Launching a fully fledge website is only part of the work businesses need to do to sell a brand and enhance their web visibility. To achieve higher rankings on search engines like Google and Bing, you need to think critically about Search Engine Optimization. The popular website creation tool, WordPress offers users a perfect platform to go online. As a preferred CMS, WordPress contains many in-built features designed to make content optimization for web searches fast and easy. Before looking at the strategies for making WordPress URL (Universal Resource Locator) SEO friendly, you need to understand what a SEO friendly WordPress URL means.
The WPBeginner describes a SEO friendly URL as a web address that contains keywords that briefly explain the article. Since the URL can be read by both humans and machines, having a friendly URL can go a long way to improve a site’s search engine ranking. An example of a SEO friendly URL is as follows; “http://www.wpbeginner.com/how-to-install-wordpress/”. Note the easy to read post name appearing in the URL. This is unlike the a non SEO friendly URL that looks like this “http://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=10467”. Older versions of WordPress did not feature Permalinks (Permanent links), which is colloquially referred to as pretty URLs. This was changed with the introduction of WordPress 4.2 that co-opted SEO friendly URLs.
The most common types of Permalink settings in WordPress are namely: Plain, Post Name, Numeric, Month and Name and Day and Name. You could also create a Custom Permalink structure by entering the category and tag base under the custom structure tab. Although the whole process of creating search engine optimized URLs is not highly complicated, you can contact a SEO Expert to help you structure the URL at different levels from post type to categories with little effort. Creating a SEO friendly URL to enhance SEO is fairly simple, according to Searchenginejournal.com below are the steps to follow:
- Pick a SEO Friendly Permalink Structure
The use of relevant keywords is crucial as it helps Google recognize the content in your site, thereby matching the content with certain popular search phrases to enhance your site’s online visibility. For example, if you want people to search for a dance troupe called, Triangle 4 Wheel that is visiting your town for a concert and charity events in Miami, you can make your URL appear like this: www.sample.com/epic-triangle-dancing-troupe-miami-concert instead of something like www.sample.com/?p-123. Google and people searching the web will easily understand the optimized content since it is SEO friendly.
When selecting a URL structure in WordPress, you can choose from a list of common settings available from the Plain Permalink to Custom Permalink. A Plain Permalink setting is the least useful option when considering SEO because there is nothing in the URL that describes the content or page. The Numeric Permalink setting is also not a SEO friendly option because there is nothing in the URL to describe your page or content. The Day and Name Permalink can help Google identify what your content is all about since it recognizes the publishing date.
Post Name is undoubtedly the most widely used URL settings. The Permalink makes it easy for users to personalize their URL for optimal SEO results. Users are allowed to choose a URL that matches their page or content. With regards to the Custom Permalink settings, you can decide on a WordPress specific tag to use for your customization purposes. This means you can add a subset such as Category before the Post Name to give Goggle more insights into the content of the website. The URL might look something like this and this “/%category%/%postname%/”. Other variations of the same can be strung.
- Make your URLs User Friendly by rewriting
There is an expressway of writing URLs to ensure they conform to SEO practices. The first thing you need to do is keep your URLs focused. To do this, you need to remove all words that are irrelevant and don’t add value to the readers. Some of the words that should be avoided include “of” and “the” among others. Secondly, although using short URLs is not a ranking factor, it is an important step in ensuring URL conformity. Finally, you need to keep your URL formatting method consistent in all your posts and pages. For instance, if you decide to use (dash -) as word separator, avoid using the (underscore _ ) for page separation. The WordPress uses the dash to separate words entered in the URL.
- Make your URLs SEO Friendly using Plugins
Since WordPress doesn’t have up to date Plugins designed to assist users formulate SEO friendly URL’s. You might consider creating SEO friendly URLs manually. With the right keywords set up, resources like Yoast SEO plug can be used to restructure the URL with choice keywords.
- Acquire SSL Certificate
Security has become a critical component in Google algorithms along with HTTPS signal, as such everything should be done to ensure the safeguards are put in place. An efficient way to do this is make sure your website is fully encrypted using an SSL certificate. The SSL security options are designed to protect the primary host name, subdomains and multiple domains. The other areas of focus include address bar padlock and ensuring address bar padlock. Enabling HTTPS on WordPress website can enhance your user experience and help you achieve higher search engine rankings.
