Optimizing content on a WordPress-hosted website has become easier than ever before. Some of the more complex operations that involve human interaction need to be done by hand and no plugin will help you do it.
Keep in mind that some of these times might look obvious at first glance, but once you think about them further, you will realize that many websites neglect using them for some reason. Let’s take a look at how to optimize website content for SEO and make it more accessible than ever.
- Running a faster website
Opting for a more stable and fast website theme might be strange to some – after all, your graphical presentation is the first thing that people see when visiting you. What you need to understand from the get-go is that people rarely come to you with pretty design ideas in mind. No amount of visual presentation will save your website if your content is not up to par.
Tip: Visually stunning websites will pass well to readers but Google’s SERP algorithm will have a hard time processing them. Use light visual elements that can spruce up your design without making it difficult to load.
- Naming image files
More and more websites have adopted the doctrine of naming their image files by the description of what’s presented on them. For example, a fruit basket image should be called “Fruit-basket.jpeg” and not “12594.jpeg”. Just because you’re internal database system requires numbers, that doesn’t mean that people and SEO will like it.
Tip: Custom-named image files will always have an upper hand in SEO. Alternate text and Metadata will help you rank better with search algorithms as well as allow you to reach a much bigger audience.
- Replacing old technologies
Your website needs to be as fast as possible if you want to get traffic and new followers. Using technologies such as outdated CSS and HTML, as well as Flash animations won’t do you any good.
You can easily exchange Flash with a content plugin for WordPress and still achieve the same result with animated content you want to upload. Using these technologies will rank your website poorly and result in a huge drop in traffic.
Tip: Avoid using any unnecessary or outdated technologies in your web design. Just because it looks good on WordPress, it doesn’t mean that it will rank better. Any element that makes a website harder to load will also make it less accessible.
- Reduce content revisions
Revising any of your posts once they go online will raise suspicion. For one, your readers and followers will have a tough time deciding whether or not the content they are looking at is original or not.
Even worse still, SEO will likely have trouble ranking your articles because of all the revisions you have made. Make sure to finalize your content before uploading it to avoid unnecessary problems.
Tip: Talk to your editorial staff about limiting the number of revisions when it comes to articles and general content on your WordPress site. Revise the article as much as possible before posting it and stick to the original article as much as possible once it goes online.
- Optimized written content
Chances are that your content is well optimized already, but what about your keywords and title optimization? Google takes strict care to rank properly optimized titles and subheadings based on current trending keywords. You can ask for professional writing help should you need assistance in optimizing it further, or you can do it yourself alternatively.
Tip: Learn how to optimize for SEO yourself or hire professional help to do it for you. Neglecting to use SEO to your advantage will have severe consequences for your hits and conversions, meaning that your content will become invisible very fast.
- Ads over spam
It’s becoming more and more difficult to find proper sponsorship for your website. Many administrators and content creators fall into the trap of signing a deal with someone who proceeds to fill their site with spam links and content that serves only their purpose. Avoid these situations by carefully screening the people you intend to collaborate with.
Tip: Collaborative content and guest posts are a good way to make your life easier as a WordPress administrator. However, knowing who you work with is a very important part of what makes collaboration profitable and beneficial. Choose your partners wisely and always have the best in mind for your website.
- Custom visual content
Using custom made buttons, graphics and social media icons will give your site an extra flare of professionalism. There is no need to stick to whatever icons and graphics WordPress intended for blogging use by default. Any custom or unordinary option will be appreciated by your audience as an extra touch of attention.
Tip: Hiring a graphic designer or using a paid photography website is a good way to avoid many seen images on the web. You can even work with relatively cheap designers such as art students or designers in learning and still get the job done. Your visitors will value you much more if they see custom made content made especially for them.
- Enable caching
Letting your visitors load your website faster means more traffic and more ad revenue in the process. This process is impossible if you consider using your website without cache enabled.
WordPress content management is a game of paying attention to what your visitors want and what SEO demands. By enabling cache, you will appease both sides at no loss of performance or versatility on your part.
Tip: Caching will enable your visitors to load pages at a much faster rate which translates to better SERP ranking. It won’t cost you any more than the cloud infrastructure already does, so show some sportsmanship and use caching on your website.
- Smart use of backlinks
Working with other content creators and websites is an essential part of running a successful site. Using backlinks to verified, legitimate and resourceful website will do your site a huge favor.
Your ranking will rise based on the proper backlink management and you will even get in touch with the sites whose links you are promoting in your articles. In time, those sites will do the same for you, making sure you promote each other at mutual benefit.
Tip: Limit the number of backlinks that your writers and guest writers can post. This will make them think twice about adding any unnecessary links to spam content that can break your SEO efficiency. It’s also a good idea to enable a plugin that constantly monitors any hyperlinks embedded in individual articles.
- Avoid uploading files directly
A number of content optimization services allow you to upload files on hosting sites and link them to your website without any extra data.
This means that your site will load much faster and be lighter to process for anyone who is visiting. While it may seem logical, many administrators fail to see the significance of hosting their content on one platform and linking it to their blog.
Tip: Using a third-party cloud platform such as Dropbox or Google Drive will allow you a much greater freedom with the files you upload on your site. Invest some revenue in premium online storage and use it for your multimedia content needs instead of putting everything on the site itself.
Conclusion
Optimizing your WordPress site will never end and you will constantly have to think about where to go next. These tips are a good way to start your way towards better ranking and higher user traffic, so make sure to take them into serious consideration as an administrator and content creator.
You can always employ a professional content manager or someone who knows how to deal with Google’s SEO in order to better rank your content with search engine parameters. You should never compromise on your website since it represents your brand on the web.
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