SEO Tips that can help you get more traffic and customers
Tags: wordpress, seo, traffic
Published: 2022-07-21 07:12:09

**SEO Tips**:- If you’re starting a new **[small business](https://dev.to/ionorah14/how-small-businesses-invest-in-website-maintenance-in-2019-29pd)** or similar entrepreneurial endeavor, building a brand is one of the most critical steps you can take. Your website is a critical cornerstone of your brand. **SEO allows your webpage to rank higher in the results pages of search engines like Google and Bing**. This makes it easier for people to find your brand online. When it comes to a **brand-new website launch**, SEO is a critical consideration.

**[WordPress SEO | SEO Tips](https://dev.to/readymadecode/how-to-increase-seo-on-wordpress-55jj)** helps improve a **website’s rankings on search engines** and drives higher [organic traffic](https://dev.to/pcbloggers/best-seo-audit-tools-for-growing-organic-traffic-2iig). This comprehensive **[WordPress SEO guide](https://dev.to/wprefers/wordpress-gutenberg-guide-new-blocks-editor-2528)** will help you utilize multiple tools and features to optimize your site.

**[WordPress website optimization](https://wordpress.org/support/article/optimization/)** involves multiple steps and methods. This article will explain the essentials, from setting up an SEO-friendly website to improving loading speeds and optimizing content.

## What Is SEO and Why Is It Important?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing web pages to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO efforts can help drive higher organic traffic. In fact, the top three pages for a search query get more than 50% of the total click-throughs.

**In addition, SEO helps improve a website’s visibility and credibility, increasing conversion rates.**

## Step 1. Choose a Concise and Effective Domain Name
Your domain name should be well aligned with your brand and provide some idea of your business products or services to your target audience. It should be short, simple, and memorable. You want to make it easy for current and future clients to recall your domain. The Penny Hoarder is a great example. The name of this personal finance blog is catchy and easy to remember while also leaving no doubt as to the type of content you’ll find.

A domain name is also an important ranking factor. Search engine crawlers look at the domain name to discern what a webpage is about. Ideally, your domain name will also include a primary keyword that you want your website to rank for. Keywords reflect a user’s search intent and are how searchers find your platform through Google and other search engines.

## Step 2. Set Up an SSL Certificate
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a security technology that encrypts the connection between a site and a browser. Having an [SSL-certified](https://dev.to/hakky54/easily-configure-ssl-tls-connection-2him) domain will help secure your WordPress website, improving its [ranking on search engines](https://dev.to/gbengelebs/how-search-engines-work-finding-a-needle-in-a-haystack-4lnp).

SSL encryption prevents unauthorized parties from accessing sensitive information on a website.

Some web browsers deem sites without SSL certificates not secure, advising visitors against entering them. This makes having an SSL certificate essential to avoid driving away potential traffic and hurting your website’s conversion rate.

## Step 3. Choose an SEO-Friendly Theme
The right theme can help improve your WordPress website’s SEO by optimizing its user experience and performance. Consider the following elements before installing one:

Mobile responsiveness: Choose a theme that adjusts to desktop, tablet, and mobile screens. Mobile responsiveness is a ranking factor as it highly affects user experience.
Speed: Use a theme that includes only essential features and avoid installing one with many large images and animations. A fast WordPress theme will speed up your loading times, increasing your website’s performance.

Plugin compatibility: Avoid themes with built-in optimization tools that might clash with your WordPress SEO plugin.

## Step 4. Create content before launch
Complete your [SEO-optimized landing pages](https://www.getresponse.com/blog/7-tips-optimize-landing-page-search-engines-seo), homepage, and other more permanent pages where content won’t frequently change, like the “Services” and “About Me” pages, before launch. This content should be created with specific keywords in mind, so you’ll want to conduct thorough keyword research before launching this content.

You should update and expand your website regularly. One way that bloggers do this, for example, is by adding a new blog post every week. Line up one month’s worth of content in advance. This allows you to stay ahead of the game, giving you sufficient time to craft new content as you move forward.

## Step 5. Learn about Tracking and Analytics
Before you launch your site, get a basic handle on analytics tools that you can use to assess your website’s SEO success. Google Analytics is a good place to start.

Once you’ve created your account, you can get valuable insights about customer acquisition, behavior, and conversions. Like you can see where website users are located geographically, determine how much time they spend on different pages of your website, and even check the bounce rate of visitors. With this information, you can get an idea of what your customers do and don’t like about your website.

**Some other things that you should consider too:-**

## Image Optimization:
Google also draws images in the calculation of the ranking. Google displays both text and images on its search results page, drawing on relevant images contained in the post itself, which are linked to the corresponding page. Use meaningful/subjective naming conventions for your images. Don’t forget to use the alt tag and title tag for your images, which also provide better usability and optimization for your search ranking.
The amount of time it takes your page to load for a visitor is an SEO factor. Large images are often at least partly responsible for a slow-loading page- so reducing your images is always a smart move.

## Smart Permalinks:
Use an understandable permalink like http://yourwebsite.com/(opens in a new tab) Please note that only the first four words in a permalink are relevant. Google doesn’t care about any succeeding words in your permalinks. Long post titles shouldn’t be avoided, long URLs for your posts should. You can use a shortened version of your post title (if it’s too long) for the post permalink.

## Sitemap:
Google XML Sitemaps, is a very easy task. Google has a variety of other useful tools too, such as Website Optimizer and Webmaster Central. Providing search engines such as Google links to all the pages on your site in a sitemap, preferably in the “.xml” format, helps them index your site content faster, and in an easier way.

## Block Spam Comments:
Spam comments are bad for your blog as Firstly, they don’t contribute anything to the topic and annoy legit users Secondly if a post on cars gets a comment saying things about ‘Cheap Shoes’, search engines don’t like that. In that case, there’s a chance that the page will be flagged as spam by search engines and your site will get penalized.

## Broken Links Correction:
If too many broken links are found on your site, search engines will think that the site isn’t properly maintained. It might be penalized by search engines who may think it’s an abandoned site.

> Thanks for your time hope these tips will help you. Comment us for suggestions and changes.