Struggling to Optimize Search Engine Ranking? Here’s What to Do!

Search engine traffic is the main source of visitors for most websites, which is why everyone tries to optimize their site for ranking well in search.

This process, which is fittingly called “search engine optimization”, or SEO for short, can feel overwhelming for beginners—and, to be honest, not for nothing, since it can get very complex.

However, on the most basic level, it’s just about:

1. Creating the technical possibilities for search engines to access and understand your web pages.
2. Making sure your website visitors have a pleasant experience being on your site.
3. Publishing content that’s helpful for people looking for it.

Naturally, there are a few more bits and pieces beyond that, but that’s basically the gist.

If your goal, too, is to boost your website’s search engine ranking and drive more organic traffic to it, you have come to the right place. Below, we’ll provide detailed SEO tips and techniques to help you get there. They range from basic to more advanced, so you can slowly ramp up your abilities, even if you are completely new to SEO.

1. Ace Technical SEO

Technical SEO is about enabling search engines to read (i.e., crawl) and understand (index) your website content. That way, they are more likely to rank you for relevant keywords. It forms the foundation for all other parts of SEO, so don’t skip it.

Use Proper Hosting

The server housing your website has a great effect on its overall quality, especially loading speed and downtime. It is, therefore, a central piece of the SEO puzzle. Several types of hosting exist and the right choice depends on different factors, like your type of website, the amount of traffic, and more.

Here’s a quick overview to help you understand better:

• Shared hosting — Here, your website is on the same server as several others, sharing the same machine resources. That makes it cheap, but often also slow, especially when traffic increases. Therefore, it’s mostly only suitable for small, simple websites, like a brochure site.
• Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting — In this case, a physical server is divided into several virtual machines. This gives users dedicated resources and better performance than shared hosting. It comes with higher cost but is worth it, especially for small business sites and moderate-traffic websites.
• Dedicated hosting — This means one server for a single website. It gives you full control over the server configuration and access to all resources just for yourself. But, it’s also expensive and requires skills in server management. For that reason, it’s mostly for large businesses and high-traffic websites.
• Cloud hosting — Describes a network of virtual servers in the cloud. This type of hosting provides flexible, scalable resources even for traffic spikes. It’s good for e-commerce and businesses needing flexibility and reliability. Costs vary depending on usage.
• Managed Hosting — In this type, the hosting provider takes over server maintenance, updates, and other technical aspects like security. It often exists specifically for WordPress and lets you fully concentrate on website growth instead of technical aspects but comes at a higher price and limits control over the server.

Do your research and make sure you get the best performance within your budget.

Invest in a High-Quality Theme

As a WordPress user, your website theme is another important factor.

It not only determines your site’s design but also its markup, which has an effect on both website performance and SEO. Therefore, make sure to go for one that’s optimized for both and also adjusts well to mobile device screens. We have an article on this topic you can use as a starting point.

Optimize Your URL Structure

The structure of your site links displays the content and hierarchy of your website. This is easy to understand with an example. Which of the links below allows you to understand what kind of page you land on when you click it?

• https://yoursite.com/p=557
• https://yoursite.com/seo/best-seo-tools

It’s easy to pick, right? Basically, you need to make sure your URLs are readable and descriptive.

In WordPress, you have two places to control this. The first is Settings > Permalinks.

Here, you can set the overall URL structure. The most common option is Post name. You can also include your content categories in your URLs, however, avoid dates unless you run a news site or something else where it makes sense to date your content.

With the basic structure in place, you then need to create meaningful URL endings in the editor side panel whenever you create a page or post.

Keep your URLs short and meaningful. Most often, they simply consist of the main keyword for the page.

Implement SSL/HTTPS

Using SSL/HTTPS means encrypting your site traffic. It’s mandatory for online shops or websites that transfer sensitive data, however, HTTPS has increasingly become the default because search engines like Google reward you with better rankings if you use it.

You can see the SSL status of your website via the padlock logo in the browser bar.

