There are many ways that you can increase traffic to your blog with search engine optimization (SEO), but if you use WordPress
as your blogging application, particularly the self-hosted application
available at WordPress.org, then there are some easy SEO tricks that you
can use to ensure your blog gets the most search traffic possible.
1. Change the Permalink Structure
The first thing you should do is change your blog’s permalink
structure, so it includes some useful text rather than just a post
number. The default permalink structure for WordPress blog
posts is http://www.yourblogname.com/?p=173. In the Settings section of
your WordPress dashboard, select “Custom Structure” rather than the
default permalink structure and enter “/%category%/%postname%/” to
change the permalink structure to include the name of the category the
post is in as well as the post title. If you prefer, you can simply
enter “/%postname%/” to include only the post title in the permalink.
Showing the category and post name in your blog post URLs tells search
engines a lot more about the content of your post than a number does.
2. Write Custom Post Descriptions
Don’t rely on the auto-generated blog post description or excerpt
that is pulled from your post content and used as the description of
your post in search engine results. Optimize that description for search
instead by writing a brief, custom description of each post. Include
your target keyword and useful, descriptive language that not only tells
search engines what the post is about but also motivates people to
click on your post when it appears in their search results.
3. Customize Image Titles and Alt-Tags
WordPress makes it extremely easy to customize your image titles and
alt-tags. When you upload an image to your WordPress account, you have a
chance to customize both. When you insert an image from your WordPress
media library into a post, you get another chance to modify the image
title and alt-tag so it’s most relevant to your post content and useful
for search engine optimization
4. Speed up Your Blog’s Page Load Time
The amount of time it takes for the pages and posts on your blog to
load in a visitor’s web browser affects your search engine results
rankings. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to make sure your blog
always loads quickly. Not only should you delete any elements that are
slowing down page load time, but you should also use a WordPress plugin like WP Super Cache to increase the speed of your WordPress blog page load.
5. Link to Related Posts
A useful list of related posts published at the end of each of your
blog posts is not only a great way to keep people on your blog longer by
leading them directly to relevant content, but it can also boost search
traffic to your blog. That’s because a list of related posts helps
communicate the content of the post to search engines, and it helps
search engines easily find your older content. Use a WordPress plugin
like Yet Another Related Posts Plugin to automatically add a list of
related posts at the end of your blog posts.
6. Use an SEO Plugin
Many WordPress plugins are available that help you automate SEO
processes and boost your search rankings and traffic. A great option is
the WordPress SEO by Yoast
plugin, which enables you to identify your target keyword, create a
search optimized post title, enter a custom description, and include a
list of related keywords. It’s easy to set up, and it’s very effective.