Ultimate SEO Guide for WordPress

My Step by Step Success

https://www.mystepbystepsuccess.com

Written by Pamela Arsena

Chances are if you are reading this then you already have a WordPress website. Given that I assume you
already have a theme installed.

WordPress Plugins: SEO plugins are an essential part of a WordPress website. I recommend using the
following.

• All-in-one-SEO-pack. Rank math is also a good SEO plugin. Even though some swear by Yoast I
suggest avoiding it for now as it is full of ads and is not what it used to be.

• Ninja Forms: A form plugin that is awesome for creating contact pages and forms as Google
and potential customers as it facilitates trust. If you are using contact form 7, I would change
over to ninja as contact form 7 is not properly functioning for many.

• Google XML Sitemap: This plugin will help create a Google XML sitemap. Sitemaps are files that
provide info about your blog posts, pages and content. It essentially clues Google into what
files are important and how the relate to one another.

Moving on to WordPress Settings

Many new bloggers often overlook this very important element of on-site SEO. Keeping this in mind
check all these settings to ensure optimal SEO. Your settings tab is on the left. (see below)

WordPress Settings > General

• Site Title: Try to use your Keyword

• Tag Line: Small phrase that pitches your blog
Settings > Privacy

• Check allow search engines to index this site

Settings > Permalinks

• Select Post Name

Plugin Settings
Here we will edit our plugin settings to maximize SEO. Keep in mind that updating plugins will help your
site load faster. Furthermore, delete inactive plugins and themes as this will bog your site down.

All in SEO Settings

• Home Title: Add Main Keyword

• Home Description: Add meta description containing your main keyword above.
• Home Keywords: Leave Blank

Page Maintenance

Now it is time to delete any sample pages. Also, a great time to remove sample posts if you have not
already. Be sure to remove them from you trash when done.

1. Create a page with your keyword as your title

2. Create a page with “Blog” as title (without quotes)
3. Create a Page called Privacy Policy (Find a generic privacy policy online and put in your
relevant information.
4. Create a page called Contact and make your form with Ninja Forms

Head back over to the settings tab

Settings > Reading

• Select a Static Page

• Front Page: Select Page with Keyword you just made.
• Post Page: Select Blog

Make sure all your pages have content on them.

Blog Post SEO Checklist

Now that you have your site setup or have checked your current settings it is time to get down to
business and make sure you are correctly using SEO in your blog posts.

Luckily it is far easier than it used to be.

Keeping this in mind make sure to perform these tasks before publishing your blog posts. Pilots have
pre-flight checklists and blog posts are no different
Keywords
• Keywords: Use keywords smartly and in a way that makes sense. If you would not use the
phrase naturally in a conversation, then do not include it in your blog text. When people read
a string of words that do not make sense it causes them to pause and you lose credibility
along with their attention.
• Make sure to use your main keyword in your subheadings. Almost all WordPress themes
titles are done with an h1 format, but it is also a good idea to put it in an h2 or h3 subheading.
• Search engines are intelligent therefore make sure to use related keywords or LSI keywords in
your article. This signals to Google that your website content is relevant and helps establish
authority.

If you need a good keyword research tool, I highly recommend Jaaxy. Jaaxy is the one of the best
kept secrets among successful internet marketers plus it is easy as heck to use. You can check it out
for free

SEO Your Images

Before uploading your photos rename them with your keyword(s) in them. Secondly make sure use
keyword in alt tags. This will help your images show up in Google images which can drive insane
amounts of traffic.

Video
Along with having good quality graphics it is important to have a video. Make sure your video has your
keywords in the video title and description and tags. I know some of you may feel dread at creating a
video but you could do a power point video or a screen share video where you would not have to
actually be on camera. See the resources section for excellent video / screen share software. I would
avoid embedding other videos unless you have permission for YouTube due to copyright reasons.
Links

Each blog post should contain the following

• 1 external link to an authority site. I typically use Wikipedia. This shows search engines your
blog content is related to established well trusted content in Googles eyes anyways.
• 2 to 3 internal links: This is where you link your blog posts together within the posts of your
blog. For example, if your blog post is about BBQ grills then it would be reasonable to link to
your blog post about cleaning your BBQ grill. This tells search engines know that your pages
are related to another putting you further up in the rankings.

Blog Post Length

Write longer blog posts for the best ranking. Think between 1000 and 1500 words. Sometimes you can
get away with a micro blog post of 700 words if it is easy to rank for. (Low hanging fruit)

Concluding Thoughts
Your SEO is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of your blog. In-fact it is vital for your site to
get seen. Obviously, you could use paid advertising but that will leave you with an empty wallet quickly
and is not an option for most beginner affiliate marketers.

Having said that I hope you have enjoyed reading my ultimate guide to SEO for WordPress. Please let
me know if you have any questions. I have included a resource section below that has some of my
secret affiliate marketing tools that I use for SEO and blogging.

Resources

Jaaxy: Innovative and easy SEO tool that is a gamechanger for SEO

Wealthy Affiliate: Where I learned all this awesome information and so can you. Check out their free
trial which will give you 7 days without a credit card.

Camtasia / Snagit When it comes to easy and state of the art video editing software it gets no better
than Snagit and Camtasia. Snagit is awesome for creating quick screen shares with voice while Camtasia
is a full featured video editor that allows for screen sharing, webcam with all kinds of editing options.
Essentially Camtasia is the Mercedes of video editing software while Snagit is more like a KIA.