To enable it on your site, you need an SSL certificate. The easiest option to obtain and configure one is usually through your hosting provider. Some include it by default and you can usually set it up with just a few clicks.

If you need to make the switch, a plugin like Really Simple SSL makes transferring your WordPress website to HTTPS easier. We’ll cover additional parts of technical SEO, such as site speed, sitemaps, and analytics, in more detail below.

2. Provide a Pleasant User Experience

The next way to optimize your website for ranking well in search engine results is to provide a good user experience. This is something that especially Google has started measuring more in recent years. Below are ways you can ensure people have a good time when visiting your website.

Create a Good Site Structure

The structure of your website determines how easy it is to navigate and find content. Its architecture also provides context to help search engines understand what your site is about and distribute authority throughout the entire website. Ideally, it should be set up so that users can access any page within a maximum of two to three clicks.

To create a helpful site structure:

1. Determine which pages your website needs.
2. Invest in clear navigation and internal links (more on that below).
3. Choose your main content categories and assign content to them.
4. Submit a sitemap to webmaster tools (more on that soon, too).

Provide Helpful Navigation

The navigation menu literally determines how well people get around your website and shows what’s most important.

For that reason, make sure to include your most essential pages there and clearly label them so people understand where a click will take them. This goes a long way to funnel them to the right places.

However, site navigation isn’t just about the main menu. Other ways to help visitors roam your website include elements like breadcrumbs or a footer navigation menu, so don’t neglect those!

Go Easy on the Popups

Popups or interstitials can be a huge detractor to a good user experience, especially on mobile. You probably don’t need to be told that, you’ve clearly used the Internet before.

Google knows this as well, which is why they’ve put together guidelines for using popups. Here’s the gist:

• Limit popups, especially on entry — Avoid full-screen interstitials that block the entire page, particularly immediately after a visitor enters your site. Use smaller, dismissible banners or embedded CTAs instead.
• Connect their appearance to user actions — If you absolutely have to use popups, make them appear based on intentional user actions, such as clicking a CTA.
• Optimize popups for mobile — Ensure your popups are easy to close on mobile screens, even with touch control.

3. Do Keyword Research

Keyword research can sound very complicated and intimidating when you first hear the term. However, on the very basic level, it simply means finding out what people type into search engines to find pages and websites like yours—that’s it. Of course, the devil is in the details, so let’s take it slow.

Identify Core Keywords

To do keyword research for your website, first start with broad topics. Make a list of general subjects related to your business or site, such as “digital marketing” or “gluten-free baking.” You might already have a few in mind from your website categories.

Use these as seed keywords to put into research tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Semrush, and Ubersuggest. These tools help you identify specific key phrases related to your main topics and also provide information like traffic estimations and the level of competition.

This gives you a clearer idea of which keywords it makes sense to go for. For more information, check out our guide on keyword research.

Focus on Long-Tail Keywords

SEO has been around for a long time. That means, for the same amount of time, a lot of people have been competing for the top spots in search engines.

As a consequence, there are a number of keywords that are very hard to rank for because other websites have already done the work. They are usually relatively short and broad keywords like “SEO” or “content marketing.”

For that reason, it is better to target longer or so-called “long-tail” keywords. These usually consist of more words (e.g., “SEO tips for beginners”) and have less traffic.

On the other hand, they are easier to rank for and are more targeted, so chances are higher that people will click on and be interested in your content. This means higher conversion rates.

Address Search Intent

SEO isn’t just about using the right keywords. You also need to understand the intent behind someone searching for them. Does the person want to gather information (informational intent), make a purchase (transactional), or compare options (commercial)?

It’s important that you use the right type of keyword for the right page. If you fail to do so, you risk disappointing visitors, and they’ll leave quickly—something search engines will notice.

For example, you wouldn’t optimize a product or sales page for ranking in search engines for a keyword like “how to optimize website speed”. In this case, intent is clearly informational. A more suitable keyword for a transactional page would be “buy SEO software.”

