WordPress SEO: 8 Best Practices and 6 Useful Plugins
Discover in this article 8 rules to apply for a good Search Engine Optimization for your WordPress site, as well as six plugins that will be very useful to you! But first, let’s start from the beginning.
What is natural referencing?
Also called SEO (Search Engine Optimization), natural referencing allows you to be well placed in Google, in 1st place or 1st page, when an Internet user seeks information on a subject on which you have written an article. . This is called positioning.
Since most Internet users do not go beyond the 1st page when they search for information on a keyword, you will capture many Internet users, and therefore visitors, if you are well-positioned.
Google, by its robots, goes to your site/blog to see if you meet the criteria or rules that it has chosen to place you well (rate you) or consider that you are not relevant enough depending on these own rules.
In which case, you are at the 2nd, 3rd, … 100th page according to his estimate. And no one goes to the 100th page to find the information they need!
Since Google is the one who decides and dictates the rules of the game, it is therefore important to play according to his rules. It’s in your best interest!
8 SEO best practices to apply
1. Choose relevant keywords
Some expressions are more searched than others by Internet users, so you have to choose the keywords you position yourself carefully.
Read carefully my SEO article: How to find relevant keywords for SEO? To know all about the research and the choice of keywords.
2. Build up a good internal mesh
Your articles should contain links that “point” to other articles on your blog. Obviously, related to what you are talking about.
To read also: Internal meshing: how to optimize your links?
3. Repeat the keyword wisely
For your article to be well referenced on your keyword, it must come back regularly in your article and your titles, in a natural and not exaggerated way. The keyword should be 4% of the content roughly.
Please don’t overdo it. Google penalizes too many keyword repetitions. In this case, we call it over-optimization.
4. Take advantage of external links that point to your blog
There are two types:
- Nofollow
- Dofollow
These are the dofollow links that count for search engines for SEO.
“When a site, or a blog is in Dofollow, it is because it can distribute popularity and its PR (PageRank) to the other outgoing links, whether they are in the articles or the comments. Some sites still prefer to remain in NoFollow, that is to say that they do not add anything to the links published in their comments, it allows them to protect themselves from spam and to keep their PageRank. “
But nothing prevents you from commenting on blogs is Nofollow. It will bring you visits.
5. Never make duplicate content
Duplicate content refers to copying content from another website. This practice is very dangerous for your natural referencing. Your article must be unique on the web and must not be on other sites; otherwise, you will be penalized by Google.
6. Ensure the relevance of your articles
Your content is essential, don’t just say anything!
7. Make your site last over time
The age of the blog, the seniority count, can affect your positioning. So be persistent and especially regular in the publication of your articles.
8. Write for Google, but especially for your visitors
It is your visitors who will read you, whom you are trying to capture. Google is the way to get them to you, but not to make you like them.
You produce good content!
Remember that your targets are human beings. In short, they are the ones who subsequently buy your products or services, not Google. They are the ones you are trying to convince, so you have to captivate them, hook them with your content.
Obviously, many other rules can be applied. But applying these first will be good for your site/blog.
SEO takes time. It is a long-term job, but it quickly pays off when it bears fruit.
6 useful WordPress plugins for SEO
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is the most used plugin for SEO optimization of WordPress sites. It offers, among other features, an analysis of its readability and the SEO of each article and page, as well as the actions to be implemented to improve them.
Platinum SEO Pack
This is a plugin for automatic page optimization. Techblissonline Platinum SEO plugin is now completely rewritten. It offers all of the essential features that you need to optimize your SEO.
All in One SEO
This plugin is also well known for automatic page optimization. This plugin works automatically for beginners and has advanced features and an API for developers.
Google XML Sitemaps
This plugin can improve SEO and create XML sitemaps to help search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Ask.com index your website better. Find out how to create your sitemap on WordPress here.
Rank Math
Rank Math is an excellent WordPress SEO plugin that assists you in website content optimization. It gives you real-time insights about your content and does not require you to leave WordPress Dashboard.
A snippet preview is also available to optimize meta titles and meta descriptions. This reduces the risk of SERP display issues on search engines like Google. The best thing about this plugin: it is optimized for faster loading speeds so that it won’t slow down your website’s loading time.
SEO Ultimate
SEO Ultimate is an all-in-one SEO plugin with powerful features like rewriting title tags or editing meta descriptions.
To conclude, apply these rules, install the plugins, and know, how to reconcile writing articles for Google (the robot) and the reader (the human). And don’t forget to write with passion.
Can’t make your site stand out on the first page of Google on the queries you are targeting? Contact my team of SEO consultants at ufound.
