WordPress SEO Without an SEO Plugin
Do you need an SEO plugin for your WordPress website? Learn about SEO plugins, how to choose one, and whether you need one at all.
About
I have 25 years hands-on experience in SEO, evolving along with the search engines by keeping up with the latest research, patents and what’s happening in the search results.
Need a consultation? Contact me at roger@martinibuster.com or use the contact form at: Martinibuster.com
I recently presented at Pubcon Vegas in October and March 2024, and over the past 20 years have presented at search conferences across the United States: Pubcon, SMX, Affiliate Summit & SES (Search Engine Strategies) and have served as a Head Judge at the U.S. Search Awards .
Articles
Google’s John Mueller Answers If MUM Makes SEO Obsolete
How does SEO handle an algorithm that ranks content from multiple languages for questions composed of images and text?
Using Google Translate to Autogenerate Content?
Google’s John Mueller comments on the idea of using Google Translate to create content in different languages
Mueller Touches on Google Sandbox and Honeymoon Ranking Effects
Question about why new pages rank well then taper off results in answer that discusses Google Sandbox and Honeymoon hypotheses
Google Explains How to Target a Specific Country
John Mueller shares two ways to geotarget a specific country for ranking purposes
Facebook Targeting Individuals Who Spread False Information
Individual members now targeted in Facebook’s attack on misleading content. Members face increasing levels of punitive actions for sharing false information
Google Warns of Manual Actions for UGC Spam
A warning of penalties for User Generated Content (UGC) spam was published by Google. Publishers encouraged to follow these tips
Core Web Vitals Means Deciding What Add-ons are Necessary
Google’s Martin Splitt encourages analysis of whether a plugin or addon should be replaced if it can’t be optimized for Core Web Vitals
How to Choose WordPress Plugins
How can you tell whether a WordPress plugin is safe, trustworthy, and works reasonably well? Keep these 5 considerations in mind.
Google Cites Scholarship Links in a Manual Action Penalty
A law firm with a link penalty received an example from Google of bad links that included scholarship links
Google: Why Fixing Core Web Vitals Already Boosts Rankings
Google’s Martin Splitt explains why some who improved Core Web Vitals are experiencing ranking boosts ahead of Page Experience Update
Google Analytics & AdSense Don’t Get a Core Web Vitals Pass
Google products don’t get a break on CWV and there’s no ranking advantage to using them over others
Mediocre Core Web Vitals Enough if Competitors are Worse?
Google’s Martin Splitt on the tie breaker ranking effect and if mediocre core web vitals scores are enough if competitors are worse
Core Web Vitals: Will Google Give Breaks for Slow Plugins and Apps?
Martin Splitt offered three pieces of advice to publishers struggling to achieve better core web vitals scores
Google KELM Reduces Bias and Improves Factual Accuracy
Google AI announced KELM, a way to reduce bias and toxic content and increase factual accuracy
Google’s Mueller Offers Two Tips for Getting Indexed
John Mueller offers advice for fixing the situation of a site not getting properly indexed
Examination of Anchor Text Ratios for SEO
Anchor Text Ratios are considered important by many SEOs for ranking in Google. But is it really something to worry about?
Google Discusses Grouping URLs for Core Web Vitals Scores
John Mueller discusses grouping similar URLs for Core Web Vitals scoring and that the group score is assigned to new URLs that lack data
What is Google MUM?
Clues to what Google MUM is may be found within recent machine intelligence research papers published by Google researchers
Can We Know When SEO Causes Ranking Changes?
Two questions highlight a problem in perceived causal relationship between SEO and Google rankings
Rankings Collapsed After Buying Google Ads?
Question was asked about Google rankings dropping after buying PPC Ads then coming back right after turning off the ads
Google on What’s Going on With FAQ Rich Results
John Mueller was asked if FAQ structured data still produces rich results. He explained the fine tuning process for search results
How to Improve SEO With User Experience Factors
Focus on User Experience to meet the needs of searchers. It improves organic search marketing performance, helping websites rank well on the SERPs.
WordPress 5.7.2 Patches a Critical Vulnerability
WordPress released an update to patch an Object Injection Vulnerability rated by the National Vulnerability Database as critical.
WordPress Autoptimize Plugin Vulnerability Affects +1 Million Sites
Website Optimization Plugin Autoptimize contains a Stored XSS vulnerability. A patch has been released to fix the problem.
H1 Headings: Over 50% of SEOs Doing it Wrong?
Poll of nearly 2,000 SEOs shows more than 50% don’t know what Google recommends for H1 headings
Earn More with Google’s Web Stories Playbook
Google published a Web Stories Playbook that shows how to integrate the new format into a website to increase engagement and earnings.
Google Modifies Logo Requirements for AMP Structured Data
Google updated the developers page for the AMP Article Logo Structured Data to accurately reflect what is used for rich results
Does Google Give Preference to Content Above the Fold?
John Mueller answers what Google’s preferences are with regard to content that’s above the fold
Google on Partial and Total Site Deindexing
John Mueller discusses different ways Google removes websites from the search index