The Definitive SEO Beginner’s Guide for WordPress (Step by Step)

You can’t expect to see a rise in site visits without first optimizing your WordPress site for search engines. Unfortunately, most WordPress SEO instructions are too advanced for beginners. If you want to increase the number of visitors to your website, you must follow WordPress SEO best practices.

To assist you in optimizing your WordPress site for search engines and increasing your proportion of organic traffic, we have compiled a list of the best SEO practices currently in use.

Learn WordPress SEO from the Ground Up

Some SEO authorities have said that WordPress is SEO-friendly. As a result of this, WordPress is often selected as the platform upon which new blogs and websites are founded.

WordPress ensures that the code it creates follows SEO best practices, but if you want to get the most out of your SEO, you still need to put in a lot of work. Here are some concrete steps you can take to improve WordPress SEO.

At the beginning of our complete WordPress SEO manual, there is a table of contents to help you find what you need.

Introduction

We know that the idea of WordPress SEO optimization can be scary for new users, especially if you aren’t very good with computers.

There’s no need for complexity, however. Get your feet wet with the fundamentals first, and then go on to implement them on your own site.

To begin, what is search engine optimization?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an abbreviation. It’s a method used by webmasters to improve their sites’ positions in search engine results and thereby attract a larger audience.

Exactly what is search engine optimization?

SEO is not about deceiving search engines or exploiting loopholes. Building a website with search engine optimization in mind entails little more than using code and a layout that is friendly to spiders.

Search engine optimization (SEO) improves your content’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), which in turn increases the number of visitors to your site looking for information on the subjects you cover.

Why Is Search Engine Optimization Important?

For most websites, organic search engine traffic accounts for the majority of overall visits.

In order to properly interpret websites and rank them in search results, Google and other search engines utilize complex algorithms. Algorithms are becoming better at figuring out the subject matter of information, but they still require human guidance.

Without proper optimization, search engines will have no idea where to place your material in their results. Your site won’t get any traffic from those looking for the subjects you cover if it doesn’t show up in their search results.

Everyone who runs a company online should prioritize search engine friendliness while designing their site.

The WordPress Fundamentals of SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) need not be, but often is, very technical. In order to increase your website’s traffic, all you need to do is understand a few fundamental SEO techniques.

The following methods do not require a technological genius to implement.WordPress users already have a leg up on the competition.

Okay, now let’s get started with the website optimization.

Be sure to look at your site’s privacy settings.

  • To keep your site hidden from search engines, WordPress has a built-in feature. The goal of this feature is to give you more time to prepare your site for public release.
  • There is a chance, though, that this setting could be turned on by accident, making search engines unable to find your site.
  • If your site isn’t appearing in search results, make sure this box is checked.
  • To access the reading settings for your WordPress site, go to the Settings » Reading page from the admin dashboard.
  • Settings for WordPress search engine visibility Uncheck the option for “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” in the “Search Engine Visibility” section.
  • When you’re through making edits, be sure to click the “Save Changes” button.
  • SEO-Friendly URL Structures for WordPress SEO-friendly URLs use terms that describe the page’s content and are easy to read by both humans and search engines.
  • URLs like https://www.wpbeginner.com/how-to-install-wordpress/ are SEO-friendly examples.
  • https://www.wpbeginner.com/common-wordpress-errors-and-how-to-fix-them/
  • It is important to note that the wording of these URLs is understandable and might give a user an idea of what to expect from the website.
  • So, what does a URL that isn’t optimized for search engines look like?
  • https://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=10467
  • http://example.com/archives/123
  • You may have noticed that the URLs on this page are just strings of numbers that don’t mean anything. This makes it impossible for a user to figure out what the page is about just by looking at the URL.
  • Improving your search engine rankings is easier when you use a permalink structure that is optimized for search engines.

Here’s how to look at your WordPress site’s permalink structure and change it if you need to.

  • To change your permalinks, go to Settings » Permalinks. When you’re through making adjustments, you may click the “Save Changes” button after choosing a post name.
  • WordPress’ URL structure is optimized for search engine indexing.
  • See our WordPress SEO URL Structure Guide for more information.
  • Please don’t alter your permalink structure if your site has been up and running for more than 6 months, unless you’re utilizing the numbers option. If you’ve been using Day, Name, or Month, Name, keep doing so.
  • If you change a site’s permalink structure, you will lose the number of times it has been shared on social media, and it may also hurt the site’s SEO.
  • If you really must make a modification to your permalink structure, you should employ an expert to handle the necessary redirects. Your page’s social sharing numbers will still be deleted.

Compare and contrast the World Wide Web with anything else online.

When first setting up a website, you must decide whether or not to use the “www” prefix in the URL (http://www.example.com) or not.

As a result, you need to choose one and stick with it, as search engines will see them as two separate websites.

Visit the Settings » General page to make your selections. Fill in both the “WordPress Address” and “Site Address” columns with your desired URL.

URLs in WordPress: www or non-www?

No matter what anybody else says, there is no benefit to employing one over the other from a search engine optimization perspective.

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