Alongside this warning, you will be given a list of images that a browser would normally store. This list is meant to inform you which images do not have the necessary information, or more specifically, expiration dates.

The good news is that while the name isn’t very helpful, the solution is easy. Today, I will explain what leverage browser caching is and how you can fix it in WordPress.

What Is Leverage Browser Caching?

The Leverage Browser Caching warning alerts users that they have not set up expiration dates for static images. The expiration dates tell the web browser how long they should store a specific image.

In the latest versions of Google PageSpeed Insights, this warning message has been renamed. It is now known as the “Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy.”

Regardless of what it is called, the cause and solution are the same.

Now it may sound a bit strange to need an expiration date on a static image, but it makes a lot of sense. Let’s face it, nothing on a website is really static. Eventually, you will change an image, run a promotion, or just redesign your website.

Everything will change, and not telling the browser that a change has taken place can make pages load slower.

Even with the expiration date in place, you may still get the error if the dates are too short. Yes, the error is actually that finicky. The good news is that the error provides all of the instances in which images need to be fixed.

How to Fix Leverage Browser Caching Error In WordPress

There are a variety of solutions to fix this particular error, and I will cover the most common solutions to the problem. The good news is that none of these methods are particularly hard. In fact, most of them will only take a few minutes to complete.

And before you begin, just keep in mind that every website is unique. What works for one website, may not work for another, especially if you have a lot of third-party scripts running.

If one method does not work, simply try another.

Method 1: Cache Control

Cache-control is an HTTP header that specifies the browser caching policies for your website. Almost every website will either use this or an Expires header (see next method) to enable browser caching of assets.

If you are aware of what method you are currently using, focus on that one. This is important because you should not add both of these. While it won’t have a terrible impact, it is considered redundant.

The good news is that this is as easy as copying and pasting a line of code.

Now, if you check your Google PageSpeed Insights report and expand the error, you should see a list of images that do not contain the data, the size of those images, and the Cache TTL information.

If Cache TTL says “None,” then you know the expiration date is the problem.

The code you need is dependent on what type of servers you are using. For instance, if you are using an Apache server, you must add the following code to your website’s .htaccess file:

css|swf)$”>
Header set Cache-Control “max-age=84600, public”

The code sets an expiration code for 84,600 seconds, which equates to 1 day. You can change this number to whatever you like, but this is typically enough to solve the error message.

Note: If you cannot find your .htaccess file, you may not have one. Fear not, it is easy to generate the file.

Method 2: Expires Header

An Expires header is an HTTP header that tells the browser when the cached data expires. If the data is too old, it is considered stale and must connect with the website to obtain the information again.

This is the more classic method when compared to Cache-control but still works well to this day. Again, if you are not currently using an Expires header, this method isn’t for you. Instead, your website is using cache-control (see Method 1).

Once again, this solution just requires you to copy and paste some code. It is also dependent on the type of server you are running.

For an Apache server, the following code will set expiration dates for a variety of media types (jpg, jpeg, png, etc.) for up to one month Enter it into the .htaccess file:

## EXPIRES HEADER CACHING ##

ExpiresActive On
ExpiresByType image/jpg “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/jpeg “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/gif “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/png “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType image/svg “access 1 year”
ExpiresByType text/css “access 1 month”
ExpiresByType application/pdf “access 1 month”
ExpiresByType application/javascript “access 1 month”
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript “access 1 month”
ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash “access 1 month”
ExpiresByType image/x-icon “access 1 year” ExpiresDefault “access 2 days”

## EXPIRES HEADER CACHING ##

You can change the time to any value, but this is typically enough to resolve the error message in PageSpeed Insights.

Method 3: Third Party Scripts

The first two methods focus on what you can do to manage everything on your web server, but sometimes the problem can be from an external source. A third-party script is a resource loaded from outside of your webserver.

For instance, in an ironic turn of events, Google Analytics could be the cause of your error. Or, it could be something else like the Disqus comment system for WordPress.

Basically, anything that isn’t stored on your website directly could result in the Leverage Browser Caching error. I know, not very helpful in terms of troubleshooting.

So how can you resolve this issue if it is from a third-party source?

Well, to be completely honest, sometimes you can’t. Some of these third-party scripts do not have any way to host them locally, thus, there’s nothing you can do, but some have alternatives. The real problem is finding them.

The surefire way to find out which script is causing the error is to remove them one by one and perform a PageSpeed Insights test. If removing a certain script resolved the problem, then you can research a solution for it.

Method 4: Use A Caching Plugin

The best part of WordPress is the huge library of plugins at your disposal. And since caching is an essential part of running a website, there is a huge repertoire of plugins available that can solve this issue, but like most things, the results will vary.

Here are some of the best caching plugins available.

1. Litespeed Cache

Litespeed Cache is the most popular caching plugin for WordPress, and it can easily solve every browser caching warning that Google PageSpeed Insights will display. In fact, it has dedicated settings just for the leverage browser caching error.

Of course, this is just one part of what the plugin offers. It can dramatically speed up your website.

In terms of leverage browser caching, you simply just need to enable browser caching in the settings. It even has an area for you to manually enter expiration dates. Alternatively, these can be set up automatically.

Outside of this, it is compatible with most of the major WordPress plugins like WooCommerce and BBPress. Your website’s speed will increase significantly with just the basic installation and can be doubled or even tripled with a more fine-tuned approach.

2. WP Rocket

WP Rocket is an amazing premium plugin that can dramatically boost your website’s performance. And it also has a full section dedicated to browser caching, which will automatically set expiration dates.

Thus, you won’t ever see the leverage browser caching error from a source on your website, but it is still possible from third-party scripts.

That said, WP Rocket does help optimize some of those third-party issues, like Facebook Pixel. WP Rocket is a comprehensive solution for caching that includes image optimization, sitemap preloading, mobile detection, and much more.

One of the most important aspects is how easy it is to use, but the problem is that it doesn’t allow visitors to try for free. Thus, you will have to buy it to try it, but there is a 14-day money-back guarantee to take advantage of.

3. WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache is another excellent and free caching plugin for WordPress that can solve this issue. In fact, it does so automatically upon installation. That’s right, you literally don’t have to do anything but install it.

And as the name implies, it specializes in speeding up your WordPress website.

As you might have guessed, its greatest asset is that it does everything for you. That said, there are some settings that you can configure yourself, but most of them are locked behind the premium version of the plugin.

Some of the other features include multisite support, minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, enable lazy load for images, offer Cloudflare support, and so much more.

It has everything you need to speed up WordPress.

4. W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is another huge name in the caching plugin industry, and it gets incredible results. And just like the others I have mentioned, it has a dedicated section for browser caching that will resolve any errors on your server’s side.

It can also help with some third-party scripts.

Unlike the other plugins, W3 Total Cache does require more manual settings than other plugins. That said, this isn’t a bad thing. It helps give you more control over your website’s caching, which is why it is such a popular plugin.

