With the large-scale adoption of Google SGE (Search Generative Experience) in 2026, WordPress SEO is no longer just about installing an SEO plugin and inserting keywords. To gain sustained free traffic in this AI-driven era, Naibabiji has reorganized this super guide containing 35 practical techniques, deeply integrating traditional SEO details with the latest AI efficiency-boosting methods, to help everyone optimize WordPress SEO together.
Why Still Do WordPress SEO in 2026?
Where there is traffic, there is search; where there is search, SEO is involved. The traffic obtained through SEO is the most valuable and relatively stable. Although AI search is becoming popular,high-quality, uniquely insightful (E-E-A-T) native contentremains the source of traffic. SEO traffic does not require extra spending and is more trustworthy and persistent than paid advertising traffic. To this day, 70% of Naibabiji's traffic still comes from organic search.
A simple example，Naibabijiis a website built using WordPress, where only SEO optimization is done for promotion, with no off-site promotion carried out.
According to Google Analytics statistics, 70% of the traffic sources in the past week came from Organic Search.
From what Naibabiji understands, most companies either hire specialized SEO firms because no one knows how to do SEO, or directly spend money on paid search for SEM.
In the long run, bidding will inevitably become unsustainable for some small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, learning WordPress optimization techniques and obtaining free search engine traffic is an excellent choice.
Advantages of WordPress for SEO Optimization
The common view online is that WordPress is more suitable for Google SEO (Baidu SEO is also possible). The reasons are as follows:
- Open source and free, with powerful functionality;
- Reasonable structure, conducive to SEO layout;
- Abundant Theme templates, ensuring appearance is not homogenized. Combined with SEO Plugins, there is no need to worry about losing SEO information when changing Themes;
- Many developers, so many functions can be implemented with ready-made Plugins.
Prerequisites for WordPress SEO Optimization
To performWordPress SEO optimization, the prerequisite is that you have an installed WordPress website. If not yet, please refer to the article below to install one.
- WordPress Installation Tutorial: Building Your Own Website with WordPress
- WordPress Hosting Recommendations
WordPress SEO optimization includes two aspects: content and technology.
Content is the foundation of SEO optimization; any techniques and skills only help your content achieve better rankings.。
Without content, having only technology is meaningless. Now, let's get to the point and see what WP SEO optimization includes.
35 Core Steps for WordPress SEO Optimization
Please bookmark this article. I will update it periodically. When you feel confused about SEO, come back and review this article; I believe it will be helpful to you.
1. Domain Canonicalization: With or Without www?
Most people habitually think that any website should be like www.baidu.com, but in fact, baidu.com is the primary domain, and www.baidu.com is a subdomain.
If beginners are unclear about whether a domain should include www or even don't understand domain resolution, it is recommended to search online for related tutorials. Naibabiji'sDomain Topicalso contains tutorials on domain resolution; you can browse through them.
In simple terms:
- For domestic SEO optimization, it is recommended to use a domain with www.
- For international SEO optimization, it is recommended to use a domain without www.
For Google SEO optimization, the mainstream SEO view now recommends directly using the primary domain, with the www. domain set up for a 301 redirect to the primary domain. It should be noted that if your website has already been using a www. domain for some time, there is no need to deliberately switch to a non-www version. Although it is recommended, this does not have a direct impact on SEO effectiveness.
2. Enforce SSL (HTTPS) Access
If you pay attention, you will notice that websites with SSL security certificates enabled, i.e., accessed via https, display a small lock icon. If not enabled, it will indicate as insecure.
Google has also stated that it recommends enabling SSL security certificates for websites. Moreover, SSL certificates are available for free, and many shared hosting services offer one-click SSL certificate installation, so you don't need to worry about additional costs or technical issues.
Reference:Secure Your Site with HTTPS
3. Site Title and Subtitle Optimization
WordPress settings include options for Site Title and Tagline.
The Site Title is usually the name of your website, while the Tagline is a brief description of your website's overall content. It is best to include keywords related to your website's SEO in this description, such as Naibabiji's foreign trade website building, WordPress foreign trade website building, and foreign trade website building tutorials.
