Google Affirms Reciprocal Linking Is Natural in Many Cases

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Google doesn’t consider all reciprocal linking unnatural. In many cases it makes sense for two sites to link to each other.

Reciprocal linking isn’t always bad, in Google’s view. In many cases it’s natural to link back to a site that links to yours.

This is stated by Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller during the Google Search Central SEO office hours hangout recorded on January 28.

An SEO professional named Seth Mendelsohn joins the livestream with concerns regarding preserving the value of backlinks.

He asks if any value will be lost from inbound links pointing to his site if he links to those sites in return.

Mendelsohn clarifies he’s not looking to do this as part of a link exchange. Rather, he believes the links would be beneficial to visitors.

Would the inbound links pointing to his site lose value if he were to link back to those domains?

Or worse, would Google see this as a form of unnatural link building?

Here’s what Mueller says.

Reciprocal Links Aren’t Always Bad

Certain forms of reciprocal linking are against Google’s webmaster guidelines, which is why Mendelsohn is being extra cautious about which pages he links to.

A link exchange, where two sites agree to link to each other in an attempt to manipulate search rankings, is strictly prohibited.

This situation, on the other hand, is not a link exchange as defined in Google’s guidelines. Rather, it’s a natural form of reciprocal linking.

Mueller explains:

“That’s perfectly fine. It’s also kind of natural. Especially if you’re a local business, you link to your neighbors. Or if you’re mentioned in the news somewhere you kind of mention that on your website like ‘I was featured here in the news’ and essentially you’re kind of linking back and forth.”

Although two sites linking to each other technically qualifies as reciprocal linking, Google can tell the difference between natural linking and a link scheme.

Mueller continues:

“It’s kind of a reciprocal link essentially, but it’s a natural kind of link. It’s not something that’s there because you’re doing some kind of crazy link scheme. So from that point of view, I think it’s easy to overthink it. And if you’re doing something naturally, if you’re not kind of making weird deals, behind the scenes, then I really wouldn’t worry about it.”

What Is SEO (My Take)

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15 Simple Life Changes You Can Make to Become a Better Person: Most of us want to be a better person—whether at home, in the office, or just when we’re out running errands. The problem is where exactly do you start? Themuse.

I realized a couple years ago that I was a jerk at times to people I worked with and to people I feel I couldn’t get any value out of. Over the past couple years I’ve become a much better person by working on myself.

1. Think Before You Speak

Words can carry a lot of weight. Think about the first time your significant other told you that he or she loved you. How awesome did that feel? However, words can also be hurtful. Have you ever told an inappropriate joke or called someone a bleeping-bleep? You probably felt pretty lousy afterward.

Always take the couple extra seconds to think about the impact of your words before you say them out loud.

2. Embrace Change

Change helps us grow as individuals. Instead of resisting change, you should be open to trying new things, even if they scare you. For example, you may be nervous about trying that new Thai restaurant in town, but you might discover your new favorite restaurant.

Besides embracing change, you should also advocate for positive change. You could start a food drive or recycling program at the office, which would both make your community a better place.

3. Be Grateful

According to research, those who have gratitude journals are more optimistic and feel better about their lives. Additionally, those who discuss gratitude are less envious of wealthier people, are more willing to help others, and can prevent health concerns like coronary artery disease.

4. Do the Right Thing

As an adult, you should definitely know the difference between right and wrong. Let’s say you don’t clean up after your dog after taking it for a walk. You don’t need someone to remind you that you should clean up the mess. You know that it’s your responsibility and that it’s not fair to leave it there for someone else to step in.

5. Use Your Strengths

Remember, your skills and talents are a gift. Don’t let them go to waste. If you know how to play the guitar, then share it with others. It will bring joy to you and the people in your life.

6. Address Your Weaknesses

At the same time, you also should be aware of your weaknesses. It’s another way that helps us grow as individuals. Take the time to make a list of your weaknesses and set goals to work on them.

I am a hard person to deal with. I realize this. Learn to admit and address your weaknesses and then find ways to make them better.

7. Take Care of Yourself

Exercise. Eat healthy. Get enough sleep. You’ve heard that advice a thousand times before. But taking care of yourself is one of the best ways to make yourself a better person. For example, how can you go outside and play with your kids when you always feel lethargic? How can you be more productive at work when you’re exhausted? Not only will you be happier and more productive, your loved ones and colleagues will also appreciate it.

8. Be a Hero

That doesn’t mean that you have to put on a pair of tights and cape. It means helping an elderly neighbor with the groceries. Opening doors for others. Buying a cup of coffee for the person in front of you when her card gets declined. Listening to a friend when his relationship just ended.

9. Pay Attention to Others

Doesn’t it feel great when someone asks how your day went? Try and do the same for others. Even if you have to jot down reminders in your calendar, it can make all the difference in the world to someone when you follow up with them on important events.

10. Stop Being Wasteful

Just because you can have five plates of food at an all-you-can-eat buffet doesn’t mean that you have to—waste is a problem for the food service industry. You can also reduce water usage by taking shorter showers and create less trash by recycling. And, don’t forget that unplugging devices when not in use can save electricity. During your part, no matter how small it may seem, can be really important for the environment.

11. Be Curious

Evidence, shared via The Huffington Post, found that curiosity can help strengthen relationships, keep your brain stimulated, lessen anxiety, keep you happy, and help you learn—even uninteresting subjects.

12. Forgive Yourself and Others

Humans make mistakes—even when it’s you who makes the mistake. And sometimes those mistakes really sting. However, instead of devoting your energy holding onto that mistake or feeling guilty, forgive that individual—or yourself—and focus on the future. Remember, revenge isn’t good for your health, and the best revenge is your is success and happiness.

13. Don’t Be Impatient

When we get impatient, we get aggravated and may do something we’ll regret. Ask yourself, how do you feel if you yelled at your child or a colleague because you’re in a rush to get out the door in the morning or finish a project? By practicing patience you’ll not only make better decisions, you’ll feel better about yourself every day.

14. Be Yourself

When you’re authentic, you’ll be more focused, build courage, establish your own identity, and be able to define your values and beliefs.

15. Stop Pointing Fingers

I’ll never forget a grade school teacher telling the class, “When you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back to you.” We all face obstacles in life, but you can’t use that as an excuse to hold you back or to grow as person.

In the words of author and motivational speaker Jack Canfield:

“Remember, you and you alone are responsible for maintaining your energy. Give up blaming, complaining and excuse making, and keep taking action in the direction of your goals—however mundane or lofty they may be.”

Part of life is growing and becoming a better person—each and every day. What steps are you working on to improve your life?

SEO Is Back. Thank God.

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At a meeting with media executives discussing a series of changes to the platform in Sydney, Australia, last week, Facebook’s head of news partnerships Campbell Brown finally said what everybody already knew. “Mark [Zuckerberg] doesn’t care about publishers,” she told the meeting participants. Nevertheless, she said, her boss “is giving me a lot of leeway and concessions to make these changes.” Without Facebook’s help, she said, “the ­reverse looks like I’ll be holding your hands with your dying ­business like in a hospice.” (The quotes were originally reported in the Australian.)

Grim — but also accurate. For several years beginning around 2011, Facebook’s News Feed served as a firehose of traffic, where one widely shared link could result in astronomical attention. Many websites tried to turn Facebook optimization into a science and chased those clicks for longer than they maybe should have, drastically pivoting (to things like video) in the hopes of appeasing the Facebook gods. The ebbing of News Feed traffic has widespread consequences for the news business. As Nieman Lab highlights, Brown also reportedly said this:

Great! That old world absolutely sucked and made the internet ecosystem a discernibly worse place.

Sometime around 2012, the ecology of digital publishing underwent an epochal shift: Facebook overtook Google as the top traffic source on the web. Prior to Facebook, the best way to reliably obtain traffic was through search-engine optimization, formatting web content so that it would rank highly within search engines. SEO is a sort of guessing game, a digital Jeopardy! in which the person creating web content tries to think of the query that will get users to their web content. It’s why an article might be headlined “What Time Is the Super Bowl?” instead of “The Super Bowl Is Coming Up Soon.”

Facebook’s rising dominance as a referrer led to a different type of work, content that was optimized for social media. The key to a good piece of Facebook-optimized content was that it was emotionally intelligent, often in an exaggerated manner. It wasn’t just 21 pictures that will make you feel good; it’s “21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.” A celebrity didn’t just wear a ritzy dress, they wore a ritzy dress “and I Can’t Even.”

Socially optimized content was about getting a rise out of people, tapping into some part of their lizard brain that made them react to information after consuming it. It was often “relatable” or “me irl” or aspirational or anger-inducing. The content needed to be reflective of the reader, so that they would share it with their friends and followers. And oftentimes, when one outlet hit on an ingenious, duplicable formula (cooking videos shot from overhead, for instance), it often meant that similarly formatted content would soon appear from other publishers.

The problem with social-optimized content is that its overt, eerie familiarity drapes a kind of lowest-common-denominator cynicism across the internet. Social media tends to favor positive sentiment over negative, and exaggeration over subtlety. When a writer claims to be “scrEAMING” at the newest Marvel trailer in the headline, are they saying that because they really are, or because they want the reader to think that they are so that the reader will share on Facebook? It’s not a crime to write an enthusiastic headline, but when every headline you see is yelling at you in one way or another — and making outsized claims about the emotional state of its author or readers — it becomes difficult to trust the claimed sentiments of writers. At the very least, it’s extremely annoying.

SEO content, on the other hand, dispenses with the emotional in favor of the mechanical. It can be stilted and awkward — but it’s more honest and transparent. When a writer pads their article for the trailer of the newest Marvel movie with search keywords — data like the cast and crew and opening date — they’re optimizing for the Google robots. But they’re also providing genuinely useful information. Social content was about manipulating people into clicking, sharing, and posting. SEO is about manipulating robots into treating your content as the best example of sought-after information.

SEO is far from a perfect assignment editor for the web. Scammers and charlatans have been trying to abuse it for years, and it can create spectacles as ghoulish and cynical as social-optimized posts when news happens. A particularly gross instance happened in the hours after news of Anthony Bourdain’s suicide broke, when Newsweek pumped out individual Google-optimized posts about each of his family members and former partners. Tasteless? Absolutely. But it is also fulfilling a direct reader request with dispassionate information instead of hyperbole. The mechanics of SEO are clear, far more than the mechanics of human emotions.

For better or worse, SEO forced publishers to focus on providing their readers with relevant information. Social optimization for platforms like Facebook forced publishers to make their content evocative, incendiary, and interactive. Social content wasn’t about transmitting information as much as it was about helping people perform their identities online. It put a premium on heavy-handedness and polarization. It didn’t just need to say something, it needed to help the sharer say something too.

And it was difficult for any publisher — major publication or one-man blog — to resist, given how much traffic the Facebook system brought to others. Now, by Facebook’s own account, the valve to the firehose has been closed. Great. Use it to build brand awareness or whatever, but otherwise, it’s time to recalibrate and leave the reliance on Facebook as a traffic source behind.

The Ultimate Guide to Boost WordPress Speed & Performance

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Do you want to speed up your WordPress site? Fast loading pages improve user experience, increase your pageviews, and help with your WordPress SEO. In this article, we will share the most useful WordPress speed optimization tips to boost WordPress performance and speed up your website.

Unlike other “X best WordPress caching plugin” lists or generic “X tips to speeding up WordPress” tutorials, this article is a comprehensive guide to WordPress performance optimization.

We tried to cover everything from why speed is important, what slows down your WordPress site, and actionable steps that you can take to improve your WordPress speed immediately.

To make it easy, we have created a table of contents to help you navigate through our ultimate guide to speeding up your WordPress site.

Table of Contents

Basics of WordPress Performance

  • Why Speed is Important for your WordPress Site?
  • How to Check Your WordPress Website Speed?
  • What Slows Down Your WordPress Website?
  • Importance of Good WordPress Hosting

Speeding Up WordPress in Easy Steps (No Coding)

  • Install a WordPress Caching Plugin
  • Optimize Images for Speed

WordPress Performance Optimization Best Practices

  • Keep Your WordPress Site Updated
  • Optimize Background Processes
  • Use Excerpts on Homepage and Archives
  • Split Comments into Pages
  • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  • Don’t Upload Audio/Video Files Directly to WordPress
  • Use a Theme Optimized For Speed
  • Use Faster Plugins

Fine-Tuning WordPress for Speed (Advanced)

  • Split Long Posts into Pages
  • Reduce External HTTP Requests
  • Reduce Database Calls
  • Optimize WordPress Database
  • Limit Post Revisions
  • Disable Hotlinking and Leeching of Your Content
  • Use Lazy Loading if Needed
  • Use DNS Level Website Firewall
  • Fix HTTPS/SSL Errors without Plugin
  • Use Latest PHP Version

Why Speed is Important for Your WordPress Site?

Studies show that from 2000 to 2016, the average human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 7 seconds.

What does this mean for you as a website owner?

You have very little time to show users your content and convince them to stay on your website.

A slow website means users will potentially leave your website before it even loads.

According to a StrangeLoop case study that involved Amazon, Google, and other larger sites, a 1 second delay in page load time can lead to 7% loss in conversions, 11% fewer page views, and 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

On top of that, Google and other search engines have already started penalizing slower websites by pushing them down in the search results which means lower traffic for slow websites.

To sum it all up, if you want more traffic, subscribers, and revenue from your website, then you must make your WordPress website FAST!

How to Check Your WordPress Website Speed?

Often beginners think that their website is OK just because it doesn’t feel slow on their computer. That’s a HUGE mistake.

Since you frequently visit your own website, modern browsers like Chrome store your website in the cache and automatically prefetch it as soon as you start typing an address. This makes your website load almost instantly.

However, a normal user who is visiting your website for the first time may not have the same experience.

In fact, users in different geographical locations will have a completely different experience.

This is why we recommend that you test your website speed using a tool like IsItWP’s WordPress speed test.

It is a free online tool that allows you to test your website’s speed.

After you run your website speed test, you might be wondering what’s a good website speed that I should aim for?

A good page load time is under 2 seconds.

However, the faster you can make it, the better it is. A few milliseconds of improvements here and there can add up to shaving off half or even a full second from your load time.

