Wordpress SEO Tutorial for Beginners (Search Engine Optimization Basics)

In this tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of Wordpress SEO and how to use its built-in features in combination with the Yoast SEO plugin.
Wordpress is a content management system (CMS) which was commonly used as a blogging platform. But it has developed into much more than that.
It is now used by millions to create all sorts of websites from ecommerce websites to business websites and more.
Wordpress SEO is no different than just regular search engine optimization. Wordpress is a tool that makes traditional SEO techniques and strategies easier to implement and technically sound.
In this tutorial you’ll learn:
1. How to choose a Wordpress theme without compromising technical SEO.
2. Whether you should choose HTTP or HTTPS as well as www vs. non-www versions.
3. The “optimal” permalink structure and how to set it up.
4. Basic plugin configuration for Yoast SEO.
5. The difference between posts and pages.
6. What the title and custom URL features mean from an SEO perspective.
7. On-page optimization best practices with the WYSIWYG editor
8. On-post/page Yoast SEO settings.
9. Using pages to manipulate your URL structure.
This is the first video in a two-part series. The next video will cover advanced SEO techniques using Wordpress. • Wordpress SEO: Advance...
Additional Resources:
Best On-Page SEO Techniques ► • Top 10 On Page SEO Tec...
On-Page SEO Study ► ahrefs.com/blog/on-page-seo/
Timestamps:
1:15 How to select a WordPress theme and domain versions
2:55 Set up the “optimal” permalinks structure
4:43 How to create a post and formate it with the WYSIWYG editor
7:36 Set up the on-post/page Yoast SEO settings.
8:44 Use pages to manipulate your URL structure.
Be sure to subscribe for more actionable marketing and SEO tutorials.
kzbin.info?sub...
STAY TUNED:
Ahrefs ► ahrefs.com/
KZbin ► kzbin.info?sub...
Facebook ► / ahrefs
Twitter ► / ahrefs

[@fresh7467]

Can you move your laptop to the right a little bit more

[@mattroberts4732]

His right or ours?

[@abuzarqureshi3576]

@@mattroberts4732 ours

[@darioroelli]

Or remove it completly

[@StudioSixtyAustralia]

Hahaha

[@KiTrain]

it will fall

[@bonitamosley226]

Thank you, Sam! I'm a newbie and you just unwrapped what seemed to me like a deep tunnel of confusion. Your directions were easy to follow and I am really grateful!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Sara-yi6dq]

Your videos are truly the best on KZbin, not only do you make SEO easier to understand but you show concrete examples of the tool. More videos about SEO content writing please :)

[@AhrefsCom]

We published one recently: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnPHi2OaitpqjLM - SQ

[@Sara-yi6dq]

@@AhrefsCom already watched it 👍😄

[@wpreformer38]

Doing the right things and implementing best practices right from the very start of your website is the first and one of the best things anyone should do when planning to run a website online to achieve success

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@andrewkoziol7615]

Thank you for the detailed tutorial!

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@NachfolgerPvtLtd]

Concise, Accurate and Very Informative; keep up the great work SAM! Regards.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@bouweenvermogen]

Damn! So much value in 1 video! Thanks a lot! 🔥

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks for watching! -Helen

[@angeloperera2681]

Amazing Video! Thank You!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@vybeproduction426]

Sweet Video! needed this today! thank you...

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@organixgirl]

Very simple explanation on creating pot content and the settings thank you.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful! -Helen

[@kevinheath5655]

This is a good beginners guide to wordpress SEO, thanks

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@CrowneeFC]

Great! Nicely explained! Thanks.

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad you liked it :) -Helen

[@nickyacketts5465]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@daniel51020]

Helpful. Thank you.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@alveenatauqir6373]

Amazing tutorial!!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@digileapmarketingservices]

Thank you for sharing this informative and articulate video.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@objectifmillionnaire5032]

Au top la vidéo 💪 !