Only when the website title includes keywords is it possible for others to see your website when searching for related content on search engines.
AI Prompt:„Please generate 5 click-attracting and value-driven taglines based on the keyword “WordPress Website Building„.“
4. Install WordPress SEO Plugin
There are many SEO plugins available for WordPress. Naibabiji currently uses Slim SEO,Rank Math和Yoast SEOwhich is also used by many websites.
The method to install an SEO plugin is very simple: directly select 'Add New' in the WordPress Admin Dashboard plugins section, then search for SEO. The four SEO plugins shown in the image above can all be considered, butUse only one SEO plugin at a time.(Some SEO plugins have additional paid AI features; you can consider upgrading or manually analyzing with free AI tools yourself.)
These SEO plugins can help you standardize your website's title, description, and some social meta tags, preventing these critical codes from changing when you switch themes.
Regarding WordPress SEO plugins, Naibabiji has shared the following content. If you're interested, you can click the links to continue reading.
- Free Premium WordPress SEO Plugin Rank Math Tutorial
- Free Premium SEO Plugin The SEO Framework Download and Usage Tutorial
- Essential Baidu SEO Plugin for Chinese Websites_Baidu Search Push Management WP Plugin
- WordPress's #1 SEO Plugin Yoast SEO Chinese Premium Version Download and Tutorial
5. Set SEO-Friendly Permalinks
WordPress's Permalink settings are very convenient; you can modify them directly in the Admin Dashboard settings.
It is recommended to choose the 'Post name' format for Permalinks. Including keywords in the URL can significantly increase the chance of being selected for Google snippets.
Naibabiji currently uses a custom structure for Permalinks, which is due to some legacy issues and is now troublesome to change.
Once Permalinks are set, it is not recommended to modify them after the website has many pages indexed by search engines.
For a more detailed introduction to Permalinks, please continue reading the article below:
6. In-Depth Keyword Research (AI Tool Assisted)
Use DeepSeek / Kimi to batch cluster keywords. Stop writing articles blindly; instead, strategically plan based on users' real pain points (Intents).
💡 Tip: If you encounter obstacles accessing foreign AI tools, it is recommended to use the Stable Access Solution to obtain more comprehensive data analysis.
7. Craft a Title That „Even AI Approves“
A good title must contain keywords and be attractive. The 2026 title formula: [Keyword] + [Specific Benefit/Data] + [Timeliness]. For example: „WordPress SEO Optimization: A Complete Practical Guide with 200% Traffic Increase in 30 Days (2026 Edition)“.
Regarding this point, Naiba's own copywriting is not very good and cannot produce titles that make people want to click.
However, no matter how you name it, remember to include your article's main keywords in the title. For example, the following:
- The Ultimate Solution for WordPress SEO Optimization
- Do These WordPress SEO Optimizations and Watch Your Traffic Soar
- Start with These Points to Master WordPress SEO Optimization
A single keyword can be combined into many different titles, but determining which title increases click-through rates more is also a field of study.
For English websites, you can use the following websites to test the quality of your titles.
When writing article titles, be careful not to use too many characters, otherwise the search results may display incompletely.
8. In-Depth Meta Description Writing
While not directly involved in ranking, it directly affects CTR. Use AI to assist in writing summaries of appropriate length, ensuring keywords appear naturally in the first half of the description.
The editing of titles and descriptions can be assisted by SEO plugins, as shown in the image below:
If you do not fill them in manually, the SEO plugin will automatically use the article title and the first paragraph content as the page title and description. With AI assistance, you can manually enter more SEO-friendly titles and descriptions.
Reference:Creating good titles and summaries in search results
9. Proper Use of H1-H6 Heading Tags
Google has stated when communicating with SEO professionals that even if your website has multiple H1 tags, Google can identify which one is the correct title.
However, Naibabiji's advice is that regardless of whether Google can identify it, we should use heading levels normally and reasonably. A clear heading hierarchy helps Google SGE better understand your article structure.
The typical specification for using headings is:
- Use H1 for the webpage title
- Use H2 for subheadings
- Others decrease in order
For example, this article uses three levels of headings: H1, H2, and H3.