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What Slows Down Your WordPress Website?

Your speed test report will likely have multiple recommendations for improvement. However, most of that is technical jargon which is hard for beginners to understand.

Learning what slows down your website is the key to improving performance and making smarter long-term decisions.

The primary causes for a slow WordPress website are:

  • Web Hosting – When your web hosting server is not properly configured it can hurt your website speed.
  • WordPress Configuration – If your WordPress site is not serving cached pages, then it will overload your server thus causing your website to be slow or crash entirely.
  • Page Size – Mainly images that aren’t optimized for web.
  • Bad Plugins – If you’re using a poorly coded plugin, then it can significantly slow down your website.
  • External scripts – External scripts such as ads, font loaders, etc can also have a huge impact on your website performance.

Now that you know what slows down your WordPress website, let’s take a look at how to speed up your WordPress website.

Importance of Good WordPress Hosting

Your WordPress hosting service plays an important role in website performance. A good shared hosting provider like Bluehost or Siteground take the extra measures to optimize your website for performance.

However, on shared hosting you share the server resources with many other customers. This means that if your neighboring site gets a lot of traffic, then it can impact the entire server performance which in turn will slow down your website.

On the other hand, using a managed WordPress hosting service give you the most optimized server configurations to run WordPress. Managed WordPress hosting companies also offer automatic backups, automatic WordPress updates, and more advanced security configurations to protect your website.

We recommend WPEngine as our preferred managed WordPress hosting provider. They’re also the most popular one in the industry. (See our special WPEngine coupon).

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Speeding Up WordPress in Easy Steps (No Coding)

We know that making changes to your website configuration can be a terrifying thought for beginners, especially if you’re not a tech-geek.

But don’t worry, you’re not alone. We have helped thousands of WordPress users improve their WordPress performance.

We will show you how you can speed up your WordPress site with just a few clicks (no coding required).

If you can point-and-click, then you can do this!

Install a WordPress Caching Plugin

WordPress pages are “dynamic.” This means they’re built on the fly every time someone visits a post or page on your website.

To build your pages, WordPress has to run a process to find the required information, put it all together, and then display it to your user.

This process involves a lot of steps, and it can really slow down your website when you have multiple people visiting it at once.

That’s why we recommend every WordPress site use a caching plugin. Caching can make your WordPress site anywhere from 2x to 5x faster.

Here’s how it works.

Instead of going through the whole page generation process every time, your caching plugin makes a copy of the page after the first load, and then serves that cached version to every subsequent user.

As you can see in the graphics above, when a user visits your WordPress site, your server retrieves information from a MySQL database and your PHP files. It then puts it all together into HTML content which is served to the user.

It’s a long process, but you can skip a lot of it when you use caching instead.

There are a lot of good WordPress caching plugins available, but we recommend using either WP Rocket (premium) or WP Super Cache (free) plugin.

Check out our step by step guide on how to install and setup WP Super Cache on your WordPress site. It’s not difficult to set up, and your visitors will notice the difference.

Many WordPress hosting companies like Bluehost and SiteGround offer caching solutions as well.

SiteGround SG Optimizer

If you are using SiteGround, then your WordPress site will come pre-installed with their SG Optimizer. This plugin has all the powerful features that you’d get with a premium WordPress caching plugin like WP Rocket.

The best part is that it’s specially optimized for the SiteGround Google Cloud servers to give you superior performance results.

Aside from caching, you also get various other performance settings, WebP image conversion in WordPress, database optimization, CSS minification, GZIP compression, and more.

It also has dynamic caching features to help you speed up your eCommerce website.

Bluehost Caching

If you are using Bluehost, then go to My Sites » Performance section to turn on caching.

If you’re using a managed WordPress hosting provider, then you don’t need a caching plugin because it is built-in and turned on by default.

Bonus: You can combine caching plugins with a web application firewall like CloudFlare or Sucuri for maximum performance boost.

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Optimize Images for Speed

Images bring life to your content and help boost engagement. Researchers have found that using colored visuals makes people 80% more likely to read your content.

However, if your images aren’t optimized, then they could be hurting more than helping. In fact, non-optimized images are one of the most common speed issues that we see on beginner websites.

Before you upload a photo directly from your phone or camera, we recommend that you use photo editing software to optimize your images for the web.

In their original formats, these photos can have huge file sizes. But based on the image file format and the compression you choose in your editing software, you can decrease your image size by up to 5x.

At WPBeginner, we only use two image formats: JPEG and PNG.

Now you might be wondering: what’s the difference?

Well, PNG image format is uncompressed. When you compress an image it loses some information, so an uncompressed image will be higher quality with more detail. The downside is that it’s a larger file size, so it takes longer to load.

JPEG, on the other hand, is a compressed file format which slightly reduces image quality, but it’s significantly smaller in size.

So how do we decide which image format to choose?

  • If our photo or image has a lot of different colors, then we use JPEG.
  • If it’s a simpler image or we need a transparent image, then we use PNG.

The majority of our images are JPEGs.

Below is a comparison chart of the file sizes and different compression tool that we could have used for the StrangeLoop image used above.

As you can see in the chart, the image format you use can make a HUGE difference in website performance.

For details on exactly how to optimize your images using Photoshop and other popular editing tools, without sacrificing quality, see our step by step guide on how to save images optimized for web.

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WordPress Performance Optimization Best Practices

After installing a caching plugin and optimizing your images, you’ll notice your site will start loading a lot faster.

But if you really want to keep your website as fast as possible, you’ll need to use the best practices listed below.

These tips aren’t too technical, so you don’t need to know any code to implement them. But using them will prevent common problems that will slow down your website.

Keep Your WordPress Site Updated

As a well maintained open source project, WordPress is updated frequently. Each update will not only offer new features but it will also fix security issues and bugs. Your WordPress theme and plugins may have regular updates, too.

As a website owner, it’s your responsibility to keep your WordPress site, theme, and plugins updated to the latest versions. Not doing so may make your site slow and unreliable, and make you vulnerable to security threats.

For more details on the importance of updates, see our article on why you should always use the latest WordPress version.

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Optimize Background Processes

Background processes in WordPress are scheduled tasks that run in the background of your WordPress site. Following are some examples of background tasks that run on a WordPress site:

  • WordPress Backup plugin tasks
  • WordPress cron jobs to publish scheduled posts
  • WordPress cron jobs to check for updates
  • Search engines and other crawlers trying to fetch content

Tasks like cron jobs for scheduled posts and updates have minimal impact on website performance.

However, other background processes like backup plugins and excessive crawling by search engines can slow down a website.

For backup plugins, you need to make sure that your WordPress backup plugin only run during low traffic time on your website. You also need to adjust the frequency of backups and data that needs to be backed up.

For example, if you are creating a complete daily backup while you only publish new content twice a week, then you need to adjust that.

If you want more frequent backups such as real-time backups, then we recommend using a SaaS solution so you’re not taxing your server.

As for crawling, you need to keep an eye on your crawl reports in Google Search console. Frequent crawls that are ending up in errors can cause your website to slow down or become unresponsive.

See our complete Google Search Console guide for beginners to learn how to adjust crawl rate.

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Use Excerpts on Homepage and Archives

By default, WordPress displays the full content of each article on your homepage and archives. This means your homepage, categories, tags, and other archive pages will all load slower.

Another disadvantage of showing full articles on these pages is that users don’t feel the need to visit the actual article. This can reduce your pageviews, and the time your users spend on your site.

In order to speed up your loading times for archive pages, you can set your site to display excerpts instead of the full content.

You can navigate to Settings » Reading and select “For each article in a feed, show: Summary” instead of “Full Text.”

For more details on the pros and cons of displaying summaries, see our article on full post vs summary (excerpt) in your WordPress archive pages.

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Split Comments into Pages

Getting lots of comments on your blog posts? Congratulations! That’s a great indicator of an engaged audience.

But the downside is, loading all those comments can impact your site’s speed.

WordPress comes with a built-in solution for that. Simply go to Settings » Discussion and check the box next to the “Break comments into pages” option.

For more detailed instructions, see our guide on how to paginate comments in WordPress.

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Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Remember how we mentioned above that users in different geographical locations may experience different loading times on your site?

That’s because the location of your web hosting servers can have an impact on your site speed.

For example, let’s say your web hosting company has its servers in the United States. A visitor who’s also in the United States will generally see faster loading times than a visitor in India.

Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN), can help to speed up loading times for all of your visitors.

A CDN is a network made up of servers all around the world. Each server will store “static” files used to make up your website.

These static files include unchanging files such as images, CSS, and JavaScript, unlike your WordPress pages which are “dynamic” as explained above.

When you use a CDN, every time a user visits your website they are served those static files from whichever server is closest to them. Your own web hosting server will also be faster since the CDN is doing a lot of the work.

You can see how it works in this infographic.

We use recommend using Sucuri, Bunny CDN, or Cloudflare.

It works well with WordPress websites and compliments your existing WordPress caching plugins for even faster loading times.

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Don’t Upload Audio/Video Files Directly to WordPress

You can directly upload audio and video files to your WordPress site, and it will automatically display them in an HTML5 player…

But you should NEVER do that!

Hosting audio and videos will cost you bandwidth. You could be charged overage fees by your web hosting company, or they may even shut down your site altogether, even if your plan includes “unlimited” bandwidth.

Hosting large media files also increases your backup sizes tremendously, and makes it difficult for you to restore WordPress from backup.

Instead, you should use an audio and video hosting service like YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, SoundCloud, etc., and let them take care of the hard work. They have the bandwidth for it!

WordPress has a built-in video embed feature, so you can copy and paste your video’s URL directly into your post and it will embed automatically.

Find out more details on how it works in our guide on embedding videos in WordPress.

If you are making a podcast website with WordPress, then we recommend podcast hosting service Blubrry for the best performance.

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Use a Theme Optimized For Speed

When selecting a theme for your website, it’s important to pay special attention to speed optimization. Some beautiful and impressive-looking themes are actually poorly coded and can slow your site way down.

It’s usually better to go with a simpler theme than to choose a theme that’s bloated with complex layouts, flashy animations, and other unnecessary features. You can always add those features using quality WordPress plugins.

Premium WordPress theme shops like StudioPress, Themify, CSSIgniter, and Astra offer themes that are well coded and optimized for speed. You can also check out our article on selecting the perfect WordPress theme for advice on what to look for.

Before you activate your new theme, see our guide on how to properly switch your WordPress theme for a smooth transition.

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Use Faster Plugins

Poorly coded WordPress plugins often load too much bloat whether your site needs it or not. This increases your page load speed and slows down your site.

To help you choose the best plugins, we often publish our expert pick of best WordPress plugin showcases. We pay special attention to ease of use, user experience, and most importantly performance.

Following are some of our picks for the most common WordPress plugin categories.

  • WPForms – Fastest and most beginner friendly contact form plugin for WordPress.
  • All in One SEO – Powerful WordPress SEO plugin that puts extra emphasis on website performance to help you get higher SEO rankings.
  • MonsterInsights – Best Google analytics plugin for WordPress that doesn’t slow down your site. Even includes options to load gtag.js locally to speed up your Google Core Web Vitals score.
  • Shared Counts – Social media plugins load additional scripts and not so gracefully. Shared Counts is one of the fastest Social media plugins for WordPress.
  • SeedProd – drag & drop WordPress landing page plugin that helps you build blazing fast landing pages.

Apart from our own recommendations, you can run your own tests. Simply run speed tests before and after installing a plugin to compare its impact on performance.

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Fine-Tuning WordPress for Speed (Advanced)

By using the WordPress optimization best practices and basic speed tips listed above, you should see a big improvement in your site’s loading times.

But every fraction of a second counts. If you want to get the very fastest speed possible, then you’ll want to make a few more changes.

The following tips are a little more technical, with some requiring you to modify your site files or have a basic understanding of PHP. You’ll want to make sure to backup your site first just in case.

Split Long Posts into Pages

Readers tend to love blog posts that are longer and more in-depth. Longer posts even tend to rank higher in search engines.

But if you’re publishing long-form articles with lots of images, it could be hurting your loading times.

Instead, consider splitting up your longer posts into multiple pages.

WordPress comes with built-in functionality to do that. Simply add the <!––nextpage––> tag in your article where you want to split it into next page. Do that again if you want to split the article on to the next page as well.

For more detailed instructions, see our tutorial on post pagination – how to split WordPress posts into multiple pages.

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Reduce External HTTP Requests

Many WordPress plugins and themes load all kinds of files from other websites. These files can include scripts, stylesheets, and images from external resources like Google, Facebook, analytics services, and so on.

It’s ok to use a few of these. Many of these files are optimized to load as quickly as possible, so it’s faster than hosting them on your own website.

But if your plugins are making a lot of these requests, then it could slow down your website significantly.

You can reduce all these external HTTP requests by disabling scripts and styles or merging them into one file. Here’s a tutorial on how to disable your plugins’ CSS files and JavaScript.

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Reduce Database Calls

Note: This step is a little more technical and will require basic knowledge of PHP and WordPress template files.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of poorly coded WordPress themes out there. They ignore WordPress standard practices and end up making direct database calls, or too many unnecessary requests to the database. This can really slow down your server by giving it too much work to do.

Even well-coded themes can have code that makes database calls just to get your blog’s basic information.

In this example, every time you see <?php, that’s the start of a new database call:

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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="<?php language_attributes(); ?>">
<head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="<?php bloginfo('html_type'); ?>
charset=<?php bloginfo('charset'); ?>" />

You can’t blame theme developers for that. They simply have no other way to find out what language your site is in.

But if you are customizing your site using a child theme, then you can replace these database calls with your specific information in order to reduce all those database calls.

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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr">
<head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />

Review your parent theme for instances like this that can be easily replaced with static information.

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Optimize WordPress Database

After using WordPress for a while, your database will have lots of information that you probably don’t need any more. For improved performance, you can optimize your database to get rid of all that unnecessary information.

This can be easily managed with the WP-Sweep plugin. It allows you to clean your WordPress database by deleting things like trashed posts, revisions, unused tags, etc. It will also optimize your database’s structure with just a click.

See our guide on how to optimize and clean up your WordPress database for improved performance.