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks! :)

[@melanievoltz9844]

New to this channel and WOW! Phenomenal video and instruction--can't believe I can access this for free. Thank you so much!!!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're very welcome! And stay tuned for more helpful videos ;) -Helen

[@emmawoolcott2855]

So helpful, thanks

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@JimsMealPrep]

Just found your page, great content and extremely helpful. Thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

Awesome, thank you! -Helen

[@Arooshs-creative-kingdom]

thanks, ahrefs I have a question about ( 3: 53) SEO. I have the Yoast SEO plugin but I don't see the SEO option in the sidebar as shown in the video. where can I find the XML Site map?

[@amarzonexpress6562]

A very helpful video for me. many many thanks.

[@AhrefsCom]

You are more than welcome!

[@jyotibanavali1194]

Thank you for the good information

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LouStoriale]

Perfectly done

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Part 2 coming on Wednesday.

[@cuteandfunnypets6527]

Informative Video Tutorial.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@svengates2802]

Awesome and well explained Sir!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video ;) - Max

[@xomelissalucy]

This is a huge help! Thank you so much for this video!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks, Melissa :) Glad you found it helpful.

[@carterangon]

Really informative and well explained! Thanks for sharing! Love your tutorials ❤️

[@AhrefsCom]

Great to hear :) Lots more on the way.

[@carterangon]

Ahrefs Ohh yeahhh, great news 👏🏻👏🏻 cant wait to learn more and more 🤓

[@danishshehzad7308]

why you are looking right(smile) you are great for remove our confusions thanks a lot.

[@AhrefsCom]

😀

[@SudarshanKannadiga]

Thanks a lot. Subscribed...

[@AhrefsCom]

You are welcome!

[@iinrgetixx]

Learnt so much from this in just 10 minutes. Thank you!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome, Ivan! Glad you were able to pick up some new tips :)

[@captjimusfl]

VERY well done! New subscriber.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks, Jim! Welcome to our community 😀

[@mdshakimdshaki6733]

Thank you very nice information

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks for watching! -Helen

[@crystalshares627]

I like the way you do the tutorial, your great anyway I learn a lot, thanks for the information that you share.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks! -Helen

[@muhammadzubairjan6937]

Fantastic work keep it up Sam Oh! Thank you so much for this tutorial very informative

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome, Muhammad :) Glad you enjoyed it

[@zitaqwamuhammad]

I been so stuck on this i get it a little bit better now

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@manuelparedesf]

This guy is gold

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks! -Helen

[@GlobaliwebSolution]

Your tools really helpful, i have spend a lot of time on this. Thanks

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome. Hope you're able to ramp up your Wordpress SEO :)

[@briansureobino]

Thank you so much, so helpful.

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome, Brian!

[@ellishatfield9207]

Thanks for this video, the permalinks option is not available to me on the Settings menu. There is no help online, is this a theme dependent issue? Many thanks if you respond.

[@mariamahady3681]

Thank youuuuu!!!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@guntarion]

I watch this video on 2020, find it very useful. The visualization effect is a top-notch, and the long video description is in fact very helpful! It helps when rewatching the video on some other time and it even gave me a sense of accomplishment LoL.

[@AhrefsCom]

Guntar, I am glad to know that people use our long video descriptions =) We try to summarize the most important aspects of the video there, so that you can go over it real quick to refresh things if you missed anything =) - Max

[@VijaySrinivas]

Waiting for the next video on tech SEO in the series as we pushed through very basic stuff now!

[@AhrefsCom]

Coming next week :)

[@targetedviewers2764]

Yeah wordpress has a lot we can do to help with seo. Great video

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@samrasoli]

useful, thanks

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful! 🙏 -Helen

[@alvinreysuplac8551]

Thank You Sam

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@stephenkwakuboateng9486]

Good work done

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@Practiceofthepractice]

Another great video! Thanks for sharing these tips!

[@AhrefsCom]

You are more than welcome!

[@farazfrank3117]

100% Accurate and very informative

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@theintern7054]

even the bit about focus keyword?

[@beadedbyalicia]

Hi Sam, I always set my posts with the blog as the primary category and then tick the other category box that the article belongs to. My question is should i put the article with the category it belongs to as the primary category and the blog as the secondary or does it not make any difference. Great video as usual :)

[@AhrefsCom]

Unfortunately this question is an "it depends" kind of question. It really depends on whether you're indexing your category pages, using breadcrumbs, trying to rank your category pages etc. It's best that you contact a technical SEO on site structure/architecture for something specific to your website :)

[@dyrectory_com]

Thanks Ahrefs for the Wordpress SEO tutorial! 👏🏻 🌍 💻

[@AhrefsCom]

You are welcome😉

[@chijiokeeke8535]

nice video thanks

[@AhrefsCom]

You are welcome!

