Business
How to properly implement on-page SEO in WordPress
As a content management system, WordPress was designed to make it easy for users to create and administrate websites.
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Besides website creation being made easy, with the help of the abundance of plugins available on the WP market, website maintenance has become a lot easier as well.
When it comes to SEO, while it may seem relatively simple at the first glance, it is actually a complex practice comprised out of various methods and strategies which, if done properly, can result in high ranking. This is why the there are various WordPress SEO plugins available, with Yoast SEO and All-in-One SEO Pack being the most popular.
Yoast SEO and All-in-One SEO Pack
These two plugins are popular for a reason and come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to content optimization, both of them enable you to easily edit how your content will appear in search engines.
The advantage of Yoast SEO, in this case, is the content analysis tool, which enables you to input a focus keyword and then analyzes your content for the best SEO practices. Next, both plugins have extensive support for social media sharing, providing you the option to input information about your content that social networks find important.
Also, the plugins have an XML sitemap feature, which is essential to how your website is indexed. Finally, they both come with additional features, with Yoast SEO specifically having breadcrumb navigation and All-in-One SEO Pack offering you bad bot blockers that prevent low-quality search spiders from slowing down your site.
Rank Math is also a pretty amazing tool that offers advanced features. You can see the Rank Math vs all in one SEO comparison before installing for your website.
The future of keywords in SEO
It has become a fact that the way that we have treated keywords in the past no longer applies to contemporary SEO practices. We used to think that the tools that show us how many times a keyword is used per page give us all the necessary advantage. The truth is that Google is far more sophisticated than that.
In 2017, Google’s focus has shifted mostly to how your visitors interact with your content and whether they bounce back, having a detrimental effect on your SERP ranking. This doesn’t mean that there’s no more importance in using appropriate keywords in titles, meta descriptions and throughout your pages – what it does mean is that rules about the repetition of your keywords don’t boost your ranking, it’s the quality of your content that does.
Essentially, your keywords have to focus on the needs of your searchers. You need to do a basic keyword search and understand what it is about a certain keyword that entices your audience. The goal is to offer your users the desired experience and valuable answers.
The importance of semantics
With Google’s AI constantly improving its understanding of what the users want and need, it is vital that you tailor your content appropriately as well. This basically means that Google likes content that astutely uses words and phrases which are lexically, semantically, and logically related, so simple repetitions and synonyms won’t do.
By intelligently creating your content, you are offering Google’s on-page quality analysis systems a better understanding if it’s relevant and valuable, that is, whether it answers to what the users are searching for. It also recognizes whether your content is credible enough.
Popularity no longer matters
It has become a fact that link equity and how popular your website is no longer plays a role as important as before. While domain authority still remains important, what is essential is topical authority and expertise.
This means that all your time spent gaining experience through writing about your industry, earning links from your area of expertise and associating with the relevant subject matter will certainly pay off.
An authority on a certain topic is based on associating your brand with it through online and offline campaigns, writing intelligent content about it, earning quality links, and building a following from various influencers.
In summation
The way you deal with your on-page SEO is essential to your overall marketing strategy. When we asked the experts from SEO Reseller Hub about the importance of on-page SEO, they told us that besides the great impact that it has on SERPs, well-executed on-page search engine optimization is a cornerstone for any off-page SEO efforts.