July 27

0 comments

WordPress SEO: 50 Actionable Tips To Rank On Google’s First Page

Anis Founder of Fulltimehomebusiness.com

By Anis Chity

July 27, 2020

Hello! Welcome to my “WordPress SEO: 50 Actionable Tips To Rank On Google’s First Page” article!

Are you looking for ways to improve your WordPress SEO? Of course, you want to rank on Google’s first page.

But you don’t know the right way to go about it—since you’re still new to the whole thing. Or have you been running your WordPress blog for some time, with no sign of positive results?

Not to worry. This post is also for you. Here is the good news.

In this comprehensive post, I’ll be sharing with you 50 actionable tips you can use to rank on Google’s first page. And eventually grow your organic traffic.

Also, if you’re looking for QUICK and EFFECTIVE results, you’re in the right place—provided you apply the tips diligently. Are you ready?

Let’s kick-off!

Why Does Your WordPress SEO Matter?

A search engine is typically the first place you turn to when you need to find something on the internet.

Do you want your WordPress site to get found by prospective users online?

Then, you’d need to appear on Google’s first page or similar search engines.

That’s why I’ve listed 50 actionable tips you can use—which you’d be seeing in the next section of this post.

But before then, let’s take a good look at the benefits of optimizing your WordPress SEO.

Here are three key benefits:

  • You’d have a highly-ranked website that is trustworthy and credible

  • Your website will rank highly in SERPs with greater visibility and more chance to get more organic traffic

  • Your users will enjoy relevant and useful information since SEO tools focus on creating high-quality content

1. Install a SEO Plugin

You may not be familiar with plugins if you are new to the world of WordPress. Plugins are small components of add-on apps you can install on your website. They add new features to your site.

WordPress’ SEO is okay by default. But, installing SEO plugins can increase your site’s efficiency.

With the SEO plugins, you tend to gain more control over how your website optimizes for Google.

Which SEO plugin do I recommend you use?

If you’re just starting, Yoast SEO plugin is a great choice to consider. The plugin has everything you need to optimize your WordPress SEO.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Best SEO Plugin

2. Set up Permalinks

Typically, WordPress comes with default permalinks (URL structures). But they are usually messy or not clean enough.

Google’s AI usually prefers URLs that have keywords and the content’s title. However, shorter URLs are a better option.

For better results, I recommend you use the Post name permalink setting. It’s clean and beneficial to your SEO.

Changing the permalink structure is simple.

Follow these steps:

  • Find your way to your WordPress Dashboard

  • Click on Permalinks under the Settings Menu

  • Select Post name

  • And click on Save changes

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Setting Up Permalinks

Note: Changing your permalink structure after publishing your posts can break your previous links. And shared links previously posted on social media would be unable to direct traffic to your website.

Anis Chity FullTimeHomebusiness.com

Earn a 4-figure monthly income just by blogging! Click here to learn more!

3. Use a Focus Keyword Regularly

It’s 2020. And keywords still matter to Google computer algorithm—when it comes to WordPress SEO. Of course, it’s wise to use your focus keyword into every blog post you publish.

And you must always have a focus keyword in mind when writing a post on your WordPress blog. Don’t craft an article for the sake of JUST publishing a post. Do proper research—based on the topic you choose to write about.

If you’re using a plugin like Yoast, aim for a 0.5 percent score or high keyword density. But you must bear in mind that you’re writing for your users and visitors, NOT robots.

So, be smart about it. Let it flow naturally. Avoid stuffing keywords unusually because of your SEO.

4. Integrate Title Tags

Integrating your page title tag in your post is crucial.

Previously, SEO experts advised bloggers to place their article keywords at the beginning of their title. They believed it carried more weight—when it came to search engine optimization.

Today, this approach hasn’t lost its efficacy. Having keywords at the beginning of title tags helps to improve your website’s SEO.