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Limit Post Revisions

Post revisions take up space in your WordPress database. Some users believe that revisions can also affect some database queries run by plugins. If the plugin doesn’t specifically exclude post revisions, it might slow down your site by searching through them unnecessarily.

You can easily limit the number of revisions WordPress keeps for each article. Simply add this line of code to your wp-config.php file.

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define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 4 );

This code will limit WordPress to only save your last 4 revisions of each post or page, and discard older revisions automatically.

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Disable Hotlinking and Leaching of Your Content

If you’re creating quality content on your WordPress site, then the sad truth is that it’ll probably get stolen sooner or later.

One way this happens is when other websites serve your images directly from their URLs on your website, instead of uploading them to their own servers. In effect, they’re stealing your web hosting bandwidth, and you don’t get any traffic to show for it.

Simply add this code to your .htaccess file to block hotlinking of images from your WordPress site.

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#disable hotlinking of images with forbidden or custom image option
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?wpbeginner.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?google.com [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ – [NC,F,L]

Note: Don’t forget to change wpbeginner.com with your own domain.

You may also want to check our article showing 4 ways to prevent image theft in WordPress.

Some content scraping websites automatically create posts by stealing your content from your RSS feed. You can check out our guide on preventing blog content scraping in WordPress for ways to deal with automated content theft.

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Use Lazy Loading if Needed

 

If you add many images, multiple video embeds, and photo galleries to your blog posts, then your site can benefit from lazy loading.

Instead of loading all your images and videos at once, lazy loading downloads only those that will be visible on the user’s screen. It replaces all other images and video embeds with a placeholder image.

As a user scrolls down, your website loads images that are now visible in the browser’s viewing area. You can lazy load images, videos, and even WordPress comments and gravatars.

For images, iframes, and videos, you can use the Lazy Load by WP Rocket plugin. For WordPress comments see our guide on how to lazy load comments in WordPress.

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Use DNS Level Website Firewall

A WordPress firewall plugin helps you block brute force attacks, hacking attempts, and malware. However, not all firewall plugins are the same.

Some of them run on your website, this means attackers are already able to reach your web server before they get blocked. This is still effective for security, but not optimal for performance.

This is why we recommend using a DNS level firewall like Sucuri or Cloudflare. These firewalls block maclious requests even before they reach your website.

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Fix HTTPS/SSL Errors without Plugin

If you are switching your site to HTTPS/SSL, then it is likely that you may run across mixed content errors.

The easiest way to fix this is by installing a plugin like Really Simple SSL. However, the problem is that these plugins catch all URLs first, then change them to HTTPS before sending them to user’s browsers.

This has a small but noticeable performance impact. You can reduce this by manually fixing all URLs. For more details see our article on how to fix common SSL issues in WordPress.

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Use Latest PHP Version

WordPress is mainly written in the PHP programming language. It is a server side language, which means it is installed and runs on your hosting server.

All good WordPress hosting companies use the most stable PHP version on their servers. However, it is possible that your hosting company is running a slightly older PHP version.

The newer PHP 7 is two times faster than its predecessors. That’s a huge performance boost that your website must take advantage of.

You can see which PHP version your site is using by installing and activating the Version Info plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will show your PHP version in the footer area of your WordPress admin dashboard.

If your website is using a version lower than PHP 7, then ask your hosting provider to update it for you. If they are unable to do so, then it is time to find a new WordPress hosting company.

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That’s it! We hope this article helped you learn how to improve wordpress speed and performance.

Go ahead and try out these techniques. Don’t forget to test your website speed before and after implementing these best practices. You’ll be surprised these changes will boost your WordPress performance.

You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to improve your SEO rankings, and our expert pick of the best business phone services for small businesses.

How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners

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Do you want to install Google Analytics in WordPress?

Knowing how your audience interacts with your website is crucial for your success. The best way to know your audience is through your traffic stats, and this is what Google Analytics provides for FREE.

In this article, we will share why Google Analytics is important, and how you can easily install Google Analytics in WordPress (step by step).

First, we will explain why Google Analytics is important and how it can help you grow your website.

After that, we will show you how to sign up for a Google Analytics account and different methods to install it on your WordPress site.

Finally, we will explain how to view your traffic reports in Google Analytics.

Here is a quick overview of what you’ll learn in this article.

  • Why is Google Analytics Important
  • How to Sign up with Google Analytics
  • How to Install Google Analytics Using MonsterInsights (Recommended)
  • How to Set Up Dual Tracking with both Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics
  • How to Install Google Analytics Using WPCode Plugin
  • How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress Theme (Advanced)
  • Viewing Reports in Google Analytics
  • Making the Most out of Google Analytics

Ready? Let’s get started!

Why is Google Analytics Important for Bloggers?

Once you start a blog, your #1 goal is to get more traffic and subscribers. Google Analytics helps you make data-driven decisions by showing you the stats that matter. You can see:

Who visits your website?

This part of analytics answers what is the geographical location of your audience, which browser did the user use to visit your site, and other important information such as screen resolution, JavaScript support, Flash support, language, and more.

This data is extremely useful, and it can help in numerous ways. When creating a custom website design, you can use the user data to make sure that your site will be compatible with your audience.

If most of your users don’t have Flash support, then you should avoid adding the flash element to your site. If most of your users are on 1280 screen resolutions, then make sure that your design is compatible with that resolution or smaller.

What do people do when they are on your website?

You can track where the users are going on your website, how long do they stay on your website, and what is the bounce rate (the percent of users who exit your site on the first visit).

By using this information, you can decrease the bounce rate and increase your pageviews.

You can also find your most popular articles, articles that are not doing so well, and what kind of content your users are looking for.

When do people visit your website?

By looking at the hottest hours in the day for your site, you can pick the best time to publish your post. If that time zone is not compatible with yours, then you can schedule your post to meet at that hour.

How do people find your website?

This section of the analytics shows you where did the users come from. For example, do they use search engines, enter direct links, or click on referral links from another site.

It also shows you what percentage of your visitors came from each of these sources. Google Analytics gives you the breakdown of each of these categories. If it is the search engine category, then it shows you which search engine got you the most traffic, Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.

The breakdown of referral sources shows you which sites you need to work with the most. If your top referral source is Facebook, then you need to have exclusive Facebook content to make your Facebook audience feel special.

If your top referral source is an external website, then you might want to consider having a partnership with that website (guest post exchange or something else).

How do people interact with your content?

Google Analytics shows how your users interact with your site’s content. It shows you what percent of the user clicked on which link on your site and much more.

You can run A/B split tests by creating content experiments in Google Analytics to understand what works best to meet your goals.

By seeing the user interactivity, you can work your content around your users. By seeing the answers to the questions above, you can focus on the strategies that work for your site and avoid strategies that don’t work.

Simply put, eliminate the guesswork and focus on stats that matter, so you can make data-driven decisions.

How to Signup with Google Analytics

Google Analytics is available for free and all you need is a Google or Gmail account to sign up. The signup process is quite simple, follow the step-by-step instructions below to create your Google Analytics account.

Step 1: First you need to visit the Google Analytics website to sign up. When you’re on the website, simply click the ‘Get started today’ button.

Next, you will be asked to log in with your Google account. If you already have a Google or Gmail account, then you can use that to sign in. Otherwise, you can go ahead and create a Google account for yourself.

Step 2: Once you sign in with your Gmail account, you will be prompted to a welcome screen like the one below.

This is where you will signup for Google analytics with your Gmail account. Go ahead and click the ‘Start measuring’ button.

After that, you will be asked to provide an account name. This name will be used internally so you can use anything like your business name.

Google Analytics will also show multiple account data sharing settings. These settings give you control over sharing your Google Analytics data. You can keep the default settings and move on to the next step.

Step 3: On the next screen, you will need to create a Google Analytics property.

Google introduced a new version of Analytics called Google Analytics 4 or GA4. It’s the latest version that tracks your website and mobile apps in the same account. Plus, you get new features, metrics, and a different interface for your reports.

Important Note: If you already have a Universal Analytics account, then it’s critical to start tracking data in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) as well. That’s because Google will sunset Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. After the sunset date, Universal Analytics will not receive any data and will eventually stop working.

Setting up a Google Analytics 4 property after the sunset date will mean starting from scratch. However, you can start sending data into GA4 today while still using Universal Analytics. This way, you’ll have historical data in Google Analytics 4 for comparison and analysis when Universal Analytics closes.

To start, go ahead and enter a property name, select your reporting time zone, and currency. Then click the ‘Next’ button.

On the next screen, you’ll need to select an ‘Industry category’ from the dropdown menu for your website and choose a ‘Business size’ from the given options.

Next, you’ll need to scroll down and select how you intend to use Google Analytics with your business, like measure engagement, optimize advertising cost, increase conversions, and more.

You can choose multiple options or all of the given options that meet your needs. When you’re done, simply click the ‘Create’ button.

Once you click on the Create button, a popup window will open with Google Analytics terms of service agreement.

Simply click the checkbox for ‘I also accept the Data Processing Terms as required by GDPR’ and then click the ‘I Accept’ button.

Next, you’ll see a popup with options on which communication emails you’d like to receive from Google Analytics.

Simply click the checkbox for the updates you want to receive and then click the ‘Save’ button.

Step 4: Now you will be presented with your Google Analytics Webs stream options.

Since we’re setting up Google Analytics for a WordPress site, go ahead and select the ‘Web’ as the platform.

After that, you’ll need to enter your website URL and Stream name.

By default, Google Analytics will have an Enhanced measurement option enabled. This allows you to track page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, file downloads, and more in Google Analytics.

Next, you can click the ‘Create stream’ button.

You can now see your Stream URL, name, and Measurement ID.

It will also show different enhanced measurements that it will record.

Google Analytics will also show different ways to add Google Analytics code to your WordPress website under the ‘Tagging Instructions’ section.

If you click the ‘Global site tag (gtag.js) option, you’ll see the Google Analytics tracking code.

You can copy this tracking code because you will need to enter it in your WordPress site depending on the method you use below. You can also simply leave this browser tab open and switch back to copy the code when needed.

We suggest leaving the Analytics browser tab open as you may need to revisit it once you have installed the code on your WordPress site.

Now that you have set up a Google Analytics account, let’s take a look at how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress

There are a few different ways to set up Google Analytics in WordPress. We will show you three methods where the first option is the easiest and the last is the hardest.

You can choose the one that best suits your needs.

Note: You need to use only one of these methods on your website to avoid double tracking of page views in your Google Analytics account.

Method 1. Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. Over 3 million websites use it including the likes of Bloomberg, PlayStation, Zillow, WPBeginner, and more.

It is the easiest and by far the best way to add Google Analytics to WordPress (for all users beginners and experts alike). Plus, it offers a Dual Tracking feature that lets you add Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 to your WordPress website without editing code.

MonsterInsights is available as both, a paid premium plugin, and a free version. In this tutorial, we will be using the MonsterInsights free version.

You can use the MonsterInsights Pro version if you want more advanced features like eCommerce tracking, Ads tracking, Author tracking, etc. The process of setting them up is the same.

Let’s get started.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item labeled ‘Insights’ to your WordPress admin menu and you’ll see a welcome screen. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button.

Clicking on it will open the MonsterInsights setup wizard.

First, you will be asked to choose a category for your website (a business website, blog, or online store). Select one and then click on the ‘Save and Continue’ button.

Next, you need to connect MonsterInsights with your WordPress website.

Simply click on the ‘Connect MonsterInsights’ button.

This will take you to Google accounts where you will be asked to sign in or select a Google account if you are already signed in.

Go ahead and choose your Google account or enter your email to sign in.

Next, you will be asked to allow MonsterInsights to access your Google Analytics account.

Click on the ‘Allow’ button to continue.

The next step to completing the connection is to select the profile you want to track.

You need to select your website here and then click on the ‘Complete Connection’ button to continue.

After that, simply click on the ‘Complete Connection’ button to continue. MonsterInsights will now install Google Analytics on your website.

Next, you will be asked to select the recommended settings for your website.

The default settings would work for most websites. If you use an affiliate link plugin, then you need to add the path you use to cloak affiliate links. This will allow you to track your affiliate links in Google Analytics.

MonsterInsights will also ask who can see the reports. You can choose different WordPress user roles. Once you’re done, click on the ‘Save and Continue’ button to save your settings.

Next, MonsterInsights will show you a list of website tracking features you would like to enable.

You can scroll down and click on the ‘Continue’ button or the ‘Skip for Now’ option.

On the next screen, MonsterInsights will show that you’ve successfully setup Google Analytics tracking.

You can see that Google Analytics is connected, tracking code is installed, and data is now being collected.

Next, you can scroll down and see a field to enter your license key.

Go ahead and click the ‘Complete Setup without Upgrading’ option for now.

You’ve successfully added Google Analytics to your WordPress website.

Next, you’ll need to create a Measure Protocol API Secret. This will allow MonsterInsights to track events like eCommerce purchases, form conversions, and more.

To start, you can login to your Google Analytics account. Then head over to the ‘Admin’ settings page and click on the ‘Data Streams’ option.

Next, you’ll see your Data Streams.

Simply select the data stream you connected with MonsterInsights.

On the next screen, scroll down to the ‘Advanced Settings’ section.

After that, click on the ‘Measure Protocol API Secrets’ option.

You’ll now see a new window slide in with your Measurement Protocol API Secrets. Initially, this page will be empty, and you won’t have any API secrets.

Go ahead and click the ‘Create’ button.

Next, you’ll need to enter a nickname for your API secret.

Once you’ve done that, simply click the ‘Create’ button.

Your API secret will now be created.

Go ahead and copy the API secret that’s under the ‘Secret Value’ field.

Next, you’ll need to enter the Secret Value in MonsterInsights.

You can do that by going to Insights » Settings from your WordPress admin panel and then clicking the ‘General’ tab.

Then head over to the ‘Google Authentication’ section.

Simply enter the Secret Value under the ‘Measurement Protocol API Secret’ field.

You’ve successfully set up the Measurement Protocol API Secret.

Now, let’s see how to use dual tracking in MonsterInsights if you have a Universal Analytics account.

How to Set Up Dual Tracking When Using Universal Analytics

If you already have a Universal Analytics account, then MonsterInsights makes it super easy to track both Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 through its Dual Tracking feature. The best part is that you don’t have to edit any code.

