Lesson 31: SEO Fundamentals for WordPress

Objectives

• Understand how search engines find and rank your site
• Optimize every page and post for search engines
• Use Yoast SEO effectively
• Implement technical SEO basics

How Search Engines Work

The Basic Process:

1. Crawling — Google sends "bots" to discover and scan your pages
2. Indexing — Google stores and categorizes your content
3. Ranking — Google decides where to show your pages in search results

What Affects Rankings:

• Content quality — relevant, helpful, well-written content
• Keywords — the terms people search for match your content
• Site speed — faster sites rank higher
• Mobile-friendly — mobile-responsive design is required
• Backlinks — other sites linking to yours
• Technical SEO — proper site structure, sitemaps, clean URLs
• User experience — low bounce rate, good navigation

On-Page SEO (Per Page/Post)

For Every Page and Post, Optimize These:

1. SEO Title (Title Tag)

The most important on-page SEO element:

• Appears as the clickable headline in Google results
• Keep it under 60 characters
• Include your target keyword near the beginning
• Make it compelling — it determines if people click

Examples:

• Bad: "Home"
• Good: "Professional Web Design Services | Your Company"
• Bad: "About Us"
• Good: "About Our Agency — 10 Years of Award-Winning Design"

2. Meta Description

The snippet shown below the title in Google results:

• Keep it under 155 characters
• Include your target keyword naturally
• Write a compelling summary that encourages clicks
• Include a call to action

Example: "We design stunning websites that drive results. 10+ years experience, 200+ projects completed. Get a free consultation today."

3. URL Slug

The URL of the page:

• Keep it short and descriptive
• Include the main keyword
• Use hyphens between words
• Remove unnecessary words (a, the, and, etc.)

Examples:

• Bad: yoursite.com/our-professional-web-design-services-for-small-businesses
• Good: yoursite.com/web-design-services

4. Headings (H1-H6)

• Use one H1 per page (usually the main title)
• Use H2 for major sections
• Use H3 for sub-sections
• Include keywords naturally in headings
• Use a logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3, never skip levels)

5. Content

• Write naturally — don't stuff keywords
• Aim for 300+ words on every page (more for blog posts)
• Use keywords and related terms naturally throughout
• Break up text with headings, lists, and images
• Internal linking — link to other pages on your site

6. Images

• Use descriptive file names (web-design-example.jpg, not IMG_001.jpg)
• Write meaningful alt text for every image
• Include keywords in alt text where natural
• Compress images for fast loading

Using Yoast SEO

The Yoast Panel

When editing any post or page, scroll down to find the Yoast SEO panel:

Focus Keyphrase

1. Enter the main keyword or phrase for this page
2. Yoast analyzes your content for that keyword
3. It checks: title, meta description, URL, headings, content, images

SEO Analysis

Yoast shows colored dots:

• Green — good, optimized correctly
• Orange — could be improved
• Red — needs attention

Common recommendations:

• "The focus keyphrase doesn't appear in the SEO title"
• "The meta description is too short"
• "No internal links appear in this page"
• "Images on this page do not have alt attributes with the focus keyphrase"

Readability Analysis

Checks how easy your content is to read:

• Sentence length (keep under 20 words on average)
• Paragraph length (keep under 150 words)
• Use of transition words ("however", "therefore", "in addition")
• Passive voice usage (minimize it)
• Subheading distribution (add headings every 300 words)

Snippet Preview

Shows how your page will appear in Google:

1. Click "Edit snippet" in the Yoast panel
2. Customize the SEO Title and Meta Description
3. See a preview of the Google search result

Technical SEO

XML Sitemap

Yoast automatically generates a sitemap:

• Located at: yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml
• Lists all your pages, posts, and images
• Submit to Google Search Console when your site goes live

Robots.txt

Controls which pages search engines can crawl:

• Yoast manages this automatically
• Access at: yoursite.com/robots.txt

Canonical URLs

Prevents duplicate content issues:

• Yoast automatically adds canonical tags
• Tells search engines which version of a page is the "official" one

Schema Markup (Structured Data)

Helps search engines understand your content:

• Yoast adds basic schema automatically
• Types: Article, Organization, Product, FAQ, etc.
• Can result in rich snippets in search results (stars, prices, FAQs)

SEO Checklist for Every Page

Before publishing any page or post:

• SEO Title set and under 60 characters
• Meta Description set and under 155 characters
• URL Slug is short and includes the keyword
• Focus Keyphrase is set in Yoast
• Yoast SEO score is green (or at least orange)
• H1 heading is used once and includes the keyword
• H2/H3 headings are used for sections
• Internal links to other pages on your site
• Images have alt text with natural keyword inclusion
• Content is 300+ words (more for blog posts)
• Readability score is good (green or orange in Yoast)

Local SEO (For Local Businesses)

If building sites for local businesses:

1. Google Business Profile — create/claim the business listing (most important)
2. NAP Consistency — Name, Address, Phone must be identical everywhere
3. Local keywords — include city/region in titles and content (e.g., "Web Design in Portland")
4. Google Maps — embed a map on the contact page
5. Customer reviews — encourage Google reviews
6. Local schema — add LocalBusiness structured data

Content Strategy for SEO

Blog Posts for Traffic

Regularly publishing helpful blog posts drives organic traffic:

1. Research keywords — find what your audience searches for
   • Use free tools: Google's "People also ask", AnswerThePublic, Ubersuggest
2. Write helpful content — answer questions your audience has
3. Aim for 1,000-2,000 words for blog posts
4. Publish consistently — weekly or bi-weekly
5. Update old posts — refresh content to keep it relevant

Keyword Research (Basic)

1. Think about what your customers search for
2. Use Google — type a query and look at:
   • Autocomplete suggestions
   • "People also ask" boxes
   • "Related searches" at the bottom
3. These are real keywords people use — create content around them

Exercises

1. Optimize your homepage: Set a focus keyphrase, write an SEO title and meta description. Get the Yoast score to green.

2. Optimize your About page: Same as above — keyphrase, title, description.

3. Optimize a blog post: Create a new blog post (500+ words) targeting a specific keyword. Follow the SEO checklist above.

4. Add internal links: On each page, add at least one link to another page on your site.

5. Check your sitemap: Visit your-site.local/sitemap_index.xml and see all the pages listed.

6. Review all alt text: Go through your Media Library and make sure every image has descriptive alt text.

Key Takeaways

• SEO is about making your site discoverable and relevant to search engines
• On-page SEO: title, meta description, URL, headings, content, images
• Yoast SEO provides a checklist — aim for green scores on every page
• SEO Title is the most important single element (under 60 characters, include keyword)
• Content quality matters most — write helpful, well-structured content
• Technical SEO (sitemaps, canonical URLs, schema) is handled by Yoast automatically
• Internal linking helps search engines and users navigate your site
• Blog consistently to build organic traffic over time

Next Lesson: Lesson 32 - Performance Optimization