Take, for example, I added the focus keyword “WordPress SEO” into this post title. And it helped to rank this post.

Moreover, click-through rate optimization is becoming vital when it comes to SEO.

There is a report that shows a 20 percent increase in CTRs when bloggers make small tweaks to their titles.

5. Incorporate Proper Heading Tags for Your Posts

Google has a crawler bot that checks the HTML header tags on your post.

It looks for tags likes H1, H2, H3, H4, etc. to determine the importance of your blog’s content.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Proper Tags

The best practice is for your post to have one H1 tag—which stands as the main header. Then, you can use multiple H2s and H3s under it.

These headline tags should have a hierarchy of importance.

The H1 header should carry your main focus keyword. And the additional headers could take your focus keyword or long-tail keywords.

Also, headline tags in your post help to split your content—which makes your post easy to read by your audience.

6. Remove the Links at the Footer of Your Theme

If you take a look at the bottom of your WordPress website, you may likely see a ton of credits. These credits came by default with the WordPress theme.

For instance, you can see something like “Powered by Astra WordPress Theme” with a link pointing to you to the theme creator’s site.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Remove Footer

The theme’s developer has no evil intentions to add links to the footer of the WordPress theme. But it could look a bit unprofessional.

Also, it’s not wise to leave such links—because it could have a significant impact on the site. The rule of thumb is to eliminate such unnecessary links from the footer.

7. Include ALT Text to Your Pictures

ALT text is the alternative text used in naming the photos on your WordPress website.

Google used the ALT tags to determine how significant the image in your content is. Google Images ranks its searches via ALT text—which is very good for SEO.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Include ALT Text

The images on your WordPress website can help to rank your post—if you name the photos correctly.

Moreover, the tags also come in handy for visually impaired users.

For instance, if you’re using a speaking software like Google voice, the ALT text for your images could make it easy to navigate your blog.

8. Carry Out Effective Keyword Research

Keyword research is a crucial part of SEO and ranking on the first page.

You need to use the perfect keyword for your niche to rank.

There are tons of tools that can help you achieve this feat.

Here are a couple of them you can choose from;

  • Ahrefs
  • SEMRrush
  • SurferSEO
  • KWFinder

The best way to go about is to find a keyword that has a high search volume. You should also avoid picking a very competitive one and focus on long tail keywords.

Another thing to consider is multilingual SEO. Most English keywords get more saturated. And Non-English keywords are less competitive.

9. Insert Your Focus Keyword in the First Paragraph of Your Posts

The first paragraph of your post is very important.

Hence, ALWAYS include your main keyword within the first paragraph of your post.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Focus Keyword on first paragraph

The reason is simple:

Google AI crawls content from the top of a post to the bottom. It’s more likely to consider your post as relevant to the particular topic—if it sees your keyword quickly.

Including your keyword at the beginning helps to prep your readers about the specific topic from the start. It also enhances your CTR—by delivering to your readers what interests them the most.

While you include the keywords in the first paragraph, remember to keep your content as natural as you can.

10. Long is Better….

When it comes to SEO, Google bot loves blog posts that have a reasonable word count.

When I say reasonable, I mean blog posts with at least 1500 words and above.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Long is better

Such long-form articles tend to rank better on Google’s first page than shorter pieces with 500-word or less. They have proven to do better when it comes to SERPs.

Another benefit of creating long-form articles is that it enables your post rank for both focus keyword and long-tail keyword variations.

If you want to enhance your WordPress SEO, focus on producing more long-form posts.

11. Name Your Image Files Properly

The naming of image files in a WordPress website is crucial. But, unfortunately, a lot of WordPress bloggers mishandle it.

The good news:

If you can name your image files wisely, you may see a high increase in SERPs and Google Image Search.

