Where to Start Blog if You’re a Beginner - SEO Company London
When it comes to beginning a blog, you just can’t skip search engine optimization (SEO). In other words, WordPress blog search engine optimization is necessary if you ever want for somebody to discover your article.
But don’t worry – it’s not as complicated as you might think. We’ll immediately cover the basics so you can begin blogging on the right foot.
Each and every page and post on your blog should have a target keyword. Every single one!
But how do you understand what keyword to target?
The easiest way is one we talked about in one of the previous chapters – simply start with your competition.
Keyword #research is the key to #WordPress #SEO
CLICK TO TWEET
Find their prime-performing posts by filling their URL into BuzzSumo, then use the URL of their top post and fill that into Google Keyword Planner (GKP) to see what keywords they rank for.
Keyword Research with Google Keyword Planner - the first element of WordPress blog SEO Company London
If you see any good ones, steal ’em!
💡 PRO TIP: The “competition” line in GKP refers to PPC advertising, not organic rankings, so don’t worry about that when taking a keyword.
You can check out this guide for more further help on finding an established topic and good keywords for your WordPress blog SEO.
Specifically, you should include your primary keyword in:
The page title
The URL of the page
At least one subheading (H2 or H3) on the page
At least one image’s alt text
The meta title
The meta description
The body content (a handful of times)
So, for example, if you’re targeting “SEO advice” as your main keyword, your page would be optimized like this:
Example (a)
Sounds like a lot to remember, right?
That’s where the Yoast SEO plugin comes in! This most reliable all-in-one solution for WordPress blog SEO (and also one of the plugins that we’ve suggested as a must-have in an earlier chapter).
Yoast reminds you to put your keyword in the right places and warns you if you’re doing something wrong. So just make sure you get “all green lights” from Yoast before you write anything!
Right below your main content block – when editing a post – is where you’re going to find the Yoast block, and within it is where you should seek the approval of the almighty green lights 🚦 (example below).
And I really do expect all of these green lights. For case, the editor here at CodeinWP won’t ever approve a post until it’s all green. I know this is sometimes a difficult thing to achieve based on what your keyword is, but it really pays off in the long run.
Check out this guide to read more on how to go regarding your on-page SEO.
Mobile SEO – the must-have Plugins in 2019 📱
Views from mobile devices account for more than 50% of all website visits right now (and it’s been like that since 2014). Add to that, 60%+ of mobile visitors will leave your site if they have a frustrating browsing experience.
When you think about this, it makes total sense. Everyone and their puppy have a smartphone now, and they use them for nearly all network purposes.
Mobiles are where we go to see Facebook, watch a YouTube video, check email, everything.
This is why making sure that your website pages look good on mobile is key. Two reasons for that:
the mobile-friendly page means that it’ll be easier for your readers to consume the content you’re publishing,
Google now actively penalizes websites that are not sufficiently mobile-friendly; or, even more than that, Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means that it’s the mobile view that decides how highly your page will rank in Google.
Here’s what you can do with that information and how to make sure that your whole website, as well as your individual posts and pages, are mobile-friendly
But don’t worry – it’s not as complicated as you might think. We’ll immediately cover the basics so you can begin blogging on the right foot.
Keyword research – the key to WordPress blog SEO
But how do you understand what keyword to target?
The easiest way is one we talked about in one of the previous chapters – simply start with your competition.
Keyword #research is the key to #WordPress #SEO
CLICK TO TWEET
Find their prime-performing posts by filling their URL into BuzzSumo, then use the URL of their top post and fill that into Google Keyword Planner (GKP) to see what keywords they rank for.
Keyword Research with Google Keyword Planner - the first element of WordPress blog SEO Company London
If you see any good ones, steal ’em!
💡 PRO TIP: The “competition” line in GKP refers to PPC advertising, not organic rankings, so don’t worry about that when taking a keyword.
You can check out this guide for more further help on finding an established topic and good keywords for your WordPress blog SEO.
On-page SEO: a quick & dirty overview
On-page SEO is the use of combining your keyword (and LSI keywords – words or phrases that are semantically linked to each other) in important locations on your page. It’s important to tell Google what your content is about.Specifically, you should include your primary keyword in:
The page title
The URL of the page
At least one subheading (H2 or H3) on the page
At least one image’s alt text
The meta title
The meta description
The body content (a handful of times)
So, for example, if you’re targeting “SEO advice” as your main keyword, your page would be optimized like this:
Example (a)
Sounds like a lot to remember, right?
That’s where the Yoast SEO plugin comes in! This most reliable all-in-one solution for WordPress blog SEO (and also one of the plugins that we’ve suggested as a must-have in an earlier chapter).
Yoast reminds you to put your keyword in the right places and warns you if you’re doing something wrong. So just make sure you get “all green lights” from Yoast before you write anything!
Right below your main content block – when editing a post – is where you’re going to find the Yoast block, and within it is where you should seek the approval of the almighty green lights 🚦 (example below).
And I really do expect all of these green lights. For case, the editor here at CodeinWP won’t ever approve a post until it’s all green. I know this is sometimes a difficult thing to achieve based on what your keyword is, but it really pays off in the long run.
Check out this guide to read more on how to go regarding your on-page SEO.
Mobile SEO – the must-have Plugins in 2019 📱
Views from mobile devices account for more than 50% of all website visits right now (and it’s been like that since 2014). Add to that, 60%+ of mobile visitors will leave your site if they have a frustrating browsing experience.
When you think about this, it makes total sense. Everyone and their puppy have a smartphone now, and they use them for nearly all network purposes.
Mobiles are where we go to see Facebook, watch a YouTube video, check email, everything.
This is why making sure that your website pages look good on mobile is key. Two reasons for that:
the mobile-friendly page means that it’ll be easier for your readers to consume the content you’re publishing,
Google now actively penalizes websites that are not sufficiently mobile-friendly; or, even more than that, Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means that it’s the mobile view that decides how highly your page will rank in Google.
Here’s what you can do with that information and how to make sure that your whole website, as well as your individual posts and pages, are mobile-friendly
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