How to Optimize Your WordPress Blog Post for Increased Traffic In Order to See Massive Gains in Rankings, Reputation and Revenue!

Do you have a WordPress blog? Are you getting any mileage out of it in terms of generating traffic for your business or gaining new viewers and readership? Do you want it to perform better? If so, then keep on reading.

Today, we’ll walk you through the steps of optimizing your WordPress blog for SEO purposes that would ultimately rank your blog post quickly in search engines and also rank high in order to generate increased traffic.

We will focus on the blog post itself, and then viewers can expand upon that from there to optimize all of their WordPress blog posts, one by one, until the entire WordPress blog is fully optimized for SEO.

Tools of the Trade

We recommend using only one tool. This one enjoys universal acclaim and we have had tremendous success with it when it comes to our clients.

The Yoast SEO plugin.

It’s simple to use (even non-coders can use it easily), and it comes packed with great features.

Some popular features include:

  • Quick image scans
  • Meta detail analysis
  • Follow and no follow links quantification
  • Basic SEO analysis report

The list just goes on…

The very first thing you need to do (of course, aside from creating a stunning blog) is to download the Yoast SEO plugin for your WordPress website.

You can do that by accessing the “Plugins” section from your WordPress dashboard.

Once the download is complete, you should be able to see a section titled “Yoast SEO” on the “Edit Post” page of your WordPress dashboard.

Now let’s move on to the next step and the actual optimization process.

Optimizing the Metadata

Meta details refer to the meta title and meta description of your blog post. Google uses this information to determine relevancy, and rankability based on an entered search term. To elaborate.

  • A Meta title is the title of your web page (blog post) that appears on the SERPs.
  • Meta descriptions are the descriptions that appear right below your Meta title and tell users what your webpage (blog post) is all about.

In the above image, the text in the black box is the meta title and the text in red box is the meta description.

If optimized correctly, both meta title and meta description can increase traffic to your webpage (blog post). This includes.

  • Keeping the Meta Title between 45 and 60 characters (including whitespaces). It should contain your primary keyword, preferably at the beginning.
  • Keeping the Meta Description length to no more than 160 characters. Its phrasing should entice readers to click on your blog post. Adding a keyword to meta descriptions doesn’t help your blog’s ranking on search engines, but it can boost the click-through rate.

Now that you know the main guidelines, the next questions is how to apply it towards a blog post. This is where Yoast comes in.

Visit your Yoast SEO section and click on “Edit Snippet” button.

This will expand the window, revealing the SEO title and meta description boxes:

Type the SEO title (meta title) and meta description of your choice.

Optimize the URL

All web pages, including your blog post has a unique URL.

By default, WordPress adds the title of your blog post to the URL when you publish the post. This default setting isn’t bad at all; in fact, it’s really good for search engine optimization.

However, if you want to customize your blog post URL to make it look even better, you can do so by typing your desired URL in the “Slug” box of the snippet editor.

Remember the snippet editor?

Here are couple of tips for optimizing your blog post URL for increased traffic:

  • Include a keyword in the URL
  • Keep the URL short

Rand Fishkin, co-founder of MOZ, has some more suggestions on URL structuring. You can read about them by clicking here.

Optimize the <h1> tag

The <h1> tag is the main title of your blog post as it appears on the webpage.

For example, the <h1> tag for this blog post is “How to optimize Your WordPress Blog Post for Increased Traffic”.

<h1> tags are very important on-page elements. They tell search engines what your blog post is about.

Many website owners prefer using the same title for their <h1 tags> and meta titles. However, if you want, you can keep the two different. Just make sure your <h1> tag isn’t noticeably different to your meta title; you don’t want the search user to get confused by two different versions of your blog post title that say two different things.

To optimize the <h1> tag of your blog post, click on the “Posts” section and manually type the header tag in the “Add New Post” box.

Don’t Forget About Image Optimization

When we talk about optimizing images on a WordPress blog post, we mean optimizing the ALT text attribute of those images for better search engine indexing.

Alt text describes the appearance and function of an image on a web page. It’s embedded in the HTML code of your WordPress website.

By default, the alt text of an image can contain different alphabets and numbers.

Focus on making them descriptive (and relevant) in the context of the subject matter of the image, you can improve on both the above aspects.

To optimize the alt text of the images used on your WordPress blog post, click on the “Posts” section on your WordPress dashboard and click on the image you want to add the alt text to. Hit the “Edit” icon and type the alt text of your choice.

We’ll suggest adding a keyword to the alt text for better optimization results.

Optimize the Social Media Metadata

The Yoast SEO plugin also allows you to share your blog post on social media sites.

