Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of optimizing a webpage so that it will rank in the first pages of a search engine, for a particular set or sets of keywords. SEO is a whole industry – like Google, the biggest search engine, and universally used is a word count tool, is always taking the lead towards better search results time and again.

And that’s understandable, as it is their main line of business.

The web is the biggest library the world has ever seen, and getting the specific results you want for a particular search is a worldwide competition.

If you’re a WordPress blog that wants to top Google in one or two keywords, you need to make some concessions and do every day checking of the blog’s statistics to get to the top and maintain it after that.

A starting WordPress blog run by one person can’t do SEO full-time, so here are some nifty tricks to help you with that:

Use a cache plugin

When you use a cache plugin, you let your blog be more streamlined. This will mean better loading times, and your server won’t have the regular load it usually carries. What this translates to in the real world is that your website will be faster, will have a great backup, and will service your viewers with virtually no lag at all.

Don’t just link relevant sites, link special content

Backlinking is a staple in any SEO campaign. And every SEO person knows the importance of backlinking. It’s basically the lifeblood of the whole thing. What SEO people don’t realize is that links with a high clickthrough rate won’t cut it anymore. People are more interested in relevant links with special and unique content.

Linking your articles with a run of the mill references won’t make much of an impact, as these will only associate your content with mediocre ones as well. Crawlers made by Google are getting more intelligent in each passing year, and you need to keep up if you want your blog to survive in the next few years or so. Word of advice: be very vigilant with backlinking.

Choose the right images

Better yet, make your site an image-dedicated site. Images are more powerful as content than write-ups, although when paired together, they’re a force to be reckoned with. Choosing the right photos means making the images in your post relevant and timely, as well as original. Try to spend time capturing original images like you would spend time creating quality content.

Content is king – the old-age adage to SEO still is as relevant today as it was the first time Google has said it. There’s no beating the original, unique, and interesting content, and that should be the edict of your SEO in the first place. Do right by having your text and images align in a way that can’t be replicated by any other site.

Re-headline your headlines

Re-purposing content may have its downfalls, but changing the headlines of your previous posts don’t.

So rethinking your headlines is a healthy way to get more engagement.

Social media is your friend

Don’t stray away from social media. Every SEO person knows that social media isn’t an end-all-be-all of SEO, even though there should be a weight to it. Especially in this environment today where there is so much engagement in those platforms. For a savvy WordPress blog to prosper, it needs engagement, and trust us when we say that social media is the way to go.

Don’t stop by installing dedicated social media plugins to your site. Link your site to these platforms: Whenever you post to your site, post to social media as well. Advertise on these platforms if you have to. There is nothing sadder than a WordPress blog still on the fence about the use of social media. It’s here, and it’s happening, get into it.

Takeaway

SEO is hard. That’s a fact. You need a whole team of experts to monitor and add content and work on optimizing your website every single day. It’s an industry on its own, and if you have the ability and money to hire your own people, go ahead and do it. It will benefit your website tremendously. But when you’re a one-person team, you’ll need to make things work on your own.