A good way to figure out search intent is to use a good keyword tool (see above) or look at the top results for your target keywords. The type of content Google ranks for it, e.g. blog posts, product pages, or videos, will tell you a lot about what they deem to be the intent behind it.

4. Create Content Worth Ranking

Content is one of the main ways Google ranks web pages. Therefore, it’s important that you learn how to make yours worth showing in the results.

Make It Value-Driven

The main goal with content is to provide value. Only if content is valuable to readers does it make sense for them to consume it, share it, and interact with the rest of your website and business.

How do you create content of this type?

• Answer user questions — Research common questions your audience has and provide clear, comprehensive answers.
• Cover topics thoroughly — Aim to create “complete” content that addresses all aspects of a topic, making it a go-to resource.
• Use original research or data — Where possible, include unique insights, case studies, or original research to boost credibility.
• Add unique perspectives — Share personal insights, examples, or solutions to differentiate your content.

A good way to determine what’s good content is to become familiar with Google’s concept of E-E-A-T.

The acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. While not used directly as a ranking factor, it’s a concept Google uses in its website quality rater guidelines to determine the overall quality of websites.

If you can demonstrate all of the above with your content, you are well on your way to gaining Google’s favor.

Ensure Readability

In addition to what’s in your content, how you present it also matters. Even if you have the most valuable insights in the world, if they’re presented in one big block of text with no line breaks or in an overly complicated manner, people won’t bother finding out.

So, make sure posts and pages are readable, especially through:

• Simple language — Avoid jargon and overly complicated words. Use simple, clear language to make content accessible to a wide audience. Always check for spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Short paragraphs and sentences — Use about two to three sentences per paragraph and keep them concise. Try to convey only one idea per paragraph.
• Headings andlLists — Structure content with meaningful H2 and H3 headings. Use bullet points or numbered lists to emphasize key takeaways and organize complex information.

Include Visuals

Another way to make content more engaging and optimize it for search engine ranking is to use visual elements. They help break up the text, make pages more pleasant to look at, can further emphasize the point you are making, and provide more context for your audience.

You have many types of visuals to choose from:

• Images
• Screenshots
• Graphs
• Charts
• Infographics
• Videos
• Embedded social posts

To maximize their impact, aim to include at least one visual element at every scroll depth.

Update Content Often

One of the things Google values in content is if it’s up to date. Older content naturally fades from search result pages over time.

For that reason, you’d do well to revisit older content regularly to add new insights, update outdated statistics, and improve examples to keep it relevant.

5. Implement Proper On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is another one of those terms that can seem a bit daunting at first. However, it simply means using keywords in a way that search engines understand the topic of your posts and pages while attaching extra information to make them look good in search results.

Use Keywords Strategically

In order to clarify your content’s topic, it’s important that keywords appear in certain places. The most important are:

• Page URL
• Page title
• Introduction
• Headings
• Main body copy
• Meta tags (e.g., title and description)

However, it’s important not to obsess over this and avoid overdoing it. Google is quite smart by now and can usually figure out the subject of your content. Mostly, you should simply write naturally about your topic. This will naturally lead to mentioning the keyword, as well as synonyms and related terms.

If you want a reminder and some help, install an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or SEOPress. These plugins have modules where you can enter the main keyword and get indicators if you’ve used it enough and in the right places.

Organize Your Content With Headings

Headings are critical for structuring content and providing opportunities to use keywords. However, for on-page SEO, it’s most important that you understand how to correctly use them.

You might have already noticed that headings come in different levels (H1 through H6). You can and should use those clarify the hierarchy of your content:

• There should only be one H1 heading per page, which is usually the page title (this is typically managed by your theme).
• Use H2 headings to divide content into sections.
• Use H3s and H4s for subsections within those divisions.

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that this is the heading usage in this very article. There are very few cases in which you should go lower than H4, most of the time H2s and H3s are enough.

Include Links

Another on-page SEO factor that matters for ranking well in search engines is links. They help both visitors and search engine spiders find related content and distribute SEO value throughout your site.