Here are a few steps to take:

Before uploading your images to WordPress, ensure to name the image files with words related to your post. Instead of DC0001.JPG, use WordPress-SEO.JPG

When naming the image files, include hyphens between words. For instance, Google won’t be able to read a name with About_US.JPG or AboutUS.JPG. It will only read something like this; About-US.JPG

12. Index Post Categories

Indexing post categories for Google can increase your site’s traffic, boost your page rank, and enhance your WordPress SEO.

By default, most WordPress themes don’t show category descriptions.

It’s something you may have to fix manually. But you’d have to use the help of an SEO plugin.

For this post, I’m going to show you how to Index your post categories using Yoast SEO plugin with the few easy steps below:

Step 1: In your WordPress Dashboard, navigate to SEO. Then, to “Search Appearance” and click on the “Taxonomies tab”.

Enable the “Show Categories in Search resultsWordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Index Post Categories

Step 2: Enter your personalized category description under the particular post category you intend to index.

Navigate to Posts. Then, Categories and click on Edit.

Click the Update button to save changes.

13. Decrease Your Site’s Bounce Rate

Bouncing occurs on a website when visitors access a page and immediately leave without taking any critical action.

It’s a bad thing to have a high bounce rate because it means your visitors aren’t staying long enough to convert.

Website visitors bounce away for various reasons.

Here are few:

  • Confused site navigation

  • Misleading links or headlines

  • Website slow loading time

  • Low quality/irrelevant content.

A high bounce rate will affect your WordPress SEO and Google page ranking—eventually.

Google bot sees your page as irrelevant since a lot of visitors navigate away from it immediately.

That’s why you need to do everything necessary to make your site user-friendly. And avoid using misleading backlinks.

Anis Chity FullTimeHomebusiness.com

Why don’t you make a move to earn money online with your WordPress Blog?

This program is the one you need to help you! Check it out!

14. Increase Your Dwell Time

Dwell time is the amount of time internet searchers spend on your website after finding it on SERP—before returning to see other results.

Dwell time is a key ranking factor for Google.

You must do everything necessary to keep your visitors on your website for as long as possible—when they arrive through search engines.

Increasing the dwell time of your website isn’t precisely one-way traffic. There are several techniques you can use.

But the best rule of practice for newbies is:

Always push the best content/idea first. Ignore the old saying, “save the best for last.” It doesn’t work like that for WordPress SEO.

15. Nofollow and Dofollow Links

When it comes to WordPress SEO, there are two types of links. They are:

DoFollow Links

Every link created on WordPress is a dofollow link, by default. Google bot crawls on every Dofollow link when it’s analyzing a website. It affects a site’s ranking and can help build authority.

Dofollow links also come in the form of backlinks from other high authority sites.

NoFollow Links

Nofollow links are the complete opposite of dofollow links.

They tell Google crawlers to ignore them. But that doesn’t make them useless. The links have their role to play even though they don’t cause your page to rank.

Google created the nofollow links to fight comment spams majorly.

They look like this:

<a href=https://cnn.com/blog” rel=” nofollow”>

16. Your External Linking Should Be Mainly to High Authority Websites

Adding external links to high authority sites is a great thing to do when it comes to ranking high on search engines.

How does it help your WordPress SEO?

It lets Google know that you’ve externally linked to top-notch content that’s important to yours.

Also, it enhances the user experience on your website—by providing them with the necessary additional information. Google bot likes this very act.

You’re most likely to rank higher on the first page when you do a lot of external linking to high domain sites.

From another perspective, external linking can help you open and build robust correspondence from the bigger brands.It’s a win-win for everybody.

For better results, I recommend you link at least two high authority sites within each content. While you’re at it, remember to keep people on your website. Make sure the link opens in a new window or tab.

17. Get High-Quality Backlinks

You can’t rule out backlinks when it comes to WordPress SEO. Google uses backlinks to pass domain authority and to show that another relevant post has similar information.

It’s highly beneficial to get a high domain authority website linking to your site. It shows your website can be trusted. And Google sees that as brand integrity—which eventually translates to high ranking on the first page.