One of the key differences between W3 Total Cache and other plugins is that this is a complete framework. Other plugins strive to improve or correct specific problems for the average website, and this plugin goes far beyond that.

Why Is Speed So Important?

Optimizing your website for speed is crucial for success for a variety of reasons.

First, let’s focus on the user experience. No one likes a slow website. Every second a visitor waits for a page to load is another second they may choose to leave your pages. For some websites, this will cost them sales.

Fast loading times make sure the visitor can get through all the content they want and not question if they really need to buy something.

From the SEO perspective, speed is one of the confirmed factors that Google, and other search engines, use to rank websites. The faster your website, the better it will rank. The better it ranks, the more traffic you will receive.

The more traffic you receive, the more money you can make.

Don’t Forget to Fix the Other Errors

The leverage browser caching error is only one of the hiccups a Google PageSpeed Insights test can reveal. And frankly, it’s far from the one you should be most concerned about. Instead, take some time to look at the other errors you are seeing.

That said, it is important to realize that you can still have a fast website and receive a bad page score.

This test analyzes many components of your website. One of the main factors that can really drive down your page score is the number of third-party scripts you’re using. It affects a lot more than just the browser caching, so use them sparingly.

Which caching plugin do you use in WordPress? Did you notice a performance boost after resolving the error message?

The post What is Leverage Browser Caching and How to Fix it in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

There are actually quite a few really good image compression and optimization tools out there today. Picking the right one is always key. A lot of this will have to do with what exactly you are looking for, as well as personal preference. The image optimizer for WordPress that we are going to use today will give you access to some really great features.

What is Image WordPress Image Optimization?

Image optimization in WordPress means that you are taking images that are being uploaded into your WordPress media library and optimizing them in several different ways. When you perform image optimization, your WordPress website will load faster and images will be SEO-ready so that Google and other search engines can properly read them.

Two of the main ways you can optimize images properly for WordPress are by compressing images and adding alt tags. You can also mess with titles and captions, but compression for proper loading speeds and alt tags that allow Google to understand the image are two of the most important.

In this article, I am going to show you how to use a free image optimization tool for WordPress that will help you get all your images where they need to be. Let’s take a look at the plugin we are going to use today and see what all it has to offer.

Robin Image Optimizer

Robin Image Optimizer is a free image optimizer that can compress your images and help speed your site by up to 80%. It compresses images and makes them more website-friendly without any loss of quality.

The plugin is totally free to use and does not put a limit on how many images you are allowed to compress and optimize. The only stipulation the free version of the plugin has is that an image weight should not exceed 5MB.

The Robin Image Optimizer plugins works with the thought that the lighter an image is, the faster a page will load. This is the case whether there is one image or multiple images on a page. With the increased use of mobile devices to access websites and content, it is extremely important that your site renders images properly.

The plugin is easy to set up and easy to use. You can be up and running in just a few minutes. That being said, it still comes packed full of a lot of great features. Some of the main reason you may want to use this free image optimizer for WordPress include:

• The plugin is totally free to use
• No restrictions or limits on image optimization
• Automatic optimization using Cron, no need to wait
• Optimize images in mass with the click of a button
• All images are backed up before optimization starts
• Choose normal, regular, or high compression mode
• Image optimization on boot
• Reduce pre-optimization weight by reducing image size
• Detailed reports and statistics on image optimization

The plugin is very user-friendly and has an intuitive interface. Let’s get it all set up and running so that you can start optimizing your images in WordPress.

Optimize Images Using Robin Image Optimizer

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

Before you can start manually or automatically optimizing images, you first need to install and activate the Robin Image Optimizer plugin. You can do this by jumping over to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Once you are on the page, you will notice that there is a search field available. Simply use that search field to search the plugin by name. When you see the correct one pop up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Go to the Settings Page

Now that you have installed and activated the plugin, you want to head directly over to the main settings page. Here, you will be able to start optimizing images and configure the plugin exactly how you want.

To get there, click on Settings > Robin Image Optimizer, located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

You can see that this option has appeared in your WordPress menu because you successfully installed and activated the plugin.

Step 3: Configure the Plugin Settings

At this point, you are on the main settings and configuration page for the Robin Image Optimizer plugin. You will see it is laid out neatly and it looks easy to navigate.

Before you compress and optimize images, go ahead and configure the plugin settings to your liking. You will see three main tabs that you can use to navigate around. These include:

• Bulk Optimization
• Settings
• License

Go ahead and click on the “Settings” tab located on the left and open those configuration options up.

Now, start going through the main settings and get everything set properly (according to what you want). This has options for compression mode, servers, errors, and more.

The top portion of the page contains is main settings for the plugin.

Now, scroll down a little and you will see optimization settings. This includes thumbnails, formats, and larger image formatting options.

Lastly, the bottom of the page contains the scheduled and background optimization settings. This includes images per iteration and how often background optimization should run on your site.

When you are finished, click on the green ‘Save” button at the top of the page and all your configurations will automatically be applied.

Step 4: Start Optimizing Images

Click on the bulk optimization tab. This is going to take you to where you need to go in order to start optimizing the images that are already on your website.

Select the server setting you want from the dropdown. You can leave it on the default.

Now, scroll down a little and click on the green “Optimize” button.

This brings up a popup box. You will be presented with some information and then you can decide whether you want to optimize now or schedule optimization for later.

For this tutorial, I am selecting to optimize now.

The optimization process will start and you should stay on the page and track it. The amount of time it will take will depend on how many images need to be optimized. You can track it live.

Step 5: View the Optimization Log

The Robin Image Optimizer plugin provides users with a complete optimization log. You can view the log at any time. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the “Bulk Optimization” page and all the relevant stats and statistics will be there.

You can use this to see what exactly the plugin is doing for you.

That’s it! You can optimize more images whenever you want. The plugin will also automatically optimize images when they are uploaded to your media library if you selected that option.

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions that you might be interested in.

What Image Types Are Supported?

The Robin Image Optimizer plugin supports .jpg, .png, and .gif. Images can be animated or not, both work.

Are There Image Optimization Limits?

No, Robin Image Optimizer is completely free to use. While they do have a pro version of the plugin that gives you access to some other features, the pro version does not extend image optimization limits.

Is EXIF Data Removed From Images?

By default, EXIF data is removed. That being said, you can easily stop this from happening by disabling the feature within the plugin settings.

Final Thoughts

Image optimization is very important when it comes to website speed and overall SEO. The process of properly optimizing images in WordPress does not have to be difficult, you simply need the right tool.

Robin Image Optimizer is easy to use and gives you all the features you need.

Have you been optimizing images manually? Do you prefer using a different compression plugin?

The post How to Boost Performance of WordPress with Robin Image Optimizer appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Anyone that owns a website should want their users to have a great experience. When you enable GZIP compression in WordPress, you immediately improve overall site speed and performance.

