The Best SEO WordPress Checklist for 2020
So many businesses operate in metropolitan Toronto. How does a company like yours stand out?
The key to achieving SEO in Toronto isn’t just a few small tactics. It’s a whole repertoire of strategies and tasks that, when combined, give you a significant edge over the competition.
Whether you’re working with Toronto SEO specialists or just want to boost your own WordPress website performance, look to this checklist of WordPress SEO tips if you need an online traffic boost. If you are looking to revamp your current WordPress website, don’t forget that it is crucial to retain SEO ranking after a redesign too. You really don’t want to lose all of the hard work you’ve already done to improve your Google rankings!
Gathering Site Analytics
To improve WordPress SEO, you first need information on how your site performs and what you can do to generate more results.
Google Analytics
How do most visitors use your site? Are they coming from search engine results? What pages of your site are they visiting the most? You can answer questions like these using Google’s first-party Analytics platform.
It tracks various metrics like:
- How your traffic changes over time
- What other websites are sending you traffic through direct links
- Visitor bounce rate
- The amount of time a visitor stays on average
Google Analytics is a popular SEO tool for a variety of websites including WordPress, and you should definitely not overlook it during your work.
PageSpeed Insights
Most visitors will click away from a website if it takes too long to load in. Optimizing loading speeds is thus an important step in WordPress SEO.
The PageSpeed Insights tool allows you to check how quickly your WordPress pages load for both desktop and mobile users. Check what’s slowing you down and learn how to shave off unused CSS elements, resize images, and do other things to boost loading times.
Utilizing Keywords
Any Toronto SEO company will tell you that keywords are a hot topic in the search engine optimization space. These two tools will get you up to speed on keyword research and usage.
Google Keyword Planner
Google’s official keyword research platform allows you to not only discover new keywords but also get statistics and predictions on individual keywords. These include number of clicks and impressions, as well as levels of competitiveness and regional specificity.
Answer The Public
A new client will most likely find your WordPress site by asking a question into Google first. For instance, a computer repair shop might be interested in someone who searches, “Where can I get used computer parts in Toronto?”
Answer The Public is a free web tool that lets you see the questions that people are asking online. It’s great for finding keywords to use in blog posts and articles, which is an effective avenue for attracting new clients.
Developing Powerful Content
Only the best SEO agencies in Toronto can master the art of WordPress SEO content writing. When it comes time to put the pen onto the paper, use these tips to get the most out of your content.
Finding Authoritative Content
“Authoritative” content is the type that is written by experts in the field. These online articles and pages come from trusted domains and use original research from surveys and studies. They are almost never simply rewrites of other articles online.
Authoritative content can also be evergreen content, which is relevant in the long-term and does not easily go out of date. While you don’t necessarily need to create your own authoritative content, it’s worth linking to other sites with authority to make search engines think you’re part of the industry.
Keeping the Content Structured
Organizing your WordPress page in a predictable way and classifying it through metadata goes a long way to helping Google understand your site better. You can use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to align all your text, images, and other page elements in a consistent way.
Optimizing Visual Elements
Images are essential components to your WordPress site. Visitors who see more than just a block of text are more likely to stay, and Google ranks pages with visual elements higher.
Optimizing Images
However, you still want to reduce loading times by optimizing the file size of your images. For WordPress specifically, use plugins like TP Image Optimizer, WP Smush, or ShortPixel to do so.
If you need to retain image quality, consider the Lazy Load plugin, which will only load in an image when the visitor scrolls down to see it.
Choosing a Light Theme
The speed of a WordPress site also depends heavily on its theme. There are plenty of lightweight and well-programmed themes to use for your business. Be wary of slower and less-optimized ones when you make your choice.
Dealing With Technical SEO
The technical side of search engine optimization is typically the job of an SEO digital agency in Toronto, but there are easy steps you can take to help.
Retain Your Old Site
If your WordPress site is changing domains, use 301 redirects to connect the new site with the old one. This way, you still retain the benefits of the old website.
WordPress offers plugins for this job, an example of which is Simple 301 Redirects. Just type in your old and new URLs into the settings page to get automatically set up.
Structure Your Page URLs
Permalinks are the page URLs that help search engine crawlers organize your website. In WordPress, go to the “Permalink” tab of the settings menu to set up your structure. You can choose to organize pages by date, post name, numeric values, or other custom structures.
Create a Winning SEO Strategy With Our Help
Are you looking to improve the way you approach SEO for your business? Globalgraphics can help you design a successful SEO strategy from the ground up.
Get in touch with our team today to learn more about our SEO process, how we can help you improve your rankings, and generate more leads for your business.
