WordPress SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Getting your WordPress site to rank well in the search engines (SEO) has always been a matter of doing a few relatively simple things and doing them consistently. All too often web site owners hear about some new technique or scheme designed to “Fool” the search engines. That’s the problem, people convince themselves that it’s a competition, that it’s Website vs. Search Engine and to succeed you have to “trick” Google into ranking your site. These webmasters follow some plan they see on a traffic website somewhere and off they go, spending hours of time creating a website they think will get them into the Google top ten. In reality, they often wind up with a spammy website that no one, visitors or search engines will actually like.
Search Engine Techniques
Since the dawn of internet search engines, webmasters have tried to find ways to get their sites to rank well for their chosen keywords. Over the years there have been thousands of tricks, techniques and scams that claim to have you to quickly dominating Google (or any other search engine) in no time flat. This is all just marketing. Sure, you may see some success in the short term but if you’re doing something to intentionally trick the engines, sooner or later (and it’s usually sooner) you’ll they’ll figure it out and remove your site. Then you’re left with nothing.
The thing is, if you think about it logically, the search engines have one main goal, to provide relevant, high-quality results to their visitors. That’s why when someone is caught trying to “game” the system, they are quickly removed and often penalized. Search engines don’t want to give their visitors low-quality results, it makes them look bad and it makes the visitors unhappy. Unhappy visitors can easily choose a different engine for their future searches.
So what is the secret to good WordPress SEO?
The secret is, there is no secret. Just do the following:
- Develop decent unique content that is related to your niche.
- Structure your website so that your content can easily be found and indexed (I like using silo architecture for this)
- Do some basic keyword research to see what other words and phrases are being used in your niche (the easiest way to do this is to search your keywords in Google and see what your competitors are doing on their websites).
Do these three simple things (and do them consistently) and you’re doing more then most of your competitors are doing.
Want to go a step further?
Keep reporting on new developments within your industry or niche. Develop posts around these current events –just keep it unique, never copy someone else’s content.
The bottom line, keep your site current and growing and you’ll see success. Above all else, be patient and don’t fall for those gimmicks that you read about.