[@mdyousaf4785]

Thank you for great content. I have a training company website where our all courses and their details are in woocommerce product pages/descriptions. We have various categories under which these courses fall but no separate pages for categories or even for courses. I am confused about the difference between WordPress pages and woocommerce pages. May you please elaborate if course description on WordPress page are more SEO friendly or we can continue woocommerce product descriptions. Thanks in advance

[@AhrefsCom]

Isn't WooCommerce built on/integrated with Wordpress? I don't think they're necessarily more "SEO-unfriendly" than WP. - SQ

[@ryansmyths92]

Very descriptive and easy to understand! Keep it up

[@AhrefsCom]

Glad it was helpful!

[@skunkaliciouzsodeliciouz3693]

Thanks very much was helpful

[@AhrefsCom]

You are welcome!

[@skunkaliciouzsodeliciouz3693]

@@AhrefsCom i added yoast plugin to my wordpress and it say google search console cannot show up the crawl errors how do i get that fixed???

[@AhrefsCom]

Please reach out to yoast plugin support for some help

[@suvarnnakumaresan6479]

Hi, what plugin are you using for writing blog post?

[@eslproofreadingpros1719]

Great video, very informative! Thanks!

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome. Glad you found it to be helpful.

[@leeknights7573]

Regarding permalink settings- I have currently set my permalink to custom structure and added postname and category. Will it be best to change the permalink to post name instead and if i did change it will google only show my posts and not categories?

[@AhrefsCom]

That would be entirely up to you. Some choose to show category/post-name and others just post-name. I haven't personally seen sites that I can recall that do post-name/category.

[@kfarmer2u]

You Rock!!

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks!

[@Eskimoz]

Sans aucune hésitation on like :)

[@AhrefsCom]

I am glad you enjoyed 😉

[@alanamanzoro01]

Hi! Your work is amazing! I came here to check it after you posted the link on other website and I am impressed! I am not such an experienced video editor, but you def got a subscriber :) PS. banana.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks, Fernanda! Glad you're enjoying our videos and welcome to Ahrefs TV :)

[@ingenioso80]

very good

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks, Daniel!

[@vasilenaivanova7639]

Hello Sam! Such a useful video! Thank you! I've got one question- are these methodes applicable for different languages?

[@AhrefsCom]

General principles should fit any language. -Helen

[@TravelTrained]

Hi, i love your tutorials. should you index categories & tags in yoast seo or not ? i heard different oppinions, what is yours ? Thank you

[@AhrefsCom]

Categories are fine for the most part. Tags -- personally, I wouldn't. -Sam

[@GrowWithWill]

Personally, I ignore categories and tags; they never really get meaningful rankings or traffic due to their constantly changing nature and limited content density (besides the titles and short descriptions of posts).

[@steelmaxkoiupalamtirur1998]

Thanks

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@mostakinyasir6586]

dear sam, so we should not bother about focus keyword which is exceptionally much focused by Yoast/rank math SEO tool? could you please clarify me

[@AhrefsCom]

Please clarify your question. Not sure I understand what you asked about =( - Max

[@dia-elsayed7469]

Sam bro i need generate press theme Review Please?Help Me

[@ezratan399]

HI, thank you so much for sharing this video! 👍 Just a quick question, if I'm writing a Chinese blog post, should I use Chinese words in the permalink/slug or translate into English?

[@AhrefsCom]

I'd probably use English in the slug. - SQ

[@ezratan399]

@@AhrefsCom Thanks for the reply 😄

[@nodeninja5616]

great helpful video... thanks for the post

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome! :)

[@charitotamargo4565]

you should really try making a book or an E-book about these things! (here again from your other vids)

[@AhrefsCom]

We are blogging about this on our blog, might be enough for now =) - Max

[@ellytran5693]

show appreciation you on behalf of allotment in the midst of me . I passion it ,

[@AhrefsCom]

You're welcome!