Many web host providers automatically enable this for you, so you don’t have to worry about it. However, if you are on a host that doesn’t, then there is a great plugin to use that will accomplish this for you.

What is GZIP Compression?

GZIP is actually a file format and software application that is used for file compression and decompression. Originally created by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler, it was released as a free software replacement for the compression program that was used in early Unix systems.

The one main downfall of GZIP is that it does not work on images and can be give-and-take with other media files. That being said, there are excellent image compression tools that you can use to take care of the images on your WordPress website.

When I say that GZIP is a little give and a little take with other media files, I mean it depends on the file type. For example, MPEGs and WAVs compress really well with GZIP. On the other hand, an MP3 file may actually increase in size if you try to compress it.

In this article, I am going to show you how to enable GZIP compression in WordPress. Let’s take a look at the plugin we are going to use and see what it has to offer.

WP Super Cache

You might already have WP Super Cache installed to solve your website’s caching needs, but today we are just focusing on its compression tools. By just checking a single box, you can enable compression.

While the plugin does not actually call it Gzip compression, it is one and the same. This tutorial will only enable compression and not cover its caching tools.

Enable GZIP Compression in WordPress

Step 1: Install WP Super Cache

As with all plugins in WordPress, the first step is to actually install and activate it for use. If you’ve installed a plugin before, you already know how to do this step, so feel free to skip ahead.

Click on Plugins and select the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for WP Super Cache in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the WP Super Cache plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Go to WP Super Cache Settings

Unlike most plugins, WP Super Cache does not add a new item to the admin panel. Instead, you can find all of its settings in the settings section.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings and select the WP Super Cache option.

This is where you can find all of the settings related to this plugin, however, we only need to check one box to enable compressions.

Step 3: Enable WordPress GZIP Compression

At this point, you are on the main page for the plugin. Click on the Advanced Tab.

Locate the “Compress pages so they’re served more quickly to visitors. (Recommended)” line and check the box to enable compression.

Click on the “Update Status” button to save the changes.

Congratulations, compression is now enabled on your website. At this point, you should run a test to ensure it is working properly.

Test Your Site With GTmetrix

If you aren’t sure whether your WordPress website files are being compressed with GZIP, there is a simple and fast way to conduct a test. GTmetrix has a great site testing tool that can provide you with all the information you need if you run a test.

All you have to do is go to the GTmetrix website and add the relevant URL you want to test into the URL field that is available.

Click on the blue “Test Your Site” button and the website will run a full test. You will get all the results from that test displayed on the next page and you can go over them and see if everything is working correctly.

Why GZIP Compression Matters

If you are familiar at all with the computer world (chances are you are since you are reading this) you know that compression is something that is encountered very often. It is an excellent way to group a lot of files together and make one smaller file instead.

This basically speeds up your site and load times because it takes away all the massive files that may lead you to problematic and slow page load speeds. A slow website negatively impacts overall site stats, user experience, and ranking in search engines.

According to Neil Patel, 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in two seconds or less. Yes, this may seem like a very fast load time. But be honest with yourself; if a page is taking too long to load, you are not staying on that site.

When someone has a slow eCommerce site, they lose ranking, and more importantly, they lose sales.

So, you can see that optimizing a WordPress website and getting it in the right place is of utmost importance. That is why WordPress GZIP compression should be at the top of your list.

WordPress GZIP Compression Plugin Alternatives

If you want to explore other GZIP compression plugins for WordPress, there are actually some others to look at. Enable GZIP Compression was our choice here because it is so easy to use. However, take a look at these other plugins as an alternative.

Page Speed Ninja

PageSpeed Ninja is described as the ultimate WordPress performance plugin. It gives you access to all the tools you need to make your website load faster on desktop and mobile by fixing all Google Page Speed issues with one click. Among all the tools it has, you can quickly and easily enable GZIP file compression.

Splendid Speed

Splendid Speed is an all-in-one WordPress website performance plugin. It helps you improve overall website performance and Google Page Speed by converting images to WebP, preloading pages while using GZIP compression. It has quite a few options and provides a lot of great tools, so give it a look.

Cache Enabler

Another alternative to the Enable GZIP Compression plugin is Cache Enabler. This is a simple but powerful WordPress caching plugin that is very easy to use and has an intuitive interface. It creates static HTML files and stores them on the server’s disk. It also comes with GZIP pre-compression support.

Final Thoughts

Though there are several things you should do to your WordPress website to optimize it and help with page load times, WordPress GZIP compression is one of the best things to do and is also not difficult to put into place.

As long as you have the right tools and directions, then you are well on your way to a faster-performing website. The GZIP compression plugin above gives you a one-click tool that will enable this on your WordPress site quickly and easily.

Have you ever knowingly enabled GZIP compression in WordPress? Is there another plugin you like better than the ones listed above?

The post How to Enable GZIP on your WordPress Website appeared first on GreenGeeks.

This tool helps automatically fills in your website’s metadata along with other helpful information. It was made with the latest Google webmaster trends and information in mind and is updated regularly when changes are made.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use The SEO Framework plugin to boost your site’s rankings.

The Importance of WordPress SEO

There is one thing that every successful website has in common, they get visitors.

Anyone who starts a website from scratch understands that getting traffic is the hardest part of starting out. It isn’t building the website or creating content. it’s getting search engines, mostly Google, to acknowledge your site even exists.

The algorithms search engines use is extremely complicated, and no one fully understands them. Not even Google themselves. Instead, the only way to do well is to take advantage of SEO findings from the community. And there is a large community trying to crack the code.

I know what your thinking, there are a ton of other ways to get traffic instead of SEO, such as social media, advertising, backlinks, and more. However, none of these comes even remotely close to search engine traffic.

On average 51% of your website’s traffic will come from organic searches through search engines. For reference, social media only accounts for about 5%.

As you can see from the numbers, there is no comparison or way to avoid SEO.

How to Boost Rankings With SEO Framework

Step 1: Install SEO Framework

SEO Framework is an SEO extension plugin that highlights what your content is lacking in specific areas. It is one of many free SEO tools for WordPress and works great. With it, you can see this information for every post and page and the plugin does a lot of it automatically.

Think of the plugin as a built-in guide for your website. It will tell you what and where it has to be done. For established websites with possibly hundreds of posts, it can automatically fill in metadata, which is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

To begin, click on Plugins and select the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for The SEO Framework in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find The SEO Framework plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Settings

This plugin has a very comprehensive settings section that will take quite some time to go through. That said, many of the settings can and should be left in their default values. However, there are many others that can be customized to help the plugin work for your specific website.

On the left-hand admin panel click on the SEO option.

I will now try to cover the settings in their entirety. Though, since every website is unique, what is best for your website can be very different.