It’s even better if most of the referring domains linking to you are on an uptrend.

What that means is:

You’ll get more links from more websites over time. How do you make high authority websites link to you? There are numerous ways to do it.

But primarily, I’ll recommend that you produce data-driven content more often.

Why?

Most websites are likely to link to posts that have reputable stats and data.

18. Create a Solid Internal Linking Strategy

Internal links are also helpful for WordPress SEO. They point from one post on your WordPress site to another post on the same website.

Apart from improving your website SEO, they also help your site navigation. There are other key benefits of using internal links on your WordPress website.

Internal links enable your users to spend more time on your website as they navigate from one page to another. The links help to create a structure for your site and a hierarchy of information.

Because they are dofollow links, they help to pass authority all over your website. For the best results, utilize a minimum of three internal links for every post you write.

19. Integrate a Site Map

Search engines use sitemaps to understand the hierarchy and structure of any WordPress site. They also engage in crawling.

Even though sitemaps aren’t obligatory, you can create one to get more reporting data from your WordPress website.

But here’s the thing:

I always recommend that every WordPress blogger should use a sitemap file. With it, you’ll get a clear picture of how search engines view your website’s structure.

You’d even increase your opportunity to score Google sitelinks—with sitemaps. Furthermore, you can automatically create sitemap files with Yoast SEO plugin or any other plugin that works well.

20. Submit Your Site Map to Google Search Console

Setting up a site map isn’t enough.

You need to submit your XML sitemap file to Google Search Console. That way, you can get additional info about the status of your WordPress website.

Do you want to get more detail about how to give your site to search engines? Check this post.

21. Submit Your Site Map to Bing Webmaster Tools

Like Google Search Console, you can submit your XML sitemap to Bing.

Why?

Bing is the 2nd biggest search engine after Google.

22. Register Your Site Map to Yandex Webmaster Tools

Like Google Search Console, you can submit your XML sitemap to Yandex. It will be helpful if you’ve got global traffic.

Why? It’s a Russian Search engine.

23. Mark Your Affiliate Links as Nofollow

Having affiliate links on your website is a great way to generate commissions.

Hence, a lot of WordPress owners use them on their site. You can use them to refer a product, get new user signups, and track a commission between websites.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Create Affiliate Link

The only problem is:

Google doesn’t like sites that have a ton of affiliate links.

The best way to use these affiliate links without getting penalties from Google is by making them nofollow links.

You can also keep track of your affiliate links and ensure they are nofollow links by using  plugins like ThirstyAffiliates.

Anis chity

Here is the top recommended way of earning money online!

Earn a 4-figure monthly income with it.

24. Integrate Force Crawl for Faster Indexing

Google controls the crawl rate by which it indexes every published content on your WordPress website.

The indexing process could occur between a few minutes, hours, and sometimes extend to days. But there’s a faster way to index your published post on Google.

Force crawling is the answer. It tells the search engine to analyze your website faster than usual. And it’s a little secret you can use to gain more edge over your competition in SERPs quicker.

25. Replace Long Urls With Short Urls as Much as You Can

Naturally, Google loves websites that are well-structured, clean, and organized with SHORT URLs. These short URLs can enhance your website’s CTR.

MarketingSherpa ran a comprehensive survey and found out that executives are likely to click on an organic listing if it:

  • Has a short URL
  • Appears directly below a listing with a long URL

From the report, we can conclude that short URLs can give you a significant edge over your competition. How can you shorten your URL for a WordPress page?

Follow the steps below:

Step 1– Find the permalink button under the post’s title in the Classic Editor version.

In the Block Editor, you’ll find the Permalink button at the top of the heading block.

Step 2– Edit the post’s slug by typing the new slug. Don’t forget to separate the words with hyphens. Also, ensure that every post on your website has a unique URL.

