Feeling intimidated or don’t know how to improve the ranking of WordPress blog although you (think) you’re doing everything right? Not to worry, with these set of tips and tools, you’ll get better and improve ranking in (almost) no time.
Without further delay, here’s how to improve the ranking of WordPress blog. Now, for the initial set up, you might wanna catch up our previous article and then adapt these six steps for complete strategy.
1. Mobile first
As Google announced it last year, if you want to improve your ranking, you need to step it up and go mobile. That is if you aren’t already.
Mobile-first indexing means that the mobile version of your website is considered to be the primary one. As Smart Insights stated in their annual research, the share of web traffic via mobile phones is 52% aka +4% year-on-year change. Suit up and make your website mobile optimized, guys!
2. Content length
One of the great ways to improve the ranking of WordPress blog is the very length of your articles. Forget what you hear or read about the blog is dead, content is dead, way too much content already. Despite all that, people still search for answers and still want to know as much as they can about the topic that matter to them. So, if you have the answers they’re searching for and can provide them with details, go write yourselves out. Content with at least 600-700 words gives you an opportunity to both provide value and play with keyword and phrases you’re ranking for. But, above all, it’s all about the value. Do not try to fool Google thinking you can write +1000 piece stuffed with keywords and you’re done. No way, Google’s too smart for that and will punish you. It’s 2018., move away from that old-school black hat SEO. Focus on writing valuable, useful and informative content, and the length will pile on.
3. Keywords
And now about the keywords. It’s not just that keywords matter, it’s the whole phrases we need to analyze, track and try to compete with them. According to Moz’s 2018 SEO checklist,
„We need to know and to uncover the words and phrases that searchers are actually using to solve or to get answers to the problem that they are having in your world.“
Do your homework, dig deep into the search query, try to think every possible phrase people type while searching around topics you cover. Make a list, evaluate all the findings by how difficult it is to rank, then write around that phrases and get in the ranking arena.
4. Internal linking
Provided you have a defined structure of your blog; it’s time to dive into internal linking. You do this so visitors can have the best user experience, to easily navigate from page to page. Also, by having proper internal linking of your blog, you’re telling Google which pages are important over the others. Basically, you’re educating Google about the relevance, value and the relationship between your pages. More on internal linking and how to set them up you’ll find in this Yoast’s guide.
5. Social signals
Social Media is here to stay; it’s only natural that Google considers it in some form when ranking your content. Your Facebook Page, Twitter and Google+ accounts are relevant link providers and therefore help you rank better. That’s why it’s considered a good practice to have those Social Media accounts active and valuable for your users. You know – give to get, meaning, invest time to provide value to your users and promote your content and Google will reward you. For more about Social Media impact on SEO, read this Awario’s informative blog post.
6. Tools
Ahrefs
Not your average backlink checker, Ahrefs is really powerful SEO tool. A keyword research tool, content marketing, and competitor analysis – overall data intelligence tool that you simply need to use. With its many features, you’ll understand what it needs to be done to get a better ranking position.
Google PageSpeed
We know Google announced that page speed would be considered as a ranking factor in its mobile-first index. That means your site needs to be fast and optimized if it’s not already. If your site takes too long to load and visitors need to wait – guess what? They’re not gonna come to you anymore! And, what better way to check site speed than through Google PageSpeed, right?
Moz free SEO tools
Anything from link building, keyword research, webpage performance, and analysis, these Moz free SEO tools will help you improve your rankings.
SEMRush
An excellent Search Engine Marketing tool that helps you define your content strategy thus improve your search ranking. With its massive database of over 46 million domains and more than 120 million keywords, you can dig deep into the data and understand what’s needed to be done. Just take a look at these 12 reasons to use it, and you’ll get the picture.
And if you’re looking to change your site’s appearance or just starting a new one, take a look at one of our premium themes. Test them free for seven days; they may just be the right pick for you and your business.
