WordPress is one of the best content management systems when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). However, there are a few simple yet powerful practices that will make a site appear higher in search engine results:
- “Content is king” for optimization. Search engines don’t care how fancy sites are, but the quality and relevance of content counts. When you write any content, think about key phrases or words someone would use when searching your information. The actual content should be arranged in a logical and visually pleasing manner. And, the copy should be rich in keywords. You can use those keywords more than once, but not in every sentence or so.
- Once search engines index your new site, and your contents have keywords then only the site will start displaying in queried search results. However, this does not necessarily mean you’re going to be on the first page of search results.
- Highlight informative content or keywords on your website using headings and sub-headings (h1-h6) or a bold tag (<strong>…</strong>) but don’t overdo it.
- Inbound/outbound links help to improve search results. Link to relevant pages on other websites relating to that topic and also with websites with high page ranking, but do not link every page to another site. Outbound links help search engines understand your focus areas. Similarly, you can make request to other relevant websites to add your content link to their page. You can share your website content on social networks to increase inbound links.
- For image files, use a meaningful name. For example, a picture related to equal pay day can be named “Equal pay day 2016.jpeg” instead of “IMG1001.jpeg”. Site engines can read it if someone searches with keywords such as “Equal pay day”.
- Use the alt tag and title tag for images and links on your site. Images are used to entice visitors to read your content and these tags strengthen the message. The alt text describes what’s on the image and the function of the image on the page. For example, if you have an image that’s used as a button to register for an event, the alt text would say: “button to register for AAUW state conference.”
- Make sure that your HTML code is clean. Errors in code may prevent a search