I have previously posted about what is seo and how to do it cheaply, in this post I will provide my top 4 WordPress SEO plugins and discuss a little bit more about the free tools I use on a daily basis to improve the SEO performance of my blog.
When starting my journey as a blogger, I have to admit I knew next to nothing about SEO or even digital marketing in general. I don't regard myself as an expert now, by any stretch of the imagination, but what I do know is what has worked for me.
Over the past year I have undertaken a lot of trial and error and it is through this that I have found the following 4 plugins that have completely simplified my SEO process. I rely on these tools everyday, and they are very much part and parcel of my blog today.
1. SEO Press
Probably the best SEO Plugin I have used. I simply won't use another one!
I used to use Yoast, but after a few months got rid of it because I was experiencing some issues. After some discussion and research on SEO forums I found a number of SEO pros where recommending SEO Press to each other so figured I'd give it a go, and I have to say I have been really impressed.
It's really simple to use and for the most part just does what it needs to do and does it well!
2. Jetpack
Jetpack is not just one plugin, but as you'll find out it is a whole host of plugins and features that you will certainly be unable to live without if you're serious about taking your blog to the next level.
Jetpack comprises of over 27 plugins, including a number of Visitor engagement plugins to increase your traffic and keep visitors coming back. However, you don't need to activate all 27 should you not wish too!
- Enhanced Distribution
- spam-free Comments
- Shortlinks
- Likes
- Notifications
- Related Posts
- Subscriptions
- Site Verification Tools
I have read a lot of Bad Press regarding JetPack, but honestly I have not personally experienced any of the issues and it really has not impacted my site speed in negative light. I still have Jet Pack installed on this site and make use of the CDN and a few other features without any issues at all.
3. Lucky orange
​This plugin is in my opinion truly phenomenal! What I love about this is that it creates a video of exactly what your users were looking on your site. It tracks their mouse movements, so you can see areas that are of the most interest to your users.
Luckyorange enables you to Watch visitors use your site, then optimize your checkout process the right way.It also generates heat maps, indicating the areas of the most interest on your web pages. Having this information is vital to ensuring you are able to constantly improve your content.
Features include;
- Live dashboard
- Chat feature
- Form Analytics
- Heat Map Suite
- Visitor Engagement Tracking & Recordings
4. SEO For Dummies
I know this isn't a plugin and is rather a book, but I have to be honest trying to use any of the plugins mentioned above without getting a solid understanding and grasp of SEO is pointless. You have actually have to learn the basics and understand why you're doing any of the things the plugins guide you down the path of doing!
Just blindly following what some plugin tells you to do without really understanding it is completely pointless and its just a recipe for disaster.
I spent a month reading the book and relating it back to the plugins and following some of the best practices and over the course of time I have seen my SEO results improve.
A 7th Edition of this book is planned for November 2019 and I will be ensuring I purchase it.
Summary
These are the tools I use daily for at least 30-45 minutes a week, to ensure the SEO of my site, but more importantly help me to monitor and improve my sites performance. After all, any SEO campaign is worthless without constant monitoring and tweaking.
SEO is not complicated although I'm sure if you're doing it on a large ecommerce store it probably is, but to be honest for most bloggers just gaining a solid understanding of the basics and following best practices is pretty much all you need.
I have a number of blog posts that are ranked within the top 4 results and in some cases I have the number one spot for the queries I targeted, it is all achieved by following some pretty basic strategies and ensuring the basics are done. Nothing fancy or even remotely dark arts!
Running a blog, you'll constantly get emails from so called or self styled SEO experts telling your they could improve the performance of your blog enabling you to attract more visitors etc. The reality is you don't need them. You can achieve equivalent results just by concentrating and executing the basics.
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