So, you’ve set up a WordPress website which is ranking poorly in Google and you have no idea why. We’ve all been there. Most beginners fail to take into account any SEO aspects when first creating their sites and then when they realize they rank nowhere, only then start looking for solutions.
If your site is ranking poorly, chances are that your site has not been correctly set up from the very beginning. Here are 6 mistakes you need to avoid when starting out and you will most certainly get more traffic to your website in few weeks time.
You need to place the main 2-3 keywords in the page title and the meta description
Google wants to see the keywords you are targeting and it’s best when they are used within the page title. This is not necessary, but Google gives you an extra tick if there are keywords found in the page name.
Therefore, it is best to check your permalinks in your WordPress for guaranteed SEO exposure.
You need to place the main keyword in the url and H1 tag
You can place the main keyword in the body text, H2 and other sections but the most important parts are the H1 tag and the url itself and do your best to to avoid dynamic urls. If you don’t put your main keyword in H1 tag you are missing out on a great opportunity to let Google know what your page is talking about.
You are not using WordPress SEO Plugins
As Sydney-based SEO consultants Algorithm recommend, there are many useful WordPress plugins available which will greatly help in the quest of optimising your site. You can use Yoast, All in One SEO, WordPress SEO or any of the other plugins but have at least one installed and regularly update it.
If you are using services of a digital agency, you should check if above basic principles are in place for your important landing pages.
You do not have an XML Sitemap
The XML sitemap is your table of contents and provides a breakdown of all the pages in your website. This also informs Google to know when content is likely to change. If you do not have one in place, Google crawls through and indexes pages but may miss some in the process.
The pages that Google will normally miss are those pages that you have not linked from other pages on your website. When building an XML sitemap all the pages will be indexed and you want to provide additional information to Google. This is a static page, does not change often, and may have to re-index it occasionally. Some Plugins such as Yoast will help you to easily and automatically create the XML sitemap and update it.
There is no inter-linking between your posts and pages
Inter-linking will help Google spiders crawl your site efficiently, index your pages easily and also pass authority and power to other pages. Footer links to important landing pages and bread-crumb navigation will also enrich your internal link profile and enhance indexing of the pages and creating authority for important landing pages.
Conclusion
If you want your site found on Google, it is important that you make some changes to your WordPress configuration. Following simple on-site optimization tips can help your website a great deal and push you higher in the rankings. Take your time and optimize all the pages so that Google knows what your content is about.