress.

JavaScript and CSS are the foundation of modern web design. However, many web admins must learn to use them directly in the page code by avoiding a separate file. The server spends more resources processing such an approach. The page code becomes unreadable. The best solution to a problem is to write good code. At the same time, if the developers already have a website that uses inline CSS and JavaScript, they need to optimize it. The best way to do this is to complete it manually. The specialist must rewrite the WordPress theme’s code and all pages with built-in elements. 

To optimize the loading speed during SEO stages for WordPress, the developers must remove extra spaces, new lines, comments, and HTML block markup in JavaScript and CSS files. Comments and special markup make the developers’ work easier. Nevertheless, they overload the files with unnecessary characters that need to be processed by the browser. 

The developers can use the following plugins for code optimization: 

  • Yoast SEO.
  • All in One SEO Pack.
  • AMP on WordPress.
  • The SEO Framework.
  • MetaSlider.
  • Redirection.

SEO is a long-term game. The more effort the business owners are ready to put into SEO, the more results they will achieve. It usually takes a while for the positive performance metrics to appear.

Code optimization on WordPress

Features of indexing websites on WordPress

Website indexing is the process of adding pages to a search engine’s search index. Search engines use software robots called “spiders” to crawl website pages automatically and extract information for indexing. When a web crawler finds a new page, it analyzes its content and metadata, such as the page title, meta description, keywords, and other semantic information. The robot then adds the page to the search engine’s index to find and display it in search results.

SEO services for WordPress website indexing require the developers to perform the following actions: 

Create a clear structure. It is expressed by creating a logical chain in “breadcrumbs”. The user can go to the categories from the main page. Everything should be clear. 

Update the website by adding material. The more often the specialists update the website, the more often it will be visited by a bot that indexes pages.

Add the website to Google Search Console. The specialists can request indexing through the Google Search Console interface.

WordPress websites are no different globally than indexing websites on any other CMS. At the same time, it shows more potential for quick optimization with little effort. 

Indexing websites on WordPress

How to prepare a website for promotion using link building?

Link building is a collection of all tools and methods for obtaining external links to a promoted website. Link-building methods as a part of SEO for WordPress websites include the following methods:

  • Outreach.
  • Crowd marketing.
  • Link exchanges.
  • PBN, satellites, drops pasting.
  • Web 2.0.

The business owners should launch advanced websites filled with content to start link-building promotion. A fully optimized and ready-for-promotion website should not have any problems with the following: 

  • Meta tags.
  • Content on landing pages.
  • Headings h1-h5.
  • Links from low-quality resources.

Link-building optimization requires attention to detail to avoid boring users. All links should be native with a logical place for web integration.

What are the key SEO features for WordPress websites?

What benefits does optimizing websites on WordPress bring to business?

WordPress websites show a wide range of benefits for business owners to use this CMS. SEO stages for WordPress websites do not cause any issues by leading to a logical sequence of actions to increase Internet resource conversion. The companies can enjoy the following advantages from the usage of WordPress websites: 

Investment savings. The most attractive feature of WordPress implies free and open-source software. There is no charge to launch the website using this CMS. WordPress offers free themes, plugins, and features to help the developer create a unique website for a specific target market.

Quick installation and easy to use. WordPress is easy to install and configure with just a few clicks. The WordPress platform has very user-friendly, intuitive navigation.

Adaptability to business needs. WordPress websites have full optimization capabilities for SEO strategy. They also offer several handy plugins to help the developers optimize the website further. SEO is critical to the success of an online business.

Reliability and safety. All WordPress websites have the highest level of security. WordPress is also the most reliable CMS. Such a website is less likely to get hacked, even with hundreds of web pages on the CMS.

A properly optimized WordPress website can increase a company’s profit by introducing a powerful digital resource for clients. This approach is a great way to retain regular consumers and expand the target audience. 

Conclusion

SEO for WordPress websites is a fairly serious task that requires knowledge of many details, an integrated approach, and a clear strategy. Researching a platform, choosing a theme, testing plugins, and implementing an SEO strategy takes time and certain skills. Run your business and delegate website promotion to TRIARE professionals. We will help our clients take top positions in search results for key queries and increase conversions and sales.

Oleksandr Kruglyak
Head of Dev Department at TRIARE