WordPress SEO Without Plugin: A Step-by-Step Guide

Optimizing your WordPress site for search engines is crucial for driving organic traffic and increasing visibility. To achieve this without relying on plugins, you need to focus on the site's structure and content.

First, ensure your WordPress site is installed in the root directory of your domain, as this is a basic SEO requirement. This means installing WordPress at the domain's top level, rather than in a subdirectory.

To start optimizing your site's content, begin by writing high-quality, engaging, and informative content that includes relevant keywords. Aiming for a keyword density of 1-2% is a good starting point.

Make sure your content is also optimized for user experience, with short paragraphs, headings, and bullet points that make it easy to read and understand.

Optimizing your website for SEO doesn't have to be technical, you can get a noticeable boost in website traffic just by learning a few basic SEO tips.

You don't have to be a tech genius to use these techniques, if you're already using WordPress, then you've got what it takes.

SEO can get too difficult or time-consuming, but hiring experts like WPBeginner Pro Services can help grow your website traffic at affordable pricing.

This feature can come in handy when building or rebuilding your site, but it's essential to remember to turn it off once your website is ready to go public. If you've accidentally left it on, your website won't rank well, no matter how much you invest in SEO.

To check your site's visibility settings, log in to the admin area of your WordPress site and visit the Settings » Reading page. You need to scroll down to the ‘Search Engine Visibility’ section and make sure that the box next to ‘Discourage search engines from indexing this site’ is unchecked.

Don't forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your changes. This will ensure that your website is visible to search engines and can start appearing in search results.

Keyword research is a research technique used by content creators and SEO experts to discover words users enter into search engines to find content, products, and services in your industry.

You can use real data to find out what people are looking for, unlike guessing which topics to add to your blogs and websites. Many beginners use their best guesses, but this is like shooting an arrow in the dark.

There are many keyword research tools available, both free and paid. We recommend using LowFruits, which helps you discover low-competition keywords and even find out the keywords where your competitors are ranking.

The WPBeginner Keyword Generator is a free alternative that lets you instantly generate 300+ keyword ideas in a downloadable report.

Image optimization is a crucial aspect of WordPress SEO without plugins. To start, use high-quality and SEO-optimized images on your landing page, and make sure to use descriptive captions and text that include optimized keywords.

Using alt text is essential, and it's recommended to save images with a readable name, such as "blog-description.png", instead of the default name. This makes the image URL SEO-friendly and easier to optimize.

When adding alt text, use dashes to separate multiple words, like "WordPress-Contact-Form-Builder", to help search engines understand the description. This is especially important for website accessibility purposes.

To optimize images, you can use a plugin like SEO Optimized Images, which allows you to add alt text to your images easily. The alt text area will look something like this, with a section to enter your description.

Here are some tips for optimizing your images:

Remember, optimizing your images can help improve your website's accessibility and search engine ranking, making it easier for users to find and engage with your content.

Internal linking is a crucial aspect of WordPress SEO. It helps search engines understand your website's structure and content.

A good internal linking strategy can improve your page views and increase the time users spend on your site. By linking to your own content, you're also helping search engines assign a higher page authority score to your individual blog posts and pages.

To make internal linking easier, consider using an SEO links plugin for WordPress. This can automate the process of bulk adding internal links, saving you a lot of time.

You should aim to interlink your own posts whenever possible, especially if you have multiple authors. Creating a pre-publish checklist that requires authors to interlink at least 3 other blog posts can be a helpful habit to develop.

If you do decide to use a plugin, be sure to check out the WordPress Link Assistant feature, which automatically crawls links on your site and provides relevant internal linking suggestions.

It's also a good idea to use a plugin like the Broken Link Checker, which scans your internal links to ensure they're working correctly and allows you to quickly fix any broken links.

Changing your permalink structure can have negative consequences, such as losing social media share counts and risking a loss of existing SEO ranking. So, be cautious and only do it if necessary, and even then, consider hiring a professional to set up proper redirects.

Creating an XML sitemap is a crucial step in optimizing your WordPress website for search engines. It's not a ranking factor by itself, but it makes it much easier to notify Google of new content and changes to your website.

You can create a dynamic XML sitemap using Google's recommendations and query your WordPress database for all of your contents. Don't forget to add the sitemap to Google Search Console.

The standard structure of an XML sitemap is straightforward, but you can use third-party tools like XML-sitemaps.com to make it easier. Alternatively, you can follow the standard structure to create your sitemap manually.

To submit your XML sitemap to Google, you'll need to create a webmaster account and verify your website. This involves installing a verification code in your website's header.php file and clicking on the verify button in the webmaster tool.

Here's a step-by-step guide to submitting your sitemap:

Once you've submitted your sitemap, it will appear as pending in Google Search Console. It may take some time for Google to crawl your website, but you'll be able to see some stats about your sitemap after a few hours, including the number of links it found and how many of them got indexed.

Security and Speed are crucial for WordPress SEO without plugins. Google blacklists around 20,000 websites for malware and 50,000 for phishing every week. This can ruin your SEO efforts and keep your site from showing up in search results.

To keep your WordPress site safe, consider using Cloudflare or Sucuri, as they can help block attacks. At WPBeginner, we used Sucuri for many years and saw 450,000 WordPress attacks blocked in just 3 months.

To enhance page speed, use a good hosting provider, apply CDN, and use legitimate image sizes. You can also crop images instead of scaling them, which can make them lighter. The Google speed site tool can also help you identify areas for improvement.

Having a secure site is crucial for building trust with your users. A free SSL certificate can help achieve this.

You can get a free SSL certificate in HubSpot, which is a huge advantage. This means you don't have to worry about installing plugins or third-party tools to secure your site.

With a built-in SSL in HubSpot, you can prioritize user experience and give users and browsers confidence that your site is secure. This is a major benefit of using HubSpot.

Here are some key features of HubSpot's free SSL certificate:

Prioritize user experience with a built-in SSL.

Get a free SSL without plugins.

Give users and browsers confidence.

Enhance Page Speed is crucial for a WordPress site. Google takes it as one of the ranking factors.

To achieve this, consider using few plugins. This will reduce the load on your site and make it faster.

Cropping images instead of scaling them is a great way to make them lighter. This can save you a significant amount of bytes, making your site load faster.

Utilizing a Content Delivery Network (CDN) on your blog can also improve page speed. This will help distribute your site's content across different servers, reducing the load time.

Choosing a good hosting provider is essential for page speed. Look for providers that offer fast servers and good support.

Examine image sizes before uploading them to your WordPress blog. This will help you avoid uploading large images that can slow down your site.

Using fewer banners in your website sidebar can also help improve page speed. The fewer elements on your site, the faster it will load.

Here are some key tips to enhance page speed:

By following these tips, you can improve your WordPress site's page speed and increase engagement.