So you have got your website running. And installed your favourite SEO plugins. What's next? Definitely want to generate more traffic for sure. I am sharing some of the best tips that I learnt as a WordPress Developer, that you can implement your website without spending a single dollar.
SEO can be very expensive and on top of that hiring in WordPress SEO doesn't guarantee you better rankings. If budget is your limit and you are willing to put some effort on the side, SEO is worth learning. I learnt SEO as a hobby, and at the time of writing my website is ranking for various wordpress developer related keywords, and I have helped my clients rank for some highly competitive keywords.
Read Google's best practices
The best place to start when you are learning SEO is Google’s Starter Guide to SEO. This guide explains how SEO and Google works overall, and how you should design and develop your website for better SEO visibility.
One of the topics that is really interesting and worth investigating is structured data and how Google implements it. I personally found that using structured data boosted my conversion rates.
Love it or hate it, the core algorithm for SEO changes a lot. For me it is more fun and challenging, as I have found that if you implemented recommendations by Google, it will help you rank higher for longer terms.
Write Regularly
Writing regularly does help in SEO. I would suggest picking up on a topic that you want to rank on and start writing unique content.
FOr example, since I focus on WordPress Developer and WordPress Development keywords, I write mainly around these topics. At the moment I am also focusing on web design keywords.
Start with long tail keyword
If you have a landing page, my suggestion would be to start with long tail keywords. But be careful not to make the target keywords extremely long.
For example, when I started my website as a freelance wordpress developer, i started targeting wordpress developer sydney keyword. It worked for me well, as wordpress developer sydney did worked with my other target keyword wordpress developer.
Internal Link
Internal linking refers to linking the website content in the same domain. Internal links can either point to the landing page or related posts.
The main strategy behind internal links is to put priority on other pages and making them more relevant. For example, if i am writing something about wordpress development, and if the context is relevant, pointing to my landing page for Custom WordPress Development makes the page more relevant.
Implement proper silo
Silo in SEO refers to grouping similar content or grouped content in a structured/organised way. For example, when I write an article it can belong to a single or multiple categories.
WordPress Category Silo
WordPress category silo refers to grouping various blogs into a single category. For example, one of the popular categories of my website is Contact Form 7 Reviews. I have listed the related posts under this category to implement category silo, to put more relevancy/emphasis on this category page.
WordPress Page Silo
WordPress page silo refers to grouping child pages under the main parent page. This is implemented via child and parent page hierarchy. The process involves creating the main landing page for your targeted keyword followed by creating child pages for the landing page.
Use better image names
As said, a picture is worth thousands of words. On the front end it is advised to use relevant images that reflect the content of the page.
If you can afford to have a custom shoot, it’s highly worthy. Else, there are several websites that provide free stock images. Two of my favourites are Unsplash and Picjumbo.
So what are better ways of naming images for SEO. My first tip would be to give the proper name to the images. Second, use proper alt tags to the images as this let the Google bot know what the image is about..