WordPress is the single most popular CMS out there for a variety of reasons. It’s extremely user-friendly, updated regularly, totally free, and incredibly flexible. Another reason why it’s so popular is because of how SEO friendly it is. However, that doesn’t mean that ranking a website that runs on WordPress is easy and that you don’t have to apply sound SEO principles if you want to improve your rankings.
In this article, we’re going to expose some of the biggest SEO mistakes people make with their WordPress websites.
You Don’t Measure your Results
If you want to improve your search engine optimization results, you have to first be able to assess what you’re doing wrong and where you need improvement. You could have all the page views in the world, but if they don’t translate into leads or sales, it will be in vain.
One of the things you could do is redirect users who performed a specific action that could lead to revenue, like subscribing to your newsletter or buying one of your products, for instance, to a congratulations page. This will allow you to analyze which channels these users came to your site with Google analytics. You’ll be able to check who came from organic traffic sources and which search terms they used to find your website.
You Didn’t Submit or Create an XML Map
If you don’t know what an XML map is, it’s sort of an inventory of every piece of media, page or post that is published on your website. You can submit your XML map through Google’s search console if you want to notify Google of pages that you’d like to get indexed.
If you’re intimidated by the idea, you shouldn’t be, as WordPress has tons of plugins you can use to create XML maps in minutes. You could use a tool like Yoast’s SEO plugin and choose the XML Sitemaps option. Once you’ve enabled it, you’ll be able to see your Sitemap and submit it to Google’s search console.
You Haven’t Adjusted your Permalinks
For a CMS that is supposed to be SEO friendly, the default permalink structure on WordPress is anything but. If you want your pages to be noticed, having user-friendly permalinks is important and will help Google crawl your pages better. Under the settings/permalinks option, make sure that you switch to post name. You could also choose to go for the month and date option, as some of the main keywords in your post will be featured in the permalink as well.
You Don’t have a Solid Content Strategy
One thing you can’t afford to do with your website is to neglect your content strategy. The more you post, the more reasons you’ll give Google to crawl your site.
You also have to make sure that your posts are optimized for the right keywords, but make sure that you don’t go overboard. If you aren’t sure how to set up a content strategy, it would be wise to work with professionals who’ll be able to set one for you. People like the Snap digital marketing agency, for instance, are specialized in SEO and content creation and will be able to create highly optimized content that will please both Google and your audience.
Conclusion
WordPress is bar none one of the best CMS’s out there, and one of the best for SEO when used correctly. Make sure that you steer clear of these mistakes and work with the right team if you want to take your SEO efforts to the next level and increase your site’s visibility.