Here are some best practices:

• Link to relevant content — Guide readers to related articles or pages within your site.
• Use descriptive anchor text — Use meaningful keywords for the linked text rather than generic anchors like “click here.”
• Highlight important pages — Link more frequently to key pages (e.g., cornerstone content or high-converting pages) to pass link equity.
• Link to external sources you trust — To make your point and provide readers an opportunity to dive deeper, link to trustworthy sources and other helpful content.

Optimize Your Images

As mentioned, visuals can really spruce up your content, but they also need to be optimized for SEO. To make sure they are beneficial for your ranking:

• Use descriptive file names — Give image files meaningful names (e.g., “best-seo-tools.jpg”).
• Reduce image size — Images can slow down your pages. Shrink them using modern formats like WebP or Avif, and compress them before uploading.
• Include alt text — Add descriptive, keyword-rich alt text for accessibility and SEO. You can do this in the WordPress media library (see below).

Configure Meta Tags

Finally, there are meta tags. They allow you to optimize the way your pages look when ranking in search engine results. The most important are the title tag and meta description, because they appear very prominently.

You can easily customize these with the aforementioned SEO plugins and also see a preview of what they will look like.

Some tips for best results:

• Craft unique, keyword-rich title tags for each page. Keep them under 60 characters to avoid truncation.
• Write concise, descriptive meta descriptions (up to 160 characters) that include primary keywords and encourage clicks, e.g., via calls to action.

6. Optimize Site Speed

Page loading speed is an important piece of the puzzle to optimize your site for ranking well in search engines. Google has gone on record saying speed is a ranking factor, and two out of three Core Web Vitals metrics are about page performance.

We have already covered some of the things you can do to improve how fast your website loads, such as picking a good hosting provider and optimizing your images.

For further improvements, the most important thing you can do is learn how to test your website speed. This is as easy as inputting your most important pages into a tool like PageSpeed Insights. When you do, you’ll get a detailed performance analysis for both mobile and desktop users.

The tool also provides a list of specific issues that slow down your site and instructions on how to solve them.

You can take care of many of them by installing a performance plugin like LiteSpeed Cache, Autoptimize, or WP Rocket. They can do things like minify and compress code, eliminate render-blocking resources, or enable caching. This covers most of the important bases. You can learn more in our article on improving website speed.

7. Set Up Analytics and Tracking

Web analytics help you understand what’s happening on your website, what visitors do, where they come from, and more. This allows you to make decisions about your site based on data, not just hunches.

The two most important tracking tools you should sign up for are:

• Google Analytics — This allows you to track user behavior, traffic sources, and more.
• Google Search Console — Lets you monitor search performance (e.g., impressions, clicks, and keyword positions), fix crawl and indexing errors, and submit sitemaps.

You can use the data these tools provide to assess your website’s performance and refine your strategy over time.

8. Use Advanced Optimization Techniques

The above techniques should be enough to put you on a good foundation SEO-wise. Do them and your site should have be well positioned for ranking in search engine results. If you want to go further, here are three more rapid-fire SEO tips for you.

Set Up Schema Markup

Even if you don’t know the name, you have seen Schema markup in action. It’s what’s responsible for so-called rich snippets—search results that have additional information like images, ratings, pricing, or similar attached to them.

These help with click-through rates and also allow you be noticed in search results more easily.

Schema markup exists for different kinds of content, from blog posts over FAQs to products and local businesses (see next point). The easiest way to implement is to use a WordPress plugin like Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP. Most SEO plugins also have functionality to add the markup to your content. You can use Google’s Schema markup testing tool to see if it’s working correctly.

Do Local SEO

Local SEO is critical for businesses with a physical location or local clientele. It boosts visibility for geographically relevant searches, such as the “local three pack.”

