20 Simple WordPress SEO Tips to Boost Search Visibility
Updated November 2023
Getting Noticed the Right Way!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential to any diversified Internet marketing strategy. Without an effective search strategy, your brand is less likely to appear in search results. Our 20 simple WordPress SEO tips, tricks, and resources will help you implement a successful SEO strategy on your business website.
Most small businesses use the popular WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to build their websites. WordPress makes it much easier for small business owners to understand and control their SEO better. Even novices can use our WordPress SEO Tips right away.
Getting Started with WordPress SEO
Our WordPress SEO tips, tricks, and resources follow a step-by-step approach that is easy to understand. And while we based these tips on actual WordPress sites we designed and built for our clients, they also work for other platforms. Some of our suggestions are simply good practices. For others, you may have to search for the appropriate functionality.
This may seem a bit overwhelming if you are completely new to SEO or lack a basic understanding of SEO terminology. Maybe you should start by getting a better understanding of search engine optimization. Here is a great resource for everything you need to learn on the subject of SEO.
20 WordPress SEO Tips, Tricks, and Resources
1 – Do Your Keyword Research
Before you do anything else, you should start with keyword research. Find out how people would search Google for what your business has to offer. You can use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner to determine how many people search for specific terms.
2 – Select A Keyword Rich Domain
Once you determine what people seek, try to get a similar or related web address. Your web address is also known as your domain. A dotCom domain is still the preferred domain extension. Ideally, you want your web address to look like this: www.mygreatbusinessidea.com.
3 – Use WordPress
Yes, you can build your small business website on other platforms. But if you are looking for something that users and Google love, there are 39 reasons you should use WordPress. The range of plugins, general ease of use, and search engine optimization options are a definite advantage.
4 – Choose An Adequate WordPress Theme
While that may be tempting, I don’t recommend using a free theme for your business website. You will find that you will quickly run into limitations. This shortcoming is especially relevant for SEO. Instead, you should focus on a premium theme that will give you more options. We recommend ThemeForest as a theme and plugin repository.
5 – Stay Up-to-Date
Ensure you have the latest WordPress install (as of this writing 6.4.1) and that all of your plugins are the latest available version. The same goes for your theme; ensure you have downloaded and installed the latest version.
6 – Install and Configure Caching Plugins
Page Speed is essential when it comes to Google rankings. You are all set if you use a service provider such as Cloudways or WPEngine. Optimizing your site for speed is one of their services. Otherwise, we recommend you install a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, or Autoptimize. But be careful when you configure them to avoid any conflicts. Try one setting at a time!
7 – Install and Configure SEO Plugins
Once you confirm your WordPress theme and plugins are up-to-date, you can install and configure your preferred SEO plugins. We recommend Rank Math, which we use on our site. You can also use one of the following: Yoast SEO (formerly WordPress SEO by Yoast) or All-in-One SEO Pack. Install and activate the plugin. You will need to connect it to your Google account if applicable.
8 – Set Permalinks
Make sure to change your Permalinks in your WordPress settings. You always want to use the real post title in your permalinks.
You can access your Permalinks setting from your WordPress Admin Dashboard by scrolling to Settings and clicking the Permalinks tab.
9 – Create Quality Content
While there are always short-term ways to trick Google, quality original content is the only way to rank on search engines consistently. Remember, you are creating content for your audience, not necessarily yourself. Make sure your content is something your readers will want to pass around.
10 – Configure Post Excerpts
Long-form blog content is excellent. Long-form blog content on your blog landing page is not. Be sure to enable post excerpts in your blog. Want more control? Write your custom excerpt and insert it yourself.
11 – Configure Robots.txt
You should always disallow search bots and spiders from crawling category and tag pages on your site. You can easily do this by adding two lines of code to your robots.txt file:
Disallow: /comments/
Disallow: /category/
12 – Install Re-Direct Plugin
Sooner or later, deleting a page or post from your business website will become necessary. But instead of your readers ending on the dreaded “Page Not Found” dump, they should be redirected to a better option. You can create redirects on the fly using Rank Math or Yoast. Another option is to use one of the many WordPress redirect plugins.
13 – Use Images Correctly
For each page or post, you need to use an appropriate image. The image should clearly illustrate the page or post content. Images can include a product, service, location, client, or even a purchased stock image. Ensure the image is high quality, and don’t forget to write proper Alt Tags and image descriptions. Here are some more tips for creating SEO-friendly images.
14 – Install and Configure Google Analytics
You absolutely must install Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools on your business website if you have not already done so. Be sure to add the actual Google Analytics Code and verify the code with Google Webmaster Tools.
Note: Google discontinued support for Universal Analytics (UA), replacing it with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the next generation of Analytics that collects event-based data from websites and apps. If your site or online store still uses the older version, you must update it in order to track your performance. Here is a helpful guide.