Just note that Universal Analytics will sunset on July 1, 2023, and you won’t be able to track your website data after the sunset date. We highly recommend that you set up a Google Analytics 4 property today and start sending data to GA4.

To set up dual tracking, you can start by going to Insights » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and then click the ‘General’ tab.

After that, scroll down to the ‘Google Authentication’ section.

Under the ‘Dual Tracking Profile’ field, you can enter the Univeral Analytics (UA) code.

You can find the Universal Analytics code in Google Analytics by going to the ‘Admin’ settings page.

After that, click on ‘Property Settings’ under the Property column.

You’ll see the ‘Tracking Id’ in the following format: UA-123456789-1.

You’re now successfully tracking Universal Analytics with Google Analytics 4 on your WordPress site. Remember, it will take Google Analytics some time before showing your stats.

The best part about MonsterInsights is that you can view your Google Analytics reports inside your WordPress dashboard. Simply visit the Insights » Reports page to check out a quick overview of your analytics data.

It also comes with a Popular Posts addon that allows you to show your top-performing content to boost your traffic and pageviews.

You can use it to automatically add inline popular posts links to boost engagement.

If you’re using an online store, then it can also automatically add your top-performing products at the end of each blog post to boost sales:

Note: MonsterInsights was formerly known as Google Analytics for WordPress by Yoast. WPBeginner’s founder, Syed Balkhi, acquired the plugin in 2016 and rebranded it to MonsterInsights. Now it is part of our family of premium WordPress plugins.

Method 2. WPCode Plugin

This method is not as good as MonsterInsights because you will not be able to do advanced tracking configuration, and you will not be able to view Google Analytics data in your WordPress dashboard.

First, you will need to copy your Google Analytics tracking code (Global site tag) that you copied in Step 4 earlier when creating a Google Analytics account.

You can find it in the Web stream details under the ‘Tagging Instructions’ section.

Next, you need to install and activate the WPCode plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Code Snippets » Header & Footer page. Here you need to paste the Google Analytics tracking code that you copied earlier into the ‘Header’ section.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

That’s all, you have successfully installed Google Analytics on your site.

3. Install Google Analytics in WordPress Theme

This method is for advanced users who are familiar with the code. It is somewhat unreliable because your code will disappear if you switch or update the theme.

We almost never recommend using this method.

If this is your first time adding code to your WordPress files, then you should check out our guide on how to copy paste code snippets in WordPress.

First, you will need to copy the Google Analytics tracking code that you copied in Step 4 earlier. You can view it in the Web stream details section under the ‘Tagging Instructions’ section.

Now there are two common ways to add this code to your WordPress theme files. You can choose either one of them (not both).

1. Add code in header.php file

Simply edit the header.php file in your WordPress theme and paste the Google Analytics tracking that code you copied earlier right after the <body> tag.

Don’t forget to save your changes and upload the file back to your server.

2. Add via Functions File

You can also add Google Analytics tracking code to the WordPress functions file. It will then automatically add the tracking code to every page on your WordPress site.

You will need to add this code to your theme’s functions.php file.

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<pre class="wp-block-syntaxhighlighter-code">
<?php
add_action('wp_head', 'wpb_add_googleanalytics');
function wpb_add_googleanalytics() { ?>
// Paste your Google Analytics tracking code from Step 4 here
<?php } ?>
</pre>

Viewing Reports on Google Analytics Website

Google Analytics is capable of showing you a treasure of data collected from your stats. You can view this data by visiting your Google Analytics dashboard.

See Reports in Universal Analytics

You will see the built-in Google Analytics reports in the left column. Each section is divided into different tabs and clicking on a tab will expand it to show more options.

Here’s what different reports in Universal Analytics tell you:

  • Real-time report will show you a real time view of your traffic.
  • Audience tab will show reports to help you understand your users.
  • Acquisition reports explore where your users came from.
  • Behavior reports summarize what your users do after they arrive on your site.
  • Conversion reports show how well you’re doing against your goals.

See Reports in Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 reports are a bit different from Universal Analytics reports. In the left column, you’ll see a dedicated Reports option. The reports are grouped together under 2 broad categories, including Life Cycle and User.

One of the most noticeable differences you’ll find in GA4 reports is that there’s no bounce rate metric. Other than that, you’ll find a new reporting interface, new metrics like engagement time, there are no goals in GA4, and more.

That said, you can expect more new features, reports, and metrics coming soon to Google Analytics 4 since development on Universal Analytics has ended and it will sunset in July 2023.

Here’s a breakdown of different reports in Google Analytics 4:

  • Realtime report is similar to Universal Analytics and shows active users on your site in real time.
  • Acquisition report shows which medium users use to find your websites, like organic, referral, email, and affiliate.
  • Engagement report shows conversions and events that take place on your site.
  • Monetization report brings all your eCommerce data in one place along with new reports like In-app purchases and Publisher ads.
  • Retention report basically shows new vs returning visitors and helps get insights about user retention.
  • Demographics help you see website traffic from top countries, cities, and more. It also shows gender breakdown and interest reports.
  • Tech report shows which device, browser, operating system, app version, and screen size people use the most to view your website.

Making the Most out of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool with tons of awesome features. Some of them are quite obvious and easy to use, others require some additional setup.

Here are some of the resources that will help you make the most out of Google Analytics reports.

  • Track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics
  • Track WooCommerce customers in Google Analytics
  • Track outbound links in WordPress
  • WordPress Conversion Tracking Made Simple – A Step-by-step guide

Google Analytics works best with Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools). It allows you to see how your website is doing in search results. See our complete Google Search Console guide to learn how to use it to grow your website.

If you want to improve your WordPress SEO rankings and get more traffic, then we recommend using the AIOSEO plugin for WordPress which is an all-in-one SEO toolkit.

We hope this article helped you learn how to install Google Analytics in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate guide to increasing your blog traffic and our comparison of the best email marketing services.

How to Start a WordPress Blog in 2023

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Do you want to start a WordPress blog the right way?

We know that starting a blog can be a terrifying thought specially when you are not geeky. Guess what – you are not alone.

Having helped over 400,000+ users create a blog, we have decided to create a step-by-step guide on how to start a WordPress blog for beginners without any technical knowledge.

The process is easy to follow whether you are 20 years old or 60 years old. However if you need help, our expert team will help you setup your blog for free. → Click Here to Get Your Free WordPress Blog Setup! ←

What do you need to start a WordPress blog?

There are three things you need to create a WordPress blog:

  1. A domain name idea (this will be the name of your blog i.e wpbeginner.com)
  2. A web hosting account (this is where your website live on the internet)
  3. Your undivided attention for 30 minutes.

Yes, you read it right. You can start a blog from scratch in less than 30 minutes, and we will walk you through the whole process, step by step.

In this tutorial, we will cover:

  • How to Register a Custom Domain Name for Free
  • How to Choose the Best Web Hosting
  • How to Install and Setup WordPress Blog
  • How to Change Your Blog Design Template
  • How to Write Your First Blog Post
  • How to Customize WordPress Blog with Plugins
  • How to Add a Contact Form
  • How to Setup Google Analytics Tracking
  • How to Optimize Your Website for SEO
  • How to Make Money From Your Blog
  • Resources to Learn and Master WordPress

Ready? Let’s get started.

If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

Step 1. Pick Your Blog Name and Platform

The biggest mistake beginners make when building a blog is choosing the wrong blogging platform. Thankfully you’re here, so you won’t be making that mistake.

For 95% of users, it makes more sense to use WordPress.org also known as self-hosted WordPress.

That’s because WordPress is open source which means it is 100% free to use. You can install plugins, customize your blog design, and most importantly make money from your blog without any restrictions (see the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org).

WordPress is also the number one website platform used by all successful blogs including our own. To put in perspective, 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress!

Now you might be wondering why is WordPress free? What’s the catch?

There’s no catch. It’s free because you have to do the setup and host it yourself.

In other words, you will need a domain name and web hosting.

A domain name is what people type to get to your website. It’s your blog’s address on the internet. Think google.com or wpbeginner.com

Web hosting is where your website files live. It’s your website’s house on the internet. Every blog needs web hosting.

A new domain name typically costs around $14.99 / year, and web hosting plans normally costs $7.99 / month.

That’s a lot of money for beginners who are just starting out.

Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name and over 60% off on web hosting.

→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←

You can also use other popular WordPress hosting companies like SiteGround or Hostinger, and still be able to follow our blog setup tutorial.

We recommend Bluehost for beginners because it is one of the oldest web hosting companies on the internet. They are also the largest brand name when it comes to WordPress hosting because they host millions of websites including many of our own.

On top of all this, Bluehost has been working with WordPress since 2005, and they are committed to giving back. That’s why they have promised us that if you cannot get your blog online within 30 minutes by following this tutorial, then our expert team will complete the process for you without any cost. They will compensate us, so you don’t have to. Contact us for free blog setup help.

NOTE: At WPBeginner we believe in transparency. If you sign up with Bluehost using our referral link, we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you (in fact, you will save money and get a free domain). We would get this commission for recommending just about any WordPress hosting company, but we only recommend products that we personally use and believe will add value to our readers.

Let’s go ahead and purchase your domain + hosting.

Open up Bluehost in a new window and follow along.

First thing you need to do is click on the green Get Started Now button to get started.

On the next screen, select the plan that you need (basic and plus are the most popular).

After that, you will be asked to enter the domain name for your website.

Lastly, you will need to add your account information and finalize the package info to complete the process. We recommend going with the 12-month plan because that’s the best value.

On this screen, you will see optional extras that you can purchase. It’s entirely up to you whether or not you purchase these, but we generally don’t recommend purchasing them right away. You can always add them later on, if you decide that you need them.

Once completed, you will receive an email with details on how to login to your web hosting control panel (cPanel). This is where you manage everything from support, emails, among other things. But most importantly, this is where you install WordPress.

Step 2. Install WordPress Blogging Software

When you signup with Bluehost using our link, they will automatically install WordPress for you, so you can start building your blog right away.

Simply login to your Bluehost account, and then click the Login to WordPress button to get started.

You can also login to WordPress by going to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ directly from your browser.

If you are using a different WordPress blog hosting service like SiteGround, Hostinger, WP Engine, etc, then you can see our comprehensive guide on how to install WordPress for step by step instructions for those providers.

Although most of the above blog hosting companies are now also automatically installing WordPress to help non-techy users kickstart their blogging journey.

Once WordPress is setup, you’re ready to create your blog pages, customize your blog’s design, and start blogging.

Step 3. Selecting Your WordPress Theme

The visual appearance of your WordPress blog is controlled by blog themes. When you first visit your blog, it will look something like this:

This is not very appealing to most people.

Customizing the look and feel of your blog is by far one of the most exciting and rewarding part in the journey of creating your WordPress blog.

There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes that you can install on your site. Some of them are free themes, while others are paid premium themes.

You can change your theme by going to your WordPress dashboard and clicking on Appearance » Themes.

Go ahead and click on the Add New button.

On the next screen, you will able to search from 9,100+ free WordPress themes that are available in the official WordPress.org themes directory. You can sort by popular, latest, featured, as well as other feature filters (i.e industry, layout, etc).

You can take your mouse over to a new theme, and you will see a Preview button. Clicking on it will open the theme preview where you can see how the design would look on your website.

The preview of your theme may not look exactly as shown in the screenshot, which is normal as you will get to customize and set it up later. What you need to look for is design, colors, typography, and other elements.

The best tip to select the perfect WordPress theme is to strive for simplicity in design. It helps you keep things clean and clear while offering a good experience to your users.

If you need help selecting a theme, then please refer to our guide on 9 things you should consider when selecting a perfect WordPress theme.

When you have found the theme that you like, simply bring your mouse on it, and it will show the Install button. Click on it and wait for the theme to be installed. After that, the install button will be replaced with an Activate button. You need to click on it to Activate the theme.

Once you have installed your theme, you can customize it by clicking on the Customize link under the Appearance menu.

Depending on the theme you choose, there will be built-in widgets and customization options that lets you tweak your blog design.

You can get even more design control with a WordPress page builder like SeedProd or Divi which let you create a custom header, footer, sidebar, and more without writing any HTML code.

These plugins give you more design control than what you get with Wix or Squarespace, while giving you the full freedom of the powerful WordPress content management system.

Once you have selected your WordPress theme, you are now ready to create your first blog post.

Step 4. Creating Your First Blog Post

To write your first blog post, click on the Posts » Add New menu in your WordPress dashboard.

You will see an editor area where you can write your first blog post.

WordPress uses a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your blog posts.

To familiarize yourself with the editor, see our WordPress block editor tutorial.

Once you’re done writing, go ahead and click on the Publish button on the top-right corner of the screen to make your blog post publicly available.

On the posts screen, you will notice several other sections such as Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your blog posts into sections. We have a great writeup on the difference between categories vs tags, which we highly recommend that you read.

To utilize all the features on the posts screen, you should read our article on how to add a new post in WordPress (video included).

It covers how to embed videos, add blog images, headings, table of content, sub-headers, bullet lists, call-to-action buttons, social media posts, and all other shortcuts you need.

Often beginners are confused between posts and pages menu in the WordPress dashboard. That’s why we have also written a complete guide on the difference between posts vs pages in WordPress.

If you need help brainstorming new blog post ideas to write about, then here are some helpful resources:

  • 103 blog post ideas that your readers will love
  • 73 types of blog topics that are proven to work
  • How to write a good blog post (12 expert tips)

A lot of pro bloggers choose their specific topics strategically by doing keyword research. This helps their content rank higher in Google search and get more traffic.

We have a step by step guide on how to do keyword research for beginners using the exact same method that we use on WPBeginner.

Step 5. Plugins & Customizations

Once you have written your first blog post, you probably want to get started with adding other usual elements on your website such as contact page, galleries, sliders, email list, forums, etc.

To add all these additional features, you need to use plugins.

WordPress plugins are apps that allow you to add new features to your website (without writing any code).

There are over 59,000 WordPress plugins available in the free WordPress plugin directory alone. This means no matter what you want to accomplish, there is a plugin for it.

We have a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to use plugins to add some essential features to your WordPress blog.