If that applies to you, here are the most important steps you can take to show up in local search:

• Claim and set up your Google Business profile — Claim it here and fill in all available information, such as the business category, opening hours, phone number, website link, etc. In addition, actively request reviews from customers and respond to each one to improve visibility.
• Use local keywords — Include your city, neighborhood, and local landmarks on your website pages so that they can appear for local searches. Publish locally relevant content. If relevant, create pages for each of your store locations.

Build Backlinks

Links to your site are one of the most important ranking signals. They act as votes of confidence, signaling to search engines that your content is credible and valuable. Here are ways to attract more links to your site:

• Create content worth linking to — The first step if you want people to link to your site is to give them a reason. You can do that by creating high-quality content as discussed above. If you are the best resource out there on a topic, you make it much more likely that people will notice and link to you.
• Guest blogging and outreach — Reach out to high-quality websites or blogs in your industry and offer to write a guest post with a backlink to your site. Generally being in touch with industry figures and influencers can help you gain publicity and the occasional backlink.
• Reclaim broken links — Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to track when backlinks are lost, broken, or redirected. Reach out to the linking website, offering a corrected or updated link to your content. When your brand or content is mentioned without a link, you can also reach out and politely request that they add one.

9. Do Multilingual SEO

Optimizing your site for ranking high in search engine results is one thing, doing international SEO is a whole other ballgame. Luckily, our TranslatePress plugin can make this process much easier.

TranslatePress Multilingual

The easiest way to optimize your multilingual website to rank

Get the plugin Try out free version

Easily Translate All Content

The first step in trying to rank in another language is to translate your web page content to it. This is something TranslatePress makes very easy, especially if you use TranslatePress AI. It’s included in every TranslatePress license and you can use it with AI credits available through your account.

Basically all you have to do is to install the plugin, then define your site’s default language and at least one target language in Settings → TranslatePress.

Then, go to the Automatic Translation tab. Here, switch the drop-down menu under Enable Automatic Translation to Yes and save at the bottom.

TranslatePress will now automatically convert your website to your target language(s). In fact, when you go to front end of your site and use the language switcher, the translation is probably already done.

TranslatePress AI uses several sources for machine translation and automatically picks the most appropriate for your language pair to ensure best translation quality.

In addition to that, you can also choose to use Google Translate or DeepL in the settings.

What’s more, you have the option to adjust the automatic translations by hand or even translate your entire website manually if so desired. For that, just click on Translate Site/Page in the TranslatePress settings or the WordPress admin bar.

In the translation interface that follows, you can simply pick content from the preview window and enter or edit the translation in the dedicated field.

Finally, with a TranslatePress license, you also have the ability to create separate translator accounts so you can outsource the translation of your website to freelancers and agencies and they can work directly on your site.

Automatically Implement hreflang Tags

Besides providing translations, TranslatePress also optimizes your site for ranking in international search engine results. One important thing it does is implement hreflang tags. This clearly marks your pages’ language and locale so they will have an easier time ranking in correct language markets.

Translate SEO Meta Data

Finally, TranslatePress Pro comes with the multilingual SEO pack. It additionally lets you convert your page URLs, SEO titles, meta descriptions, ALT tags, and other important SEO markers to another language.

In fact, if you use machine translation like TranslatePress AI to translate your site, it happens automatically and you can also manually refine it like the rest of the content.

Plus, the extension creates multilingual sitemaps to submit to search engines and works with most of the popular WordPress SEO plugins.

There are even more features to discover. The free version of TranslatePress lets you add one additional language to your WordPress site. If you need more than that, pick from the three pricing tiers to find the right option for yourself.

Don’t Wait to Optimize Your Site’s Search Engine Ranking

While SEO can initially feel overwhelming, breaking it down into manageable steps makes it much more approachable. In the end, it’s all about ensuring search engines can access and understand your content, providing users with a great experience, and delivering content that answers real questions. The rest is just details.

By implementing the strategies above, you’ll be setting your website up for greater visibility, more organic traffic, and, ultimately, a better experience for your visitors. If you want to branch out from here and start ranking in different languages, TranslatePress is ready to make the process as pain-free as possible.