After all, h1 to h6 are part of a webpage's standard code, and everyone likes those who follow the rules.
Recommended reading:Google says web pages can have multiple H1 tags, what should we do?
10. Use Table of Contents for Long Articles
Google relatively prefers long articles, but long articles are not very suitable for user reading. Therefore, adding a table of contents can improve user experience on one hand, and on the other hand, it helps search engines determine the article content.
The method to add a table of contents in WordPress is very simple: install a table of contents plugin and use it in conjunction with proper heading tags.
11. Add ALT Tags and Textual Support to Images
For example, in the image above, the ALT tag "Permalink settings" was added to the image, so when others search for "Permalink settings" via Google Images, your image has a chance to appear.
Filling in ALT tags is a very important optimization method for image-heavy websites.
For more detailed usage of ALT tags, please read the article below:
12. Properly Name Images
Most websites do not pay attention to this point when doing SEO, but if the SEO competition in your industry is fierce, perfecting every detail can help with ranking.
Generally, the names of images we upload to websites are random or directly use Chinese names.
Actually, we can also name images in line with the article content, for example, using names like wordpress-seo-*.png for images in this article. (However, Naibabiji is now a bit lazy, and many images have meaningless names.)
Suggestions for image naming are:
- Do not use Chinese names for images
- Do not use meaningless names
- It is recommended to use English words related to the content for naming
- Separate words with hyphens
- Post Featured Image Name Contains Keywords
13. Pay Attention to Article Writing Techniques to Enhance Content E-E-A-T Weight
Posts are the most important element for achieving search rankings, so writing a good post is the foundation for SEO ranking. Integrating your personal experience and professional case studies into the content is the key to standing out in 2026, a time when AI-generated homogeneous content is prevalent.
What is EEAT?
Experience + Expertise + Authoritativeness + Trustworthiness = EEAT. This is the core content quality assessment standard proposed by Google in its „Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines“.
In the AI era, users can obtain information from AI more efficiently. Therefore, for an article to gain more traffic, it needs to contain something AI does not have: personal experience. The ultimate goal of search engines like Google is to provide the best user experience. When it discovers content containing unique, verifiable real-world experience (such as specific times, locations, data, process reviews) paired with a professional analytical framework, it will treat this as a strong signal of high quality. This stands in sharp contrast to AI content that merely aggregates information.
Naiba's experience is,When writing an article, you should ask yourself:：
- Does the content you write have user search demand?
- Does the article content satisfy user needs?
- Does the article content include SEO optimization techniques?
- Is the content you write more in-depth or practical than what AI provides?
14. Pay Attention to Article Length
Some foreign websites and institutions have conducted surveys and statistics specifically on the relationship between article length and ranking. In fact, in our daily use of Google search, you will also find that often longer articles achieve good rankings.
However, this viewpoint should also be analyzed on a case-by-case basis; it does not mean that all content is suitable for long articles.
On the basis of satisfying user search needs, appropriately expanding the content breadth is still very beneficial.
15. Use Appropriate Nofollow Links
Do not indiscriminately pass link authority to low-quality websites; reasonably mark untrusted external links.
If you have no special settings, then every link you insert in your article is a dofollow link.
So what is a Nofollow link?
奶爸建站笔记
A link containing the `rel="nofollow"` attribute like the one above is a nofollow link.
The purpose of adding nofollow is to tell search engines not to follow this link. Wikipedia's explanation is as follows:
Nofollow is an attribute in HTML used to tell search engines not to follow a specific web link. It can be used to prevent the practice of adding links in comments on websites with high PageRank to boost one's own site ranking, thereby improving search result quality and preventing the spread of spam links. Website administrators can also use nofollow for paid links on their pages to prevent those links from lowering search rankings.
For more knowledge about Nofollow, you can continue reading the following articles:
- Which Pages Should Use Noindex or Nofollow Tags
- How to Check if an External Link is Nofollowed?
- What can we do about Google's March 1st Nofollow link update?
