{"id":1147,"date":"2022-11-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T08:33:03","slug":"seo-best-practices-for-wordpress-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/seo-best-practices-for-wordpress-website\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Best Practices For Your WordPress Website"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>SEO best practices will assist you to optimise your WordPress website. WordPress itself is free, open-source and SEO-friendly, hence why it is the world\u2019s most popular Content Management System (CMS). However, just because the system is SEO-friendly it doesn\u2019t mean that it will set up your website on this front. There are a still several things you need to do to improve the Search Engine ranking of your WordPress website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h4>TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/h4><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#implement-the-following-seo-best-practices-and-streamline-your-content-optimisation\">Implement the following SEO Best Practices and streamline your content optimisation:<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#make-use-of-a-dynamic-sitemap\">Make use of a dynamic sitemap<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#use-a-seo-plugin\">Use a SEO plugin<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#optimise-images-automatically\">Optimise images automatically<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#prioritise-security\">Prioritise security<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#choose-the-best-in-word-press-hosting\">Choose the best in WordPress Hosting<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#check-your-visibility\">Check your visibility<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#create-seo-friendly-permalinks\">Create SEO-friendly permalinks<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#optimise-keywords\">Optimise keywords<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#create-incredible-content\">Create incredible content<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" id=\"implement-the-following-seo-best-practices-and-streamline-your-content-optimisation\">Implement the following SEO Best Practices and streamline your content optimisation:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"make-use-of-a-dynamic-sitemap\">Make use of a dynamic sitemap<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Compared to a static sitemap, which needs to be updated manually, a dynamic sitemap automatically updates with every new page added. This means it is more user-friendly for web masters and search-engines alike. Once requested, a dynamic sitemap is delivered faster than a static one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"use-a-seo-plugin\">Use a SEO plugin<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>An SEO plugin like <a href=\"https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Yoast SEO<\/a> picks up SEO issues on your website and constantly checks that your site is following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/top-on-page-seo-factors-to-include-when-building-your-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">best on-page SEO practices<\/a>. This is a great tool especially if you are adding new content regularly and don\u2019t always have time to create individual meta and title tags for each page. A plugin will create default meta and title tags, guaranteeing that each page will be optimised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"optimise-images-automatically\">Optimise images automatically<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Search Engines care how long your pages take to load. The size and volume of the images on your website can affect loading speeds. Improve your ranking by reducing the size of your images. You can streamline this tedious task by making use of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/5-excellent-plugins-for-your-wordpress-website-right-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> that does it automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"prioritise-security\">Prioritise security<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing Search Engines care a lot about, is how secure your website is. If they find any malware on your website, you will automatically be penalised. An unsecure website is not only bad for rankings but can also cause damage to your reputation. It is in the best interests of your business to ensure that you have adequate security for your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deactivating comments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disabling Xmlrpc.php<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Installing an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/ssl\/domain-validated-ssl-certificates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SSL Certificate<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creating two-step verification passwords for every user and changing this regularly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Limiting login attempts by blocking IP addresses after several unsuccessful login attempts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automatically updating plugins (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/wordpress-hosting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Domains.co.za\u2019s WordPress Hosting<\/a> includes this)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Performing daily backups of your website (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/wordpress-hosting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Domains.co.za\u2019s WordPress Hosting<\/a> includes this)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"choose-the-best-in-word-press-hosting\">Choose the best in WordPress Hosting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Website hosting affects your Search Engine rankings threefold, as poor hosting translates into a slow website, poor uptime, and insufficient network security. Choose your hosting provider with the utmost care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Domains.co.za we offer tailored <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/wordpress-hosting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WordPress Hosting<\/a>. This solution is the ultimate in WordPress hosting and has been adjusted in such a way as to offer the fastest, most secure and reliable WordPress Hosting in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"check-your-visibility\">Check your visibility<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>There is an option to \u201cDiscourage search engines from indexing this site\u201d under <strong>Settings &gt;&gt; Reading<\/strong>. Check that this box is <strong>unchecked<\/strong>. Normally, the box gets ticked to allow a website designer and developer time to finalise the website before Search Engines start to crawl it. It is such a small, almost obvious thing, but it has huge implications if forgotten about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"create-seo-friendly-permalinks\">Create SEO-friendly permalinks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>A permalink is a hyperlink to a specific page. Create permalinks that explain what each page, or article, on your website is about. This will assist Search Engines to index, categorise, and rank each page better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"optimise-keywords\">Optimise keywords<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Keywords are one of the top things people associate with SEO. Use a keyword tool, or platform, to assist you with researching and finding the best keywords for your website. Be aware of keyword cannibalization; i.e. when similar pages compete. Identify and assign a main keyword to each page. Use a tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/position-tracking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Semrush<\/a> to see if keyword cannibalization is taking place on your site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"create-incredible-content\">Create incredible content<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you have the best SEO plugins installed and your site is following all on-site SEO tactics to a \u2018T\u2019, the SEO side of your website will not be complete due to the ongoing nature of SEO. You must continuously create good <a href=\"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/tips-to-get-started-with-off-site-seo-for-your-small-business%E2%80%99-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">on- and off-site content <\/a>to encourage search engines to crawl your site regularly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SEO best practices will assist you to optimise your WordPress website. WordPress itself is free, open-source and SEO-friendly, hence why it is the world\u2019s most popular Content Management System (CMS). However, just because the system is SEO-friendly it doesn\u2019t mean that it will set up your website on this front. There are a still several things you need to do to improve the Search Engine ranking of your WordPress website. Implement the following SEO Best Practices and streamline your content optimisation:Make use of a dynamic sitemapUse a SEO pluginOptimise images automaticallyPrioritise securityChoose the best in WordPress HostingCheck your visibilityCreate SEO-friendly permalinksOptimise keywordsCreate incredible conte <a alt='SEO Best Practices For Your WordPress Website' title='SEO Best Practices For Your WordPress Website' href='https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/seo-best-practices-for-wordpress-website\/' class='moreElipsis'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1008,1011,1006,1763],"tags":[1790],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-guides","category-general","category-wordpress","category-wordpress-hosting","tag-wordpress-website-seo-best-practices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1147"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3525,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1147\/revisions\/3525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domains.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}