The basics – how does a search engine work?
Well, it’s not really basic…extremely complex is an understatement. Here is googles explanation. Once we understand how search works, then we can come up with a SEO implementation plan, in our case for WordPress CMS as that is the main platform we use. But in all honestly, the platform is somewhat irrelevant as most of the real value in SEO is done outside the platform, outside of the website even. Mostly, the most significant part is the sites authority which is determined by rankings, popularity, links and authentication.
How to SEO the WordPress CMS
This how to SEO WordPress guide is a detailed list of our SEO service. You can have a read to compare us and other SEO providers or use it to SEO your own site. Free tools are available on-line although some premium tools (which we also use) are easier and more productive. In addition to this guide, have a read of our top 10 SEO tips and tricks.
The SEO pillars of success
No how-to explanation is complete without pillars supporting the foundation and providing a platform on which to build. WordPress itself is a pillar, a platform which allows almost total customisation. Fortunately, we can use themes and plugins for most of the work avoiding time-consuming and thus expensive programming.
Pillar 1 – Competitive research or analysis
We use keyword-spy and visual keyword tools to examine all the pages of a competitors website, especially the homepage and major products/services. But looking at the marketing mix and how/where inbound links connect the site with more authoritative companies, we get a good picture of what needs to be done in our website to be better (or at not too inferior) to the competition. If you want to compete with Samsung for smart-phones, being better may take some doing. But to compete with a local dentist is not difficult. The principle here is to ensure we are driving with a clear map and not blindfolded. We know our destination, how long it will take and the costs involved. Sure the final route may be different, but the destination is the same.
Pillar 2 – Keyword research and selection
Based on which package is selected and what theme is chosen, we get an idea of how many pages to work with in the WordPress CMS. From that, determine which unique product or service will be marketed and how to SEO it for WordPress. Once we know , we research the best keyword phrase to achieve the highest conversion rate. We do not go for the most popular as they are too competitive, we look for niche, unique, moderate volume but achievable targets for your vicinity. Ideal solution would be to divide our overall target hit-rate by the number of products to focus on. For each, come up with a strategy and test the market for optimal results.
If the market is too competitive using Google, we may opt to select Bing/Yahoo first; building a solid foundation before tackling Google. It depends on the industry and product type. Using the free adwords tool you can very quickly see which keywords or phrases people search for. Drill down your subject area until you find a good phrase. The longer the tail the better, than means the longer the phrase. For example, we use Website Design Sunshine Coast as one of our keywords; if we were to use website design only, we would not rank highly for ages. Sure fewer people search for long-tail results, but those that do are your target market and more relevant.
Pillar 3 – Web design and technology
For pillar 3 in our how to SEO WordPress page, please see our how to build a website section.
Pillar 4 – Original quality, searchable content
There’s theory and there’s practice. The theory goes small players like us must write original content, often and relevant to the sites theme. In practice however, the big players have automated robots that scan the net for new stories, ground-breaking news, etc and .. write articles in seconds. Saves having journalists and authors, thus saving money.
Search engines cannot do much about it since the robots write like humans and turn a copy into an original article. The moral of the story, well if they can do it so can you! First find a few sites which are content rich on your subject, then copy the elements you like best into a word document. Then rewrite it or rephrase it in your own words. It must be done so the search engine cannot find duplicated paragraphs in the content. Changing just a few words here and there ain’t going to cut it!
The best is if you read articles then close the page and rewrite it in your own words and concepts always keeping the keyword-theme in mind; second best is to be a temporary robot. Search engines like new content instead of revised old pages/posts. Each page/post should be at least 300 words of good quality relevant content, 500-900 is optimal. Its better to have a few well written pages than many short ones which offer no value to the reader and makes the search engine think you are a spammer. If a page is short and has minimal value, do not allow search engines to index it. There is no hard and fast rules about how many pages a website should be as your users will decide that. If they feel the site lacks breadth and depth, they will leave and not return. A 15 page website may only have 5 pages of real good quality, which may be enough.
Want to test your documents readability? Check here for a test using the Flesch–Kincaid readability test.
Another aspect of content are photos and images. Be warned, if you use duplicated images the search engines know because an image has a fingerprint or pattern. Images are wonderful it laden with your keywords and match your theme. You can generate lots of traffic from people doing image searches. Make sure all the ALT meta fields are filled.
Pillar 5 – Performance and a good user experience
After the page is completed, we must test its load time. If must get at least a B+ in performance metrics. Part of this process is to optimise images, use caches and minify the transmission of text all without the user knowing whats going on in the background. Search engines just love it when a person clicks, and the response is immediate. If there is a delay, that a cause for concern since the page will be demoted due to a poor user experience. If page-load time is too long, its best to split the page into multiple or reduce the size of whatever is taking too long.
There are a million and one search engine optimisation plug-ins for WordPress. You do not need all of them, in fact, even though WordPress can do everything. If you make it do everything, you are finished. SEO does not like complicated, long pages. Plug-ins add code (called Java and CSS) all over the place. The general rule is try to have less than 10-15 plug-ins which add code to your pages. You can have any number that help your site, like backups, editors etc. But not those that want to make an on-line presence. If you install Jetpack, be real careful. Options like “Sharing”, where it loads all the social networks to each and every page will kill your site’s performance.
For caching, we recommend the following (this is for shared-hosting); W3 super cache, db cache reloaded fix, cloudflare, wp-minify & wp-smushit). Use asynchronous Java to delay loading scripts, even google analytics does that now. Use this tool to test your site’s performance, for page speed, anything less than an “A” is not good.
Pillar 6 – Social media and verification
This pillar in our how to SEO WordPress page has been discussed in our social media section and also tips for wordpress. For WordPress, we suggest using the WordPress-SEO plug-in, it really helps to integrate many of your social media accounts. Your website must be registered as validated by google, bing, alexa, yahoo, ask, etc. and all major relevant social media. Bookmark the site using Delicious & Stumpleupon. These are all free and invaluable. Check out our social media service for business for additional information.
Pillar 7 – Inbound links, forums and paid back-links
This pillar in our how to SEO WordPress page has been discussed in our SEO tips page, and also visit our section our link-building.
Pillar 8 – Paid advertising and promotions
This pillar in our how to SEO WordPress page has been discussed already in our SEO tips page. Also, you can have a look at our PPC on-line marketing campaign for more information.
Pillar 9 – Monitor, review and revise
The most complicated part of how to SEO is probably this section because you will need to understand many metrics and tools such as Google analytics once you’ve registered as the web-master.
As the website runs we need to collect statistical data, especially which pages are visited, for how long, where they came from and did they click anything. We need a background of demography, browser type, platform type, location, access time and anything else which can help us target the market segment most interested in our product. Reports are essential, otherwise its like driving in the night with no lights.