You can have the most beautiful website in the world, with a spectacular design and an incredible product. But if Google doesn't know what your website is about, or worse yet, doesn't even know it exists, no one is going to visit it.
WordPress is the absolute king of the internet (it powers more than 40% of all web pages). If you don't set up a couple of basic things, you'll be losing valuable organic traffic. Here I tell you how to optimize WordPress.
1. Friendly URLs (Permalinks)
By default, WordPress often creates URLs that are a visual mess, something like yoursite.com/?p=123. Google hates this, and so do users.
The first thing to do is go to Settings > Permalinks and select the option "Entry name". This way, your URLs will be something like yoursite.com/optimizar-seo-wordpress. Much cleaner, easier to read, and above all, it tells Google exactly what's on that page before you enter.
2. Install an SEO plugin (Yoast or Rank Math)
WordPress needs a “translator” that speaks to Google in your language. That's why SEO plugins exist. For years, Yoast SEO was the undisputed king, but lately Rank Math It is gaining a lot of ground because it is lighter and offers more free features.
Whichever you choose, these plugins allow you to do the most important thing: write the Title and Meta Description that people will see in Google search results. Think of this as your storefront. If the title doesn't attract attention, no one will click, no matter how good the content is.
3. The hierarchy of headings (H1, H2, H3)
A super common mistake is using headers (the famous H2 or H3) simply to make the font larger or change the design. Big mistake!
Google reads your website as if it were a book:
- The H1 is the title of the book (there should only be one per page).
- The H2 They are the main chapters.
- The H3 are the sections within those chapters.
If you respect this logical structure, it will be very easy for Google robots to scan your website and understand which are the most important keywords in your text.
4. The weight and name of the images
Upload a photo directly from your mobile or whatever camera you call IMG_8472.JPG and weighing 4 MB is a crime for SEO. First, because your website will load very slowly (and Google penalizes slow websites). Second, because you are losing the opportunity to position in Google Images.
My checklist for images:
- Name them well: Rename the file before uploading to something descriptive (ex:
red-nike-sneakers.jpg). - Compress them: Pass them through a website like TinyPNG or use a plugin like Smush so that they weigh less than 100-150 KB.
- Alternate Text (ALT): Always fill out the "Alt text" field when uploading the photo to WordPress. It is what visually impaired people and Google robots read to know what is in the image.
Conclusion
SEO is not witchcraft, it is common sense and making life easy for search engines. You are not going to position number one tomorrow by changing a URL, because SEO is a medium-long term marathon. But if you apply these foundations to your WordPress from day one, you will be building on a solid foundation that sooner or later will bring you recurring and free visits.