Did you miss the chapter about what NOT to do on your blog? Click here to read it!

One of the most important factors in SEO in 2014 and beyond is load time. Too many sites take far too long to load, which severely impacts viewer satisfaction. Since Google and other search engines want to give their users the best possible experience, they want to present fast loading pages.

True, it’s not one of the most important factors in SEO. But it is a factor that is often overlooked and definitely does make a difference in rankings.

There is a plugin you can use to create static HTML pages from the posts on your WordPress blog. This cuts down on loading time, because PHP and MySQL are not required each time the page is loaded.

>> https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-fastest-cache/

This is the best page cache plugin, because it works great right out of the box and it will even modify your .htaccess file for you.

You can also use the Minify plugin to compress JS and CSS files:

>> https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-minify/

And this plugin will automatically reduce image file sizes:

>> https://wordpress.org/plugins/cw-image-optimizer/

These plugins are free, and they are definitely worth installing. They will also reduce your server load and bandwidth, saving you money over time.

You can also reduce page load time by reducing the use of images on your blog, using only those that are necessary. Don’t use a bunch of ad graphics just for the heck of it. Make sure they convert by testing and tracking. And don’t just throw random photos into your articles to make them look pretty. Make sure each image you use is truly relevant.

Learn about the benefits of linking your posts and using pagination in the next section