On Page SEO Redirect link
Before we get into optimizing your site and blog posts, we need to make sure the following two elements are in place and properly set up:
- Mobile Compatibility (= how well does your site design adjust and function to mobile devices?)
- Site Speed (= how quickly does your site load?)
Mobile-Friendly
In one of the more recent algorithm updates (April 2021), Google made it a requirement for every site to be “mobile friendly”.
A lot of web sites lost their ranking, because they didn’t pay attention or didn’t update in time, so be sure to take care of this right from the start.
A staggering 70% of users access the internet through mobile devices these days, so it is really important that your site looks good and is fully functional on all.
Fortunately, most themes are now “mobile friendly”, so you shouldn’t run into any problems, but always make sure “responsive” is listed as a feature whenever you review a Wordpress theme.
To test your site you can use Googles’s Mobile-Friendly Test :
Site Speed
You have probably visited sites that take forever to load. It’s really frustrating and I usually just press the back button and find a faster alternative.
Google is aware of this behavior and punishes slow sites. You will not ever rank high with a slow loading site.
An easy way to test your site’s speed is Google Page Speed Insights .
You can enter your site name and will get two speed metrics - one for mobile devices and one for desktop.
Ideally, both values should be green. Occasionally yellow is still ok, but the numbers should not be lower than 70, ideally above 80.
If your site does not meet those requirements, Google will provide you with a number of instructions on how to improve site speed. It’s a rather complex and time consuming task, so I usually outsource to someone on Fiverr or Konker .
This is one of the gigs I have used in the past, pretty inexpensive, and I can focus my time on other things: Fiverr Site Speed Gig
Plugins that improve Site Speed
There are number of free Wordpress plugins that will greatly help with site speed. I would recommend installing at least the first 3:
1) Database Optimizer : WPOptimize
By default, WordPress stores every post, page, and comment including post revisions, trash data, and information from various plugins.
WP Optimize helps you de-clutter your database by removing stale post revisions, spam comments, trashed items, and removal of transient options.
Less clutter = more speed!
2) Caching Plugin: W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache
A caching plugin stores your site’s images, files and data on the server, so it doesn’t have to load the website from scratch every time someone visits. Instead, the static version of your site is displayed. This saves a lot of resources and works with any type of website.
3) Photo Optimizer: WPSmush.it
High quality photos can greatly slow down a site’s loading speed. As a general rule, always save your photos at no more than 100KB total size and at the actual dimensions that the photos will show in the post. Photoshop, Apple Preview and various other photo softwares allow you to set those parameters without loosing quality.
A plugin like WP Smush.it will further ensure that images are properly compressed and use appropriate formats.
This plugin reduces image file sizes, improves performance, strips the metadata from JPEGs, and removes unused colors from indexed images.
4) Lazyloader: BJ Lazy Load
Allows you to “lazy load” post images and thumbnails by replacing them with a placeholder. The images are only loaded as they are about to become visible in a user’s browser.
5) P3 Profiler
If you notice problems with site speed, this plugin can help identify if any of your installed plugins are responsible.
To install any of the above plugins, open your WP Admin Board, go to Plugins -> Add New -> enter the plugin name in the search bar, click “install” -> “activate”.
Here is the example of Redirect link:
