Best Fifteen “WordPress SEO Success” Principles

Fifteen “WordPress SEO Success” Principles

So we know a bit about SEO history, the background of the web, and long johns. Let’s put it into focus with something tangible for conducting WordPress SEO, the real deal. People complain that SEO is always changing. From a technology and tactical standpoint, this is true. But here are the principles I have found to be timeless in SEO. Use these regardless of timing and technology changes:

1. Identifying objectives and focusing on strategy more than tactics is critical! Always be clear what your SEO strategic objectives are, such as

• Corporate brand awareness

• Service expert content leadership

• Sales/lead-generation

• Testing/research

• Social/reputation management

2. The rising tide floats all boats—That applies to your web architecture, digital footprint, SEO plans, social media use, and blogging. The more you do, the more content you have. The more you optimize, the more the whole network and its rankings benefit.

3. SEO is complex enough—Don’t make it more so, such as with

• The latest whiz-bang, untested technology.

• Multiple keywords targeted (right now, search engines prefer one unique, primary keyword for each page of content).

• Premium tools with big promises (yet with data little better than the free Google Analytics). There are definitely some good tools out there that can offer analytics, such as social posting and click-through analytics and relationships to your website. If you want this data, more than Google Analytics, by all means buy it. But most people don’t maximize the use of their Google Analytics accounts.

• Don’t buy bunches of URLs or build crazy cross-linking scenarios for yourself; all those redirects can actually hurt you. And you don’t want to divide your rich content and link juice. Keep it simple. (Read more on link juice and network architecture in 

• Keep it free; like social media, the best content is free.

• Got automation? When in doubt, don’t automate. It’s natural to think automation is better than nothing (automated content/articles/spinning, automated social media pushes, and so on). But often search engines penalize automation. And don’t set default/repeat content for SEO elements such as meta descriptions—search engines don’t like it.

• Don’t do mass submissions—the promise of every sketchy (black- and gray-hat) firm—for example, “We’ll submit your bookmarks and posts to over a thousand channels.” Most of the time, this is spam, and the channels to which they are submitted are irrelevant or worse—black hat. (More is described on the unfortunate practices of tricky black-hat SEOs later in this chapter.)

4. Search engines value “the little guy.” The real, sincere SMEs (subject-matter experts), continually blogging and generating fresh, honest, original web and social content—these are the ones that search engines will reward—certainly not the SEO black- or gray-hat.

5. There are no guarantees in SEO, and “Number One” takes time.

• The search engines see and accredit you over time.

• You can do everything right and still it will take time to get to the top. (Remember, it’s best to be the genuine, honest expert content-creator).

• Sometimes blacklisting, IP-sharing, poor reputation, or other under-the-radar elements can keep you from good SEO results.

• You can’t meet all ideal SEO expectations.

• SEO is about compromise. That’s okay. Breathe easy.

• In fact, we’ll even give you the major sources of compromise in digital marketing and SEO (Chapter 3).

6. Social media and reputation management (monitoring brand mentions in social media, reviews, and on SERP) are critical.

7. Start with niche keyword SEO and progress to broad results and success—from long-tail to head or short-tail.

8. Content is king. It’s a digital marketing cliché, but it’s true. Search engines love good, unique, but relevant content. The more such content, the better (not exceeding page word-count maximums or page-load times), but don’t duplicate content!

9. Traditional keyword metatags don’t matter. However, you can make the argument that they work for rich snippets/microdata. Tools such as Yoast and All-in-One SEO offer options for this. (More on this later.)

10. Write for your readers, not for search engines if, for no other reason, you’ll get better rankings from having more readers that are reading more of your content.

11. Google (and other engines) can tell you what you need to know.

• They provide recommendations for keywords and SEO (thanks to many tools discussed throughout this book, such as AdWords Keyword Planner and Webmaster Tools, which can draw from general consumer search records as well as your own website crawl data).

• They even complete your search terms, showing you what they expect based on the majority of searches. (Go ahead—try searching for the word “subservient chi...” and see how far you get before it lists the viral web classic “subservient chicken.”)

12. SEO is independent, but must work in concert with other digital marketing efforts. SEO is not PPC. For starters, it’s not paid, hence the term “earned media” (Your online social engagement efforts “earn” customer responses, shares, follows, and the like.) But they can work together, such as with copywriting or UI .

13. Canonicalization is critical—You don’t want search engines perceiving duplicate web pages, which is what canonical errors are; and most of the time you don’t even know this is happening.

• This is especially true with WordPress; fortunately, there are WordPress plug-ins that will execute canonicalization commands.

• However, you have to know what/where they are; this book shows you how.

14. WordPress evolves.

• You have to monitor and update the theme, plug-ins, and so on.

• Too many plug-ins means too many conflicts.

• The advantage of WordPress is that so many items are built for it.

• The disadvantage of WordPress is that so many items are built for it.

• Plug-ins, themes, versions—all can conflict with each other.

• When in doubt, go back to keeping SEO simple.

15. Last one: Believe it or not, you have the power to make the search engines your friends or enemies. So follow the principles and instructions here and make them your BFFs!