How to Create a Contact Form in WordPress

Every website needs a contact form. It allows your users to email you directly. Since WordPress doesn’t come with a built-in contact form, you will need a WordPress form builder plugin to add a contact form on your site.

We recommend using the WPForms Lite plugin. It is a free version of the popular WPForms plugin, which is #1 in our list of best contact form plugins for WordPress.

Over 5 million websites use WPForms!

You can install the plugin by going to Plugins » Add New page and typing WPForms in the search box. Next, you need to click “Install” and then “Activate”. Upon activation, you need to head over to WPForms » Add New page to create your first form.

This will open the WPForms builder interface.

First, you need to enter a name for your contact form and then click on ‘Simple Contact Form’ template.

WPForms will now create a simple contact form for you with all the required fields. You can click on any field to change it, or add a new field from the left column.

Once you are done editing the form, click on the save button at the top right corner and then exit the form builder.

You can now create a new page in WordPress by going to Pages » Add New and call it ‘Contact’. On the edit screen, you need to enter the WPForms block into the editor.

After that, select the form you created earlier from the drop down menu and WPForms will load a live preview of the form in the editor.

You can now save and publish the page and visit it in your browser to see your contact form in action.

It’s a best practice to test your form to make sure you’re receiving the notifications. If you don’t get the notification, then you should see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending emails.

If you need more detailed instructions, then see our step by step guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

As a blogger, the best part about WPForms is that it grows with you. Aside from simple contact forms, you can also use it to create reader surveys, polls, guest post submission forms, and more.

How to Setup Google Analytics Tracking

Google Analytics helps you see how many people are visiting your blog, where they are coming from, and what are they doing on your website.

It is best to install Google Analytics when starting your blog, so you can see how much your blog has grown over time.

First, you need to visit Google Analytics website and sign in using your Gmail account.

Once you are logged in, you can go ahead and sign up for a free Google Analytics account.

You will be asked to provide your information and website URL. After that, you will be presented with your Google Analytics tracking code.

You can stop here because we will be using a plugin to automatically fetch and add this code to your blog (along with setting up proper WordPress tracking).

Switch to your WordPress admin area to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. It is the free version of the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, and it is the easiest way to add Google Analytics on your site (trusted by over 3 million websites).

Upon activation, you need to visit Insights » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.

On the settings page, click on the ‘Connect MonsterInsights’ button to connect Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. Once done, you will be able to see your website analytics report straight from your WordPress dashboard under the MonsterInsights tab.

For detailed instructions, see our article on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

How to Optimize Your WordPress Blog for SEO

Most beginners don’t optimize for SEO when creating a blog. SEO or search engine optimization helps users find your blog in search engines.

If you want more traffic, then it’s crucial that you optimize your blog for SEO right from the beginning.

To get started, first you need to install and activate the All in One SEO plugin. It is the complete WordPress SEO plugin that will help you optimize your blog.

The plugin comes with a quick configuration wizard to help you walk through the set up. It will help you setup a WordPress sitemap, write proper keywords and meta description, add schema markup, and a whole lot more.

We also recommend you to follow our complete step by step WordPress SEO guide to set up your blog’s SEO.

Now there are other SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, RankMath, etc, but we recommend using AIOSEO because it offers the most beginner friendly interface for new bloggers.

Aside from a WordPress SEO plugin, you can further optimize your blog content by using a keyword research tool. These SEO tools help you come up with new content ideas that people are searching for around your topic.

You can even see the exact keywords your competitors are ranking for, so you can create better content and outrank them.

This helps you maximize the traffic on your new blog site right from the beginning. For more details, see our newbie’s guide on how to do keyword research for your own blog.

More WordPress Plugins and Customizations

There are a ton of others WordPress plugins that you can install. Often beginners find it a bit overwhelming to search for the plugins they need.

At WPBeginner, we often feature the best WordPress plugins to help you add the functionality that you need.

Here is our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins that you should check out.

  • Backup – UpdraftPlus is the best WordPress backup plugin. You need to create regular backups of your website in case something ever goes wrong.
  • Security – Sucuri Security is a free security scanner for WordPress. We have a complete step by step WordPress security guide for beginners that will help you secure your blog.
  • Performance – We recommend using either WP Rocket (premium) or WP Super Cache (free) to speed up WordPress. For more on this topic see our article on WordPress speed and performance with step by step instructions.
  • Design & Customization – We recommend using either SeedProd or Divi page builder for customizing your homepage design, creating custom landing pages, or even creating custom themes (without writing any code). For more on this topic, see our article on best WordPress page builders (compared).
  • Traffic & Subscribers – We strongly recommend using push notifications by PushEngage. This lets you connect with visitors after they leave your website. It’s our top 5 traffic source on WPBeginner. For more details, see how to add push notifications in WordPress.
  • Email Marketing – We recommend using Constant Contact or HubSpot as your email marketing service. To get more email subscribers, we recommend using OptinMonster free plugin to create high-converting popups, scroll boxes, and call to actions.

If you are curious about all the plugins and tools that we use on our website, then check out WPBeginner’s Blueprint. That list contains all the tools that we use to grow the WPBeginner blog.

Need more recommendations? See our expert-pick of the must have WordPress plugins and tools for all websites (hand-picked by our founder, Syed Balkhi).

Step 6. Making Money From Your Blog

Now that you’ve created your personal blog and customized it to your liking, you are probably wondering how can I actually make money blogging?

There are a lot of different ways to successfully monetize your blog. However there is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme.

Don’t be fooled by the pictures of expensive cars and mansions because those are all fake.

Unlike other “make money online” articles, we have created the most comprehensive guide on how to make money from your blog using WordPress.

That’s a 4000+ word guide that everyone who want to make money with their blog needs to read. We have shared our 15+ years of online wisdom in that ultimate guide.

As long as you’re willing to put in the hard work and effort, you’ll reap the reward. Remember, there are no shortcuts.

Here are some of the best ways to make money from your blog.

1. Google AdSense

Many bloggers make money by showing ads on their blog. If you make a blog with monetization in mind, then Google AdSense is the best way to do this.

It is the largest advertising platform for bloggers and publishers. Acting as a middleman between you and the advertiser, Google allow advertisers to bid for keywords matching your content. This allows you to get the best rates possible for the ads.

For more details, see our article on how to properly add Google AdSense to your WordPress blog.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the second most commonly used monetization strategy among bloggers. Basically, you recommend your favorite products / services to your readers, and when they make a purchase you get a referral commission.

The key in affiliate marketing is to recommend high-quality products and services that you already use and trust. There are plenty of affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress that can help you make more money when promoting affiliate products. We recommend using PrettyLinks or ThirstyAffiliates as a must have.

We also have a complete step by step affiliate marketing guide for beginners, that will help you get started with choosing the right affiliate program and strategies to monetize your blog today.

3. Online Store

Many bloggers make money by selling things directly from their blog. This could be physical products, digital downloads like ebooks, artwork, music, and more. Some bloggers even offer consulting services.

We recommend using WooCommerce because it is the best eCommerce plugin for WordPress. It is also the most commonly used eCommerce platform in the world.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to easily create an online store using WordPress.

Some bloggers don’t want the hassle of creating a store to sell their own products, so they create an Amazon affiliate store which lets them sell other people’s products from Amazon and earn a commission.

On top of the 3 methods above, you can do so much more with your WordPress blog. You can make WordPress blogs specifically for reviews, fashion blogging, food blogging with recipes, and more. Each of these blog types brings you more unique opportunities to make money.

You can also turn your blog into a membership site to offer premium content and courses. We have a detailed guide on how to create and sell online courses with WordPress.

Step 7. Mastering WordPress

WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners.

At WPBeginner, our main goal is to provide cutting-edge helpful WordPress tutorials that are easy to understand for small businesses, bloggers, and non-techy WordPress website owners (see more about us).

To expand your WordPress knowledge, you should check out:

  • WPBeginner Dictionary – The best place for beginners to start and familiarize themselves with the WordPress lingo
  • WPBeginner Videos – New to WordPress? Watch these 23 videos to master WordPress.
  • WPBeginner Blog – The central place for all our WordPress tutorials.

For more discussions, you may want to join our free Facebook group WPBeginner Engage. With more than 85,000 members, the group is focused on helping beginners and non-techy users do more with WordPress.

You can also subscribe to WPBeginner’s YouTube Channel where we regularly share video tutorials to help you learn WordPress.

Lastly, you can use Google to type your question and add WPBeginner in front of it. Our users find this trick to be always helpful because it makes it easy for you to find the RIGHT answer for your WordPress questions.

In case you don’t find an answer to your question, don’t worry. Simply use our contact form to send us a message. Our always helpful, full time WPBeginner support team, will be happy to assist. We love helping users get started with WordPress.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Having helped thousands of people start a blog, we have answered quite a lot of questions. Below are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about creating a blog.

Can I create a blog without WordPress?

Yes, there are several other blogging platforms available. We have compared them all, and WordPress is by far the best website builder solution in the market to make a blog with complete ownership and freedom.

Can I build a blog without hosting?

No, that’s not possible. Web hosting is where your website files are stored. All websites need web hosting. To start a blog, you will need your own domain and web hosting.

How do I come up with a good blog name for my site?

Most personal blog names are named after their creator. Other blogs are named after the topic or industry they are in. We have an AI powered business name generator that you can use to come up with blog name ideas.

What is the best blogging niche?

Choosing the right niche for your blog makes it easier to create engaging content and make more money online. Our experts have researched the 7 best blogging niches that you should consider when starting your blog.

We also created a list of the 18 most popular types of blogs to help you get inspiration.

How much does it cost to start a blog?

The cost depends on the add-ons that you buy. We have a complete guide on how much does a WordPress website cost as well as tips on how to save money.

Most blogging tools are either free or come with a 30-day money back guarantee, so you can try them risk-free.

Can I create a blog without my parents knowing about it?

Yes. You can make your WordPress blog private and hide it from the internet. Here is a step by step guide on how to make your WordPress blog completely private.

Can I start a WordPress blog and make money with Google Adsense?

Yes, you can use your WordPress blog to earn money from Google AdSense. We have a step by step guide on how to add Google AdSense in WordPress.

How can I create a blog and remain anonymous?

If you want to have a public-facing blog but want to remain anonymous, then you need to make sure that your domain has WHOIS privacy turned on. Often people use a pseudonym / nickname to write under. You should also create a unique email just for your blog. It goes without saying, don’t post your pictures or anything on the blog. For more detailed instructions, see our article on how to blog anonymously using WordPress.

How do I add a podcast to my WordPress blog?

WordPress makes it super easy to start a blog and add a podcast to it. We have a step by step guide on how to start a podcast with WordPress.

Can I build a blog in my own language?

Yes, you can use WordPress in other languages. You can select your language during installation or from Settings page in WordPress admin area. WordPress is fully translated in more than 56 languages and partially translated into dozens of other languages. Many top WordPress themes and plugins are also available in multiple languages. You can also translate a theme or a plugin that you want to use on your website.

How do I create a blog in multiple languages?

Want to start a blog in Hindi, Spanish, or multiple languages? Here’s a step by step guide on how to create a multilingual website in WordPress.

Can I design a blog with no coding skills?

Absolutely. You don’t need any programming, coding, or design skills to create a professional-looking WordPress blog.

WordPress themes are easy to customize and you can just point and click to set up your theme. There are WordPress themes like Astra which comes with ready-made starter websites that you can import with one-click.

There are other powerful themes like Divi which give you complete drag & drop design options for customizing your blog.

Then there are powerful drag and drop page builders like SeedProd and Divi builder that works with any WordPress theme. You can use it to just drag and drop items and design your own pages.

You can even create your own custom theme without writing any code.

Can I add a photography gallery to my blog?

Yes, WordPress comes with a built-in gallery feature that makes it easy for you to add photo galleries in your blog posts.

Professional photographers can also use premium WordPress gallery plugins to better showcase their photos and even sell photos to make money from their photography business.

How can I create a professional email address for my blog?

If you’re serious about your blog, then we highly recommend that you create a professional business email address (it’s free).

All successful bloggers use professional email address to stand out and make better partnership deals to grow their blog.

Can I switch blogging platforms later?

When creating a blog for the first time, often beginners make the mistake of choosing the wrong platform like Medium, Tumblr, Blogger, or others.

The good news is that yes you can easily switch to WordPress. We have detailed tutorials on how to switch from:

  • Medium to WordPress
  • Blogger to WordPress
  • WordPress.com to WordPress.org

Where do I find photos for my blog?

All great blogs use high quality photos in their blog posts and social media. We have created a beginner’s guide on how to find royalty-free stock photos for your blog, videos, and social media.

We hope that you found our tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog to be helpful. You may also want to check out our article on 27 actionable tips to drive traffic to your new WordPress site, and our checklist on 18 important things to do after installing WordPress.

How to Increase Your Blog Traffic The Easy Way

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Starting a blog these days has become easy with platforms like WordPress. However, once it’s up and running, your next big challenge is to bring more traffic to your blog or website.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a marketing guru to promote your blog. You can easily increase your blog traffic to get more visitors by using some proven best practices.

In this article, we will share some of the easiest and most tested tips to increase your blog traffic like an expert marketer.

Unlike other articles on growing blog traffic, we’ll only share tips that we have personally used to increase our website traffic to millions of pageviews every month.

We’ve also done our best to make this the most comprehensive website traffic guide, so you can have a holistic blog traffic strategy for your business.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Before You Start – Set Up Push Notifications for Your Site

Website push notifications help you stay in touch with your visitors after they leave your website, so you can bring them back. This is a Top 5 traffic source on WPBeginner.

We use a tool called PushEngage. It’s freemium software that we highly recommend for all bloggers, website owners, and eCommerce sites.

It lets you send notifications to your visitor’s mobile or desktop device that are hard to miss, so you get a much higher engagement rate than social media or email.

The best part is, you can communicate with visitors after they’ve left your site.

We use it on all of our websites, and it’s by far the best traffic channel for us.

Not many website owners know about this tactic because push notifications used to be hard to set up. PushEngage has made it easy. Here’s how to add web push notifications to your WordPress site.

Once you do this, any of the tips below will drive compounding traffic growth!

