SEO IN Lahore|SEO|Advanced SEO|SEO World Expert Arif anjum Internet Marketing Guru|Pakistan

5 WordPress SEO Tips to Help You Boost Rankings and Traffic

Arif anjum

It’s been almost two months since I bought a hosting and got into WordPress blogging. And you know what – although I’ve really been a fan of the simplicity that Blogspot offers, it’s really hard to compare it to the versatility that WordPress users have at their disposal.

But anyway, that’s not what I am going to cover in today’s article (you can check out “Moving From Blogger to WordPress: Has the Time Finally Come?“ though).

Search engine optimization has never been one of my strong points. Since day one of my blogging career, I decided to pay more attention to actually connecting with people via social media than building organic traffic. If you ask me now whether that was a good move I’d say no. Organic traffic is probably the best in terms of bounce rates, average time the visitor spends reading and conversion rates.

So without much ado, below are five WordPress SEO tips, for all of you folks, who would like to get a little more attention from those fussy spiders and crawlers that search engines use in the ranking process:

1. Start With Modifying Your Permalinks

The permalink structure is one of the elements that the Blogger platform doesn’t allow modifications on. The good thing for us WordPress users is that here we have full control over that aspect.

And if you aren’t quite sure what a permalink is, that is basically how your URLs appear in the browser’s bar. For instance a blog might be set up to show blog posts the following way – domain-name.com/year/month/day/blog-post-title.html.

The above example shows a URL structure that is not quite ideal. The problem is that the main component i.e. the blog post is buried in the archive in such a way that the search engines need to first go through the year, then the month category and then the specific day until they reach the article. The deeper the crawlers have to go, the better the chance for them to decide not to waste time indexing a page. The latter is obviously NOT what you want.

So how do you modify your permalinks?

You simply open up your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings –> Permalinks. There you choose “Custom Structure” and add /%postname%/ in the field. That will result in a flat blog post architecture, which is best in terms of SEO and ease of navigation.

2. Get the WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

Although I included that plugin in my list of the Best WordPress Plugins for newbies, I would like to take a look at it once again. There are other alternatives that work on a similar principle, but from the ones I’ve tried, Yoast is my personal favorite.

The thing I found (and am still finding) most useful about it is the tab that you get under the post editor. There you have the option to choose the so called “focus keyword” for the post you are just writing. Based on that focus keyword you get different recommendations in the writing process, which aim to help you improve your on-site SEO efforts.

WordPress SEO by Yoast also allows you to write your own meta description tags plus custom descriptions for Facebook and Google Plus. Additionally you can also include a search engine title. That allows you to choose one title to be displayed on your actual blog and second, search engine optimized one for the SERPs.

Aside from that, there’s lots to do in the plugin’s settings page:

• You can set up breadcrumbs to help your interlinking 
• You can modify your XML sitemaps.
• You have direct access to your htaccess and robots.txt files as well. That way you don’t have to go through the tedious process of using an FTP.

If you for some reason haven’t yet installed the WordPress SEO plugin, which is quite popular actually, you can do so by clicking here.

3. Premium WordPress Themes are a Good Investment

Last couple of days were quite a stress for me. After reading tons and tons of reviews, I finally decided to give the Genesis Framework a shot. With this came lots of designing, modifying and testing, but I can safely say I am quite happy with the end result. I will be writing a review on Genesis in the weeks to come so stay tuned!

Anyway the problem with choosing a default theme like TwentyTen is not only that you don’t have as much control and flexibility over it, but also that those themes are simply not meant for the professional type of blogging. Having a framework like Genesis or Thesis and pretty much any other premium theme (although I’d recommend choosing one of the two) ensures that your content will be indexed by the search engines, since the developers have taken special time to optimize every aspect in terms of both security and SEO.

The unlimited support you get after purchasing a premium theme on the other hand shouldn’t be underestimated as well. Whereas with a free theme there are all kinds of glitches that can occur (the reason why I moved to Genesis), the same can hardly happen with premium themes. If it does happen however, you get full support on dealing with the problem. And sometimes reacting timely can save you from losing search engine positions and traffic.

4. The “Slug” Plays an Important Role

Wondering what a slug is? Well that’s the part of the URL of your blog that you will point exactly to the post you are currently writing. Again unlike Blogger, WordPress allows you to directly modify the slug without much hassle, so that’s a practice well-worth following.

The slug is generated upon the title you’ve added in the title field in the WordPress post editor. However in 99% of the cases the end result is far from ideal. Modifying the slug is fortunately as easy as clicking on it and writing your own version.

