WordPress, powering nearly 29% of all websites as of 2019, stands as a dominant force in content management. Its inherent SEO-friendliness provides a solid foundation, but maximizing visibility in search engine results requires a strategic approach. This guide delves into ten crucial SEO strategies for WordPress sites, focusing on techniques relevant to the 2019 landscape, and explores the plugins that can streamline these efforts. While SEO is a constantly evolving field – with Google updating its algorithm 500-600 times annually – the core principles remain consistent: providing a superior user experience and signaling relevance to search engines. This article will focus on the strategies and tools available in 2019, providing a snapshot of best practices at that time.
The Foundation: Technical SEO and Site Structure
Before diving into content optimization, establishing a robust technical foundation is paramount. Technical SEO focuses on aspects of your website that aren’t directly visible to users but significantly impact how search engines crawl, index, and understand your content. A key element of this is the permalink structure. By default, WordPress permalinks often appear as http://example.com/?p=N, which is not ideal for SEO or user readability. Switching to a static structure, such as http://example.com/your-post-title, improves both. This is easily achieved within the WordPress dashboard under Settings -> Permalink Settings, selecting “Post name.” Further refinement involves customizing the “slug” – the portion of the URL after the post title – to include target keywords.
Beyond permalinks, site speed is a critical ranking factor, particularly for mobile users. Slow loading times can lead to higher bounce rates and lower engagement, negatively impacting your search position. Caching plugins, like WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and WP-Optimize, address this by storing static versions of your pages, reducing server load and accelerating delivery. Image optimization is another crucial component of site speed. Compressing images without sacrificing quality reduces file sizes and improves loading times. Plugins like Smush Image Compression and Optimization can automate this process.
Content is King: Keywords and Header Tags
While technical SEO lays the groundwork, compelling and optimized content remains the cornerstone of any successful SEO strategy. Effective keyword research is the first step. Identify the terms your target audience uses when searching for information related to your niche. However, avoid keyword stuffing – the practice of excessively repeating keywords within your content. Instead, focus on incorporating a variety of related keywords and phrases naturally throughout your text.
The placement of keywords within your content is also important. Prioritize using them in the two most crucial locations: the title and header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.). Header tags not only structure your content for readability but also signal to search engines the hierarchy and importance of different sections. Using relevant keywords in your header tags helps reinforce the topic of each section. A well-optimized piece of content doesn’t simply repeat a single keyword; it encompasses a broad range of related terms and phrases.
Leveraging the Power of WordPress SEO Plugins
WordPress boasts a rich ecosystem of plugins designed to simplify and enhance SEO efforts. Several prominent options emerged in 2019, each offering a unique set of features. Here’s a comparison of three leading plugins: Yoast SEO, All in One SEO Pack, and The SEO Framework.
| Feature | Yoast SEO (Free) | All in One SEO Pack (Free) | The SEO Framework (Free) |
|---|---|---|---|
| XML Sitemaps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Canonical URLs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Title & Meta Description Templating | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Snippet Preview | Yes | No | Yes |
| Google Analytics Integration | Yes | No | Yes |
| Content Analysis | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Social Media Integration | Basic | Basic | Basic |
These plugins automate many essential SEO tasks, such as generating XML sitemaps (which help search engines crawl your site more efficiently), setting canonical URLs (to prevent duplicate content issues), and providing tools to write SEO-friendly content. Premium versions of these plugins unlock additional features, such as advanced keyword optimization, internal linking suggestions, and priority support.
Beyond the Basics: Advanced Plugin Functionality
Beyond the core features, these plugins offer advanced capabilities. Yoast SEO’s premium version includes extensions for News SEO, Video SEO, Local SEO, and WooCommerce SEO, catering to specific content types and business needs. It also provides tools for controlling keyphrases, optimizing for synonyms, and automating internal linking. All in One SEO Pack’s premium version offers Google AMP support, Open Graph protocol support for social media sharing, and a built-in API for extending functionality. The SEO Framework, while offering a robust free version, provides premium features like doubled site connection limits and access to premium extensions.
Furthermore, specialized plugins address specific SEO challenges. W3 Total Cache focuses on improving website load time through caching, compression, and CDN integration. Redirection helps manage 301 redirects, ensuring that users and search engines are directed to the correct pages when URLs change.
The Importance of Link Building
While on-page optimization is crucial, building high-quality backlinks remains a vital SEO strategy. Backlinks – links from other websites to yours – signal to search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy. SEMrush research in 2019 indicated that links were particularly important for keywords with fewer than 10,000 monthly searches.
Effective link building involves creating compelling content that others will naturally want to link to. Strategies include guest blogging, outreach to relevant websites, and promoting your content on social media. Don’t overlook the power of internal linking – linking to relevant content within your own site – which helps distribute link equity and improve user engagement.
Yoast SEO: A Central Hub for Optimization
Yoast SEO stands out as a particularly comprehensive plugin, offering a wide range of features to streamline the optimization process. Its content optimization tools analyze your content and provide suggestions for improving readability, keyword density, and overall SEO score. The snippet preview allows you to see how your page will appear in search results, enabling you to refine your title and meta description for maximum click-through rate.
Yoast SEO’s ability to cover many of the strategies outlined above in a single interface makes it a popular choice for WordPress users. Its constant updates ensure it remains aligned with evolving SEO best practices.
Mobile-First Indexing and Responsive Design
In 2019, Google increasingly prioritized mobile-first indexing, meaning that the mobile version of your website is used for indexing and ranking. This underscores the importance of responsive design – ensuring that your website adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes. A mobile-friendly website provides a better user experience, which is a key ranking factor. Choosing a responsive WordPress theme is essential, and plugins like W3 Total Cache can further optimize your site for mobile performance.
Monitoring and Analytics
SEO is not a one-time effort; it requires ongoing monitoring and analysis. Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) provides valuable insights into how Google crawls and indexes your site, identifying any technical issues that may be hindering your rankings. Google Analytics tracks website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates, providing data to inform your SEO strategy. Regularly reviewing these analytics helps you identify areas for improvement and measure the effectiveness of your efforts.
The Role of Schema Markup
Schema markup is code that you can add to your website to provide search engines with more information about your content. This can help improve your search rankings and increase your click-through rate. While not extensively covered in the provided sources, it was gaining prominence in 2019 as a way to enhance search result snippets with rich data, such as star ratings, event dates, and product prices.
The Bottom Line
Optimizing a WordPress site for search engines in 2019 involved a multifaceted approach, encompassing technical SEO, content optimization, plugin utilization, and ongoing monitoring. While the SEO landscape continues to evolve, the fundamental principles of providing a valuable user experience and signaling relevance to search engines remain constant. By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide, WordPress users could significantly improve their website’s visibility and attract more organic traffic. The key was to stay informed, adapt to changing algorithms, and prioritize quality content that meets the needs of their target audience.