1. Create Audience Profiles to Understand Your Users

Before you start creating content for your blog, it’s important to spend a little time understanding your target audience and what they are looking for.

You can quickly build an audience framework by answering the following questions:

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What problems are they facing that you can help solve?
  • What kind of content are they looking for?
  • How would they ideally like to find the answers to their questions?

Answering these questions will help you get a clearer picture of your target audience. You can also expand on this by adding further personalized questions such as:

  • How old are they?
  • What are their occupations?
  • What is their education level?
  • What is their expertise level in the subject matter of your blog?

These audience profiles are also known as ‘buyer personas’ in the eCommerce industry. If you run an online store, then we highly recommend that you check out this detailed guide on how to create a buyer persona with examples and templates.

2. Do Keyword Research to Plan Your Content Strategy

Keyword research is a technique used by content creators and SEO experts. It helps you discover specific words and sentences that users type into Google and other search engines to find the content they are looking for.

Normally, beginners just rely on their best guesses when creating content. As you can imagine, this strategy is hit or miss.

If you use the ‘best-guess’ strategy, then there’s a high chance that your articles won’t rank high in search engines.

That might be simply because no one’s looking for the keywords you have used, or perhaps there is just too much competition for those keywords.

By doing proper keyword research, you will unlock the following benefits:

  • Discover actual search terms people are looking for
  • Find unique content ideas for popular search terms
  • Learn from your competitors and beat them with better content
  • Create a series of pillar articles to drive steady traffic to your blog

Now the question is, ‘How do you actually do keyword research?’ Luckily, it is not as difficult as you would think.

There are a lot of free and paid keyword research tools that can help. We use SEMRush for our content strategy.

All you have to do is enter a keyword and a website address. The URL could be for a competitor’s blog or your own website. After that, the keyword research tool will help you discover lots of new keyword ideas.

We have created a detailed guide on how to do keyword research for your WordPress blog with step by step instructions.

3. Make an Editorial Calendar

Once you have done the keyword research, you’ll likely come up with tons of blog post ideas.

Sometimes, a large list of keywords can overwhelm beginners to a point where they simply give up.

To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, we recommend creating an editorial calendar (a game plan). Remember, no large blog was built in a day.

It takes time and consistent effort to create a successful blog. Creating an editorial calendar will help you create and stick to the plan.

There are plenty of useful tools that you can use like Asana and Trello to name a few. These tools come with a powerful set of features that will help you stay on top of your game.

The goal is to organize, create a bird’s eye view of your strategy, and be more productive.

Here are some more tips on managing your editorial workflow more efficiently:

  • Don’t be too hard on yourself. Start with two articles a week and gradually increase your pace when you can.
  • Be consistent with your publishing schedule. Make sure you follow your calendar and publish regular content as planned.
  • Add notes, keyword ideas, and outlines to your calendar. This will help you produce better quality content when you sit down to write.
  • Use colors, tags, categories, and other features in your calendar app to make it more visual and organized.

Here are some more tips on managing an editorial calendar for your blog.

4. Create Comprehensive and Useful Content

The most important thing that users and search engines look for is good quality content.

For a blog, a quality piece of content is usually a comprehensive article on a specific topic that covers all the details. This makes it extremely helpful for users.

These comprehensive articles are known as ‘pillar articles’. Other experts may refer to them as ‘flagship content’ or ‘cornerstone articles’.

Basically, these are your most important articles. You need to choose the most promising keyword and then provide as much information as you can in one long-form article.

You should create as many pillar articles as possible to cover all the important keywords in your industry.

Following are some tips that you should keep in mind when creating pillar content:

  • Pillar content could be any type of article. For example, a how-to guide, tutorial, comparison article, opinion piece, a listicle, and so on.
  • The difference between pillar content and other articles is that your pillar articles are more comprehensive and provide in-depth information on the topic.
  • Your pillar articles are not time-dependent. They are evergreen and always useful. We recommend that you keep them updated with new information to stay on top of search results.

We’ll cover more tips later in this article that will help you create high-quality pillar articles to get more traffic from search engines.

5. Make Your Content Readable

As we mentioned earlier, search engines and users love longer, comprehensive articles that provide all the information they need.

Now the problem is that humans have a short attention span.

If they find your content a little difficult to read or understand, then they may leave without looking at all the useful information that you offered.

To solve this problem before it happens, you need to make sure your content is easy to read.

A good place to start is to present your article in bite-size sentences using a friendly tone and lots of visuals.

Following are a few basic tips to make your content more readable and user-friendly:

  • Use smaller sentences and paragraphs. This leaves a lot of white space around text making it easier to look and read.
  • Try to improve typography by using more readable fonts, a large font-size, and plenty of line spacing.
  • Check the readability score of your content. The All In One SEO and Yoast SEO plugins come with a built-in tool for that, and you can also find tons of other online readability checkers
  • Use a grammar checker. We recommend using Grammarly because it not only checks grammar but actually helps you write better.
  • Use images, screenshots, videos, infographics, and other visual elements. These media elements make your article highly-engaging and easier to read.

6. Learn and Apply SEO Basics to Your Website

SEO is a set of best practices that help you make your website more search engine friendly. You don’t need to be an ‘SEO Guru’ to improve your website.

Contrary to popular belief, anyone can do SEO for their own websites without hiring an expert. There are plenty of SEO tools and plugins, free advice, and step by step tutorials available that you can use.

We recommend using the All in One SEO plugin for all WordPress websites. It’s the most comprehensive SEO and website optimization tool. The free version includes all the SEO features that you will need on your website.

You can learn all you need to know about SEO in our complete WordPress SEO guide for beginners. It includes step by step instructions, and it is the exact same SEO setup that we use on our own websites.

7. Learn to Write Great Headlines

When users find your content in search results or RSS feeds, the first thing they see is your article headline.

A catchy blog post title stands out and gets more clicks. Whereas a plain and boring headline gets ignored, and users are likely to scroll by it.

This makes headlines very important.

You need to learn how to write better titles for your blog posts that capture user attention and get more clicks.

Luckily, blogging experts have been doing research on headlines for a very long time, and you can benefit from their findings.

These are the basic building blocks of an effective headline:

  • A good headline triggers an emotional response (joy, surprise, shock, curiosity, fear, excitement, greed, and so on).
  • It offers users a reward and value.
  • It promotes the content by including target keywords.

Copywriters use power words to trigger emotional responses. They tell users why the article is valuable or what they will get from clicking on the headline.

Lastly, a good headline includes a call to action which is often subtle and sometimes implied.

To learn more, we recommend you to check out these headlines that went viral and what you can learn from them.

You can also use the following free headline analyzer tools to help create better headlines:

  • OptinMonster Headline Analyzer
  • MonsterInsights Headline Analyzer
  • EMV Headline Analyzer

Our team regularly uses these three tools to create better blog post titles and headlines.

8. Make Internal Linking a Routine Task

Now that you have started creating good content, it is important to link to your articles from your existing blog posts. This is called internal linking, and it plays a huge role in SEO.

Here is why internal linking is so important:

  • Internal links help Google understand the context and relationship between different articles on your website. It then uses this information as ranking signals.
  • Internal links, when placed strategically and in context, can help you increase pageviews and reduce bounce rate.
  • It is harder to ask third-party websites to link to your articles. It is way easier to create links on your own site.

We recommend that you make a habit of linking to your older articles from your new articles.

Because internal links play such an important role in SEO, we have even made it part of our pre-publish checklist for our writers.

At WPBeginner, we use the AIOSEO internal linking assistant to quickly add links to boost our SEO.

9. Start Generating More Backlinks

A backlink is an incoming link to your content from an external website. Backlinks are one of the most influential signals in Google’s rankings.

Getting backlinks from reputable websites and blogs is very difficult. It’s not just beginners who find it hard, even experienced bloggers struggle with it.

Here are some tips to get quality backlinks to your website:

  • Reach out to influencers and reputable blogs in your industry, and then tell them about specific content on your website that they might want to link.
  • Write guest posts on other blogs and websites.
  • Interview influencers and bloggers on your blog. They will likely want to let their users know to come checkout their interview, and you’ll get a backlink.
  • The easiest way to get a backlink is to add a link to your website on all your social media profiles.

10. Add Images, Charts, Infographs to Create Visually Attractive Content

In Step 5, we mentioned that adding images and charts to your articles makes them more readable. Since visual elements are so important, we believe they deserved their own spot on this list.

Our brains prefer visual elements. As human beings, we love colors and objects because aesthetics trigger emotional responses in our brains. This makes us more engaged and immersed in our surroundings.

People love looking at infographics because they make information engaging and easy to consume. Images in your blog posts grab users’ attention and help them focus on not just the visual element but also the text around it.

If you’re just starting out, then it’s important to know that you cannot just use any image you see on the internet. Images are protected by copyright and stealing copyrighted material can have serious consequences.

Ideally, you want to use your own images, graphics, and photographs, but not all bloggers are graphic designers or photographers.

Luckily, there are so many great resources to find royalty free images, and there are even tools that you can use to easily create your own graphics. Here are some helpful resources:

  • 16 best places to find free public domain images
  • 16 best tools to create better images for your blog posts
  • Guide on how to optimize images for blog posts

11. Add Videos to Your Articles

Videos are the most successful form of content on the internet. Users spend more time on blog posts containing videos than just text and images.

Adding videos to your articles in WordPress is super easy. However, you should never upload videos to WordPress because it is not optimized to stream videos.

A video streamed from your WordPress hosting server will take up too many resources, and the user experience would be terrible.

The best way to add videos to your WordPress site is by uploading them to YouTube and then embedding them in your blog posts.

This gives you even more exposure as YouTube itself is the world’s second largest search engine and a popular social media platform.

There are many ways to easily create video content for your website. Here are a few that you can start with:

  • You can create slideshows of how-to tutorials with voice over instructions
  • You can create screencasts
  • You can record interviews with other bloggers and influencers in your industry
  • You can become a vlogger by adding your own videos shot in selfie mode

How do you edit videos? If you’re using Mac, then iMovie is perfectly capable of performing basic video edits. Windows users can use free video editing software like Lightworks or Shotcut for basic editing.

12. Utilize User-Generated Content

User-generated content is basically any content generated on your website as a result of user activity. This includes comments, testimonials, guest posts, user reviews, and more.

User-generated content helps you bring more traffic to your website because it gives users multiple opportunities to participate and get involved.

Users are more likely to return, share, and even purchase from your website when they spend more time on it.

There are many different kinds of user-generated content that you can add. You need to choose what works best for your blog and start from there.

For more ideas, see our guide on how to use user-generated content in WordPress to grow your website.

13. Keep Your Website Design Clean and Clutter Free

There are a lot of great WordPress themes available on the market. The problem is that many beginners want to use a theme with all the bells and whistles. These themes are not always the perfect design for your website.

Bad website design stops your users from spending more time on your blog which decreases your pageviews.

Whereas a good design helps them discover more content, explore different sections, and spend more time.

We are often asked by users how to choose the best theme? Our answer is to always strive for simplicity. A simple, clean, and functional theme makes a good first impression and offers the best user experience.

If you are looking for some theme recommendations, then check out our expert-pick showcases:

  • Best WordPress themes for writers
  • Best free WordPress blog themes
  • Best simple WordPress themes

14. Optimize Website Speed to Load Your Pages Faster

In this era of instant gratification, no one wants to wait for a website to load. If your website is slow, then users will simply leave your website before it even finishes loading.

Search engines like Google also consider website speed and page load time as one of the important ranking factors.

To make sure that your website loads fast, you need to optimize your WordPress performance. This means you need to use caching, avoid unnecessary bloat, and optimize your images.

We have prepared a step by step WordPress performance optimization guide that will help you speed up your website without hiring a developer.

15. Start Your Email List Right Away

Most beginners spend too much of their time bringing new users to their website. However, more than 70% of users leaving your website will never return.

The trick to growing your blog traffic is NOT to just get new visitors, but you also need to keep existing visitors coming back.

How do you make sure that users return to your website?

You do that by asking them to subscribe to your blog.

Users can subscribe to your website’s social media profiles. However, most social networks limit your reach, and your users can only see some of your content.

This is why you need to start building your email list.

The best thing about your email list is that you own it. No one can limit your reach, and you get direct access to your user’s inboxes.

Email marketing is the most cost-efficient and highly effective marketing tool at your disposal. You are losing potential subscribers each day without an email list.

For more on this topic, please read our article on why building an email list is so important.

Once you have an email list, you can send regular email newsletters to bring more visitors to your blog. We recommend using Constant Contact, SendinBlue, or ConvertKit.

Here’s our step by step guide on how to create an email newsletter.

16. Automatically Share Your Blog Posts

When we stress that you should build an email list, we don’t mean that you should stop building a social media following.

Quite the opposite, in fact, we want you to continue building a social media following on all the important social platforms, and even find new niche platforms that you can explore.

The problem with social media websites is that you have to regularly post content to keep your profiles active and drive traffic to your blog.

If you do that manually, then you’ll soon be spending quite a lot of time on sharing content.

This is where Uncanny Automator comes in. It is a plugin that allows you to create automated workflows in WordPress.

For step-by-step instructions, see our guides on how to automatically post from WordPress to Twitter or Facebook.

17. Regularly Share Your Old Articles on Social Media

If you’re like most blogs, you probably only publish one article a day. This means for the rest of the day, there is no update from you on social media.

On platforms like Twitter, your Tweet will soon disappear, and your users will probably not even see it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could automatically share your old content at regular intervals throughout the day?

This will help you get more traffic from social media by increasing your visibility and keeping your profiles more active.

Luckily, you can automate it with tools like Buffer and Revive Old Posts.

With Buffer, you will have to bulk-upload your updates manually. On the other hand, Revive Old Posts will allow you to automatically share your own old articles.

18. Explore Other Social Networks

There are so many social media websites out there, but most of us spend all of our time on a few top platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Obviously, you want to focus on them to drive more traffic to your blog.

However, depending on your blog’s topics you may have more success on other social platforms that are less crowded.

For example, if your blog is about building businesses, then you may find more engaged users on LinkedIn.

If you run a lifestyle or fashion blog, then Instagram may be the platform you should focus on.

