Ever wondered why when you look up anything in a search engine like Bing or Google, some websites pop up on the first page, while others— even with similar and relevant information, are on page 2, or 3? Well, your answer is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In a Nutshell, is a technique that can help your website rank higher in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPS) like Bling, Google, Firefox, you just name it.
Having set up your website, the next thing to learn is everything you need to know about SEO. Even if you haven’t set yours up, or you’re still thinking about it, SEO is an integral part of digital marketing for a host of reasons. From the ability to attract more organic traffic, to sifting through the billions of people on the internet to meet your target audience, and even improving your website’s visibility.
Now that we have answered the question, “Why SEO?”, the next questions are, “How do you know if your WordPress website is SEO Optimized?”
How to Check if your Website is SEO Optimized:
If you created your website yourself, or if you had your WordPress website created for you, checking your SEO score is vital to the optimum performance of your website. There are two major techniques for assessing a WordPress website optimization. They range from employing available plugins, and the good ol’ fashioned way of checking out a couple of functions.
- Plugins: Plugins refer to external software that can be connected to your website to improve functionality, or perform extended functions. Our recommended plugin for assessing a WordPress website’s optimization is All in One SEO and Yoast SEO. To activate the All in One SEO, open up your dashboard, click on plug in, search for the plug in in the top right corner of the page, install and activate it. After launch, click on SEO Analysis, there you should be able to see your complete SEO Score.
On the other hand, with Yoast SEO, as you create new pages, you should be able to see and gauge your projected SEO score before you even hit the publish button. This plugin is noted for using colors, and emojis to inform the user of their SEO metrics. Red is for bad, orange is for slightly okay, and Green is for excellent.
- The Good ol’ fashioned way: another alternative to using plugins is a four step rule that involves
- Assessing Website Load Speed: The slower a website loads, the higher the chances of users abandoning search (otherwise known as website bounce rate). This can highly affect your website visibility. So, what you want to do is optimize your website to ensure it loads in ten seconds or less. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to assess your website’s speed and identify any issues that may be slowing it down.
- Keyword Ranking: This involves identifying the keywords and phrases related to your business or industry that your target audience is searching for. These keywords do not just exist in a vacuum. Instead, using tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs can help you research keywords as well as determine the search volume and competition for each keyword, and improve visibility
- Assessing Website Structure and Mobile Friendliness: Assess the visual, content, layout, and the overall look and feel of your website. Does it look credible on all devices? Especially mobile devices. According to Statistica, 60% of people use their mobile devices to access the internet. An important guide for SEO beginners is to ensure that your website is easily accessible and usable on mobile devices. If your website is hosted on WordPress for instance, it’ll be responsive on any device. To assess speed, you could use multiple devices and networks to gauge the same, or ask friends and family to do so for you.
- Assessing Content Relevance: It is not enough to create content. Rather, it is important to ensure that the content you create for your website or blog are relevant and that they provide value to the users.
Now that you have learnt everything you need to know about SEO, you can get started with SEO and improve your website’s ranking and visibility in search engine results. Remember, SEO is a long-term process and requires patience, persistence, and continuous improvement. Rooting for you!
