WordPress is among the open-source platforms with the most excellent flexibility in Content Management Systems (CMS) around the globe.
Its extensive capabilities, easy entry, and hefty price (it only gets a little cheaper than free, do you think?) all contributed to its rapid rise to become the top-rated web CMS.
Therefore, it’s no surprising it’s no surprise that WordPress was downloaded an average of 32.6 million times or that it runs 40 percent of all websites.
WordPress is SEO-friendly, so even non-techies can implement a few simple optimization strategies. This is a great benefit for local businesses that might still need more funds for massive SEO upgrades and want to be more prominent within Local Search.
The article below will walk you through seven easy SEO changes you can make to boost the local search rankings of your WordPress website.
Optimize Your Content
Your content offers are among the most important asset on your site. The structure of your website with lightning-fast load speeds and a myriad of security measures will only do a little if your content isn’t to scratch.
Therefore, before you consider improving your content, it is best to begin with something your readers will find valuable.
To accomplish this, you’ll have to be aware of your customer’s needs and be mindful of what your products can do to solve their issues.
Once you’ve got this down once you know, you can transform your ideas into a range of captivating content that ranges from video and blog posts to infographics that keep people returning to see more.
After you’ve created a great website and you’ve got great content, the next step may be intimidating: on-page optimization. It is possible to use essential tools, like the Yoast SEO tool.
While you’re typically required to think about more than 20 SEO-related factors for every web page’s landing pages, Yoast streamlines your task by providing each page a colored-coded score that helps you keep track of the optimization of your site and point areas to improve.
Yoast SEO also points out certain essential factors on the page, such as word count or keywords used.
Review Your Link Profile
We can see from recent research that links remain the most significant ranking signal about local organic rankings.
The number of websites that link to your website, how well your backlinks are performing, and the effectiveness of the anchor text on your links are all directly related to your local rank.
Organic link building is a process that requires time to develop, But here are a few easy steps to start:
Focus on Quality Over Quantity
The number of IPs, domains, and C-blocks that link to your website is crucial. However, a high-quality backlink from an industry-leading company in your field is worth much more significant than dozens of useless, poor-quality links. Utilize Link Tracking Software to locate and eliminate wrong links.
Find & Fix Broken Links
Utilize a plugin, such as Broken Link Checker, to identify and fix broken links. This plugin examines blog pages, posts, and comments to find broken hyperlinks.
Optimize Anchor Text
Optimize certain portions of your anchor texts to be local-specific by including the name of your city. Be careful not to overload your optimization (e.g., altering the entire anchor text with too many exact matches, etc. ).
There needs to be a perfect percentage of anchors optimized for locations. Therefore, you should conduct competitor analysis to determine what’s popular in your field.
Identify Potential Link Building Opportunities
Utilize a tool for competitive analysis to discover possible linking opportunities for your business, including relevant websites within your industry that connect to your competition but not to you.
Speed up Your Website
The tortoise might be able to beat hares in fairy tales for children. However, you cannot say that in the SEO world.
The speed of your site is one of Google’s top “technical” ranking factors, and if you’d like to outdo your competition on local search results, you’ll have to ensure that your website is as quick as possible.
Possible techniques include:
Compressing Large Images
Large images are the leading cause of slowness in slow websites. Use a plugin such as WP Smush to optimize and compress your images.
Clean up Your WordPress Theme
Remove outdated site elements (e.g., excessive database calls, function calls, JavaScript, etc.). Make sure to remove ancient themes. Hackers could utilize these elements to hack into your website.
Reduce Server Load With a Caching Plugin
Caching plugins produce state HTML versions of dynamic websites that dramatically reduce load times. There are several choices to think about for free, like WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache, and also premium options like WP Rocket.
Don’t Go Too Plugin-Crazy
There are plugins available to perform almost any task. However, use only the most essential plugins that benefit your website. Many plugins will make your website slower.
You can also simplify your life by investing in web auditing software. High-quality software will review the speed of your website’s on-page elements for you and provide suggestions to boost the speed of your site.
Optimize for Mobile
Many of your potential customers are searching for local businesses on mobile devices. In conjunction with the fact that Google indexes mobile-friendly websites more than desktop counterparts, this suggests optimizing mobile sites is becoming more crucial.
The most effective method to improve the performance of your mobile website is to concentrate on the speed of your site and image compression. However, there are additional tips and techniques:
Use a Responsive Theme
At a minimum, you must ensure the theme you choose for your WordPress theme is mobile-friendly and adapts your content to every mobile device.
Design Specifically for Mobile Visitors
Use the built-in mobile wp_is_mobile() function to identify different devices at the server and then build unique experiences for mobile users.
Launch a Mobile App
Based on the findings of eMarketer research, 88% of the time spent on mobile media is finished using apps. Mobile users prefer apps that provide various ways to interact with their favorite brands.
Create Accelerated Mobile Pages
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are incredibly speedy pages specifically designed for mobile. WordPress includes a standard AMP plugin that you can use to build AMP pages that appear in the uppermost position of SERPs for users who browse using mobile devices.
Integrate Google My Business Into Your WordPress Site
Google My Business is a combination of factors essential to local rankings. Signs like physical proximity, user reviews, business descriptions, and categories affect your order in the SERPs.
After getting the GMB page, include your WordPress website in your profile. You can also add other important information, like hours of operation as well as the description of your company.
Find plugins and widgets that enable you to transfer ranking indicators such as images and a map of business locations or customer testimonials from your GMB website to the GMB site.
It is recommended that you install the plugin that allows you to integrate your GMB review on your WordPress website, for example, using the Google Places Reviews plugin. This will improve customer confidence in your company!
Consider putting a readable map of your business on your site using a plugin or widget. Google Maps Builder is one illustration that can assist your clients in finding your business.
Add Structured Data to Your Pages
Have you ever wondered why certain local business listings are to be so impressive – with reviews, ratings of stars, and detailed descriptions – while other listings fall short?
The difference is that structured data are different.
Utilizing plugins such as Schema to feed Google more details regarding your business.
This will provide your customers with more information when they search for your website in search results, which includes essential information like timing of operations, price ranges, and even physical address.
While descriptions won’t automatically improve your site’s rankings, adding more details boost click-through rates – and CTR could affect your ranking on Google and other search engines.
Include Location Keywords in Your URLs
URL structure is a minor factor in your website’s ranking ability.
In the case of local search, adding local keywords to your URL will help enhance users’ experience.
This is particularly important when you have multiple landing pages that target different areas, and you’d like to assure your visitors that they’re at the right spot.
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