What is WordPress SEO? The Difference Between SEO and WordPress SEO
A term which gets used a lot is "WordPress SEO".
This means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
I would say the biggest confusion comes from people who think SEO is different for WordPress sites from other platforms (HTML, Shopify, TypePad, etc.). This is not the case at all. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the same regardless of the platform you build your site on. The difference comes in how you approach SEO.
What is WordPress SEO?
WordPress SEO is the optimization techniques used to setup and prepare the most optimal SEO environment possible on your WordPress blog.
When setting up a new WordPress website, there is a set of optimizations and settings which should be done in order to maximize the SEO of each and every page and post which is created on the site. By setting up these optimizations using specific settings and plugins, you then have the ability to rank higher and faster then you would otherwise. All of this is specific to WordPress and its individual settings and configurations.
This is WordPress SEO.
I can definitely tell you what WordPress SEO is not. Its not a plugin. Its not a theme. You can't install something and then hope it will magically take care of everything that is or will be SEO on your blog. It doesn't work that way.
Even with the best WordPress SEO plugin installed on your site, your site is not then automatically setup for SEO. All a plugin or theme can do is help you and recommend to you optimizations which will make optimizing for SEO easier. There is no SEO magic wand. You still need to know what SEO is and how to optimize for it.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is the process of optimizing on-site, on-page, and off-site factors to achieve the best possible rankings in search engines like Google and Bing (primarily Google) in order to drive free organic traffic to your website.
Each SEO Ranking Factor requires specific optimizations which in turn helps your content rank better and higher and drive more traffic to your site than it would without those optimizations.
The Top 3 Ranking Factors in 2017 are:
- Links
- Content
- Rankbrain
*You can see these Top 3 Factors and how to use them to rank higher in Google here.
Conclusion
We all want to rank as high as possible in Google, Bing, and other search engines. The process for doing this can be long and complicated, but the long term benefits of free organic traffic outweigh the work required.
WordPress SEO, when done correctly, can turn your WordPress blog into an optimal environment for SEO which allows your content to outrank your competitors who are too lazy to do what will ultimately make you and your business a lot more money.
One of the hardest things to do online is drive traffic to your website. When you optimize your site and you optimize for SEO using the main ranking factors, you create an environment for your business where traffic becomes easy and you can then focus on making more money.
WordPress SEO is an optimization of your WordPress website and SEO by itself is the process of ranking and increasing your rankings using the SEO factors. This is the difference.
See my Step by Step Tutorial on How to Setup and Optimize Your Blog for WordPress SEO here now!
Any questions?