15 – Create an XML Sitemap
Be sure to create an XML Sitemap of your business website and upload it to Webmaster Tools. Rank Math and Yoast do this for you, but you may also want to install the Google XML Sitemap Plugin and run it as well. Make sure you check your sitemap for any errors or inconsistencies.
16 – Claim and Optimize Applicable Social Channels
You must connect your business website to social media pages relevant to your industry or business. At the very least, your brand or product company should be on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). The latter has received mixed reviews since its takeover by Elon Musk in 2022, so it is up to you to decide if it is a good fit for your business or product brand.
For business and B2B marketers, LinkedIn is essential.
You should focus on Pinterest and Instagram if you have much visual content. And YouTube or Vimeo are a must for video content.
Remember that dozens of new social networks are geared toward serving niche markets in addition to well-known industry giants. From pregnant mothers to African American professionals and more, here are 20 of the hottest social networks for 2023.
17 – Promote on Social Media
For every page or post you create on your business website or blog, be sure to promote it on your social media channels. Social activity is a key ranking signal. It will not only improve your SEO; it can directly boost site traffic as well.
In 2023, the best social media tools aren’t single-purpose — they’re multifunctional. A good tool can help you work faster, create better content, collaborate with your team, analyze your results, and plan for the future. The right tool can make your job a lot easier.
Whether you’re a solo creator, part of a small marketing team, or tackling social at the enterprise level, plenty of social media tools exist for you to add to your tech stack.
Whether you’re a solo creator, part of a small marketing team, or tackling social at the enterprise level, plenty of social media tools exist for you to add to your tech stack.
18 – Submit Your Site to Directories
Submit your business website to open directories in your industry or business and any other directory site with a high Google Page Rank. Not sure where to check page rank? Why not use the Google Page Rank Checker?
19 – Share Your Site on Bookmarking Sites
Share your business website on quality social bookmarking sites to share your content with a like-minded audience. We like Reddit, Digg, Mix, Slashdot, and HackerNews. But there may be others specific to your industry, so be sure to check them out!
20 – Build Quality Backlinks
All of the above should lead to some solid on-page and on-site results. Remember that this is an ongoing effort, and you must keep up. Constantly changing algorithms and directives can be challenging for small business owners. The one thing that provides lasting value is high-quality backlinks. You should build backlinks to your quality content whenever you have spare time.
Implementing Our WordPress SEO Tips
You should have admin-level access to your WordPress business website to implement our WordPress SEO tips. This post only evaluates free SEO and other plugins and extensions. In many cases, premium or upgrade versions are available for a fee. I recommend you start with the free versions first. If you want to get serious, here are 66 tools you can add to your SEO toolbox.
You should get one if you don’t already have a WordPress business website. Most small business websites run on WordPress, and for a good reason. Especially for SEO, you have advantages right out of the box. And additional SEO enhancements can easily be added.
Working on Your SEO Strategy
Once your WordPress business website is up and running, you can use our WordPress SEO tips, tricks, and resources as a guide. Check off each item on our list that is already part of your overall SEO strategy. Start working on implementing the rest. Much of it is merely getting into the habit of doing things a certain way.
Most of our WordPress SEO tips are pretty straightforward. If you already do some or all of your small business digital marketing, you should have no problem implementing them. Many of the tools, extensions, and plugins we mention have tutorials that provide additional details.
Implementing our WordPress SEO tips is only the beginning. To keep your business website ranking high, you need to keep working on and improving your SEO. For many of you, this will become second nature. But if you are already uncomfortable with SEO, you may be better off engaging professional help. We are here to help.
Do You Need Help Implementing Our WordPress SEO Tips?
Are you unsure how to optimize your website or e-commerce store for SEO? Here at PixoLabo, we help businesses and product brands increase website traffic. PixoLabo offers a full range of mobile-first web design and search engine optimization services.
We help businesses and product brands improve their search rankings and visibility and increase website traffic. Contact us to learn more about our WordPress web design and SEO services and how our team can help you implement these WordPress SEO tips.
Did You Use Our WordPress SEO Tips, Tricks, and Resources?
Have you implemented any or all of these WordPress SEO tips on your business website or your e-commerce store? Did our suggestions help you improve your search rankings? Please feel free to comment below so our audience can benefit as well, and grab our feed, so you don’t miss our next post! And feel free to share our post with your audience!
For more content relevant to your business or product brand – check out the range of articles on our web design blog. (This one, listing common small business SEO mistakes you must avoid, is an excellent place to start!)
Thank you! We appreciate your help to end bad business websites, one pixel at a time!
By Gregor Saita
Co-Founder / CXO
@gregorsaita