26. Add SSL Certificate to Your WordPress Website

According to Google, HTTPS is a ranking signal. HTTPS may be a small ranking factor. But you need it anyway—to beat your competitors in SERPs.

Plus, this ranking factor has the potential to increase in the future since Google is pushing for everyone’s migration. The stats don’t lie.

Above 33 percent of all pages ranking in the top three spots on Google SERPs use HTTPS. So, what step should you take? Ensure you install an SSL certificate on your site.

27. Make Use of Social Signals

What are social signals?

They are online activities that relate to your brand, but don’t happen on your WordPress website. They include upvotes, tweets, shares, etc. Do these signals affect your WordPress SEO?

The answer is yes!

For instance, if you have a trending post on a Social media platform like Reddit or even Ycombinator—your post can start ranking on Google’s first page.

But there’s one thing:

When the post is no longer trending, it tends to fluctuate and settle down—almost hidden. How do these Social Signals work to make your posts trend on the first page of Google in the first place?

Simple!

It’s the combination of the mass amount of traffic and social signals. Consequently, Google will deem the posts as highly relevant and put them up in SERPs.

Take advantage of social media—because more traffic could influence your rankings.

28. Claim Your Social Profiles

Why should you claim all of your social media profiles? Let’s look at it this way.

You came up with a business name. Then, you launched a website with that name. Everything looks perfect until you realize you can’t use your name on social media platforms.

The reason: another person already used it.

So, what do you do?

The best solution is to claim all your social media profiles immediately you launch your website. With this, your social media profile pages will rank very well in SERPs—which can be SUPER huge for branding.

Namechk is a free tool you can use to see names that are available across all social media platforms.

29. Include Schema Markup

Schema markup is simply an additional code. This code helps search engines to provide better data to visitors.

It looks like a star rating next to a review. And it helps you get unique spots on SERPs.  Plus, it causes a drastic increase in your CTR.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Schema Markup

A study showed that companies that used star ratings experienced a significantly higher CTR for organic SERPs with about a 35 percent increase.

How do you put the schema markup on your website?

First off, you have to use the Google Structured Data Testing tool to test if your website has the schema markup—because some WordPress themes have it coded into them.

What if you don’t have it?

You can use the free Schema plugin. The plugin will automatically add the necessary code.

30. Integrate Social Markup

Writing meta descriptions doesn’t affect your WordPress SEO directly for ranking. But, it affects your CTR.

If you write a good meta description, it will entice readers to click your post over others. Also, when your CTR is high, Google deems your content more relevant—and it could rank your page higher.

If you use the Yoast SEO plugin, you can set your meta description manually. You can achieve this with ease by clicking on the Edit Snippet button below the editor.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Social Markup

While you’re at it, ensure that you stick to the word limit (150 to 170 characters)—to stay visible in SERPs.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Social Markup 2

Plus, it’s crucial to include your focus keyword—because Google will highlight the search term in bold when displaying it in search results.

31. Do Everything to Enter Google Knowledge Graph – A.K.A “Spot 0”

A Google Knowledge Graph is a box that appears at the top of Google SERP. You can also refer to the Google Knowledge Graph as a featured snippet or “spot 0”

If one of your posts can get displayed in this box, one thing is sure: a dramatic increase in your organic traffic.

But, how do you get your post into the Google Knowledge Graph?

Well, you can start by structuring your post in an organized way (use headers and bulleted lists effectively) and add schema markup.

WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Spot O

32. Be Aware of Negative SEO

If you want to build up your page authority and domain, it’s reasonable to get backlinks from other people—with white hat SEO.

A negative SEO, on the other hand, can be detrimental to your ranking.

How?

A negative SEO does the exact opposite of what the regular SEO does—hurt your website.

What can you do about it?

You can handle the situation by monitoring your backlink profile. That way, you’ll know if others are committing negative SEO against your site.

I will explain with one example:

Take a look at this graph:

Graph 1 WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Best SEO PluginGraph 2 WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Best SEO PluginGraph 3 WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Best SEO Plugin

Do you see the sudden increase in backlinks?

