Top 10 Powerful SEO Ranking Factors
When you choose to build a website using WordPress, there are many people that want to do search engine optimization on it and place it at the top of the search results. There are several ways to do SEO on WordPress, but the WordPress SEO plugin is very useful. In this article, We will introduce top 10 SEO ranking factors which is also important for ranking, which is even useful not only for those who want to create a site with WordPress but also for those who have already created a site with WordPress.
SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization, which means measures to increase the reputation of search engines such as Google. The measures taken by SEO are basically the same for any site. WordPress site SEO measures are the same as others, and WordPress does not mean that it will be more effective.
However, while WordPress has plugins that even beginners can easily add functions to, there are some WordPress-specific settings such as some parts that require customization. Therefore, I will introduce each measure how to implement SEO measures with WordPress.
1. Strengthening internal links
Internal links, which are very important in SEO measures, are strengthened by properly installing link leads within the site. When using WordPress, you can strengthen the internal link by making the following settings.
Related Article settings
Articles on the site often have articles that are similar to or related to the subject of the article. Therefore, you can strengthen internal links by connecting links to other articles as “related articles” under the article. SEO has a guideline to evaluate high EAT (Expertise Expertise, Authoritativeness Authority, TrustWorthiness) content. Connecting highly relevant articles has a positive impact on increasing your expertise.
Regarding the position to put the link, you can put the link directly to the article, but it is troublesome to do it manually for each article. In WordPress, it is possible to save time and effort by installing a system (plug-in) that automatically displays related articles from the same category and tag.
If you know the code such as PHP, you can make your own without inserting the plugin, but the plugin that can be installed for free is very convenient. It’s easy to set up, so find a plugin that’s easy to use even for beginners.
On sites that have a lot of content articles, I think there are articles that are often read and articles that are accessed. By putting them together as a ranking and putting them in the sidebar or under the article, it will lead to the strengthening of internal links.
You can try plugins for related articles links, such as
- WordPress Related Posts
- Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
There are also many useful plugins for setting ranking articles. For example, you don’t have to bother to perform access analysis to understand which articles are accessed most, but you can set a ranking by deciding the period and range, such as a plug-in that automatically aggregates, what kind of ranking you want to make. There is also a plugin that will help you.
In addition, if there is a ranking function, users will flow from “inflow articles to ranking articles” and “ranking articles to other articles”, and it is expected that the migration rate will increase and the PV of the entire site will increase.
Sidebar Settings
The sidebar is one of the fixed display parts of the site. It’s also a place where you can use it when the footer isn’t enough, even if it’s not enough to put it in the header. It is always displayed on the PC and stored in the hamburger menu on the SP, so users can easily transition to the content posted in the sidebar after reading the article. In WordPress, you can freely set what kind of information you want to write in this sidebar and what kind of link you want to connect. If you use the plugins and the functions that WordPress comes standard with, you can easily change the location.
You can link to the place you want to guide, such as profile, article search, new article list, category list, link to a specific article. Related articles may be attached to the WordPress theme from the beginning. The sidebar can only be set when there are two or more columns, but try setting it from [Appearance]> [Widget].
Category Settings
Since WordPress was originally a system for blogs, it is possible to set categories so that articles can be organized easily. This category is a hierarchical part of the structure of your site, so be careful when setting your categories.
In addition, setting a category will increase the number of archive pages, which not only leads to the strengthening of internal links, but also leads to an increase in the migration rate within the site. Of course, articles with high relevance are collected, but when creating rankings, it is also possible to create rankings by category.
Categories can be set without using plugins. Let’s set the category from [Post]> [Category].
2. Breadcrumb trail settings
The breadcrumb trail is an internal link at the top of the site, as shown in the image below.
Not only is it easy to see which level the page you are looking at is in, but it is also very convenient because it makes it easy to return to another level.
Breadcrumbs can be used as a means of communicating the structure of your site not only to users but also to Google’s search engines. Since it is very troublesome to set one page at a time, WordPress has released many plugins that automatically display the breadcrumb trail when you set it. you can also use some seo friendly plugins which comes with structured data,
- Breadcrumb
- Breadcrumb NavXT
One thing to keep in mind when setting up a breadcrumb trail is to use schema.org. schema.org is a description method to help search engines understand the content correctly.
Google recommends setting the breadcrumb trail according to the description method. If you set it with a plugin, some of it will already be in the form of the description method, but depending on the theme, the breadcrumb trail itself has not been created and you will have to create it yourself. Use the “Structured Data Testing Tool” and the search console reports to check for any mistakes.
3. Permalink Structure
One thing to keep in mind when creating a page is how the URL is generated. It is desirable that the URL easily conveys the directory structure and page contents of the site. According to Google’s guidelines, it is desirable to create URLs that are simple and logically easy for humans to understand.
In WordPress, you can change the display method of the URL in the item called permalink setting on the management screen. After creating the site, let’s set the permalink first.
You can set what kind of URL will be generated when you post the content. In that case, please try to set while paying attention to the following points.