General Settings

The General Settings section consists of five tabs. They influence site layout, performance, canonical URLs, timestamps, and exclusions. All of the settings here consist of checkboxes, and you simply need to pick the best options for your website.

In reality, most websites will not need to make any changes in this section.

Title Settings

The Title Settings section is all about your website’s titles. Shocking, I know. In the General tab, you can select the title separator and strip HTML from the generated titles. In the Additions tab, you can select the title location. Or, you can remove the title completely (not recommended).

Finally, the Prefixes tab allows you to remove prefixes. Again, there is really no need to change any of these settings from the defaults for most websites.

Description Meta Settings

The Description Meta Settings have just one option, to enable or disable automatically filling meta descriptions on your website. By default, it is on and highly recommended to leave it that way. Not only do search engines prefer this, but Open Graph and Twitter Cards also require it.

Thus, once again, there’s no need to make any changes.

Homepage Settings

The Homepage Settings actually should be changed. These contain a variety of information including the meta title and meta description of your entire site. You can choose to add additions to the title or disable the feature entirely.

This is also where you will fill out information for Open Graph and Twitter Cards. And finally, you can add noindex, nofollow, and noarchive settings to the home page, but you shouldn’t.

No home page should ever do this if search engine traffic is your goal.

Social Meta Settings

The Social Meta Settings is the longest section of settings this plugin contains and features 5 tabs. This is also a section that you should consider making some alterations to. The General section lets you configure how social tags, titles, images,  and colors should operate.

The Facebook and Twitter tabs contain site-specific information for those platforms and connect your website to an account. These absolutely need to be customized if you plan to use those platforms at all.

The oEmbed and Post dates tab has a few settings, but the default options will serve most websites.

Schema.org Settings

The Schema.org Settings section allows you to select the site structure. That said, it only gives you the choice of breadcrumbs, which are enabled by default. You can also enable that users can utilize sitelinks search.

The presence tab allows you to enter personal information like organization name and add a logo URL. It lets search engines know more about your website, which is a good thing.

Robots Meta Settings

The Robots Meta Settings is where all the magic happens. This is where you will find things like no follow settings, archiving, and most importantly, indexing. Frankly, unless you have a deep understanding of SEO practices, I would not suggest making any changes to this section.

The plugin knows what it is doing, and you should let it do its job.

Webmaster Meta Settings

A big part of any website is connecting with webmaster tools to correct problems that search engines find. Making sure your website complies with search engines is one of the most important aspects of SEO. This section allows you to enter your verification and platform codes.

It supports major search engines like Google and Bing.

If you are unsure of where to find these codes, just click on the blue question mark next to the field. It will bring to the exact page with the information after logging into the respective platform.

Sitemap Settings

Every website should have a sitemap to help search engines crawl and find the content. Luckily, this is another section that doesn’t need to be changed. The plugin creates sitemaps automatically, and the rest of the settings are fine as is.

If you are using another plugin to create a sitemap, you won’t need it anymore.

Feed Settings

Feed Settings are the final setting on this list so take a deep breath, it’s finally over. And the default settings are ideal for most websites.

Underneath this is the “Save Settings” button, click it to complete the plugin setup.

Step 3: Identifying Problems with Posts & Pages

Every post and page on your website will now have an “at a glance” SEO status bar that helps you discover potential problems.

Go to either the post or page section of WordPress and you should notice an SEO column.

It’s very simple to understand; green is good and red is bad. You can hover your mouse over the red to see what is wrong.

There is also a gray option that could happen, but it is very rare. This just means that the data is completely blank and can only happen on blank posts or pages if you have the default settings in place.

By configuring the settings and keeping an eye on the SEO status, you on your way to boosting your ranking.

Congratulations on setting up the SEO Framework plugin.

Always Keep SEO In Mind

Content creation should go hand-in-hand with following the best SEO practices. This plugin excels at automatically improving certain SEO elements and helps you identify problems within posts and pages. And the best part is that it’s free.

Never create content without considering the SEO side of things.

How easy did you find this SEO plugin to set up? Have you noticed a traffic increase in the following months after installation?

The post How to Use The SEO Framework to Improve WordPress Sites appeared first on GreenGeeks.

It never hurts to have a good writing assistant when you are trying to put together content that pops and will attract an audience. Whether you are doing it yourself or having a content writing team do it, having a way to score your content can be key.

When you have visual tools available for you to see what needs to improve, then you have somewhat of a road map to help you along in the process.

How Important is Great Content?

When it comes to writing and marketing for a website, great content is vital. It provides your website with a number of different advantages if it is handled correctly. 

Not only does creating great content help you generate backlinks, but it also helps your site rank high in Google. Furthermore, it provides a much better user experience for those people on your site.

Today, I want to introduce you to a free writing assistant that provides a lot of different tools to help you generate great content for your website.

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is a smooth plugin that can immediately provide you with excellent recommendations for content optimization. It provides these recommendations based on the overall current content quality of Google’s top 10 ranking pages for the relevant keyword you are trying to rank for.

There aren’t a lot of plugins that provide a free SEO writing tool for WordPress. However, with Semrush, professionals, bloggers, and marketing teams can all gain access to a free tool that helps them visually meet content writing requirements.

Yes, Semrush is free, you just have to open a free account with them and attach it to the plugin once it is installed. When you do, you gain access to features like:

• Overall Article Score
• Readability Score
• Target Keywords
• Recommended Keywords
• Tone of Voice
• Plagiarism
• Linking

While there are some other paid tools out there to help with content writing and SEO, you won’t find a better free tool. Let’s get the plugin running together and get you set up.

Note: Even though this plugin does provide some great free SEO and content writing tools, there is also a pro version. This version will give you access to even more tools that you can utilize. If you get to the point where you feel you need the pro version, then feel free to pay the fee and install it on your site. The tutorial below is based on the free version.

Connect and Activate the Free Semrush Writing Assistant

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

The first thing you need to do before you can start creating quality, SEO-friendly content, is install and activate the plugin. You can do this by jumping over to the Plugins page of the WordPress admin dashboard.

There, you will find a search field. Use that field to search for the plugin by name. When you see it pop up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Open a New Post

Once you have installed and activated the plugin, go to your posts and open a new one. To do this, click on Posts > Add New, located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

Step 3: Create a Free Semrush Account

Scroll down a little on the editing page. You will see that there are the Semrush options displaying. However, before you can access any of them, you need to open a free account.

Click on the “Log in” link that you see displayed.

This opens a popup box. Click on the “Register” tab and go ahead and register a free account with them.

Once you do, an email will be sent with a confirmation code in it. Copy and paste that code into the relevant field.

Lastly, go ahead and “Approve” access when the plugin tool asks for it. This gets the final step completed and opens up all the functionality that Semrush offers.

Step 4: Start Writing Your Text

In order to take advantage of all the tools you have just opened up, you need to go ahead and start writing the article you want to write.

After that, you can enter all the details needed and see how it ranks.

