Out of the box, WordPress is an SEO-friendly content management system that powers more than 15.5 billion pages on the web.

A basic WordPress SEO setup—without extensive customization and plugins—can provide you with a strong SEO foundation. However, that’s not enough to rank at the top of search engines. To expand your outreach and build your web presence, you need to understand and implement the right SEO tactics.

The good news is that WordPress is structured for website optimization.

Let’s go over some SEO best practices that companies should incorporate to make a real difference to your organic visibility.

1. Choose a Reliable Hosting Provider

The web hosting provider you opt for on your WordPress site impacts your site’s page speed and uptime—two essential elements in maintaining positive organic performance and a good user experience.

Here are some other ways a poor web host can affect your site’s SEO ranking:

  • Server downtime: The first sign of an unreliable web host is frequent server downtime. Keep in mind that both Google and your potential customers detest unreliable and glitchy websites. If your site goes down—even for a brief period—Google penalizes it because it’s not a reliable user experience.
  • Server Location: Thefarther your audience is from the location of your server, the longer it will take to fetch the data, resulting in server latency. This is the time it takes for someone’s computer to download your website’s files. Search engines give favor to websites that load quicky.
  • Site speed:Cheap shared hosting services where several sites are crammed onto one server can take a hit on your site speed. Site speed because more important when users started moving more towards mobile and tablet devices. Now site speed is paramount to improving your rankings.

Improve your site’s SEO ranking and make sure you invest in a web host that gives you the performance you need to provide a smooth, dependable user experience and satisfy Google.

2. Set Up Friendly Permalinks

Permalinks are permanent URL structures that point to your site’s pages, individual posts, and other content. By default, these permalinks are messy and difficult to read, but the best ones are easy to remember and designed to stay intact for a very long time.

Change the permalinks to descriptive and clear links that describe the content they link to, helping search engines better understand what the post is about.

It’s better to change your permalink structure before your posts go live otherwise, you’ll end up breaking all the existing links to the post. Plus, people sharing these posts on social media won’t be directed back to your site.

3. Set Up a Sitemap

XML sitemaps serve as a ‘roadmap’ for search engines, telling crawlers exactly where each web page is located in terms of your WordPress site’s structure and hierarchy.

Although XML sitemaps aren’t required, they help your site gain indexation faster, thereby improving your chances to rank higher in search results organically.

You can add sitemaps to a WordPress website through a targeted plugin such as Google XML Sitemaps or tap into an SEO tool to do it for you.

Boost Website SEO with OAK Interactive

If you’re looking for a branding and marketing agency in Houston, Texas that offers expert SEO services Houston TX and content creation as well as marketing services that will grow your business, call us at (832) 321-3196 today.

We provide clients of all sizes with a wide range of marketing services from SEO and PPC  campaigns to content writing, website development, paid social media marketing, and more.

Our Featured Work & Case Studies

view our work

Our Work & Case Studies

February 2, 2024

Stark Services – “AC in the Attic”

Stark Services was an HVAC – Plumbing company in Dallas, TX and part of Church Services...

February 2, 2024

Sudie’s Catfish House “Cheatin'”

Sudie’s is a family-oriented, family-owned restaurant that offers delicious seafood and homemade Southern dishes. Opened in..

February 2, 2024

TOPS Surgical Specialty Hospital

OAK wrote, produced, and directed a video for TOPS Surgical Specialty Hospital, a physician-owned facility in..

December 27, 2023

TOPS Surgical Specialty Hospital

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

December 27, 2023

Eleven Amp IPA

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

December 27, 2023

HUDEF Pickleball

November 1, 2023

Advertising Agency In Houston, TX

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

November 1, 2023

Advertising Agencies In Houston

OAK is an advertising firm that helps businesses grow by strategically defining your brand and its..

November 1, 2023

Why Brands Need Digital Advertising

Digital advertising has grown from gaining prominence to becoming base-level must-have in any marketing strategy. By..

September 16, 2020

St. Thomas High School

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

September 16, 2020

Houston Physicians’ Hospital

Landing Pages

September 16, 2020

Church Pool Services

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

September 15, 2020

Church Services

Church Services Church Services is a home service company that gives homeowners peace of mind knowing..

September 15, 2020

Saturn Retailers of Houston

The Houston-Area Saturn Retailers were unhappy with the national advertising agency’s approach to the Saturn brands..