- Do not Use Hindi URL
- Don’t Add Symbols or extra alphanumerical
This is called encoding, and it is changing to characters that can be read by machines. If a Hindi URL is encoded, it will look like a URL that doesn’t make sense for a long time.
4. Improved site speed
Google recommends improving the display speed of your site. Site display speed is the time it takes for a page to load and become available to the user. If you come to see the site but it is still loading, the probability that the user will leave will increase.
From a user-first perspective, it’s best to have a faster site display speed. In addition, users may leave the site even if there is a delay such as not being able to click or scrolling because it is displayed. To prevent this, you need to improve the display speed of your site by paying attention to the following points.
Image Size Optimization
One thing to keep in mind when creating a site is the image size. The image size here means the file size. If the file size of the image is large, it will take a long time to load and it will cause the display speed of the site to slow down.
Therefore, compress the image once to reduce the capacity before uploading. There are external tools that compress images, but WordPress also has plugins that automatically compress images.
If you don’t know how to compress yourself, try using a plugin.
Use a “cache plugin” to reduce the server load
Among the display speeds of the site, the one that is difficult to improve is the display delay due to the “server load”. In order to build a site, various functions are put on the server, which inevitably puts a load and slows down the reaction speed.
However, WordPress has a plugin that can reduce the load on the server, so even beginners can easily set it. That is the “cache plugin“.
Cache means to save the data of the site once visited in the browser. It takes time because the server does various calculations and displays the page each time the page is accessed.
Therefore, by saving the calculation with a cache plugin, you can reduce the number of times the server performs the calculation. There is also a plugin for beginners that can be installed without knowing the detailed settings, so it is a good idea to include it as a countermeasure.
5. SSL
SSL is a system that encrypts communication and improves the security of the site. If you use SSL, the URL will change from http to https. Currently, many sites are SSL-enabled, and Google also recommends SSL-enabled.
Furthermore, in Google Chrome, which is a browser provided by Google, it is so important that the content is not displayed unless it is properly SSL-enabled.
Of course, when creating a site with WordPress, it is also possible to support SSL. We recommend that you support sites that do not yet support SSL.
6. AMP Version
AMP means a unique WEP page display method developed mainly by Google, and the display speed of AMP-ized pages will be faster on smartphones. Now that many elements have been added to AMP, AMP alone can create beautiful pages that are comparable to regular HTML pages.
However, to create the actual page, you have to create it using “AMP HTML”. It is difficult to create without specialized knowledge, but WordPress has a plugin that AMPs existing pages.
In addition, themes corresponding to AMP are also distributed, so you can easily prepare AMP-ized pages without specialized knowledge. If you want to increase the display speed, why not try it.
Read More: What is AMP? How to Use it For Boost Site Speed and SEO!
7. Use of “No index” & “Canonical”
Unlike normal HTML-based web page creation, WordPress sites create web pages without writing a program. for that reason,
- The page before permalink setting is displayed
- Category pages and tag pages with few articles are also displayed
- Unintended pages such as image-only pages are created
And so on.
In order to prevent them, it is necessary to make various settings in detail, but the first thing I want to do is to use “no index” and “canonical” well.
WordPress has a function that allows you to set a noindex with a single checkbox and specify canonical. Organize your site’s index by adding noindex to category pages and tag pages with less content, and by setting the correct canonical settings for each page.
8. Sitemap
Once you’ve created your site, you need to tell Google that your site exists. Also, if you have new pages or refresh pages, you can teach them here to prompt indexing faster, rather than waiting for Google to patrol your site.
The first thing we want to do to facilitate indexing is to submit a sitemap. The site map here is a site map for search engines in XML format, and it is necessary to create it according to Google’s guidelines.
WordPress has a plugin that automatically creates a site map in XML format, so you can easily create a site map.
9. Alt tag in the image
Search engines such as Google are not good at recognizing images. In recent years, image recognition technology has become very good, and it is possible to search for images, but it is still difficult to accurately read the contents of images.
Therefore, Google refers to the text in the alt attribute of the image. The alt attribute is a tag for describing the meaning of the image as text. When writing alt in WordPress, you can write it by uploading an image to [Media] or by selecting an image that has already been uploaded.
10. Create effective content for SEO
Last but not least, content is the most important element of SEO. This applies to any site, not just sites created with WordPress, but first try to create high quality content that is effective for SEO.
The point is to convey useful information to users in an easy-to-understand manner.
Sometimes, cooperation with images, videos, Social Media, etc. may be effective. WordPress article creation is so easy that you can focus on content creation.
Summary
This time We introduced you to Top 10 Factors of WordPress SEO. Even beginners can easily create a site with a little knowledge If you want to implement SEO firmly with WordPress, you need to select and set various plugins.
However, tuning WordPress settings is not enough in essence. If the keywords and strategies are not firmly defined, the search ranking will not increase no matter how sophisticated the system is.
If you don’t have a strategy, one way is to first consult with an SEO expert for more effective SEO. We also provide SEO support, so if you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us.