16. Optimize Internal Linking
Internal link optimization is easy to understand. The links inserted in this article, which point to pages on Naibabiji, are all called internal links.
The role of internal links is, on one hand, to connect the articles and content of your website, and on the other hand, to enrich the breadth and depth of the article content.
The following is an internal link:
17. Optimize External Linking
Traditional SEO knowledge tells us that external link optimization refers to links left for you by other websites that are not your own, called external links or backlinks.
For example, if you think this article by Naiba is good, repost it on your own blog, or insert the address of this Naiba article in your own blog post, then you have created an external link for Naiba.
Naiba has little research on external links. First, external links are always on other people's websites and are uncontrollable. Second, building external links is quite an effort-intensive task.
If you can obtain some high-quality external links, the effect on SEO ranking is relatively significant. (Authoritative websites, or large websites, can leave links for you, then the quality of such external links is quite high.)
It is not recommended to purchase paid links, as poor choices may backfire and directly result in loss of rankings.
18. Submit Sitemap
A sitemap, also known as a sitemap, is a collection of links to all Posts and Pages on your website, helping search engines discover the pages on your site.
Most mainstream WordPress SEO Plugins support sitemap functionality, eliminating the need for additional dedicated Plugins. (WordPress natively supports it too, but it's better to just use the SEO Plugin's feature, as it's more user-friendly.)
For a tutorial on generating a sitemap in WordPress, please refer to the article below:
After setting up your sitemap, you can submit it to major search engines such as Google, Bing, Yandex, etc.
This involves the use of Google Search Console. Refer to the article below:
For other search engines, simply search for their corresponding webmaster centers and submit your sitemap there.
19. Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research is an ongoing process throughout SEO, involved in almost every step.
There are many tools for researching keywords for English websites, such asKWFinder，SEMrush和Ahrefs.
For Chinese websites, you can use sites like Aizhan, 5118, etc.
Of course, using Google search yourself can also reveal many keywords. For example, the screenshot above shows some search terms related to Google SEO.
20、使用结构化标签
Structured tags, also known as Schema, are highly favored by Google.
schema.org was created through collaboration between Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! Its purpose is to establish a structured data markup schema supported by major search engines to provide users with a better web experience. On-page markup helps search engines understand the information on a webpage and deliver richer search results. Shared markup vocabulary allows website owners to more easily decide on a markup schema and get the most benefit from their work.
This Rank Math Plugin supports Schema tags, or you can install a dedicated Schema Plugin to implement them.
In your usual search results, some websites display results with ratings, which actually use Schema tags.
Reference:Understand how structured data works
21、保持重要文章内容更新
In many cases, the content we share in articles becomes outdated over time. For example, Naibabiji'sSiteGround Website Setup Tutorialprompted feedback from a visitor who searched online and found many tutorials with outdated methods, until they saw Naibabiji's article which solved their problem.
Therefore, keeping content up-to-date also helps your website's Traffic and rankings.
22、优化网站速度
Website speed is also a factor affecting page rankings. Research shows that if a page takes more than 4 seconds to load, a quarter of visitors will abandon the site.
By default, after installing WordPress with a premium Theme and corresponding Plugins, the site speed is relatively slow without optimization, so some speed optimization is necessary.
At the most basic level, you can consider using a CDN service and a caching Plugin.
For WordPress speed optimization, you can refer to the following articles.
- Website running slow? 10 WordPress optimization methods to help you speed up
- WordPress Speed Optimization Topic Articles
Of course, if you are not very proficient in technical optimization, you can directly consider purchasing a server with high configuration.
A server with better performance will significantly improve website loading speed.
However, do not blindly believe the optimization scores written in online articles; base it on the actual user experience when opening the site. (This is Naiba's personal opinion, for reference only.)
23、死链检测
After a website has been operating for a period, some dead links (i.e., links that cannot be opened or result in access errors) may appear.
These dead links will affect search engine crawling and reduce user experience.
WordPress has dead link checking plugins; you can install one to check and then handle the dead links accordingly.
24、确保移动端访问正常
Most WordPress themes are responsively designed, displaying different layouts based on different browsers, so generally, there is no need to worry about mobile incompatibility issues.