That’s usually a sign of a negative SEO attack. If you’re already in this messy situation, there’s a way out thanks to Google.

Google has a Disavow tool. The tool gives you control over spammy links by allowing you to create a list of domains you want Google to ignore—to protect your site.

33. Engage Local SEO Strategies

If you have an online business, you should consider using local SEO techniques—especially if you have a small business.

Why? Simple!

Local SEO appears to be one of the most essential and effective strategies for your business to gain a competitive edge over your local competitors.

The first step you should take is to register your site immediately with Bing Places and Google My Business.

When it comes to showing up in SERPs for location-specific searches, these two platforms have you covered. Plus, they are both completely free.

For instance, if you search for “Indian restaurant” in Tokyo, you’ll see something like this:

Example WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days Best SEO Plugin

If you need in-depth information, check out this post on the local SEO guide.

Anis Chity FullTimeHomebusiness.com

Hey, I’m Anis!

I Earn $3,000 a month just by writing! Click on the button below to learn about it!

34. Publish as Much Evergreen Content as You Can

Evergreen content is one that’s always relevant regardless of when you read it.

Publishing this type of content is essential for long-term organic traffic.

But you must note that evergreen content requires occasional updates—because most industries change slightly over time.

Also, evergreen content allows you to share it over and over again. Plus, you can build up social signals and backlinks for it.

35. Index Your Images If Using CDN

According to research from Jumpshot, the images on Google made up over 22 percent of web searches in 2018.

What does this mean for your images?

It means that you shouldn’t overlook traffic from images—because they add up to quite a bit over time. It’s crucial to ensure that your images are getting indexed.

Are you using a CDN (content delivery network)—which helps to deliver copies of your site’s content?

If your answer is yes—you have to confirm that your images get indexed.

What if you use a Yoast SEO plugin?

If you use a Yoast SEO plugin, you can add the code below to the bottom of your functions.php file.

And replace the domain and CDN domain with yours:

Code WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days

What if you don’t use the code?

Your images may lose out on all the benefits of Google image search. You can read this article to know about the changes Google made to its image algorithm in September 2018.

36. Do Not Index Attachment Pages

How do you index image attachment pages?

It happens when you upload an image on WordPress and insert it into a post. When you do this, it creates a separate attachment page where the image resides. In this case, Google may start indexing the pages—which is a red flag.

For instance, if a user decides to click on an image attachment page in the search results and sees images without content. The user will most likely leave immediately—which will cause your bounce rate to go up.

37. Optimize Your Site’s Speed

If it takes your website more than four seconds to load, one in four visitors will leave.  The statistics tell you that speed matters to tour visitors.

In 2010, Google announced that your site’s speed would affect your ranking.

What does that mean?

It means that your website speed plays a huge role in WordPress SEO.

The good news:

Even if you seem to have issues with your site’s speed, you can improve it by optimizing your website accordingly and implementing a CDN.

The strategies are cool, right?

Yes! But it doesn’t end there.

Since your web host affects your site’s speed, you have to invest in getting a quality & reliable WordPress host provider.

38. Get Multiple Translations for Your Site

When Neil Patel experimented with languages, he got incredible results. He translated his website into 82 languages. After that, he saw a 47 percent increase in traffic.

What does that mean?

Adding multiple languages to your site could increase traffic and improve WordPress SEO.

You should note that Google won’t penalize you for duplicate content if you implement this strategy on your WordPress website—as long as you install the correct canonical and hreflang tags.

The tags tell Google which language version is the original and secondary. You can use plugins like Weglot to translate your content. But I recommend you hire the service of a native speaker.

39. Take Frequent SEO Audits

The best way to do a regular check on your WordPress site for optimization is to carry out a quick SEO audit.

There’re so many premium and free tools you can use to run audits.