Step 5: Enter a Target Keyword and Audience

Once the article you want to write is finished, enter a target keyword that you want this particular article to rank for. Below that, enter that target audience as well.

Click on the “Get Recommendations” button to move on from there.

Step 6: Adjust Content as Needed 

Clicking on the “Get Recommendations” button brings up the four main tools that Semrush provides. These include:

• Readability
• SEO
• Tone of Voice
• Originality

There is also a main scoring chart that you can view at the top of the recommended content changes. The screenshots below show you the tools available. Remember, yours will look much different based on the content you write. This is just a demo.

Readability and SEO

The Readability and SEO boxes provide needed change recommendations to get your content where it needs to be.

Note: If you click on the “Edit” button on the top right of either of these boxes, then you can make your own content adjustments and see if that helps as well.

Tone of Voice and Originality

In order to make use of the Tone of Voice and Originality tools, you will need to upgrade to a pro subscription version or the “Guru” version, as Semrush calls it. 

This is pretty pricey, but it is a one-off fee and good for a lifetime subscription to the product.

That’s it! Once you get the content where you like it, simply publish it and go from there. You can always come back to it and make adjustments later if needed.

What Other SEO Optimizations Should You Make?

Getting a WordPress site fully optimized and SEO-friendly takes work on several levels. You want to make sure that the overall site SEO is working properly, and there are several things you can do to ensure this.

A great method to give your site a boost in search is by using optimizing and caching plugins, such as Autoptomize.

There is also the issue of the website images. In order for them to be optimized properly, you need to compress them. Adding alt tags to make sure they are readable for Google crawlers is also ideal.

Final Thoughts

Writing quality content that is SEO-friendly and Google-ready does not have to be an overall difficult process. As a matter of fact, if you imply the right tools, then you have something to help you along the way. The process can actually be a lot of fun and very educational.

Semrush provides some great SEO tools for free. While they do have a pro version that you can buy to access even more, the free tools provided will give you a solid path to helping you write great content.

What other SEO tools have you used to improve your website content? Do you find that they help or no?

The post How to Boost WordPress Content with Semrush SEO Writing Assistant appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Perhaps the most important aspect of a website is its performance. Optimization affects so many parts of the site, including overall SEO. For this reason, it is a good idea to have a tool in place that can help boost your site performance and optimize it properly.

What Should You Do to Optimize Your Website?

There are several things that need to be done in order to ensure that your website is running at its highest level. There are different aspect points to optimization. Yes, you want a solid SEO structure, but you also need to optimize images, have a good host, and make sure you are doing everything you can to create a fast website page speed.

Now, there are a lot of different WordPress optimization tools out there today. A lot of them are really good, but some of them really don’t accomplish anything. You need to find one that will actually work correctly with your site setup and boost your overall Google page speeds.

Luckily, I have found an easy-to-use plugin that will help the overall performance of your website on several levels.

Let’s take a look at the plugin in question and see what all it has to offer. After that, we will set it up together so you have it up and running on your site.

Speed Booster Pack – PageSpeed Optimization Suite

Speed Booster Pack – PageSpeed Optimization Suite is a popular optimization suite that will help you improve your site speed and get your site better scores across all the major speed testing services.

Do you want your page load speed and site speed to get faster? Well, this is definitely a plugin that you want to check out. WordPress speed optimization is so important, and Page Speed Booster can help get you better scores with testing services like Google PageSpeed, GTmetrix, Pingdom, and Web-PageTest.

Not only does it help with site speed, but the plugin will also improve the overall site usability. When this aspect is upgraded, Google and other popular search engines can rank your site higher and send more traffic to it.

While there are a lot of great features added to the plugin, there is no need to be overwhelmed. You simply go through the settings and set it up how you want it to act on your website.

We will go over that a little more below. Some of the main features and controls you get access to when the plugin is installed include:

• Core Web Vitals
• Caching
• Optimize Google Fonts
• Lazy Load
• Custom Code Manager
• Optimize JavaScript
• Optimize CSS
• Preload Assets
• Localize Google Analytics and Tag Manager
• Enable CDN
• Cloudflare Integration
• Plugin-Specific Optimizations
• Dequeue Core Scripts and Styles
• Declutter HEAD

As you can see, the Speed Booster Pack plugin is pretty comprehensive and provides a ton of options to help with page speed.

Let’s get the plugin installed and set up together.

Boost Your Page Speed Performance

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin 

The first thing you need to do before anything else is install and activate the Speed Booster Pack plugin. You can do this from the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Once you have landed on the page, you will see a search field that is available. Go ahead and type in the plugin name. When you see it come up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Go to the Speed Booster Pack Dashboard

Now that you have successfully installed and activated the plugin, you want to head over to the main dashboard so that you can go through all the settings and configure them accordingly.

To get there, click on Speed Booster > Dashboard, located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

You can see that these options are now available because the plugin was successfully installed and activated on your website.

Step 3: Configure the Plugin Settings

The main plugins settings page has the entire dashboard and all the tab settings on it. You will see option tabs for:

• Dashboard
• Caching
• CDN and Proxy
• Optimize CSS
• Assets
• Special
• Tweaks
• Tools
• About

Let’s pop through these together so you can see the setup.

Dashboard

The dashboard tab will give you some info on the plugin and explain some things. Feel free to read through it.

Caching

Set up all the caching options and configurations you want for your site under this tab.

CDN and Proxy

If you are running a CDN, then you can enter that information here. The plugin also allows you to connect to Cloudflare, so you can do that here as well.

Optimize CSS

Under this tab, you will be able to enable or disable the built-in optimize CSS functions that Speed Booster Pack provides.

Assets

This is a great section, as you can optimize some really cool functions here. Some of the things included are Minify HTML, Optimize Google Fonts, Lazy Load Media, and more. Set these up in the way you want them to run on your site.

Special

The special tab gives you configuration options for things like Google Tag Manager and Analytics, WooCommerce, and other page speed options.

Tweaks

The tweaks tab is just that, a bunch of enable or disable buttons that you can tweak to your desired functionality.

Tools

The tools tab provides two main options. You can import Speed Booster Pack settings, or you can download and export settings to another site.

About

Last but not least is the about tab. Here you will be able to learn about the plugin developer, contact them, and a few other things.

That’s it! Make sure you save all your configurations and you are good to go. The plugin is now running on your site based on the way you set it up. If you ever want to make changes, come back to the dashboard and adjust whatever you need.

Lazy Loading Issues

Lazy loading is a fantastic function to utilize and will help with a lot of page speed issues. That being said, while you can experiment and play around with different optimization tools and plugins, it is never a good idea to run more than one lazy loading option at a time.

Doing this runs a high risk of breaking all the images on your website. So keep this in mind if you are still figuring these options out.

For example, using Speed Booster Pack and Lazy Load by WP Rocket may cause all of your images on the website to break. This means you will need to choose one or the other to manage the image load.

