Need an SEO expert for your WordPress site? See why it’s may be difficult to find a good one.
WordPress SEO experts should offer more than generic on-page optimizations. They need to know how WordPress works, how it runs, how to set up categories and tags, how to install and set up SEO plugins, how to create, organize, and publish posts and product pages. Let’s dive into the world of WordPress SEO and discuss what makes a good WordPress SEO expert.
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Is WordPress Good for SEO?
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) out there. Over 64% of all sites in the Internet run on WordPress. This is why Google and Bing as well as the other search engines look respectfully at this site technology.
Like any other platform, WordPress does not offer good SEO out of the box. As a site owner, you work on your site’s SEO by optimizing and by adding rich content.
WordPress is not the newest technology. It is written in PHP that uses a MySQL database. WordPress also use JavaScript, CSS, and the good old HTML. So it is a simple, but also very versatile site building platform. It contains plugin architecture and a template system. They allow creating custom sites with indefinite features and functionalities. These make WordPress a powerful CMS for building dynamic websites and blogs.
While WordPress is exciting because it’s so distributed, good SEO on a WordPress site may be tough.
Let’s look into what a good WordPress SEO expert should know in order to provide a good service with positive outcomes. If you want to become an SEO expert, use the below points as your learning plan. If you search for a WordPress SEO expert for your site, use the information below in your interviews with SEO specialists for hire.
Choosing the Right Hosting
SEO experts should not always choose among hosting solutions and providers. But they should be able to provide an opinion about the advantages and inconveniences of shared and managed hosting. Google’s confirmation that shared hosting does not impact SEO of a site is an example of why it’s important to compare the pros and cons (at least, for cost saving purposes).
Choosing the Right Theme
A quick search on Google will reveal thousands of WordPress themes for free download and for sale. But what is good for SEO? An SEO expert knows that performance of the site is super important and it depends in part on the site’s theme. These days search engines rank sites that load fast higher.
Different companies and individuals build and sell WordPress themes. Their coding skills are not the same, which makes their themes so different from one another . The SEO expert should be able to see what themes are fast enough. For example, Divi, WPastra, GeneralPress offer much better performance levels than any other themes.
Choosing the Right Site Builder
Site builders offer a lot of fancy stuff. Just look around: Elementor, Visual Composer, Beaver Builder. An SEO expert should be able to evaluate and advise about which builder to choose and use on the site. Here at YakMedia, we usually recommend to use Gutenberg, the WordPress native builder. This editor has evolved into a true theme builder. Plus, Gutenberg gets regular updates as the team behind it continues improving it.
Helping with Permalinks
The URL structure of a site is important for SEO. URLs with a lot of clutter or unclear parameters may be difficult for search engine bots to crawl. An SEO expert should help set up an optimal permalink structure on a WordPress site.
Helping with SEO Plugins
An SEO expert who gets WordPress should be able to choose the right SEO plugin for the site. Yoast is a popular plugin, but Rank Math is a good alternative.
Suggesting the SEO plugin is the first step. The second is to know how to set it up optimally. The SEO expert should be able to provide enough insight about what the SEO plugin does. For instance, Yoast controls a lot of areas that are super important for SEO: sitemap, robots.txt, breadcrumbs, title tags, meta descriptions. The SEO expert should be able to explain what these elements are and why they are important for the SEO health of the site.
The SEO plugin is not the only one to help with the SEO of the site. The SEO specialist should also suggest some other plugins that are instrumental for SEO.
The WordPress site should have a 301 redirect plugin, like Simple Redirect. There should be also a plugin to help with performance. W3 is a good choice.
Helping with Image Optimization
Sites without visuals and video are boring. So static images, gifs, videos are present in abundance on product pages and in blog posts. But the media files may become huge blockers for performance. Heavy files may load slowly, which has a negative impact on user experience (which is not good for SEO).
SEO experts should be able to provide insight about media optimization. It starts with image and video files that are supported by search engines. Then it’s about compressing media (ShortPixel is our choice for image compressing). Finally, the expert should explain about the value of ALT tags, media file naming, captions.
Expert Use of Google Analytics
Tracking traffic as well as user actions on the site are important for a better understanding of how the site is doing and what value it brings. The expert should be able to recommend how to install Google Analytics – a popular free analytics tool.
Whenever it’s through a plugin or hard coding, Google Analytics is a must-have for any WordPress site. We usually recommend using Google’s Site Kit plugin that allows to set up Google Analytics, but also includes ways to connect to the site’s Google Search Console, and even Google Adsense.
Optimizing Content for SEO
Content optimization is not about the content that has been published. It is about both new and old content. There are various tactics and techniques to revive the old dormant content and create new content in line with the best SEO practices.
WordPress SEO experts should be able to talk about content refreshing, content clusters, striking distance optimization. They should be also able to provide solid keyword research and, thus, unearth opportunities that can offer a fast-track for organic growth.
For new content the SEO expert should work with the site owner to understand the purpose of the site, its visitors’ personas, the specifics of the industry.
Success of SEO optimized content is about how well the SEO expert gets the context to find those gems that will help the site get traction in organic search quickly enough to justify the investment in SEO.
Consulting About Link Building
Link building is not easy. In this crowded virtual world you can get backlinks when you stand out and your content is different from the rest of the pack.
The SEO expert should be able to explain why links are important. They should be also able to provide direction about linkable content and what it takes to create.
We recommend several content types to earn links. Freebies like free assets or free tools are great to link back to. Statistics and well-researched topics, and proven facts are also great to put out there. This list can go on.
How Much Does a WordPress SEO Cost?
There is no exact answer to the cost of WordPress SEO services. It will depend on the level of service and the time needed to response to the need. In this short guide, we provide some insight about how much SEO can cost. WordPress is no difference here.
Final Words
WordPress SEO requires a high level of knowledge about how this CMS works. From themes to plugins, from backlinks to content optimization techniques, WordPress SEO is a complex process. Because of so many angles and approaches, it may be expensive if not done right.
We own several WordPress sites ranging from ecommerce to affiliate sites. Get in touch with us to discuss how we can help enhance your WordPress site today.
Growing your WordPress site like this is possible! We did that.
Contact us about our WordPress SEO expert advise here.