The meta data for social media sharing is pulled by the plug in itself (unless specified) from the blog post content and used for creating posts for Facebook, Twitter etc.

You can override this meta data and make your social media posts more creative and clickable by clicking on the “Share” icon within the “Yoast SEO” section and specifying the content as per your wish.

There are some other optimization techniques as well that you can implement, for instance, including internal and external links to your WordPress blog post and designing a clickable CTA.

Rest assured, following these steps will set your WordPress blog post on the right path and over time start delivering long term results and viewership. There is SEO and then there is SEO for WordPress.

Search Berg can help you with that!

We are one of the leading WordPress SEO service providers in the United States, employing foundational and advanced SEO techniques to help our clients create high performing WordPress websites. Our WordPress SEO experts have years of experience in the field and knows what it takes to make a WordPress website successful and search engine friendly.

Get in touch with us today to discuss your WordPress SEO needs.

Accelerate Your Small Business’s Growth With These Powerful SEO Strategies

To say that the competition to get on the first page of Google’s search engine results is intense would be an understatement. With only 10 spots on the first page, businesses work proactively day in and out to nab the coveted space.

Improving your local SEO is a necessary aspect of any online marketing strategy. Local SEO means promoting businesses to a targeted local audience within a specific geographic location. The success of small businesses is hugely based on how effectively it incorporates SEO in their online marketing efforts and attracts traffic to their website.

Here are three top tips to boost your SEO efforts and grow your business, no matter what size it is.

Bring In The Professionals

SEO is ever-changing and complex. Small businesses often lack the manpower, budget and expertise to invest in highly effective SEO strategies. Therefore, it is often best to seek help from SEO professionals who not only provide expert SEO services but also offer critical progress reports and traffic updates.

Focus On Inbound Traffic

Generating leads in small businesses is a taxing process. Whether it’s cold-calling or pay per click campaigns, they offer a low ROI and require a lot of time and money.

SEO on the other hand boosts your marketing efforts in a cost-effective way as it focuses on leads that are looking for services your business provides. This approach increases leads, improves engagements and saves cash on outbound marketing activities.

Realistic Expectations

Just like any other marketing campaign or reputation building project, SEO takes time to deliver results. The outcome of your SEO is dependent on two major factors. First is the size of your investment and second is how early or late you started your SEO efforts.

The success of an SEO strategy depends on the culmination of many factors that add up to create value and deliver solid results. Outranking competitors, high conversion of leads and thousands of daily visits to your website won’t happen overnight. Therefore it is best to set realistic expectations, practice patience and ensure that your SEO efforts are inching you toward your ultimate goal every month!

Search Berg offers comprehensive and proven SEO services to small businesses in the US. Our affordable services include a money-back guarantee and create a solid business identity, expand brand awareness and attract traffic to your website. For more information, contact us to find out how we can help grow your business.

What Is Link Building And Why Does My Business Need It?

What Is Link Building?

The SEO landscape is ever-evolving. Therefore, strategies pertaining to SEO must change accordingly. This includes link building as well. The importance of high-value links is undeniable today. In order to thrive online and get a competitive advantage, businesses must implement effective link building campaigns.

In its most basic form, link building is simply the process of gathering links from high-traffic websites that are relevant to your business to your own. Mastering the techniques involved in building high-value links will be the best way to improve your SEO efforts.

The more high-quality links you get to your website, the better you will rank on Google and the more traffic your site will receive.

Why Should Businesses Use Link Building?

Links are important for search engines to determine a website’s credibility and determine its ranking. The more high quality links direct toward your website, the higher it will rank in search engine results.

Here are the top three benefits of link building for businesses.

  • Building Relationships

Building links require you to interact with top ranking blogs and websites within your industry. When you reach out to such websites to promote your content, you get a chance to build meaningful relationships with influencers who are important in your industry. Promotions from such individuals or platforms lend your business an air of credibility and trust.

  • Referral Traffic

Simply put, links increase referral traffic. If your link is featured on a high-ranking website that attracts a lot of readers then relevant traffic will be directed to your site which may increase sales in the long-run.

  • Brand Building

When link building is done right, it can result in your company becoming an authority in your industry which establishes your brand identity. Content creation, as part of the link building strategy, is a great way to convey your company’s expertise and services to a local audience.

For example, when a website publishes a well-research content piece based on industry data, you have an opportunity to make a name for yourself in your niche. While reaching out to industry giants to get links, you are actively promoting your content and establishing yourself as a business to be reckoned with.

For affordable link building services, contact Search Berg. Our SEO experts offer effective link building strategies that drive traffic, increase search engine rankings and boost online revenue. Contact us today to find out how we can help your business scale new heights.