Final Thoughts 

Optimizing a WordPress website is time-consuming, but it does not need to be difficult. Since there are so many items you need to explore and take care of when performing website optimization, having the right plugins, tools, and instructions is key.

The Speed Booster Pack plugin offers a ton of functionality, is easy to install and set up, and will definitely make a huge difference once you get the correct settings plugged in.

What other optimization tools and techniques have you tried? Do you have a favorite or are you still looking?

The post How to Improve WordPress Performance with Speed Booster Pack appeared first on GreenGeeks.

This technique will only load an image on a page when a visitor will see it. As a result, the overall load speed of the page is much faster. This is especially important for websites that have photo galleries in place.

Today, I will demonstrate how to do this with the Lazy Load plugin.

What Can Lazy Load Do For Your Website?

Lazy load is a powerful technique for developers to use that can impact more than you think.

First, let’s start with the obvious, images. In reality, the technique was developed specifically for them, and it works wonders. Not only does improving your website’s load time improve the user experience, but it also improves your website’s SEO.

After all, speed is a confirmed factor that Google and other search engines use for rankings.

While images are still extremely popular, video content has become the most desirable content on the internet. And you can now even lazy load videos. In fact, this plugin will specifically replace YouTube iframes with the preview thumbnail.

Not every visitor is going to click on a video, so there’s no reason to have it slow down your page.

Note: This should not impact videos that are set up to automatically play when a page is loaded.

How to Add Lazy Load to WordPress

Step 1: Install Lazy Load

The Lazy Load plugin by WP Rocket is quite simple to set up and it has over 100,000 active installs. This plugin allows you to use lazy load on both images and video. You can also choose to disable lazy loading on specific content. This is great for stuff you want visitors to see.

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Lazy Load in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Lazy Load plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use. It’s the one created by WP Rocket.

Note: It’s worth mentioning that if you currently use Jetpack, you will see an option to enable the lazy load module within it. It’s another great option to consider, especially if you already have Jetpack installed.

Step 2: Enable Lazy Load

Now I said, this plugin was simple to use and I wasn’t lying. In reality, it consists of three checkboxes that you can use to turn the feature on and off on different kinds of content.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings and select the LazyLoad option.

There are three checkboxes to interact with that enable lazy load on images, iframes & videos, and the ability to replace YouTube video with a thumbnail image.

If you check the box for images or iframes, this will reduce the number of HTTP requests a page will make when it is loaded. As a result, it loads much faster.

The lazy load thumbnail replacement option does exactly what it sounds like. This can have a tremendous impact on pages with video content. This is especially important for mobile users. Smartphones have come a long way but still pale in comparison to a desktop.

Thus, loading multiple videos on a page can add seconds for mobile users, especially on older hardware. Just keep in mind this option is not great if the video is the main feature of the page.

Check the boxes as you see fit.

You will also see an ad for the premium version of this plugin, WP Rocket. This premium plugin focuses on maximizing your website’s speed and goes far beyond just adding lazy load to images and videos. It is a great choice for any developer looking to speed up their website.

Click on the “Save Changes” button.

You can then start seeing how much faster your pages are loading. Make sure to test it on both image and video content to see the results.

Step 3: Disable Lazy Load

The options available in the previous step were global options, meaning that they affected all of the content on your website. In actuality, you might only want to exclude a few pages from implementing this feature.

And in some cases, you may just want to exclude individual images. However, the plugin doesn’t have this as a feature, at least natively. Instead, the plugin page does provide the code necessary to achieve these results.

Note: Since you will have to edit the code of your website, I highly recommend making a backup of your website. This will ensure that if something goes wrong, you can restore your website and avoid any downtime. That said, nothing is very hard.

To turn off lazy load on specific pages, add the following code to your functions file:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]

add_action( ‘wp’, ‘deactivate_rocket_lazyload_on_single’ );

function deactivate_rocket_lazyload_on_single() {

if ( is_single() ) {

add_filter( ‘do_rocket_lazyload’, ‘__return_false’ );

}

}

[/ht_message]

If you are interested in disabling the plugin on certain images, you can add the following property to you img or iframe tag:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]data-no-lazy=”1″[/ht_message]

The only other way to disable this feature is to uncheck the box. Hopefully, in the future, more options for disabling are added to help beginners.

Congratulations on setting up the Lazy Load plugin in WordPress.

Optimize Your Images and Videos

Utilizing lazy load is a great way to improve your website performance, but it is not a replacement for optimizing your images. In fact, even if you do use it, optimizing your images will still improve the page performance and user experience.

After all, those images need to load in at some point.

Not only will this affect your website performance, but it can also save server space. The typical image should only be a few kb in total. Only very large images should ever exceed this amount. For websites with thousands of images, this is essential.

In some cases, website owners may be paying hundreds of dollars for extra server space because they’re not optimizing images.

These tips also apply to videos, and potentially even more so. Videos are huge files, especially if you choose to actually host the video on your own website. This is never recommended, instead, always upload it to YouTube and embed it on your website for the best load times.

Remember, private videos do exist on YouTube and are great options for membership websites.

Make Your Website Fast

There’s no doubt about it, fast websites benefit both the user experience and your rankings. There’s no reason to ever settle for anything less than a fast and streamlined website. However, images and video content can slow down posts and pages considerably, but this can be mitigated.

That said, they are far from the only things that can impact website speed. For instance, did you know that plugins slow down your website? This is why many developers try to avoid adding new plugins whenever possible.

Thus, this tutorial may only be the first step in achieving the fastest results.

Did you choose to disable the Lazy Load plugin on any pages? How much faster are your pages loading?

The post How to Get the Most Out of Lazy Load by WP Rocket in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

There are a few different ways you can perform keyword research. A lot of the tools you will see are paid plugins and websites that can help provide you the information you need for both short and long-tail keyphrases.

However, what if you wanted something that is both high-powered and free to use? Today, I am going to show you how to perform keyword research in WordPress using a solid plugin I found. 

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is a process that SEO specialists use to find relevant search terms when building and writing content. The idea is to find the best keyword for the product, topic, or article at hand. 

They then take the best keywords they find and apply them to the content that is being produced. The idea is to use them in a way that makes the content most relevant for search engines.

There are two main types of keywords, Short-Tail Keywords, and Long-Tail Keywords.

Short-Tail Keywords: These types of keywords are the most commonly searched words and have a lower conversion rate because they are too generalized. A good example of a short-tail keyword is “movie theaters.”

Long-Tail Keywords: These types of keywords have a much higher conversion rate because they are more specific to a user’s search. They have less web traffic associated with them, but the conversion rate is what website owners really want. These are more detailed and are usually longer in word-count. A good example of a long-tail keyword is “movie theaters Los Angeles.”

There are a lot of different keyword research tools available out there today. Let’s take a look at the plugin we are going to use for keyword suggestions in WordPress and see what it has to offer.

