How to Create a Fully Optimised SEO Blog Post in WordPress

1. Adding a Title and Content:

Navigation: From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Posts” > “Add New.”
Title: Choose a catchy, relevant title that includes your target keyword. This is crucial for SEO as search engines give significant weight to the title.
Editor: Use the editor to type in your content. Ensure your content is original, high-quality, and provides value to your readers. Properly format your content using headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) for better readability and SEO.

2. Using Categories and Tags:

Purpose: Categorising helps in structuring your blog and enhancing user experience. Categories are meant for broad grouping of your posts. Tags, on the other hand, describe specific details of your posts and allow for micro-categorization.
SEO Tip: Both categories and tags can rank in search engines, so ensure they're relevant to the content and contain potential keywords.

3. Using the Media Library:

Navigation: Go to your WordPress dashboard > “Media” > “Library.”
Functionality: The Media Library centralises all your media files—images, videos, and documents. It’s crucial for organisation, especially for websites with extensive content.
SEO Tip: Before uploading, name media files descriptively and in plain language—this can help with image search rankings. Also, always add alt text to your images, which is a brief description that search engines use to understand the content of the image.

4. Using Yoast SEO Plugin:

Introduction: Yoast SEO is a widely recognised plugin for WordPress SEO. It gives actionable recommendations to optimise your blog post.
Using Yoast: Below your content editor, you'll find the Yoast SEO meta box. Here, you can set a focus keyword, edit your meta title and description, and view an analysis of how SEO-friendly your post is.
SEO Tip: Ensure your meta description is compelling and contains your target keyword. Though meta descriptions aren’t a ranking factor, they can influence click-through rates from search results.

5. Scheduling and Publishing Content:

Immediate Publishing: Click the “Publish” button when you’re ready for your post to go live.
Scheduling: If you want your post to go live at a future date, select the “Immediately” text adjacent to “Publish” and set your desired publishing time.
SEO Tip: Consistency is key. Regularly posting fresh content can indicate to search engines that your site is up-to-date and relevant.

6. Additional SEO Considerations:

Internal and External Linking: Embed relevant internal links to keep readers on your site and reduce bounce rate. External links to authoritative sources can also boost your post's credibility.
Loading Speed: Compress your images (https://imagecompressor.com/)
and use caching plugins (https://wp-rocket.me/) to improve your site's loading speed, as page speed is a ranking factor for Google.

7. Conclusion:

Regularly monitor the performance of your posts using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Understanding what works and what doesn’t will help you refine your content strategy over time. Happy blogging!