Top 5 Essentials For WordPress Sites

Did you know that WordPress is the top website builder in the world, powering more than a third of websites? There are many reasons as to why WordPress is extremely popular, as it is easy to use and is considered to be the best content management system for SEO. To leverage its use and power, it is important to stay up-to-date with the latest tips and developments while using WordPress. In this blog, we will dive into some of the best ways you can ensure that your WordPress site is always working to its fullest functionality and capabilities.

1. Choose a theme that’s SEO friendly

One of the many benefits of WordPress is the fact that it has many high-quality themes that give you the option to use it for free or a paid subscription. There are a wide range of different themes available that are completely functional and aesthetically pleasing; however, one thing that you should know when finding the perfect theme for you is to consider its SEO-friendliness.

2. Create concise permalinks

Another important tip that will help you enhance your WordPress experience is to create clean and concise permalinks. Permalinks, otherwise known as permanent links, are the links that you see when you access a webpage. For instance, when you create pages or posts on WordPress, you will see a box on the editing page, which will be located on the top right section of the page. The permalink can be entered in the box for the new page or post that you wish to create.

For instance, a permalink should be clean, easy to read, and look something like this: “https://madmindstudios.com/branding/.”

Beyond the permalink looking clean and concise, it makes it easy to read and more dependable. Oftentimes when permalinks are unusually long or difficult to understand, they look suspicious to web users. This can result in internet users thinking that the site may be a scam or the URL is malicious.

3. Obtain a SSL certificate

SSL certificates are digital certificates that increase your site’s reliability and are displayed as a small green padlock on the front page of the URL. SSL certificates, otherwise known as Secure Sockets Layer, add an extra layer of protection to encrypt the connection between web pages and its browsers. The URL of a SSL site should be displayed as https://madmindstudios.com/ as opposed to https://madmindstudios.com/.

Beyond these reasons, Google prioritizes secure websites for users, as well as its algorithm. As a result, Google favors websites with a ‘https’ URL over sites that do not have it. If a website does not have a ‘https’ URL, this can result in distrust, making a website unsafe for users.

4. Optimize site speed

Both mobile and desktop users will leave your page if it takes more than a few seconds to load. Therefore, it is imperative that you optimize your site to ensure that the site speed is always at its best. You can maximize your website’s speed by taking advantage of these few tips:

• Use a lightweight theme
• Use a responsive theme
• Optimize the images on your site for web
• Decrease redirects
• Use browser caching
• Improve server response time

5. Don’t ignore backlinks

Backlinks are one of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to SEO’s best practices. And despite the ever changing aspects to Google’s algorithm, backlinks are still very important. They help create and maintain your page authority, meaning that your page can be of value and can be displayed to others. This is only done when well-ranking and authoritative pages link to you.

Creating high-quality backlinks takes time and effort. Some great tips to do so include blog commenting, guest posting, email outreach, infographics, and more.

About Mad Mind Studios

If you are looking for a web design company for optimization in Los Angeles, our team at Mad Mind Studios can help you every step of the way. With years of experience in helping small businesses improve their web design and optimization, we are confident in the work that we do. We understand the importance of having a trusted team on your side, therefore, we take great pride in what we do and the results that we deliver. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help improve your website!