7 SEO Things We Do to Every Single WordPress Website We Build

SEO is incredibly important and a necessity if you want people to be able to find your site through search engines like Google. In order to do well in organic search engine results, several tasks should be done on your website. At Matter Solutions, we perform the following seven essential tasks on your WordPress site that will help put it in front of those who are searching for the products and services you offer.

1. Installing and configuring Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is a management system that allows tags and code snippets to be updated easily. From the Google Tag Manager user interface, you’ll be able to control AdWords, analytics, and third-party custom tags. You only need a Google account ID, and we’ll upload and activate the plugin. The code will add itself to your WordPress site. We can also make sure the user interface is ready to install other tags like for AdWords.

2. Installing and configuring Google Analytics

Google Analytics is necessary to be able to find out more about where your website audience is coming from and who they are. Google Analytics makes it easy to understand user behaviour. You’ll be able to use the data to work on your strategy. Once signed up to Analytics, Google will provide a tracking ID to put on the WordPress site. There are a few ways to install this on your site, including installing it in the WordPress theme where the code will be added to the header.php file and Functions File. Google Analytics reports can be viewed on the Analytics dashboard.

3. Scanning the site for broken links/images (quality assurance)

Having broken links or images can be detrimental to your SEO ranking. Google’s aim is to have the user’s experience run seamlessly from page to page. Having broken links or images can be frustrating as the user cannot continue to the page they wanted to. It looks like you have not taken the time to look after your page, and it also might affect sales. Matter Solutions will carefully scour your website for any broken links or pictures and fix or remove them.

4. Installing and configuring Yoast (plugin)

Yoast SEO is a plugin that will help you with the content side of your SEO efforts. It looks at both SEO keywords and readability. We put in the keyword(s) that we’re aiming for into Yoast and it does the rest. It looks at the content, URL, slug, and snippet for it. Yoast makes sure the keyword(s) appear in the first paragraphs of your content too. It also measures your content for readability, including making sure there aren’t blocks of text and sentences that are too long. Yoast is quite sophisticated and a must for your SEO content.

5. Mapping and updating 301 redirects

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirection to a different URL than originally requested. It keeps the page’s SEO ranking, so if you are moving from one URL to another, this is an essential feature to implement. A 301 redirection is important when you are switching domains but want to keep the inbound links on the old one (this helps your SEO). It also helps associate similar web conventions. For example, http://yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com, and yourdomain.com.

6. Ensuring correct reading settings are enabled

The reading settings on your WordPress site determine how your page is displayed to visitors. It can determine if your page remains “static” or if you have updated posts on it, such as from a blog or news. It also determines how many posts are shown on a page. It can show a snippet of text, inviting users to click for more or display full-text posts. Other plugins may affect how the reading settings work, so it is important to ensure they are correct and all working together, so the readability of your page provides a pleasant visitor experience.

7. Google Search Console setup and configuration

Google Search Console, formerly Google Webmaster Tools, gives you data and configuration control. It lets you see how Google sees your website. It is here where you will find messages from Google regarding your website, such as any issues the search engine found like hacking or malware. These issues could hurt your SEO rankings and visitor experience. All site versions (http:// and www.) will need to be linked to Google and ownership verified before they give you the data.

These seven steps taken by Matter Solutions ensure your SEO is in top shape, giving your site a good chance to be seen in organic searches!