Seobility  is a good SEO tool. It runs through your site to check for accessibility, page speed, Googlebot access, security, etc.

The SEOSiteCheckup is another free SEO tool that can help you get started. It has over 50 checks to let you know the state of your site.

40. Fix Broken Links on Your Website

Google doesn’t like broken links. It leads to empty/non existing pages and unpleasant user experience.

If you have them on your site, fix them. You can start by using the Google Search Console to find the broken links or Ahrefs if you’re using it.

For example:

Here are 8 broken links that Anis should fix asap 😀

Fix Broken Links WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days

If you’re not using that platform, you should consider scanning your site for broken links—with a free online tool or a site audit tool.

You can also opt for broken link plugins for WordPress. But I recommend that you avoid this option as it could hurt your site’s performance.

41. Check Your Google Analytics Regularly

Google Analytics is an effective way to know how well your WordPress SEO is working in the long run. What you need to do is simple. Setup a free account and get started.

Do you already have a Google Search Console account? If yes, link it with your Google Analytics account.

With that, you’ll get detailed information on the traffic that comes from different search engines like Yahoo, Google, Bing, etc.

When you see the percentage of visitors via different search engines, it will let you know how effective your SEO efforts are.

42. Ensure Your Site Is Mobile Responsive

These days, mobile responsiveness is more important than ever. And Google proved it when it announced the testing of its mobile-first indexing strategy in 2016.

To test your site for mobile responsiveness, you can use the mobile-friendly tool.

Google AMP is another option you can use. It’s an open framework that will allow your website to build light-weight web pages.

You can also use Google Analytics to monitor how much traffic your site gets from mobile devices. With this data, you can find out how much priority your site’s responsiveness needs.

43. Keep an Eye on Your Keyword Rankings

When you optimize your posts, it’s crucial to monitor their progress long-term. In other words, keeping an eye on your keyword ranking is essential.

Why?

It helps to track the progress of your focus keywords in SEO campaigns.

Also, if you have keywords appearing at the top of the second page on Google results—monitor them.

Monitoring your keywords alongside using other strategies mentioned in this post like building backlinks, adding images and content, etc. should bump your posts to the first page.

AccuRanker is an excellent tool that can help you track your keywords effectively.

With this tracker, you can take note of what you optimized. And check how the changes affect your rankings.

44. Regularly Update Your Old Posts

Let’s face it.

Updating all the old content on your website is an excellent SEO technique that works like magic.

When it comes to ranking, Google ALWAYS considers content freshness.

It’s ideal to go through your post periodically and modify them as often as possible.

Making modifications to your post as a result of changes in your industry can significantly boost your site’s visibility.  And you can perhaps rank on Google’s first page.

Alfred Lua, marketing and product manager at Buffer, stated that Yoast SEO could show foundational content that users haven’t updated for six months.

Update old posts WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days

He also stated that the function is an excellent feature for growing organic traffic. And it’s perfect for blogs with 100s – 1,000s posts.

45. Use High-Res Images

Earlier I mentioned the benefits of adding images to your website and how it can help drive traffic via Google Image search.

I also added that screenshots, graphs, charts, and featured images make your content easy to read.

But here’s the thing:

Google supports the use of high-resolution images—which is an excellent way to boost your visual content.

Plus, most visitors will enjoy your visual content with high-quality images than low-quality ones.

Posts with low-quality images can increase your bounce rate and possibly affect your WordPress SEO.

It’s ideal for you to replace your blurry images with high-resolution images.

46. Optimize Your Posts for Google Discover

Google Discover is a pool of content that Google thinks internet users will find valuable.

And it’s an Android content suggestion service. It’s specifically for mobile users.

Optimizing your posts for this app will give you a significant edge because mobile traffic is growing like crazy.

But there’s one thing.

Google Discover isn’t search-related. What that means is that optimization and keyword research won’t work here.

