The ABCs of WordPress SEO Optimization

If you’re looking to improve your website’s potential, you’ll find the ABCs of WordPress Optimization a great guide to refer to for every new blog post or page. Everything starts with sound footing. Your website is no different.

A. Start with a strong foundation
Resource: 17 essential steps to high performance WordPress

That article covers…

1. Reliable Hosting
2. Reliable Themes
3. Unique Admin Username
4. Permalink Structure
5. CDN (content delivery network)
6. Valid SSL certificate
7. performance enhansing plugins
8. Remove unused plugins
9. security, updates and backups
10. Broken Links
11. Mobile-Responsive Design
12. Testing SSL
13. Test Site Performance
14. Test Speed
15. Google Analytics
16. Google Search Console
17. Google Sitemaps

B. Page and Post SEO optimization
Resource: see Jessica Dohm’s article, “DIY search engine optimization guide” for details and a free checklist.

Here’s what Jessica recommends…

1. Heading tags are used properly
2. Images have “alt” tags applied
3. Content is engaging and customer focused to keep readers on your site and promote social sharing
4. Keywords are used in headings
5. Keywords (and keyword variations) are used naturally throughout the flow of the main text
6. Keywords aren’t overused. Remember, more is not better and overuse of your keywords may actually result in a penalty.
7. Geo-location tags are added to your header to improve location-based searches
8. Every page of your site has a unique meta title tag
9. Meta description tags are set for each page and are written to entice visitors to click
10. Images are properly optimized for use online for size and resolution
11. Social icons are present on the site to promote sharing
12. Your business has a verified Google+ page
13. Website content is updated regularly

C. Growth Strategy and Execution
Resource: see Nat Eliason’s article, “How To Grow Blog Traffic From 0 to 10k Visitors” for details.

Here’s what Nat recommends…

1. Create an Initial Article List
2. Prioritize Your Articles
3. Pick Your Top 5-10 Articles
4. Create a Schedule
5. Create a List of Similar Blogs for Guest Posting
6. Write The First Article
7. Create a Content Upgrade
8. Promote Your Article
9. Create a List of Guest Topics
10. Start Guest Posting

After reading and executing all three of the ABCs above you will be on your way to amazing improvements and increasing your potential for remarkable growth and reach for your website and articles. It’s as easy as your ABCs!