Technical SEO for WordPress
WordPress has a reputation for being SEO-friendly out of the box, but what do you do when your custom permalinks and default meta tags are no longer enough?
What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the process of making changes to the technical setup of a website to improve how well it can be crawled and indexed, thus improving how well it ranks. This involves everything from ensuring the server software is up to date and serving content appropriately, to frontend optimisations to improve page speed and site structure.
Common technical SEO weak points might include:
- outdated versions of Apache or PHP, impacting potential performance improvements (and data security)
- large, unwieldy, unstructured sites with no clear path or goal, allowing users and search engine robots to get lost within pages
- unoptimised, original ‘straight from camera’ image files in use, often artificially resized in HTML/CSS instead of utilising smaller versions as appropriate
- little or no structured markup, missing opportunities to lean into search engine functionality or better advise robots on content meaning
- a badly managed website migration leaving potential customers faced with 404s and search engine robots floundering
Auditing for and fixing these common issues – amongst others – allows us to create a solid, reliable platform through which your content and services can shine.
Case Study – Apex Exhibition Stands
Apex came to us complaining that, following a redesign executed by another agency, they were struggling to get Google to rank their website. They weren’t chasing page one in this instance, simply trying to rank at all.
With less than 10% of their content ranking, and numerous 404s and redirect loops, Apex tasked Ultimately Better with “making Google love us again”.
We delivered a fully bespoke WordPress theme developed based on the client’s existing design, fully tailored to the client’s existing hosting setup. With extensive improvements across the internal structure, reduction of code overhead and limited dependence on bloated third party plugins the client rapidly saw improvements in Google indexed pages and increased rankings.
At Apex we have worked with Jem and Ultimately Better for a number of years, and they have worked their magic again on our company site which was not performing at all well. UB have always demonstrated a real understanding of our needs and an unparalleled knowledge of the way websites should be coded and developed.
Paul Ashford, CEO
Apex Exhibition Stands
Other clients we’ve worked with
Some of the clients we’ve worked with to improve their WordPress website’ technical SEO:
To find out more about how we can help with your WordPress website technical SEO, get in touch.
Why trust Ultimately Better with your WordPress website technical SEO?
Technical SEO is usually a process audited, managed and implemented by at least one SEO executive and at least one developer working together. At Ultimately Better, all of our developers are trained in technical SEO from day one, removing that dependency on outside technical SEO agencies. Because… if your website is optimised and delivered correctly from launch, your website will rank better, faster meaning your costs are reduced long term.
With a combined 30+ years WordPress expertise at the core of everything we do, there are few better positioned to improve your technical SEO.
Why care about technical SEO?
There’s no point in having a business website if it doesn’t get visits. And there’s even less point if those visits don’t go anywhere because your website is slow to load, throws errors, directs people to the wrong place or is just too confusing to use.
Proper implementation of technical search engine optimisation allows users to benefit from:
- an improved, logical site structure with a clear path to their end goal
- fast loading web pages that work across multiple browsers and devices
- a great user experience that leaves customers feeling like your business can be trusted, and that their visit is valued
Which means your business benefits from:
- more visits, that last longer and convert better
- potential to increase clicks, conversions, newsletter sign-ups and revenue
- opportunities to further convert through brand referrals and word of mouth
Technical SEO FAQs
Can’t I just use a WordPress SEO plugin?
While WordPress SEO plugins can be helpful to flag big, generic errors with your content or technical issues relating to schema, they’re not designed for the unique setup of your website and your business & can often rely on endles paid add-ons to deliver basic technical functionality. Properly implemented technical SEO at any stage of a project lifespan can help remove those recurring license fees and set you up for the long term.
How is technical SEO different from other SEO?
Technical SEO is concerned with the how a site works: the server it sits on, the interactions with the browser, structure, mark-up language (the code) etc.
‘Other’ SEO is typically the process of adding and updating content, buying adverts (PPC) etc. Ultimately Better specialise in the technical SEO of WordPress websites and content strategy for search engines; for paid ads or other SEO requirements we recommend GrowRoom
Can you guarantee me page 1 results in Google with your SEO?
Nope, but nobody can guarantee that. Anyone who says otherwise is trying to make a quick sale.