You can always spend time on Quora to answer user questions which build backlinks and help increase blog traffic.

We recommend that you try spending more time on social networks other than the big two. You may find a more passionate audience and a bigger following there.

19. Participate in Online Communities

Online communities are a great source of traffic mainly because they already have engaged users who are interested in the topics that you are discussing on your blogs.

You can find smaller communities on Reddit, LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, YouTube communities, and more.

Pro Tip: Don’t just start posting links to your articles. This is called spamming and moderators will instantly block you.

You should spend some time building your reputation, answering questions, joining discussions, and only then share your website if it is appropriate.

20. Make Your Own Online Groups

Another way to build a passionate following around your blog is by starting your own online group. You can use free platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn and invite your users to join in.

As your community grows, so will your influence. The active participants in your group will proactively help you promote your blog on their own social media profiles.

After some time, this little community can become a major source of traffic for your blog.

21. Participate in Q&A Websites

You may have noticed that sometimes years-old answers from websites like Stack Exchange, Quora, or TripAdvisor will still outrank more established blogs in search results.

Question and Answer websites are one of the biggest online communities on the internet.

The advantage of answering questions on these platforms is that your answer will remain live for a very long time which means that it can become a regular source of traffic to your blog.

Once again, we will not recommend you to just go there for posting your links. Instead, you should write actual detailed answers with links to your blog posts only if they fit in the context.

22. Find and Engage with Influencers on Social Media

Influencers can help you promote your blog and can significantly boost your website traffic.

However, the problem is that most influencers get tons of messages already. Since you are a new blogger, they assume you probably don’t have anything to offer them in return.

So how do you get the attention of an influencer? More importantly, how do you get them to promote your blog?

First, you need to start a conversation with them on social media.

Next, share their content with your own commentary, reply to their threads, leave comments on their blog posts.

Make sure each of your interactions adds value to their discussion.

Influencers love it when users appreciate their efforts. They will notice and remember you. Once you have established a relationship, you can approach them to give you advice.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it helps you build life-long friendships that are mutually profitable.

23. Use Social Proof to Get More Traffic

Human beings are social animals. We like to know about other people’s experiences as social proof and use it to make our own decisions.

You need to use this social proof on your website, on your social media profiles, in your tweets, and in emails to promote your blog.

Now you may be wondering, what if I am just starting out? How do I leverage social proof on my blog?

There are tons of ways to leverage social proof, even on a new blog.

  • Add a feedback form and ask users to leave feedback that you can share on your blog.
  • Directly approach users and collect testimonials.
  • Ask users to rate your articles.
  • Ask users to write reviews.
  • Numbers are brain candy. Share your social media counts, email list subscriber counts, and other numbers as social proof.

Don’t worry if your numbers aren’t as big as other successful blogs, they are still powerful social proof.

24. Monitor Social Media

People are asking questions all the time on social media websites like Twitter. Set up alerts to monitor keywords on social media and then jump into conversations to answer their questions with a link back to a relevant article on your website.

You can also monitor social media websites for your brand name, links, and conversations.

There are plenty of tools that you can use for this. Here are some of the best social media monitoring tools that can make it all easy for you.

25. Track Your Website’s Keyword Rankings

After you have started creating content and promoting it, you need to track how well each piece of content is performing. Furthermore, which keywords is it ranking for?

You can do this with a tool called Google Search Console. It’s a free tool provided by Google that helps you see how your website is doing in Google Search. We have a complete Google Search Console guide that will teach you how to use this immensely powerful tool, like a Pro.

Next, you’ll want to monitor your competitor’s websites. Google Search Console will not tell you who is ranking higher than you and why.

For that, you’ll need a tool called SEMRush. This will also give you detailed insights into your competitors, their top keywords, and what you need to do to outrank them.

26. Track Your Website Traffic and User Engagement

Now that you have started getting some traffic, you need to know where your users are coming from, and what they do when they are on your website. Without this data, you cannot evaluate your strategy or plan your next moves.

This is where Google Analytics comes in.

It tracks your website visitors and helps you see traffic reports, engagement, and other user activity on your website. For instructions, see our step by step tutorial on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

The biggest advantage of using Google Analytics is that you can see what your users are doing when they visit your website. See our article on how to use Google Analytics to track user engagement on your website.

Knowing this data helps you double down on what’s working, and stop doing what’s not.

27. Continue Learning Online Marketing and SEO

These tips will help you increase your blog traffic and continue getting more subscribers.

However, as your blog grows, you need to learn more ways to grow your business.

WPBeginner is the largest WordPress resource site. We regularly publish tutorials on online marketing and SEO. We have a YouTube Channel as well, where you can learn more about WordPress, growing your blog, and SEO.

The OptinMonster Blog is another great resource that you’ll want to follow. OptinMonster is the best conversion optimization software on the market. Their blog is where they regularly publish articles on how to get more traffic, subscribers, and sales.

We hope these tips helped you increase your blog traffic. You may also want to learn some proven ways to make money blogging with WordPress, or see our list of the most useful tools to help you further grow your blog.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

14 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools That You Should Use

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Often we’re asked about what are the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools that we recommend.

That’s because search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites on the internet. Optimizing your website for search engines can help you rank higher in search results and significantly grow your business.

In this article, we will share the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools that you should use. Some of these tools offer similar functionalities, so we will also highlight which ones are the best for specific use-cases.

Things You Must Know About WordPress SEO Plugins & Tools

When reading SEO WordPress tips or searching for “best free WordPress SEO plugins”, you will come across articles that feature several dozen tools.

This can be quite overwhelming for beginners and non-techy users.

The truth is that you don’t need dozens of top SEO tools to get higher search engine result rankings.

While most blog posts (including ours) will share the top most popular SEO plugins, it is extremely important for you to understand the use-cases of each tool.

For example, you never want to use more than one WordPress SEO plugin on your website. We will mention All in One SEO (formerly All in One SEO Pack), Yoast SEO, SEOPress, and Rank Math. You need to pick only one to avoid plugin conflict.

We’ll mention SEMRush, Ahrefs, and few other powerful tools, but you don’t need them all when you’re first starting out since they have a similar feature set. We will share what tools we use in our business, and which features are the best among each tool.

With that said, let’s take a look at our expert pick of the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools.

1. All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO)

All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO) is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. Used by over 3+ million users, it is the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that helps you improve search rankings without learning any complicated SEO jargon.

The free version of AIOSEO has all the essential features, but the pro version gives you everything you need to outrank your competitors.

It comes with the easiest setup wizard that automatically helps you choose the best SEO settings for your business. AIOSEO shows you TruSEO on-page analysis with an actionable checklist to optimize your posts and pages.

The on-page SEO checklist includes a smart meta tag generator where you can use dynamic values (current year, month, day, custom fields, author info, and much more) in your SEO title and meta descriptions. This means you don’t need to update a post just to change SEO titles.

AIOSEO also comes with Rich snippet schema markup, smart XML sitemaps (with advanced controls), SEO health check, and other useful features to grow your search engine visibility.

There is a built-in social media integration to add Open Graph metadata as well. This means you can choose which image or thumbnail you want to show when your pages are shared on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

AIOSEO also comes with built-in WooCommerce SEO tools for eCommerce sites. This includes features like dynamic optimizations, individual product page optimizations, product image SEO, and other handy features to bring more organic traffic to your online store.

For more SEO savvy users, it includes full control of RSS feeds, Robots.txt editor, local SEO, breadcrumbs, Google News sitemaps, video SEO, advanced redirect manager, 404 tracking, IndexNow integration, and more.

For business owners, it comes with SEO user roles, so you can manage access to important SEO features without handing over control of your website.

Update: Recently AIOSEO added a Link Assistant which is a game-changer for internal linking. It helps identify link opportunities, gives you linking suggestions in real-time, and you can bulk-add internal links with just a few clicks.

Overall, All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the most beginner-friendly and comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It’s easy to configure and eliminates the need to install multiple plugins to do things on your WordPress site. It works perfectly for all types of businesses, eCommerce, blogs, news, and other websites.

As a WPBeginner user, you get 50% off AIOSEO Pro.

For those who’re on a budget, you can use the free version of AIOSEO to get started.

2. SEMRush

SEMRush is the best overall SEO tool on the market. Used by professional SEO experts, marketers, bloggers, large and small businesses, it provides a comprehensive set of tools to grow your traffic.

You can use it to find organic keywords and search terms that you can easily rank for. It also allows you to do competitive research and see which keywords your competitors rank for, and how you can beat them.

SEMRush SEO Writing Assistant tool helps you improve your website content to beat the top 10 results for your focus keyword. It integrates with WordPress, and this will help you write more SEO-friendly content.

You can also generate SEO templates and get easy search engine optimization suggestions for your content along with advanced SEO recommendations.

SEMRush seamlessly integrates with All in One SEO (AIOSEO) to help you find additional keyphrases for your focus keyphrase. You can see related keyphrases and their search volume right from WordPress. Then, you can add them to your content with the click of a button.

To learn more, see our complete guide on how to do keyword research for your website.

We use SEMRush for our websites because of their competitive intelligence and SEO rank tracker features.

3. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google to help website owners and webmasters monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Google search results.

It alerts you when Google is unable to crawl and index pages on your website. You also get helpful tips on how to fix those crawl errors.

Most importantly, it shows which keywords your website is ranking for, anchor texts, average position, impressions, and more. You can use this data to find keywords where you can easily rank higher by simply optimizing your content. You can also use this keyword data to come up with new blog post ideas.

For more details, see our comprehensive Google Search Console guide for beginners.

Tip: You can use MonsterInsights to track your keyword rankings inside WordPress admin area using Google Seach Console data. We will cover this tool later in the article below.

4. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a popular WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to optimize your WordPress website for search engines.

It lets you easily add SEO titles and descriptions to all posts and pages on your website. You can also use it to add Open Graph metadata and social media images to your articles.

Yoast SEO automatically generates an XML sitemap for all your website content which makes it easier for search engines to crawl your website. It also helps you easily import your SEO data if you have been using another SEO plugin.

Other features include readability analysis, Google and social previews, and faster load times for a better user experience.

For more details, see our complete guide on how to install and set up Yoast SEO plugin in WordPress.

5. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner tool helps you generate your own keyword ideas from Google itself.

No one on the planet has more insights into what people are searching for than the search giant Google. This free tool is offered to Google’s advertisers for free and anyone can use it. Its main purpose is to show advertisers the keywords they can bid on for their advertising campaigns.

It also helps advertisers choose the right keywords by showing them an estimate of search volume, number of results, and difficulty level.

As a content marketer or blogger, you can use this data to find keywords with high search volume, high advertiser interest, and more importantly keywords where you can easily outrank all other sites.

Bonus: See these 103 Blog Post Ideas that your Readers will Love (Cheat Sheet).

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO analysis tool for marketers, bloggers, and businesses. It is a popular alternative to SEMRush and offers a lot of similar tools and features.

It allows you to do keyword research, competition analysis, backlink research, SEO audit, monitor keyword rankings, and more.

It also offers a detailed content analysis tool that helps you improve content while targeting specific keywords.

While there’s a huge feature overlap, what Ahrefs does really well is backlink analysis. We can use it to see which sites are linking to multiple competitors, but not us. This helps us get more backlinks and build more partnerships.

They also help us identify which content multiple of our competitors are ranking for that we aren’t, so we can create content on those subjects to get more exposure.

Last but not least, Ahrefs helps us better identify duplicate content and keyword cannibalization which helps us merge and upgrade the right content to boost our rankings.

For the reasons above, we pay for both SEMRush and Ahrefs because they’re both good for specific use-cases.

7. SEOPress

SEOPress is another simple yet powerful WordPress SEO plugin. It includes all the features you would expect from an SEO plugin like meta title, description, open graph support, image and content XML sitemaps, redirects, and more.

It comes with a straightforward setup for beginners and advanced controls for more experienced users. It is comparable to other top WordPress SEO plugins on the market in terms of features and options.

The paid version of the plugin is cheaper than some other premium WordPress SEO plugins on the market.

Note: SEOPress is a WordPress SEO plugin. Remember, you only need one WordPress SEO plugin on your site.

8. Rank Math

Rank Math is another user-friendly WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to optimize your website for search engines and social media. It comes with a setup wizard and allows you to import data from other SEO plugins during the setup.

You can use it to easily add meta title, description, and Open Graph metadata to your blog posts. The plugin also allows you to generate an XML sitemap, connect Google Search Console, and control access to plugin features based on user roles.

Note: Rank Math is an AIOSEO alternative. Remember, you only need one WordPress SEO plugin on your site.

9. Schema Pro

Schema Pro allows you to add rich snippets to your website which makes it stand out in search results.

Rich Snippets allow you to make your website stand out in search results by showing star ratings below a review, prices below a product, image or video next to the description, and so on.

Top WordPress SEO plugins, like All in One SEO (AIOSEO) already add structured rich snippets data to your website. However, if you need more schema types or want to extend the functionality of your existing WordPress SEO plugin then Schema Pro is the way to go.

Schema Pro also allows you to use it alongside your existing WordPress SEO plugin by mapping the plugin data to Schema Pro fields.

10. KeywordTool.io

KeywordTool.io is one of the best free keyword research tools available right now. It allows you to simply generate keyword ideas by typing in a keyword. These keyword suggestions are gathered from Google’s autosuggest feature. It also shows you keyword suggestions from Bing, YouTube, Amazon, and more.

These keyword suggestions are a treasure of information. You can also get search volume, cost per click, and other data for each keyword by upgrading to their paid plan.

11. Redirection

Redirection helps you set up SEO friendly redirects in WordPress. It is a handy broken link checker that helps you easily fix 404 errors in WordPress by setting up redirects.

Broken links can affect your site’s SEO and create a bad experience for your users. If you have been running a blog for some time, then you should check your site from time to time for broken links and fix them.

There are multiple ways to easily find broken links in WordPress. Once you find a broken link, you may need to fix it by pointing users to the correct link or removing the incorrect link.

For more details, see our step by step guide on how to find and fix broken links in WordPress.

Alternative: AIOSEO Advanced Redirects is a powerful alternative to the Redirection plugin.

12. SEOQuake

SEOQuake is a useful SEO tool for website owners. It is available as a browser add-on for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari web browsers.