Conclusion
As pointed above, there are many ways to create SEO friendly URLs in WordPress, the techniques range from setting SEO friendly Permalink structures to using appropriate Plugins. The choice of technique largely depends on elements like the target audience, kind of website and the client’s industry or market niche. As a precautionary measure; if your site has been running for over 6 months, you should avoid replacing the Permalink structure to safeguard against the loss of social media share counts and current SEO rankings. In case you are not very well-versed with the idea of creating or redirecting permalink structure, consider hiring a SEO expert.
Author Bio: Joel House helps small to medium businesses grow their revenues through increased search traffic. As the owner of Australia’s highest ranking SEO Company, he has a burning desire to help small businesses with SEO that actually works. When he isn’t helping small businesses grow, he is furiously reading to stay on the cutting edge.
Search engines are least concerned about the visual appeal of websites but pay attention to its technical capabilities that support its activities. On the other hand, websites have the dual responsibility of being lovable to viewers as well as search engines. The visual aspects of websites appeal to viewers who get attracted to it first and then look for comfort and convenience in browsing websites while the technical features of websites ensure that it draws the attention of search engines. To achieve the latter, you have to optimize the site so that it increases the prospects of earning high ranks in search results. The optimization method better known as search engine optimization helps the website raise its head above the rest and get noticed. How it can be done will be clear on reading this article.
When websites become more visible, it catches the eyes of search engines first who evaluate the website and gives it a place in search results. The higher the rank the site earns in search results, more it will become visible to people who would visit the website. Had you not optimized the site properly it would have been low in visibility, and consequently fewer people would know about it. For the sake of driving more traffic to websites that open the gateway for more popularity and more business, you have to adopt a strong SEO campaign guided by the Las Vegas Strip SEO companies that can change the fortunes with sustained efforts. How you can optimize WordPress websites for SEO in the best way is the topic of discussion of this article.
Content is central to optimization
The purpose of optimization is to drive more traffic to the website for which the content must be attractive for viewers. Unless there is high-quality content packed with information that is useful for viewers why should they feel encouraged to visit the website? Another purpose of content is that it acts as the vehicle for placing keywords that reveal the theme of the content so that search engines pick it up against search queries. Put keywords in the content organically without forcing it and create easily readable content that is also easy to understand. Pay attention to the layout of the content, which must contain subheadings so that readers can quickly concentrate at specific places of interest instead of scanning through the entire content.
Create backlinks
Google looks for websites that wield authority in its operating domain as it looks upon such sites as valuable for presenting to viewers. Therefore, it is important to start building your website authority from the first day you launch it. The best way of building the authority of your site is to create connections with other sites of high authority in your industry niche by presenting high-quality content that demonstrates your knowledge on the subject. People would get attracted to the content and realize your potential in the field. That is why they would like to stay connected by sharing links. As you earn links from other websites, it acts a signal for Google about the authoritativeness of your site, and it does not hesitate to feature your site in search results prominently.
Facilitate navigation with proper internal links
Every page of the website is relevant to viewers and you must ensure that the audience has a look at all the pages. To achieve this, you must have a good network of internal links between pages so that visitors are logically ushered from one page to another that gives them a sense of satisfaction. Smooth navigation ensures better user experience that helps to increase the viewer’s trust on the website.
Name image files with optimization in mind
Images are also important considerations for search algorithms since both texts and images show up in search results. Google ties up images accompanying the texts to show it in search results, hence it is important to pay attention to the file names of images. While you must use title tags and alt tags for the image files, you must also include keywords related to the subject in it. While the keyword reveals what the image is about, the other elements in the name enhance optimization and usability.
Choose SEO optimized themes
WordPress has an extensive selection of SEO ready themes, and you must use a theme that uses minimal codes in creating the design and layout. Google has to sift through the source code to reach to the content, and with more codes, you lose out on content space and keyword density. Look for speedy themes because faster websites rank better in search results.
Download a WordPress SEO plugin that provides the easiest and quickest way of optimizing websites that does not require any technical knowledge. Always publish high-quality content that is the backbone of any online marketing campaign.
Author bio: Nancy Andrews has authored several books on SEO. After working in the SEO industry for several Las Vegas Strip SEO companies for ten years, she is now a full-time writer. She is very attracted to nature and is a green activist.