beginner-wordpress-user/subtitles/How to improve SEO rankings.en.srt

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In today's session, we are going to look at how we can improve our SEO rankings.

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But what is SEO?

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Search engine optimization refers to techniques that help you make your website rank higher in search engine results.

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The aim is of course to get more visitors to your site organically.

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Search engines send bots to a site to crawl through it

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and find out what the content is about and where the site links to.

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They also check out what the images are about, test if the site loads quickly,

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and also investigate if the layout of a site is accessible and good for mobile devices.

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Once they are done crawling, bots figure out keywords from your site.

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And then record these keywords in the search engine database.

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So now, when anybody starts a search, search engines match a user's search query with the keywords in the database

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to recommend sites that are a close match.

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Let's look at some tips that we can implement.

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Firstly, make your way to settings, click on reading,

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and ensure that you have deselected the search engine visibility box.

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If this box is ticked, it will discourage search engines from indexing the site,

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and we don't want that.

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This option is only used when a site is still being created.

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The second thing to take note of is that search engines love sites with fresh content.

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So keep your site up to date with new content as much as possible.

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If your homepage and other pages really change, it is advised to have a blog page or news page

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and ensure that you frequently post about your products, your brand, your clients, and various other topics.

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The third tip is to make sure you have quality content on your website.

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Google has published an EAT guideline, which basically says that search engines look at expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.

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So let's first talk about expertise.

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Write about content you are knowledgeable and passionate about.

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What about authority?

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Well, if you have shown expertise, it will be viewed by search engines as authoritative

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if others link to your site, if people talk about your site in social media, and if you link to reputable sites in your content.

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Lastly, the T stands for trustworthiness.

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So make sure information that you share is trustworthy and factual.

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Here is an important question you can ask yourself.

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Is your content shareable?

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Things to consider.

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Is it funny?

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Is it maybe too long?

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Does it have good taste?

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Does it use plain language?

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Does it have a summary or too long didn't read at the top?

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It basically comes down to making sure your content is worth reading and worth sharing.

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Next, let's talk about keywords.

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Keywords and keyword phrases in your content

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make it easier for people to find your site via search engines.

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A well-optimized site speaks the same language as their audience, so to speak.

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We therefore need to know what folks are searching for

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and include those words or phrases on our pages and in our posts.

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Keyword research will help you know what keywords people search for when looking for similar sites.

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You can use free tools such as Wordstream or Google Keyword Planner

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to find those keywords that you can use in your content.

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The way you would go about finding keywords is

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to type the domain name of sites that are similar to yours.

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This will give you a hint of what words people use to search content on that site.

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Once you have identified these keywords, use them in your site's content.

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Search engines will prioritize what your content is titled when they decide keywords.

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But you can also use them in excerpts, headings and content.

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The way it is laid out here is generally the priority in which you want to use keywords.

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Remember to use keywords naturally and to avoid keyword stuffing or overusing keywords,

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as this will damage your SEO.

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Let's talk some more about linking.

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Search engines will travel through your links to understand your site structure and to look for more content.

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So, link to other posts already on your site

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as pages that are linked multiple times are considered more important by search engines.

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Also remember to set external links to sites that are reputable and also have good EAT, expertise, authority and trustworthiness,

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as this will make your site more credible as well.

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The next topic that we want to discuss is metadata.

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Metadata are tags in your page content that are visible to search engines.

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It is hidden behind the scenes, but it does give critical information about your site to search engines.

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You might not have known this, but meta descriptions is the information shown below each individual search result.

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Metadata is automatically created by WordPress, so it's not easy to edit directly.

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But most SEO plugins allow you to edit and modify the metadata

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to be more geared to your content.

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It's usually no more than two sentences.

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One of the things you can do is write an excerpt for a post,

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as WordPress uses these excerpts to create meta descriptions.

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So, it is advised to use your keywords and handwrite these excerpts.

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Otherwise, it just takes the top paragraph from your content.

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Next, site speed is important.

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Search engines definitely look at site speed when ranking sites.

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So, this is an important part of SEO.

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Here are a few considerations that will help you to improve your site speed.

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Does your host rank high with regard to site speed?

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Does your host have caching enabled, although you can also use a caching plugin?

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Is your WordPress theme quick to load?

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Some very snazzy WordPress themes that use a lot of plugins

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can drastically change your site speed, so be careful.

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Have you optimized images and videos?

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Have you installed wild-built plugins?

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And does your theme and plugins work well together?

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You can investigate your site speed by using tools such as GTmetrics or PageSpeed Insights.

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Image optimization is another piece of the SEO puzzle.

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Let's first look at a few steps that you can take before uploading images to your site.

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Number one, choose a good file format, such as PNG, JPEG or WIPP.

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In this example, I'm using the open-source website Squish to change the file format for free.

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It also has some other settings worth exploring.

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Number two, scale the image dimensions.

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Images that are too large will be resized when it shows up on people's browser

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and will affect the loading speed of your site.

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Make sure you shrink the dimensions of very large images,

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as most monitors in the world are no bigger than 1,920 by 1,080 pixels in size.

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Luckily WordPress does make three different size variations when you upload an image,

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but that large image still takes space up on your server.

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Number three, reduce the image file size.

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You want to reduce the file size of images without reducing the quality.

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You can use programs such as Tiny PNG or also Squish.

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And lastly, rename the image file so that it explains what the image is about.

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When an image has been uploaded to WordPress, it is advised to add alternative text or alt text and a description of the image.

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Search engines place a high value on alt text,

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and they use this information to understand the context of an image, what the image is about, and the purpose of the image.

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Images should also have alt text for accessibility purposes.

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You also want to ensure that at least one of your images has your key word or key phrase as part of the alt tag.

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The second last tip is about creating a site map.

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It is something search engines use.

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It is like a map or roadmap

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that helps search engines to figure out where all content is on your website.

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Site maps don't boost search ranking, but it does help search engines navigate the content on your site.

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Most SEO plugins will generate a site map for your site automatically,

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so it's not something you have to code if you are not able to.

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Finally, let's talk about local SEO to optimize your site to show higher in local search results,

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especially if your customer base is primarily located in the same city or metropolitan area.

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There are a few things that you can do.

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Do some local SEO keyword research, add your contact information in your footer or contact page, post localized content,

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and get local backlinks, meaning get local sites to refer or link to your site.

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All the best as you endeavor to improve your own SEO rankings.

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And don't forget to install and activate an SEO plugin that works best for you.