It provides SEO related information for any website. This data includes page health, age, last updated, Alexa rank, and many other parameters. It is one of the most downloaded browser addons by SEO professionals.

Apart from that, the SEOQuake toolbar can show you all the same data search results when you type in a keyword. This information can be extremely useful if you are gauging competition for different keywords. You can even download search results in CSV format and prepare your own excel sheets of search data.

Alternative: Ahrefs SEO Toolbar

Bonus Plugins for WordPress Website Owners

These tools give you the additional advantage when optimizing your website for SEO. They do not advertise themselves as SEO tools but they are essential for every website and play a significant role in your website’s search performance.

13. WP Rocket

Site speed is a major factor in search rankings. That’s why you need to monitor your website speed & performance to make sure it’s not affecting your SEO.

The easiest way to boost your website speed is by enabling caching. WP Rocket is the best WordPress caching plugin on the market, which allows you to set up caching without diving into any technical stuff.

Alternative: WP Super Cache

14. MonsterInsights

Many beginners rely on their best guess to make their marketing decisions. You don’t need to do that when you can easily get the insights you need to improve your website’s SEO strategy.

MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It allows you to easily install Google Analytics in WordPress and shows human-readable reports inside your WordPress dashboard.

It tells you where your users are coming from, your top content, what users do on your website, and more. It also allows you to track your eCommerce SEO by seeing which products are popular and where you are losing customers.

Bonus tip: See what other marketing data you must track on your website to grow your business.

Other Powerful Growth Tools:

Aside from the above plugins, we also recommend the following tools to increase your traffic and conversions from SEO visitors:

  • PushEngage – connect and engage with SEO visitors after they leave your website with web push notifications.
  • OptinMonster – convert abandoning visitors into email subscribers & customers.
  • Constant Contact – stay in touch with SEO visitors through email marketing.
  • WPForms – get more leads from your SEO traffic with #1 WordPress form builder.
  • SeedProd – create SEO friendly custom landing pages with drag & drop WordPress page builder (no coding needed).

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools for your website. You may also want to see our proven tips to easily increase your website traffic, and our comparison of best chatbot software to boost conversions.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

How to Craft Great Page Titles for SEO

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Writing great page titles and SEO titles is an essential skill for anyone doing SEO. Why? Because the title tag can be the first thing a user sees in the search results and it’s also one of the most important factors that Google uses to determine the topic of a page. Well-written titles are essential to SEO! This article covers why you need great page titles and SEO titles, and how to create them.

Yoast SEO checks if you’ve used your keyphrase in the SEO title and whether your SEO title is a suitable width. It also checks if your post title is empty. Read about how those checks work, and how to use your keyphrase in the title.

What is an SEO page title?

Let’s start with the basics. If you look at the source of a page (right-click on the page, then choose View Page Source), you find a title in the head section. It looks like this:

<title>This is an example SEO title - Example.com</title>

This is the HTML title tag, which we also call the SEO title. When you look something up in a search engine, you get a list of results that appear as snippets. The part that looks like a headline is the SEO title. The SEO title usually contains the post title, but it can include other elements too, such as the site name. Or even emojis!

In most cases, the first thing people see, even before they get on your site, is the SEO title. In tabbed browsers, you will usually also see the SEO title in the page tab, as shown in the image below.

What’s a post title? How is it different to an SEO title?

The post title (also known as the headline) is the main heading (H1) of your page. Like the title of any document, it gives readers an indication of the topic being discussed. First and foremost, your post title exists for users. It helps them to understand what you’re writing about and adds structure to your page.

Just to be clear, you should not confuse the SEO title with the post title. The SEO title is what appears in the search results; the post title is what users see after they click on the SEO title and get on the page itself.

What’s the purpose of an SEO title?

The purpose of your SEO title is to make people click on it, visit your website and read your post or buy your product. If your title is not good enough, people will ignore it and move on to other results. Essentially, there are two goals that you want to achieve with an SEO title:

  1. It must help you rank for a keyword;
  2. it must make the user want to click through to your page.

Google uses various signals when deciding how relevant you are for a specific keyword. Even when you’re initially ranking well, if nobody is clicking on your result, your rankings might deteriorate over time. The opposite is also true. At first, you may be positioned lower in the search results. But, if your title gets people to click on it, Google will notice. Consequently, over time, your rankings may improve.

Also, as mentioned before, Google uses what has been specified as your SEO title as ranking input. So it’s not just about those clicks, you also need to make sure that your title reflects the topic being discussed on your page and the keyword that you’re focusing on. The SEO title you use has a direct influence on your ranking.

Now that you know about the importance of SEO titles you’ll be pleased to know that Yoast SEO can help you craft them. In its SEO analysis, the plugin checks two crucial aspects of the SEO title: the width of your title and whether you use your keyword. The Premium version of the plugin also includes a check to make sure your post title (H1 heading) isn’t empty.

What does the empty title check in Yoast SEO do?

The empty title check in Yoast SEO Premium is fairly self-explanatory: it checks whether you’ve filled in any text in the ‘Title’ section of your post. If you haven’t, you’ll see a red traffic light reminding you to add a title. Once this is filled in, the post title can be automatically added to the SEO title field using the ‘Title’ variable:

Note that your post title is output as an H1 heading. You should only use one H1 heading per page to avoid confusing search engines. Don’t worry, we’ve got a check for multiple H1 headings in Yoast SEO too!

What does the SEO title check in Yoast SEO do?

You find this assessment in the SEO tab of the Yoast SEO sidebar or meta box. If you haven’t written an SEO title yet, the assessment will remind you to do so. In addition, Yoast SEO checks the width of your SEO title. When it is too long, you will get a warning. We used to give you a warning if your SEO title was too short as well, but we’ve changed that since our Yoast 17.1 release. A title with an optimal width gets you a green traffic light in the analysis.

How to write an SEO title with an optimal width

If your SEO title doesn’t have the right width, parts of it may be cut off in Google’s search results. How the result looks may vary, depending on the device you’re using. That’s why you can also check how your SEO title will look in the mobile and desktop search results in the Google preview in Yoast SEO. The tool uses the mobile version as a default, but you can also switch to view it in the desktop version.

Width vs. length

Have you noticed that we talk about width rather than length? Why is that? Rather than using a character count, Google has a fixed width for the titles counted in pixels. While your title tags can be long and Google doesn’t have a set limit on the number of characters you can use, there is a limit on what’s visible in the search results. If your SEO title is too wide, Google will cut it off visually. That might not be what you want. Also, you should avoid wasting valuable space by making the title too short. Not only that, the SEO title often informs other title-like elements, such as the og:title , which also have display constraints.

Luckily our Google preview can help you out! You can fill in your SEO title and our plugin will give you feedback straight away. The green line underneath the SEO title turns red when your title is too long. So keep an eye on that, and use the feedback to create great headlines.

What does the keyphrase in SEO title assessment in Yoast SEO do?

This assessment appears in the SEO tab of the Yoast SEO sidebar in WordPress and Shopify, and also in the meta box in WordPress. It checks if you’re using your keyphrase in the SEO title of your post or page. The plugin check for this is quite strict. Since Google uses the title to figure out your page’s topic, not having the focus keyphrase in the SEO title may harm your rankings. In addition, potential visitors are much more likely to click on a search result that exactly matches what they were looking for. For the best results, you should try to add your keyphrase at the beginning of the SEO title.

How to use your keyphrase in the SEO title

Sometimes, when you’re optimizing for a high-competition keyword, everyone will have the keyword at the beginning of the SEO title. In that case, you can try making it stand out by putting one or two words in front of your focus keyword, thereby slightly “indenting” your result. In Yoast SEO, if you start your SEO title with “the”, “a”, “who” or another function word followed by your keyphrase, you’ll still get a green traffic light.

Other times, like when you have a very long keyphrase, adding the complete keyphrase at the beginning doesn’t make sense. If your SEO title looks weird with the keyphrase at the beginning, try to add as much of the keyphrase as you can, as early in the SEO title as possible. But always keep an eye on the natural flow and readability.

Want to learn all about how to write a text that’s pleasant to read and optimized for search engines? Our SEO copywriting course can help you with that. You can get access to this course, and all of our other SEO courses, with Yoast SEO Premium. This also gives you access to extra features in the Yoast SEO plugin.

Should you add your brand to the SEO title?

For quite some time it was a fashion among some SEOs to leave the site name out of the SEO title. The idea was that the “density” of the title mattered, and the site name wouldn’t help with that. Don’t do this. Your SEO title needs to have your brand in it, preferably in a recognizable way. If people search for a topic and see your brand several times, even if they don’t click on it the first time, they might click when they see you again on their next page of results.

If you don’t include your site name in your SEO title, you’ll also run the risk of Google automatically changing the snippet for you. As explained in our article on why isn’t Google showing my SEO title, Google thinks it needs to be there too. If you want to read more about branding, be sure to read this post by Marieke: 5 tips on branding.

Optimizing titles after publication

A while ago, while looking at our Google Search Analytics data for yoast.com, we noticed that, while we ranked well for [wordpress security], we weren’t getting a lot of traffic for it. We optimized the SEO title and meta description for our WordPress security article and this increased traffic by over 30%. These changes to the title were done around the same time as the update – indicated by the vertical line in the graph below:

The change was fairly simple. Instead of the SEO title being:

WordPress Security • Yoast

We changed it to:

WordPress Security in a few easy steps! • Yoast

As you can see, this doesn’t necessarily improve the rankings of this page at all. From a keyword perspective, the title isn’t much better, but it is more enticing, and it did lead to many more clicks, which, of course, was the desired result.

Note: Google won’t always use your SEO title

In August 2021, Google announced an update on how they generate titles in search result snippets. This means that sometimes they will show a different title in their search results than the one you set. Before we get into that, it’s good to note that in most cases (more than 80% of the time) the HTML title tag that your page outputs is still the most likely to be used.

Although we’re talking about an update here, Google deciding on how to display your SEO title in the search results is nothing new. They’ve been doing this for a while now. What is new is that they now want to use one title only, and won’t change it up anymore for different search queries. And that they will use different elements on your page to decide on what this title displayed in the search results will be. Elements such as your title tag, headings, prominent text on the page, and even how you link internally to this page.

So what does this mean for you? Right now these changes don’t require you to do anything different. The SEO title you set is still very likely to be used, and more importantly, your title helps you rank for a keyword. These changes don’t impact your page rankings. The title you give is what Google will look at when deciding how your page ranks. Just like before.

But, with all these changes, it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on how Google displays the titles of your most important pages! So we recommend you monitor the situation with your site for the time being. Keep an eye on Google Search Console, spot-check your search results, and look out for changes in the click-through and bounce rates for your key pages. If you find anything problematic (or just really, really wrong) you can let Google know in this feedback thread.

Titles for social media

What might be a good SEO title isn’t necessarily a good title for social media. In social media, keyword optimization is less important than creating a title that entices people to click. You often don’t need to include the brand name in the title. This is especially true for Facebook and Twitter if you include some form of branding in your post image. Our social previews in Yoast SEO Premium and Yoast SEO for Shopify can help you with that.

If you’re using Yoast SEO, you can have a separate title for Facebook, Twitter, and Google. Just enter the Google title in the Yoast SEO snippet editor. The Facebook and Twitter title can be entered on the social tab in their respective fields. If you don’t enter a specific Twitter title, Twitter will use the Facebook title instead.

Conclusion: Craft your (SEO) titles well!

In conclusion, the main point of this article is to encourage you to invest a little more time in writing good titles. It really is worth it. Going back and optimizing some of your SEO titles after publication might also be worthwhile. This is especially true if you’re already ranking well, but aren’t getting very many clicks.

SEO Basics: What Is Thin Content?

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At Yoast, we like to say ‘Content is king.’ By this, we mean that you cannot rank for any keyword if you don’t write meaningful and original content about it. In this SEO basics post, I’ll explain why you absolutely need content to make your site attractive for your visitors. Also, I’ll clarify why Google dislikes low quality or thin content and what you can do about it.

Thin content

So what is thin content? Thin content is content that has little or no value to the user. Google considers doorway pages, low-quality affiliate pages, or simply pages with very little or no content as thin content pages. But don’t fall into the trap of just producing loads of very similar content: non-original pages, pages with scraped and duplicate content, are considered thin content pages too. On top of that, Google doesn’t like pages that are stuffed with keywords either. Google has gotten smarter and has learned to distinguish between valuable and low-quality content, especially since Google Panda.

What does Google want?

Google tries to provide the best results that match the search intent of the user. If you want to rank high, you have to convince Google that you’re answering the question of the user. This isn’t possible if you’re not willing to write extensively on the topic you like to rank for. Thin content rarely qualifies for Google as the best result. As a minimum, Google has to know what your page is about to know if it should display your result to the user. So try to write enjoyable, informative copy, to make Google, but first an foremost, your users happy.

Be the best result

We recommend writing meaningful copy about the keywords you’d like to rank for. If you keep a blog about your favorite hobby, this shouldn’t be much of a problem, right? If you write about something you love and know everything about, then it’s easy to show Google that your pages contain the expert answer they are looking for!

We do understand that every situation is different and that it’s not always possible to write an elaborate text about everything. For instance, if you own an online shop that sells hundreds of different computer parts, it can be a challenge to write an extensive text about everything. But at least make sure that every page has some original introductory content, instead of just an image and a buy button next to the price. If you sell lots of products that are very alike, you could also choose to optimize the category page instead of the product page or to use canonicals to prevent duplicate content issues.

How do we help you?

The Yoast SEO plugin helps you write awesome copy. It does that by providing content analysis checks. One of these checks is to write at least 300 words per page or posts. We also check if you haven’t used the same keyword before, which helps prevent you from creating similar content over and over. Another check that’s useful for this is our keyword density check. If your score is too high, you’re probably stuffing your keyword into your copy, giving it an unnatural feel. So make sure at least these bullets are green.

On top of that, you can use our readability check to make sure the quality of your text is good, and readers can easily understand the text you’ve written.

Really want to learn how to create content that ranks? Then our SEO copywriting training probably is what you need. It guides you through the entire process of keyword research and content creation, helping you to develop the skills to write awesome content for your website!