At the same time, Google has aMobile-Friendly Test Tool, you can go and test it.
However, in actual testing, this result has bugs; a website that opens normally when tested on a mobile phone may report errors in Google's mobile-friendly test tool, so don't worry too much about this test—base it on your website's actual testing. (Many webmasters abroad have also encountered this issue, and there is currently no feasible solution.)
At the same time, you can also install anAMP Plugin, which is a mobile access format launched by Google. If there is an AMP page in the search results, it will automatically redirect to the AMP page to view the content.
25、安装统计代码
Installing tracking codes will slow down the website speed to some extent, but analyzing statistical data is a daily task for SEO optimization.
For foreign trade websites, Naibabiji recommends using Google Analytics, which can be used together with Google Search Console.
26、跟踪关键词排名
If you are a professional in SEO, then monitoring keyword rankings is also a very important task.
Analyze SEO effectiveness based on ranking changes and determine how to continue optimizing and maintaining rankings.
Naibabiji currently hopes to rankbuild my own websitethis keyword first. However, I don't check the ranking changes daily, only occasionally searching and looking.
As a corporate website, it is still recommended to monitor the ranking changes of your website's main keywords daily.
Check if your ranking has changed, if new competitor websites have appeared, and then analyze the competitor websites.
27、使用高质量的图片
High-quality images usually have larger file sizes, so if your website's network speed is relatively slow, it's best to use a CDN service when using high-quality images to avoid slowing down the website.
Additionally, high-quality images are mainly for better Google image search rankings. If your website business does not attract many users through images, then there is no need to specifically create high-quality images.
As long as the article images are clear, it's sufficient.
28、增加用户会话时长
Session duration is a factor that has a significant impact on Google website rankings, corresponding to the „Website Bounce Rate".
If the website bounce rate is low, the corresponding session duration will be relatively high.
If the bounce rate is high, the session duration is usually not very long either.
If the bounce rate is too high and the session duration is short, Google will think your webpage content does not meet the user's search needs.
However, this is not absolute; it should be determined based on the actual article content. For example, for a problem-solving article, if someone comes in, sees the solution at a glance, and then closes the webpage, it actually meets their user needs.
If you deliberately hide the answer deep within to increase session duration, it might instead cause Google to lower the webpage's ranking.
29、删除无意义文章
For a website doing SEO optimization for ranking, the more singular and precise the overall content of the website, the simpler the optimization.
This is called „content pruning“ abroad.
It means deleting articles that are unrelated to the website's main theme or outdated.It's better to have a small amount of high-quality content than a large amount of irrelevant content.。
Naibabiji previously also included some parenting logs, which were later uniformly deleted.
30、删除重复内容
Sometimes, after a long time, you might not even know you've written similar articles on the same topic. There might be some subtle differences between the two articles.
But it's best to merge the two articles into one, delete one of them, and set up a 301 redirect to the other.
31、创建关于页面
Pages like About, Contact Us, including Privacy Policy pages, can all increase the website's trustworthiness, indirectly affecting how much website visitors promote your site, thereby impacting the website's traffic and ranking.
32. Delete Spam Comments
Usually, after a website goes live, it gets harassed by spam comments.
These spam comments often contain many links, and some website administrators, thinking they are real comments, are especially happy and approve them.
In fact, these spam comments with links can damage your website's image and affect SEO ranking.
33. Add Breadcrumb Navigation
The location in the screenshot is the breadcrumb navigation.
Breadcrumb navigation, on one hand, allows users to clearly know their location on the website and easily switch to the parent directory.
On the other hand, it also increases the crawling path for search engine spiders.
Some advanced WordPress Themes come with breadcrumb navigation functionality. If your Theme does not support it, you can also implement it yourself via a Plugin or code.
34. Use Outbound Links
Using External (Outbound) Links, presumably the SEO Plugin you installed will also prompt you.
It means telling you that you should insert some links to external websites appropriately in your articles.
The function of this is similar to writing a paper, where you have some authoritative sources as references to increase the credibility of your article.
