In this chapter, we'll cover backlinks , how to get them, how to improve page speed , guest posting , and optimizing for social shares. So, without further ado, let's dive into WordPress SEO .
Contents hide
1 Get More Organic Backlinks
2 Write longer content
3 Increasing the speed of the site
4 Guest Posting: Quality Over Quantity
5 Use Google Authorship
6 Optimization for social promotions
6.1 Related publications:
Get More Organic Backlinks
Backlinks are a bit of a controversial topic. No singapore b2b leads
t whether they improve your rankings , but how you should get them. Here, I will be looking primarily at organic backlinks, which is when people link to your content of their own free will. The surefire way to get more organic backlinks to your site is to nurture an audience. This is by no means a short-term solution. When people leave comments or email you questions, make sure you take the time to leave thoughtful responses. (And try not to do this just for the backlinks/exchange.) It may surprise some, but it shouldn’t surprise you, that genuine shoutouts and links to articles you find particularly useful or interesting can actually be a way to get backlinks. “Give and ye shall receive.”
This usually works best with influencers who don’t have such a large following that they’re constantly being inundated with requests for favors, shoutouts, interview requests, and the like. Finally, building relationships with people who also write about similar topics (but who aren’t usually your direct competitors) can be a great way to not only get backlinks. When I say building relationships, I don’t mean picking out just anyone who has a site with enough page views to meet your criteria and bombarding them with emails and tweets. I mean finding someone whose ride you’re genuinely interested in, whose views you like, and finding a unique way to help them. Send them a book recommendation if you see them mention a specific book. (Or you can even send them a book.)
Write longer content
Another thing that can help you rank higher is creating longer content . Not only does Google have a new feature that allows long-form content for some search queries , but longer content tends to rank better overall. (The average content length for the top 10 results on Google is over 2,000 words.) While the internet gets a bad rap for its short attention spans and cat GIF craze, it turns out that longer posts get significantly more backlinks. But don’t think that’s free license to write 2,500 words of filler. It means you might want to experiment with combining ideas to create longer pieces. Or addressing a topic you’re afraid you can’t cover in a short article. In short, don’t be afraid to go deeper.
Improving website speed
Not only will faster loading speeds benefit your rankings, but they will also lower your bounce rate , helping you retain more visitors, which over time can lead to increased user engagement , more shares, and even backlinks. If you’re looking for a free way to quickly and easily increase your page loading speed , install a caching plugin and configure it the way you want. You’ll also want to optimize your images . You’ll probably want to use an image optimization plugin . But the most important step here is to manually compress your image files before uploading them and make them the right size for your site. In the case of screenshots, the default is often a data-heavy PNG file, which can easily be compressed into a more manageable JPEG file using any image editor. Even MS Paint. While the recommended image size will vary depending on your host speed and whether or not you’re using a content delivery network , it’s generally a good idea to try to keep your image files under a few hundred kilobytes. And try to only use plugins that actually improve your results.
Guest Posting: Quality Over Quantity
Guest posting is the act of publishing your article or post on someone else’s blog or website. While Matt Cutts declared guest posting for backlinks dead earlier this year, there are plenty of examples of blogs that frequently guest post and are not penalized in the slightest. The sites continue to rank highly for many competitive keywords . Buffer is one example. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that guest posting to increase backlinks to your site is something that was and is being penalized. While writing a few quality guest posts for related sites or blogs will likely not have a negative impact on your site, if you want to be on the safe side, you can always ask for all links to your site to be no-followed. Or, if you want to go all-out, you can avoid guest posting altogether, but it will likely be at your own expense. Guest posting can be a very quick way to build an audience, and having an active audience is a really good way to get more shares, backlinks, and of course, higher rankings. You'll also probably want to stay away from the many guest blogging communities online, as some members have reported being penalized in search rankings as a result of the association. If you're completely new to this, check out this guide to guest blogging.
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Use Google Authorship
Not only will this get your face and name showing up next to Google search results, but your results will also get priority if the person doing the searching is in your G+ network . The process is pretty simple. You list yourself as a member of a specific site on your G+ page, and then add a link to your G+ page from the content to complete the circle. Read more about how to set up Google authorship in WordPress.
Optimization for social promotions
Social shares are playing an increasingly important role in search rankings , so you want to make sure you’re getting as many of them as possible. If you don’t have one already, get a plugin. But don’t overdo it. You don’t need three sets of social buttons on one page. That will only reduce the shareability because the visitor will feel like you’re trying to force the issue . Like you’re trying too hard. Then again, it seems like longer content gets shared more often. Maybe it’s because it feels like more effort, or maybe it’s just that longer content is, on average, more shareable than shorter content. Simply because people who write worthwhile content, on average, write longer posts. Who knows. But that doesn’t mean longer is always better. It all depends on your topic and your audience. Seth Godin, for example, gets huge shares from his nugget-sized posts of wisdom and inspiration. But if you’re in the tech space, long tutorials may be much more appropriate. If Upworthy has taught us anything (other than that "curious whitespace" gets tons of clicks), it's that we should test our headlines to see what works best.
Luckily, you can easily split test your headlines with the free Title Experiments plugin. And again, reaching out to influencers is a surefire way to increase your reach . After all, a single tweet can introduce you to hundreds, if not thousands, of potential readers who may, in turn, share your content. While many are content with a simple share request at the end of their post, some more experienced bloggers advise using strong emotion to entice people to take action at the end of your post. By motivating people to act on the information you’ve provided them, you can indirectly influence them to take the action you want them to take most – share your content. If you’ve made it this far, I’d like to congratulate you on making it to the very end of one mammoth (4,100 word and counting) blog post series. But reading this guide isn’t enough. You have to actually follow it.
Step by step, line by line, word by word. Before WordPress, the world of SEO was too complex for many of us to even dream about. And it can still be a long way to go before you feel like you know exactly what to do. But with this guide, you’ll be well-versed enough to decipher and apply the advice of real SEO experts , and learn on your own as you go. If you have the desire to learn, and the patience and persistence to stay consistent, you can master the beast that is SEO and reap the rewards that come with that accomplishment.
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