Optimize for Search
Engine Traffic
Search
engine optimization (SEO) is a multi-billion dollar industry.
SEO
is the process of optimizing your website to be found in search engines for
particular keyword phrases.
I
attribute a good portion of my success to being easily discoverable for
relevant search terms which has helped me build my networks and net worth.
If
you’re new to SEO, then this new feat may seem daunting.
You can
get started by downloading a plugin called “Yoast SEO.”
Hover over the plugins menu on the side and
click “Add New.”
Search for
“Yoast SEO” in the search bar, and it will be the first result that comes up.
Click the “Install now” button. Then hit
the “activate” button once the installation is complete.
You
can access the plugin’s settings from the new SEO menu in the sidebar or by
clicking the icon at the top.
From
the dashboard, go to “Your Info” and set the foundations for your blog.
Make sure
your website name and tagline are correct. Then identify yourself as a company
or person.
Click the “Save Changes” button, and we’ll
move on to the next step.
Next,
go to the “Webmaster Tools” tab and click “Google Search Console.” Google’s
search console is a webmaster tool that allows you to submit your site to their
search index and optimize visibility.
Sign
into your Google account, whether that’s your Gmail or Drive account.
Once
you’ve logged in, click the “Alternate methods” tab and select “HTML tag.”
A new
dropdown will appear with your search console meta code. Copy the alphanumeric
string without the quotation marks.
Next,
paste your meta code into the Google Search Console text box and click “Save
Changes.”
Finally,
click the “Verify” button.
As you
tinker around in Webmaster Central, you’ll gain a wealth of data-driven insight
such as keyword phrases you rank for, errors on your blog and the ability to
give Google a nudge when you publish a new post.
Next, go to the “General” tab and start the
installation wizard.
Yoast will
take you through a series of 10 quick steps to optimize your WordPress blog.
The first step is a welcome screen which
you can skip.
In the second step, select the environment
that best suits your site. Most likely, you’ll choose the production
environment which means it is a real website that you intend on driving traffic
to.
Step
3 is the website type. Choose blog and click next.
In step 5,
you can add any social profiles that are associated with your blog. Click next
when complete.
Step 6 is about post visibility. The
default settings are fine to use. Set your “Posts” and “Pages” to visible and
“Media” to hidden.
Next,
you’ll have to decide whether you’ll have multiple authors or a solo blogger.
If you choose to add another writer in the future, you can change these
settings later.
If you
wish to have the Yoast SEO plugin pull in data from Google’s search console,
step 8 is the place to do it.
Click on the “Get Google Authorization
Code” button.
A new
pop-up will appear where you can allow Yoast to access your search console
data. Click the “Allow” button to confirm access.
In step 9,
you can verify your website name and choose a title separator.
The title separator is a symbol used to
separate your blog post’s title and your website’s name in the meta title
information. This is what Google searchers will see when finding your blog
through a search query.
For instance, if you found this post in
Google, you might have saw “How to Start a Blog – Neil Patel.”
The symbol is a matter of personal
preference. Click next when you’re ready to go.
The final
step is no step at all. It’s a congratulatory message confirming that you have
successfully optimized your SEO settings for your budding WordPress blog.
Permalinks are static hyperlinks that lead
to a particular blog post or page. By default, WordPress sets your permalinks
to yourdomain.com/postID.
In no way
is this sexy and it doesn’t help anyone understand what the page is about
before viewing it.
The simple fix is to set a permalink
structure.
In the left sidebar, mouse-over “Settings”
and choose “Permalinks.”
There
are a few options to choose from. I use the “Post name” structure on my blog
which uses keywords from my title to create a unique permalink.
Save
the settings after you’ve selected it. You’ll see this in action a bit later.
After
you’ve completed your article, you’ll need to make a few last minute
optimizations using the Yoast SEO plugin.
Yoast has post specific settings that can
be found immediately under the main text area.
The 4 main settings are “SEO title”,
“slug”, “meta description” and “focus keyword.”
Completing these settings will generate a
preview of what your post will look like when it is discovered in Google’s
search engine results.
Create SEO titles that are attractive to
click and meta descriptions that explain what your post is about.
The Yoast SEO plugin will provide real-time
feedback as you begin to optimize your title and description.
Aim
for as many green lights as possible, but don’t stress if you’re unable to get
a perfect score. If you can get 80% green lights, then you’re on the right
track.
Before
you publish your post, you can view what your blog post will look like by
clicking the “preview” button at the top of the page.
If
everything checks out, you’re ready to publish your first blog post.
Scroll to the top of the page and click the
publish button to post immediately.
If
you only write whenever it’s convenient, you’re heading down a dangerous road.Write
every Sunday at first.
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Yoast SEO is a WordPress plug-in designed to help you improve some of the most important on-page SEO factors–even if you aren’t experienced with Web development and SEO. This plug-in takes care of everything from setting up your meta titles and descriptions to creating a sitemap. Yoast even helps you tackle the more complex tasks like editing your robots.txt and .htaccess.
Some of the settings may seem a little complex if you’re new to SEO and WordPress, but Yoast created a complete tutorial to help you get everything set up. And the team at WPBeginner made this handy video to help you get set up quickly.
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