Keyword Research Tool

Keyword Research Tool is a plugin that gives you the ability to search for long-tail keyword suggestions right from the dashboard of your WordPress website. The tool gives writers and content creators the chance to improve the overall visibility and search results of their content simply by using the suggestions given by the plugin.

You simply enter the focus keyword you are trying to rank for in something like Google. Keyword research tool takes the focus keyword that you put in and generates a list of related keyword opportunities for you to select and implement.

The plugin is very straightforward and easy to use. All you do is enter your focus word and the tool generates a list of suggested keywords. You simply select from the list of keywords generated and use them to create amazing content.

The best thing about the tool is that it is free to use and it is supported in a number of countries including:

• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Germany
• France
• Denmark
• Ireland
• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Australia
• New Zealand

All-in-all, the plugin makes it easy to search for long-tail keywords right from the comfort of the WordPress admin dashboard.

Let’s get Keyword Research Tool installed and set up so that you can start creating great content.

How to Set Up Keyword Research Tool

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin 

In order to start using the Keyword Research Tool, you first have to install and activate the plugin. You can do this by clicking over to the Plugins page of the WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply use the available search field to search the plugin by name. Once you see it pop up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Go to the KY Research Tool Page

Now that the plugin is installed and activated, you want to head over to the main Keyword Research Tool page. To do this, click on “KY Research Tool,” located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

You can see this option has now appeared because you activated the plugin for use.

Step 3: Enter a Keyword and Country

At this point, you are on the main page for the plugin. Here is where you will use the tool to generate the long-tail keyword suggestions that display from your searches.

Go ahead and enter a keyword in the search field provided and then pick the relevant country you want. In this case, I am using the term “web hosting” and simply picking the United States.

Once you are ready, click on the green “Search” button next to the country field. This will start the search function that is provided in Keyword Research Tool.

Step 4: Select the Long-Tail Keywords You Want

The plugin searches for the most relevant long-tail keywords based on the term you input into the field. When the search is finished, you will see a long list of available results.

The size of the list will vary. There could be 20 results, or there could be 50 or more available. It all depends on the popularity of the keyword and what the tool is able to identify and generate for you.

Go ahead a click the checkmark boxes next to the terms you want to use in your content. This automatically puts them into the selected keyword content box on the right side of your screen.

Step 5: Copy the Selected Keywords Text

When you have selected all the relevant long-tail keywords you want to use in your next piece of content, go ahead and click on the “Copy Text” button located underneath the keyword content box.

Step 6: Paste Keywords in Editor or Document and Start Writing 

When the keywords have been copied, go ahead and paste them wherever you want. For example, maybe you write all your content in a document first before plugging it into your WordPress editor.

Or, you can simply write directly in the block editor and just paste the long-tail keywords there to reference and use them.

That’s it! Your setup and configuration are all complete. You can use Keyword Research Tool over again and repeat the process above. This will help you write better content and can be used as one part of the SEO process.

FAQs

There really isn’t too much to explain about the plugin. That being said, there are two main questions that get asked quite a bit. Here are those answers for you.

Is Keyword Research Tool Free?

Yes, the plugin is totally free to use. And as far as I can tell, there is no paid version of it either.

Are There Daily Keyword Research Limits?

No, there aren’t. You are able to perform as many daily search queries as you would like, so have at it.

Final Thoughts

Keyword research can be taxing and frustrating. Sometimes it is difficult to find the right tools and then even more difficult to learn how to use them properly. Having a plugin like Keyword Research Tool allows you to search for and use relevant long-tail keywords that will help your content pop.

I hope this tutorial was able to show you how easy it is to search for relevant long-tail keywords right from the comfort of your WordPress admin dashboard. Good luck and happy writing!

Did you find this plugin to be useful and user-friendly? Do you prefer a different third-party keyword research tool?

The post How to Use the Keyword Research Tool Plugin in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the art of optimizing a site or a web page in order to increase not only the quantity of traffic but also the quality of traffic a website receives from search engine queries.

Remember, there are all sorts of things you can do in order to get your site ranking high in search engines. However, SEO and proper keywords in WordPress help you rank organically. This is the most attractive way to rank, as it means your site is moving up without having to advertise.

Let’s take a look at the WordPress SEO plugin we are going to use today in order to help website SEO and boost site rank higher organically.

BoldGrid Easy SEO

BoldGrid Easy SEO is a WordPress plugin that can help you create better content on the fly. The plugin looks at all your content in real-time and makes suggestions as you go through the creation process.

These suggestions work to not only create more searchable and better ranking content but also to make sure that you follow all SEO best practices when creating that material.

The plugin is lightweight, easy to use, and will not slow your website. You simply add a target keyword or key phrase to a post or page, and BoldGrid Easy SEO automatically gives you easy to follow suggestions on improving the overall structure.

This is a very powerful tool that can really help bump your website up in search rankings if used properly. The plugin comes packed with help and will allow you to improve SEO across a number of standards. Some of these include:

• Optimal Keyword Density
• Page Title and Descriptions
• Header Tags and Content
• Image Alt Tags
• Content-Length
• Search Engine Indexing
• Follow / No-Follow Links
• Canonical URLs

If you are looking for a simple to use, yet powerful plugin that can help build SEO content in WordPress, then BoldGrid SEO is right up your alley.

Let’s get the plugin running and go over how to write better content.

How to Use BoldGrid Easy SEO to Write Better Content

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

In order to start building keywords in WordPress and adjust on-page SEO content, you first need to install and activate the plugin. You can do this by heading over to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply use the search field that is provided to look for the plugin by name. When you see it pop up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Go to the Posts Section

There are no settings to configure in the plugin. Once it is activated, it creates SEO tools that automatically show up in all your posts and pages. So, you can either open up an existing post and work on it or create a new article go from there.

Today, I am simply creating a new post to show you the available tools. Click on Posts > Add New, located on the left side menu area of the dashboard.

This opens up the post editor in your WordPress website. 

Step 3: Add a Title and Content to Your Post

Different people like to build around SEO in different ways. For this tutorial, let’s go ahead and add a title and all the content you want to the current post.

Once all your content is in place, we can move forward to all the tools that BoldGrid SEO provides below the post.

Step 4: Scroll Down to the Easy SEO Box

Go ahead and scroll down until you see the Easy SEO box to see all of the configurations options.

You can see there are three main sections to go through to make sure the buttons are green for many different SEO standards. These sections include:

• Keyword Phrase
• Title & Description
• Search Visibility

Each section provides numerous tips and suggestions on what to do to create better on-page SEO content.

Step 5: Add a Keyword Phrase

Go ahead and add a keyword or keyword phrase for your content. Below that, you see a number of suggestions on things to do to build up your SEO. The idea is to get all (or most) of those buttons to turn green.