(Actually, Naiba is also wondering if this is a scoring rule Google deliberately created to promote re-interconnection of the internet, after all, many people nowadays恨不得 (wish) their website wouldn't show any other person's URL.)
Reference:STUDY - OUTGOING LINKS USED AS RANKING SIGNAL
35. Implement Topic Cluster Content Model
Create „Pillar Pages“ and related „Cluster Content“ around the core theme, and connect them closely through internal links to comprehensively establish the website„s authority in that field.
Example:
For example, the article I created titled „WordPress SEO Optimization Tutorial„ is a core article on WordPress SEO optimization. Although it provides 35 optimization tips, the details of each tip are not in-depth. Later, I can write in-depth introduction articles for each point and link these pages to this article through internal linking. After completing these articles, I can clearly tell search engines: “My website is the ultimate authority on WordPress SEO optimization, covering all relevant aspects.„ This greatly satisfies search engines“ preference forin-depth, comprehensive, and authoritative content. At the same time, it also differentiates from AI-generated content and serves as the cornerstone for building long-term, stable search traffic in the era of AI content.
WordPress SEO Optimization Summary
The core logic of WordPress SEO in 2026 is:Use AI to improve efficiency by 10 times, and use „humans“ to provide 10 times the value. Only articles that truly solve users' problems can remain stable amidst algorithm fluctuations.
Above, I have summarized so manyWordPress SEO optimization methodswith everyone. However, in the actual process of operating a website, we don't need to do every single one, as few people can consistently complete so many optimization items for all pages.
We only need to do the basic SEO optimization and perform detailed SEO for some pages and keywords with high competition. By making the content more accurate and comprehensive than competitors, the chance of ranking higher than them will be much greater.
Finally, friends who like this article might as well add it to your bookmarks. Naiba will continuously update this article, and you can also come back to read it when you don't know how to do SEO for your WordPress website.
WordPress SEO Plugin Recommendations
Here are some classic WordPress SEO plugins to share with you. Click the links to go directly to the plugin's official website for the full introduction.
- Yoast SEOCurrently the SEO plugin with the largest number of WordPress users, divided into free and premium versions;
- All in one SEOThe SEO plugin with the second-largest number of users, divided into free and premium versions;
- Rank MathAn SEO plugin with strong rising momentum. The free version includes many premium features, and a premium version has also been launched;
- Smart SEO ToolThe SEO plugin that best fits the usage habits of Chinese users, completely free;
- All-in-one search automatic push management pluginA paid plugin that can help you push articles to search engines for indexing. Recommended for Chinese websites;
- Popular keyword recommendation plugin ProDon't know how to write articles for SEO? This plugin is essential and suitable for both Chinese and English websites;
- Spider AnalyserStatistics on search engine crawling of your website, helping to analyze indexing status. Suitable for those who like to analyze website data.
This article has opened the comment function. If you have any opinions, you are welcome to discuss and exchange ideas together.
🚀 Still don't know how to implement after reading so much?
「Naibabiji WordPress Website Building Coaching」—Led by Naiba, taking you deep into hands-on practice. From server optimization to the most cutting-edge AI SEO strategy layout in 2026, we accompany you throughout the process, rejecting empty talk.👉 Start My SEO Profit Journey
After the article was updated on April 17, 2020, it ranked 4th on the second page. Let's see if it can reach the first position and when it will rank first.
On July 16, 2020, searches for „WordPress SEO optimization“ and „WordPress SEO tutorial“ both ranked in the top five.
Hello! I'm currently using Yoast. Can I switch to the one you recommend?
Yes, you can switch. Rank Math supports importing SEO configuration data from Yoast.
Discovering your blog feels like finding a treasure trove. I specifically registered to leave a comment. Thank you for sharing.
I'm really happy.
The article is excellent, very instructive!
Followed the website building tutorial. Used the $12/month plan. However, on the first day, the website's CPU and runtime were often maxed out. On the second day, the domain website became intermittently accessible. The Baota Panel IP address also showed a 503 error.
CPU maxing out is usually a program issue, possibly due to Plugin compatibility or incorrect code somewhere.