September 15, 2020

David Taylor Cadillac

 RADIO

September 13, 2019

No Label Oktoberfest Beer Can Design

No Label Brewing has been an OAK client since 2015. During that time, we’ve designed some..

September 10, 2019

Lovett Dental

Lovett Dental helps patients get the smile they want and need by providing everything from teeth..

September 10, 2019

Monterey’s Little Mexico TV

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 26, 2019

David Taylor GMC

David Taylor GMC had been in Houston since 1975 and had enjoyed a prestigious reputation with..

July 25, 2019

Karrus Force Protection

Karrus Force Protection was looking to use cutting-edge technology to attract tradeshow attendees to Force Protection’s..

July 25, 2019

Hebel

THE PROJECT To strengthen and expand Hebel’s reputation among architects, developers and builders in the United..

July 25, 2019

Messina Hof

Messina Hof was looking for a way to target a younger demographic to their annual Harvest..

July 25, 2019

Texas Tamale

This is one of 2 ads we created for the Texas Tamale Company. These ads ran..

July 25, 2019

Shephard Park

Shepherd Park is another restaurant and bar owned and operated by Houston restauranteur, Ken Bridge. Creative..

July 25, 2019

Witchcraft

Witchcraft Tavern & Provision Co. is a new addition to the Houston Heights food scene. With..

July 25, 2019

Spirit of Texas

Spirit of Texas is an independent rum distillery based in Pflugerville, TX. They dedicate a massive..

July 25, 2019

Off Label Brewing Co

THE PROJECT No Label Brew Co, a long-time client, came to us with the idea for..

July 25, 2019

Houston Methodist

Developed automation emails for the office of Continued Medical Education for Houston Methodist Hospital for seminar/course..

July 25, 2019

Axis Pipe and Tube

Coming Soon.

July 25, 2019

The El

Website and Branding

July 25, 2019

Summer Sandia

When Texian Brewing Co. approached us to launch their new Bomber limited series with Summer Sandia...

July 25, 2019

No Label Brewing Co.

No Label Brewing Co.

July 25, 2019

See Tim Sell

Challenge: The quirkiness of a home-brew stick figure logo had brought Houston Area real estate company,..

July 25, 2019

Disney Magic Run Bogota

Their Goal Growing the audience Disney Magic Run needed to reach a local audience of fans..

July 25, 2019

Katy Market Day

Coming Soon.

July 25, 2019

Zaza Real Estate

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Pink’s Pizza

After years of the very dynamic Pinks site, Pinks Pizza asked for OAK for redesign. To..

July 25, 2019

Coras Concept

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Liberty

The first bomber bottle commissioned by Texian Brewing was for the Liberty IPA. The sister ship..

July 25, 2019

Santa’s Little Weiner

Annual Christmas card! Santa’s Little Weiner won an American Advertising Federation award in 2015.

July 25, 2019

EMS

EMS USA inc. a fast growing pipeline care company, came to us for a fresher look..

July 25, 2019

Dan Tasset

We brought Dan Tasset’s web identity up to date with the use of a simple, clean..

July 25, 2019

Lady Lazarus

Houston-based screen printer, Lady Lazarus reached out to OAK for a website to help showcase their..

July 25, 2019

Oktoberfest 2016 Campaign

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Ellsworth Plastic Surgery

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Hit King Brew Series

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Hit King Baseball Academy

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Pacesetter Personnel Services

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Brown Plastic Surgery

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Perpetual Peace and Nightmare 4 pack

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 25, 2019

Pinks Pizza Relaunch

C L I E N T Pinks Pizza is a Houston-based Pizzaria that’s been serving pizza..

July 22, 2019

GILLEY’S RUB

Gilley’s food line started with a product that’s a natural extension of their light, food-friendly Texas..

July 22, 2019

TEXIAN BREWING CANS

Texian Brewing Company is proud of their Texas heritage. Founded and brewing in Richmond, Texas (southwest..

July 22, 2019

NO LABEL 5TH ANNIVERSARY

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 15, 2019

DON JALAPENO AND WHAT THE HATCH

What the Hatch and Don Jalapeno stem from the same family with the only difference being..

July 15, 2019

RICE VILLAGE SCULPTURE INSTALLATION

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..

July 15, 2019

BLACK WIT-O IPA PACKAGING

We have worked closely with a wide variety of industries helping them boost their online presence..