There are three factors you should pay attention to when doing so:

•  Length – the shorter and to the point, the better. Best for both the reader (yes, some people do pay attention to the URL) and for the search engines would be to keep it under 3-4 words.
• Relevancy – Obviously the slug has to be relevant and it has to point exactly to what you are going to cover in the article. Best would be if it consists of the main keyword (preferably long-tail one) that you will be using.

5. Add a Related Posts Widget

The two plugins I would give my vote to are Linkolxonline and nRelate. The first I’ve been using when I was on Blogger and I was really happy with it. nRelate on the other hand doesn’t have a Blogspot version and I gave it a shot right after setting up my WordPress installation.

I don’t think there are many bloggers who don’t yet have one such plugin installed, but if you are one of them, you are missing out. You are missing out on more repeat visits, more internal links and better conversion rates.

The idea is simple. Since those kinds of tools aim to provide relevant content to the article that they are displayed under, the links there are valuable in terms of SEO. Plus the only thing you need is to download one of the two, install it, set it up and leave it do the rest.

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http://arifsohailanjum.files.wordpress.com

seo|advance seo

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an acronym for "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer." Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
• Content development
• Management of online business development campaigns
• Keyword research
• SEO training
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Keep in mind that the Google search results page includes organic search results and often paid advertisement (denoted by the heading "Sponsored Links") as well. Advertising with Google won't have any effect on your site's presence in our search results. Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results, and it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results. Free resources such as Webmaster Tools, the official Webmaster Central blog, and our discussion forum can provide you with a great deal of information about how to optimize your site for organic search.

Before beginning your search for an SEO, it's a great idea to become an educated consumer and get familiar with how search engines work. We recommend starting here:

• Google Webmaster Guidelines
• Google 101: How Google crawls, indexes and serves the web.

If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:

• Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
• Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
• Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
• What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
• What's your experience in my industry?
• What's your experience in my country/city?
• What's your experience developing international sites?
• What are your most important SEO techniques?
• How long have you been in business?
• How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?

While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site's presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index. Here are some things to consider:

One common scam is the creation of "shadow" domains that funnel users to a site by using deceptive redirects. These shadow domains often will be owned by the SEO who claims to be working on a client's behalf. However, if the relationship sours, the SEO may point the domain to a different site, or even to a competitor's domain. If that happens, the client has paid to develop a competing site owned entirely by the SEO.

Another illicit practice is to place "doorway" pages loaded with keywords on the client's site somewhere. The SEO promises this will make the page more relevant for more queries. This is inherently false since individual pages are rarely relevant for a wide range of keywords. More insidious, however, is that these doorway pages often contain hidden links to the SEO's other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away the link popularity of a site and route it to the SEO and its other clients, which may include sites with unsavory or illegal content.

If you feel that you were deceived by an SEO in some way, you may want to report it.

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click on "File a Complaint Online," call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:

Federal Trade Commission
CRC-240
Washington, D.C. 20580

If your complaint is against a company in a country other than the United States, please file it at http://www.econsumer.gov/.

• Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.
  Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:

  "Dear google.com,
  I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."

  Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.
• No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
  Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.
• Be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do.
  Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or "throwaway" domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to "help" you. If an SEO has FTP access to your server, they should be willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site.
• You should never have to link to an SEO.
  Avoid SEOs that talk about the power of "free-for-all" links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These are typically useless exercises that don't affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines -- at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive.
• Choose wisely.
  While you consider whether to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry. Google is one way to do that, of course. You might also seek out a few of the cautionary tales that have appeared in the press, including this article on one particularly aggressive SEO:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002002970_nwbizbriefs12.html. While Google doesn't comment on specific companies, we've encountered firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.
• Be sure to understand where the money goes.
  While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid prices in real time to create the illusion that they "control" other search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice. This scam doesn't work with Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separated from our search results, but be sure to ask any SEO you're considering which fees go toward permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.
• What are the most common abuses a website owner is likely to encounter?
• What are some other things to look out for?
  There are a few warning signs that you may be dealing with a rogue SEO. It's far from a comprehensive list, so if you have any doubts, you should trust your instincts. By all means, feel free to walk away if the SEO:
• owns shadow domains
• puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
• offers to sell keywords in the address bar
• doesn't distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
• guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
• operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
• gets traffic from "fake" search engines, spyware, or scumware
• has had domains removed from Google's index or is not itself listed in Google

Arif anjum

Skype ID :arif.sohail5

03124484957

Arif Anjum