9 Quick and Easy WordPress SEO Tips

WordPress is one of the easiest ways to start a blog, and one of the most popular blogging tools in use today. By building a reader base, you can get your opinions out there, market your own business, and even link up with advertisers to make money. Regardless of your reason for using WordPress, you want more readers. The best way to expand your reader base is to employ search engine optimization, or SEO for short, to make sure sites like Google will put your site near the top of the results where it belongs. Use these tips to boost your ranking.

1. Content, content, content! - While you want to include terms that people are likely to search for, no one is going to read a plagiarized blog, one that merely spams search terms, or nonsensical writing. People want to see originality and creativity, so pull out all the stops. Depending on your audience you may want to use humor, anecdotes, or other literary devices to get your point across and draw in readership.

2. Linking Up – Use search keywords as links to other sites which will backlink you, but only after making sure your link destinations make sense. For a gardening blog, you wouldn’t want to link to your mechanic’s business site.

3. Location is Key – Having key phrases is great, but don’t forget to state where you are. Many business sites overlook the fact that they usually only provide services to people in their immediate area. If you’re a lawyer in Chicago for example, you may want to use phrases like “Chicago attorney,” and switch that up with names of Chicago suburbs as well.

4. Education Priorities – If your website has anything at all to do with education, make sure to get reciprocal links from .edu sites. Since .edu sites are more heavily weighted on search engines, this will make your page ranking increase. Some .edu sites do actively look for link sponsors, so check around for them, or if you know anyone who works on a website for a local school district or university, talk this plan over with them.

5. Phrases not Words – Most bloggers know to switch up key terms, but aren’t always aware that most people’s searches consist of phrases in order to narrow down results. For our lawyer example, using “personal injury law,” “injury attorney,” and “personal injury legal representation” will generate many more search hits.

6. Call to Action – While you don’t want to oversell yourself by spamming your business name repeatedly (since most people won’t be searching specifically by your business name), you do want to let readers know you’re open for business. Make sure you have a strong call to action in your conclusion that links to your main business website.

7. Adapt and Survive – SEO rules change on a daily basis, so expect to start thinking of your WordPress page as a constant work in progress. Don’t be afraid to change up phrases and techniques in order to stay on top of the game, and read up on which search terms are hot in your industry at the moment.

8. User Based Content – You’ll notice that many popular sites and blogs allow the viewers to put their two cents in. Enabling features like reviews, comments, and sharing options will drive more traffic to your site, and thereby help improve your page ranking. People love to check out sites where they get to give input as well.

9. Fresh Content – Your WordPress site will fall into oblivion if not updated constantly. You can be the most talented writer in the world, but people will not visit unless they can expect new entries on a regular basis. At the very least, try to update your site 1-2 times a week to keep it fresh in the public eye.

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