Here are five beginner WordPress SEO tips for improving your self-hosted WordPress website Google ranking. The tips are aimed at WordPress beginners. Require no coding skills and only need 15 minutes of your time.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) for building websites and blogs. When it comes to SEO WordPress does a pretty good job out of the box.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the label given to actions which attempt to improve search engine rankings such as changing content to aim at a specific keyword search term.
What is WordPress SEO?
WordPress SEO are search engine optimisation tips which only apply to the WordPress CMS platform. Typically they’ll involve changing WordPress settings, modifying themes or installing/setting up WordPress Plugins.
Our Five WordPress SEO Tips for Beginners…
1. Install Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin
Yoast SEO (formerly WordPress SEO) is a free WordPress Plugin you can install in your WordPress website to improve your site’s SEO. Yoast SEO has many advantages over other SEO plugins.
- Makes writing SEO optimised content easier.
- Built-in SEO page analysis tool.
- Supports meta tags.
- Works with most WordPress themes.
- Support for social networks including facebook and twitter.
- Built-in sitemap generator.
- Free to install and use.
- Frequently updated.
To install Yoast SEO. Login to your WordPress admin area. From the main menu, select Plugins > Add New. Search for ‘Yoast SEO’. You should now see the Yoast SEO plugin in the search results. To install click ‘Install Now’. After installing and activating Yoast SEO, you’ll need to setup the plugin with your website. If you need help setting up the plugin we recommend checking out the comprehensive guides on the official Yoast SEO website for
- Yoast SEO Developer Website
- Yoast SEO on WordPress Plugin Directory
- Need help installing Yoast SEO? – Contact us for help
2. Add Google Analytics to Your WordPress Website
Google Analytics is a service which tracks visitors to your website. It reveals where they are from, what pages of your website they visited, how long they spent on your page and much more.
This information is extremely valuable. Knowing who is visiting your website and what they are looking at helps you develop and create better content. You can see which of your pages are working and are popular and which pages need a little extra TLC to improve them.
Linking your WordPress website to Google Analytics is really easy. First, sign-up to Google Analytics. Select the Univesal Analytics option and add your website details. Click the Get Tracking ID button and agree to Google’s terms. Login to your WordPress admin area. From the main menu, select Plugins > Add New. Search for ‘Google Analytics by Yoast’. You should now see the Google Analytics by Yoast plugin in the search results. To install click ‘Install Now’. After installing, activate the Google Analytics by Yoast plugin and click the link in the ‘Configure your Google Analytics settings’ warning which will appear at the top of your page. Authenticate with your Google account and select your Google Analytics profile for your website.. Click Save changes.
- Google Analytics by Yoast Developer Website
- Google Analytics by Yoast on WordPress Plugin Directory
- Need help installing Google Analytics by Yoast? – Contact us for help
3. Submit Your Sitemap to Google
Sitemaps are used to feed a list of pages to search engines in the hope they’ll come and index your site. Unlike your other pages, this page is normally only accessible to search engines who use this information to crawl and index your website.
Whilst it’s not essential to submit a sitemap to the search engines to have your site indexed. Submitting a sitemap can help speed up the process and give you control over which pages you wish to be indexed. The easiest way to submit a sitemap to Google is to use Google Search Console.
4. Install an SEO-friendly WordPress Theme
A SEO-friendly WordPress theme is a name given to a theme which has been developed from the ground-up with search engines in mind. Typically the code will be written to deliver the content in the best possible way to Google and other engines. They’ll also offer support for popular WordPress SEO plugins.
Using an SEO-friendly theme can greatly increase your chances of ranking higher in Google. The good news is there are plenty of free SEO-optimised WordPress Themes available in the WordPess Theme Directory. For WordPress beginners we recommend the Twenty Fifteen theme which is included with WordPress installs.
If you’re purchasing a commercial WordPress plugin for your website or having a custom theme built we recommend raising the subject of SEO with the developers.
5. Upgrade Your Web Hosting
When it comes to web hosting. Speed matters. Google prefers websites which load quickly. The faster your pages load, the greater chance you have of your pages ranking higher than your competitors. So it’s essential to make sure your WordPress website is on fast web hosting designed to run WordPress quickly.
As a UK web host specialising in hosting WordPress websites we have lots of experience in making WordPress load quickly. Make sure your hosting plan is optimised for WordPress. Even better. For lightening fast performance choose Business Hosting with SSDs.