Step 6: Add SEO Title and Description 

Now, click on the “Title & Description” section and go ahead and plug in an “SEO Title” and “SEO Description” for the content.

Again, get all the dots green for the best optimization. The SEO title and description you choose is what will actually show in search engines.

Step 7: Adjust Search Visibility Accordingly

The last section of the BoldGrid Easy SEO plugin allows you to adjust search visibility according to your needs.

You can adjust indexing and follow here, as well as let search engines know if another page should be indexed in place of this one. Go ahead and make your choices.

That’s it! Once you feel you have the on-page SEO exactly how you want it, then preview the content and publish.

Complete the steps above for all your content, and before you know it, your website will start being ranked higher organically in search engines.

How Does SEO Work?

Now that you have a solid WordPress SEO plugin to help guide you through on-page optimization, it may be important to know exactly how SEO actually works.

Simply put, SEO works by trying to demonstrate to search engines that your content is the best result for the topic searched. In other words, SEO wants to show search engines that your content is not only good but also high-quality and authoritative.

Performing on-page SEO and overall website SEO plays a huge part in this. That’s why it is important to not only have a good SEO structure but to also optimize your WordPress website in a number of ways. Speed, images, content, and structure all work together to help a site rank high when certain search engine results are returned.

Final Thoughts 

There are a lot of really great SEO plugins and other tools out there to help you build a solid, content driven website. That being said, sometimes they can be difficult to find, and then difficult to understand because of the complexities surrounding SEO.

But, don’t fret. Use this guide and the BoldGrid Easy SEO plugin to help you get your website SEO where it needs to be. The process does not have to be difficult when you have instructions and examples in front of you.

I hope this article was able to show you how easy it is to build good on-page SEO using the Easy SEO plugin.

Have you ever tried building proper SEO structure on a site without a plugin? Do you use a different plugin to help with SEO?

The post How to Write Better Content in WordPress with BoldGrid Easy SEO appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Optimizing your WordPress website happens on several levels. On-page, XML sitemaps, images, and more. You can also use a set of specific keywords to build a high rank around. When you optimize for search engines, you allow your website a much better chance to be seen in search results.

This is true no matter what search engine people use. Optimizing a site the right way will help your site climb the search ladder in Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines.

What is a Keyword Strategy?

The first thing you need to understand is that keyword research and keyword strategies are different. Keyword research helps you find which words to use. The keyword strategy is a combination of all the decisions you make put together in order to drive traffic to a page or website.

Whether you are planning content or figuring out how to track it all using analytics, the strategy is how you want to use your chosen keywords to gain traffic and sales.

Today, I am going to show you how to use a smooth SEO plugin called Rank4win to help with your keyword strategy. Using this plugin correctly over time will help you get your website up in the search engine rankings. They make it easy because all the tools you need are housed in one place.

Rank4win

The Rank4win SEO plugin allows you to build your own keyword strategy. The plugin works to create a Semantic Structure to reinforce the natural SEO of a website. This keyword strategy builder also helps with content creation by optimizing the text that is produced across the site.

The plugin is absolutely packed with features. However, it is lightweight and will not slow your site down. Some of the main features include:

• Ability to Build a Keyword Strategy
• Build the Silo Semantics Structure
• Workflow for Writers
• Content Writing Optimization for SEO
• Define Keywords Related to Website Theme
• Define Keyword
• Choose Keyword with Highest Potential
• View Questions Internet Users Ask About Your Site
• Track Progress in Real-Time
• Leverage the Internal Search Engine
• Keyword Suggestion Tool
• Tons of Setting Options

The best part about this plugin is that it is a very powerful tool when it comes time to analyzing content, and you can use it no matter what type of website you have.

All-in-all, you will be hard-pressed to find anything better, especially when it comes to SEO, keyword strategies, and content team management.

Let’s get the system up and running together so that you can start optimizing for search engines.

How to Build a Keyword Strategy in WordPress

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

In order for you to use the Rank4win keyword strategy builder, you first need to install and activate the plugin. This can be done by heading over to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply search the plugin by name using the search field. When it pops up, install and activate it from there.

Step 2: Sign Up for a Rank4win Account

As soon as you activate the plugin, you will be automatically taken to the account page for it. You need to add credentials and get a free Rank4win account to help run the plugin.

Click on the red “Sign Up Here” button to get started.

When you click that button, a new screen will come up. Go ahead and add the relevant info they ask for and create your account.

When you submit your credentials, a verification box will pop up. Get the verification code from your email and plug it in this box.

When the correct verification code is put in, the plugin will ask for you to associate the relevant WordPress account to the relevant Rank4win account.

Once attached, a system requirements page and other Rank4win settings options will pop up. Go ahead and click through this.

Once finished, you will automatically be sent back to the WordPress admin dashboard. Here you can start setting your configurations in and building a keyword strategy.

Note: The actual setup is a lot like setting up Yoast SEO. However, this allows you more keyword functionality.

Step 3: Add General Settings

You are going to see a configuration screen with several tabs on it. They move both across and down the screen. Make sure the “General Settings” tab is clicked. Go ahead and set up all the general settings how you want.

Step 4: Set SEO Settings

Now click on the tab “SEO settings.” Go ahead and enter all your configurations here as well.

Don’t forget to go across the sub-tabs and fill in things like a title separator.

Step 5: Add Social Networks

Click on the “Social Networks” tab and add the networks you would like.

Step 6: Add Semantic Structures

Now that you have configured and set the main part of the Rank4win plugin, it is time to add some semantic structures. Click on the “Structures” link located in the left menu area of the dashboard. It is housed under the Rank4win main menu area.

A new page will pop up. Click on the “Create a New Semantic Structure” button on the top left of the page.

In the popup box, name and select the content of the structure. When you are done, click on the “Create” button.

You will see all of your structures listed as you make them. You can edit them and configure them at any time, based on what you need and what you are trying to accomplish.

That’s it! At this point, you have set up the entire Rank4win plugin and have started adding structures. You can keep going from here.

Positions and Analyses

The plugin has one more area. This link is called the “Positions and Analyses” link. To access it, simply click on the link of the same name on the left side menu. Same as the process above.

Once on this page, you will find all the data and analytics you can think of. These will build over time and be based on the setup and structures you have built. There will be four main tabs you can look through data on. These include:

• Summary
• Web Analysis
• Organic Search Analysis
• Competition Analysis

Final Thoughts

The way we analyze content and optimize for search engines is very important today. There are so many different things you can do to optimize a WordPress website. Yes, it seems like a lot, but if handled correctly, it will help push your site up in search rankings.

Having a plugin like Rank4win makes the entire process much easier, as all the tools you need are stacked in one place.

I hope this article was able to show you how easy it is to build a keyword strategy using this plugin.

Have you ever built a keyword strategy before? What other tools or plugins did you use to get it done?

The post How to Use Rank4Win to Optimize Keyword Strategies in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.