[@ariela_]

Im torn between which platform to use. Do you have a video on that? I’m thinking wix because I’m a beginner and I don’t know how to code or keep up with a website but Wordpress sounds more professional. Wordpress doesn’t have customer support, is it beginner frequently?

[@AhrefsCom]

The choice of platform depends on many factors, it's hard to say what works in your case. But CMS is often a good choice for people who don't know code. -Helen

[@jackierockwell120]

Hmm, I don't have XML Sitemaps when I go to my Yoast SEO. Would that be with the Premium version?

[@AhrefsCom]

XML sitemaps are/should be included in the free version. Try and go to yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml. If it loads, then it's there, but since plugins update somewhat frequently, they may be in a different place than what you saw in our video. -Sam

[@pixelwebdesign623]

Really good work, very useful.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks for a kind feedback😇

[@syedhasimbin1]

WAITING FOR NEXT TUTORIAL

[@AhrefsCom]

Coming on Wednesday :)

[@kabayantayo-clips8619]

This guy is goooood.

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you!

[@kabayantayo-clips8619]

@@AhrefsCom like damn, Sam! :-) So on point, not missing a beat like a machine!

[@AhrefsCom]

Do not make Sam feel shy😍🤩 - Max

[@valorantshots307]

is wordpress free to use? coz here it shows to upgrade the plan to use the plugins

[@Rutherenca]

I just love you

[@AhrefsCom]

Thank you! =)

[@brittanymeeuwsen666]

How often post a blogpost on your website? Which frequency is helpfull?

[@AhrefsCom]

The frequency you can keep up with. - SQ

[@jayu9642]

Hey, how did you film this video? For the effects (animated text/images) and stuff? Is that a tool or did you edit the video manually on Adobe?

[@AhrefsCom]

Our video producer does that with the help of Adobe After Effects - Max

[@rosemarie5499]

Thank you

[@AhrefsCom]

You are welcome! 😊

[@urbanachiever54]

I don't see the XML Sitemap option in SEO. Is this part of the premium service?

[@AhrefsCom]

Check that with Yoast support team, this is the plugin we used in this video. - Max

[@reignstudio2230]

Sam, please how did you insert table and laptop in front of you in your video

[@AhrefsCom]

Physically placed table and laptop in front when recording a video =) - Max

[@happykoalaseo7791]

i never knew ahrefs could do so much

[@AhrefsCom]

There's much more than what's covered in this video :) Highly recommend checking out some of our other videos to see how it would fit into your SEO and marketing efforts.

[@matshidisootsetswe237]

Thank you Sam Oh, I wish you could decrease the pace though

[@AhrefsCom]

You can choose the comfortable playback speed in the video settings (gear icon) 🙏 -Helen

[@prosenjitdey4210]

Please make a video of Silo Structure

[@AhrefsCom]

Thanks for your request. We'll consider it.

[@ionceexisted]

Hey Sam! Thanks for the tutorial for Wordpress! I can't wait to start using your tips for my new blog. I've got a question - on Wordpress, I'm not using the Business or eCommerce plans. However, those versions of the plans allow for SEO plugins to be installed. Is there a workaround for this? How do I do SEO for my blog?

[@AhrefsCom]

Not familiar with wordpress.com offers and flexibility. You may check how to perform certain changes and updates with their support team. Or just get some hosting account and install a WordPress theme there, so there will be no limitations to your SEO preferences. - Max

[@swemdip443]

Hello sir, if I have 30 keywords and 10 focus keyword then can I use this all keyword in one post or page. using the Yoast SEO plugin. if not then how to use this all keyword.

[@AhrefsCom]

Check out our keyword research playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLvJ_dXFSpd2u5JCtiYWfvnSvAkoPwg5VY - SQ

[@alinastauffer9440]

I want to know how to get that clean white background... that's not a green screen, right?

[@AhrefsCom]

Can you share a timestamp? Not sure what you refer to - Max

[@jafalandys]

This video was good, but the number one reason to use Alt-text should have been accessibility for the visually impaired, not second.