There are other ways to improve your opportunities with this platform:

  • Use images and videos in your content

  • Create top-notch content

  • Incorporate social proof

  • Translate your content

  • Produce evergreen content

Also, you should consider using large images in your post when optimizing for Google Discover.

47. Do Content Pruning

You must practice content pruning every once in a while.

It involves you removing old and outdated content from your site, especially when the post can’t be improved or updated.

I know it could be SCARY to delete posts you’ve worked hard to create. It may even go against your instincts.

But look on the bright side.

It’s better to have a few contents with high quality than to have tons of posts that aren’t important to readers.

Also…

You’ll be saving a lot of bucks—as your crawl budget improves. And Google bot will crawl your website within a shorter period due to the fewer pages.

48. Add “Table of Contents” for Longer Post

They are links within a post that helps you navigate different sections.

Anchor links do a great job of improving your user experience. They help your readers jump right to the answers they are looking for without wasting time.

Also, these anchor links will help prevent excessive scrolling on your website.

In a way, this tip will help reduce the bounce rate level on your website. And eventually, it helps your WordPress SEO as it lowers your bounce rate.

More so…

WordPress websites with Anchor links appear under your post titles on SERPs.

It looks like this:

Anchor Links Code WordPress SEO 50 Actionable Tips to Rank on Google’s First Page in Less Than 50 Days

49. Create Key Pages to Build Brand Trust

This tip may not affect your WordPress SEO, but it comes with benefits over time.

Every high-quality website should have key pages that enhance its ease of use.

You face the risk of looking less-credible to your website visitors if you’re missing any of these critical pages.

Here are three pages you should have (if you don’t already have them):

A Contact Page

Here you show your physical business address (if you have one), email, phone number, and any other essential details.

An About Page

This page should carry essential information about your brand’s mission, value statement, and all your offerings.

A Privacy Policy, Disclosure Page, and Terms and Conditions

The legal pages of your website are important. They inform visitors about your terms and conditions and other legal info about your site.

50. Ensure Your Domain Name Is Short and Brandable

The address you use for your website is vital. The first impression of your website represents how users perceive your brand. It’s vital to choose your website domain name cautiously.

Here are a few things to meet before picking a name:

Include keywords (if it’s possible)

Choose something short and straightforward (easy to remember)

Ditch Exact Match Domains (EMDs)

Let your domain sound like a brand name

Out of all the tips listed, ditching EMDs is one of the most crucial factors needed to optimize your WordPress SEO.

Treat it with caution. You can find more about it here.

Don’t Delay—Take Action Now

You’ve got all it takes now to improve your WordPress SEO.

You can begin to implement the 50 actions tips I’ve shared in this post and start seeing results immediately—within 50 days.

Are there other tips you’ll like to share?

Or are you still having challenges with your WordPress SEO? Drop your questions and comments below.

I’ll do my best to respond!

Earn from your WordPress Blog!

Having a WordPress blog is more than just sharing your ideas and opinions to people. You can actually have a passive and full income by monetizing it through affiliate marketing.

Basically, you will promote products owned by certain businesses, in your blog. When your readers purchase them through your affiliate links, you will earn commissions.

It is a great way of earning money online. In fact, I have a 4-figure monthly income just by doing this!

If you don’t have any knowledge or experience, no worries. Click on the button below to learn more about it, from top to bottom and start your own money-making blog!

0/5 (0 Reviews)
Anis Founder of Fulltimehomebusiness.com

About Anis

Anis Chity used to be a struggling university student under debt from Italy, but thanks to this opportunity he managed to earn a 4 figure monthly income at the age of 24. Anis enjoys helping people avoid scams and find legit ways to work from home. He has many other businesses online as well.


In his free time he loves playing football & hanging out with friends.


Quick update: Anis now is 28 earning over $40k a month on average in affiliate commissions! Learn How He exactly did it here.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

FREE TRAINING:


This is HOW Newbies like me & You Can Make Money Online

>