[@AhrefsCom]

👍

[@reignstudio2230]

Hello Sam, create a video about how to reduce bounce rate

[@AhrefsCom]

Will add to our list of ideas 🙂 - SQ

[@nickupdated9981]

When I run demo pages though Page Insight, almost all the demo pages gives me a low score. I don't think it is reasonable to test the speed score before everything is set up, including plugins. Am I correct?

[@AhrefsCom]

You can do that to find out if the template you're going to use will affect your site speed. However, you're right in that plugins, etc. will also affect your site speed. - SQ

[@GrowWithWill]

You'll find you get get a good boost when you've installed some basic caching and lazy load plugins on your Wordpress instance to speed things up. I recommend GeneratePress for a great lightweight and flexible theme.

[@mohammadfuaad5803]

How many times should we use our keyphrase in paragraph/article?

[@AhrefsCom]

As many times as you think it should. Read your post and check yourself if you feel comfortable during the process. Do not staff keywords. - Max

[@DadDude]

Found this video on Google's front page, so you must know what you are talking about. Thanks for the great tutorial.

[@AhrefsCom]

Yeah, we know a bit about SEO =P - Max

[@RintuBiswasSEO]

Hi Sam, please let me know how to rank service pages in Google. Link building for blog post is easy, but how to build links to services Page? Without quality backlinks it will be difficult to rank in Google.

[@VijaySrinivas]

I guess last week's video or the one before was about that. Do check it out.

[@AhrefsCom]

Perhaps, you may want to watch our SEO for beginners video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqfahGqZi556o7M You can also use blog content that has generated links and add internal links to your services pages (which you have full control over).

[@Sobitsaid]

Thanks a lot, man. I want to start a blog because blogging excites me more than any other job. I have some niches that I love. So can you help me choosing one? It's.. Entertainment, Top 10, and, personal improvement. Which of these should I choose? And till then, I'm going to watch some of your other videos. Not lying. 😛

[@AhrefsCom]

Sorry, but telling you what to do is a wrong way to go =) If you love all of these topics - research the audience and amount of interest, then move forward with the biggest one. Just make sure you can deliver the content people look for. - Max

[@Sobitsaid]

@@AhrefsCom Thank you, Max!

[@kaseimhomes146]

This is a side question but how did you manage to make a video of you floating on a white background??

[@AhrefsCom]

Can't tell if this is a serious question or not. - SQ

[@deepbridgeconsulting8410]

at 8:20 did I hear you correctly? are you meaning to saying focus keywords don't help your SEO? Highly interested in this point. Can you expand or provide a link to an article/research? This cuts against just about every single authority in the industry, including Yoast themselves. But you could have better info and genuinely curious. thanks!

[@AhrefsCom]

At the Ahrefs, we don't use their "focus keyword," but I don't personally see anything wrong with entering one. As far as I know, Yoast's focus keyword is their own "content optimization" tool. We prefer to use data (ie. competitor's organic keyword rankings, search intent, experience etc.) over a happy and sad face scores :) Here are a couple of videos that might give you a better understanding of the aforementioned data points. How to Write a Blog Post That Actually Gets Traffic -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5yyhWZvoZWio7c Keyword Research Tutorial: From Start to Finish (2019) -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/hX6tgoOnfJeIl9U

[@deepbridgeconsulting8410]

@@AhrefsCom interesting take - sounds like you aren't against the use of keywords re: H1,2, title tags etc just as it relates to internal tools? I've seen data suggest otherwise but I'll rewatch those resources and dig even deeper (I've seen these - the content really is great!). Again not meant to be negative - just advance a conversation that I think is worth having - atleast here internally at DeepBridge. looking forward to checking out more of your content!

[@AhrefsCom]

Definitely we are for H1,2s, and titles. Appreciate the conversation :)

[@williamsfestus7775]

I have a wordpress website but I don't know how to set the plugins and I can't find them anymore

[@bestseospecialist1421]

Hello! First of all thanks for you video. I have your video on my website and i am checking with search console if everything is ok. Now i get a critical warning thumbnailUrl video problem Can you help me how to fix this or is it somehting that i can not fix because i dont own the video? Thanks in advance, i am testing my page rank with this video, so if it works well, i will use more videos :)