Monthly Archives: August 2024

Reading Time: 11 minutes

The adage that tells us you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression doesn’t just apply to the working world or interpersonal relations of any sort. It also very much applies to the digital world and very much so for the world of online business. These days the means by which you are going to make that first impression is with your website 90+ percent of the time. So you had better have the type of landing pages that DOES make that good first impression for you and your business.

But here’s the thing; the reason that SEO services for your landing page become more important than any design or aesthetic interests related to the visuals of the page is because without SEO optimized webpages you’re not going to have the same level of opportunity to be making those good first impressions. We probably don’t need to go on at length about the point here, as most of you will be very well aware of the importance of search engine page rankings.

You’ve probably been told of how it is so massively beneficial to have your business appearing on the first page of Google search results. That’s true for any search engine really, and what makes that happen is adhering to landing page SEO best practices. If that’s beyond your capabilities then you absolutely have to pay a website SEO specialist to optimize your site. We can improve your website SEO right here at 4GoodHosting, and you can receive a free quote right now.

Plus keep in mind that you need to be revisiting your SEO at all times, as it’s not just a once-and-done thing. It needs to be an ongoing project, and it’s well worth it if you want to have maximum visibility with prospective customers for your business. And of course that IS what you want. Getting higher search engine page rankings is possible, and it is something that people with websites representing other interests are going to want to have too. Whatever it is you’re doing, you want to be at the front of the pack and being seen online.

Visibility Plus

Here in 2024 the reality is that there are so many of the same types of business fighting for the same slice of the same pie. How effective your online presence is and how it contributes to the likelihood of you getting the slice you want is in large part determined by the strength of your landing page SEO. This is why you need to know effective landing page SEO strategies.

A well-optimized landing page will boost your visibility on search engines plus enhance user engagement and conversion rates. So with this blog entry we’ll go over best practices for landing page SEO, letting you know what’s best for refining your page content, structure, and technical elements to meet both search engine guidelines and user expectations. Remember that SEO is much more than just knowing and incorporating the right keywords into page content.

You also need to have the right call-to-action (CTA) placements if you want your landing page to be serving as a powerful tool for attracting and retaining traffic. As it stands now you may not fully comprehend just how much value there is in SEO services for your landing page.

Understanding Landing Page SEO

What is always needed is a strategic approach to enhancing the visibility and effectiveness of a landing page within search engine results. Experts know how to tailor the page to meet both user needs and search engine criteria, and when that’s done right then businesses can see the results they want to have from their website – namely significantly increases their engagement and conversion rates.

Having an attractive, functional, and engaging landing page is important too and when you have that you will also have a lower landing page bounce rate – which is the rate at which people arrive at your page but then click away from it shortly thereafter. But we’re not going to talk about page design or what is or isn’t ‘attractive’ with web pages here, and as stated what we’re going to look at here is how to boost your landing page SEO today.

That is done with a careful balance of well-crafted content, technical optimization, and user experience enhancements. Integrating SEO best practices into your landing page design will revamp a page so that it attracts more of the right audience as well as delivering a compelling message that encourages action.

It may be beneficial to define what is a landing page for a website. It should be fairly self-explanatory, as when someone submits a request to the server by clicking on the link of your URL what happens when that request is answered is that their browser is redirected to your site. The landing page is what will always appear to them first. It is a standalone web page that is created specifically for marketing or advertising campaigns, and unlike general websites, landing pages are designed with a single focus or goal, known as a call to action (CTA). This focus makes landing pages the best option for increasing the conversion rates of your marketing campaigns and lowering your cost of acquiring a lead or making a sale.

You should also see your landing page as the pivotal touchpoint where visitors are converted into leads after being presented with tailored offers and clear calls to action. It’s important that they don’t have any distractions and are able to focus on one specific offer. See to that and you’ll have a landing pages that is better set to increase the chances of visitor engagement and conversion.

And you will soon start to see how they are more effective for bringing potential customers into your digital marketing funnel, furthering their interest, and making it that much more likely they make a purchase or subscribe to your service.

SEO for Landing Pages Importance

You need to be amplifying the reach and impact of your marketing efforts, and improving SEO for landing pages contributes to that. When websites have their landing page optimized for search engines they quickly come to have better visibility and that is measurable with the increased volume of traffic going to the site. What is less measurable is also a big part of why landing page SEO best practices are so advisable. Specifically, that’s with the way the elements of an SEO optimized page also contribute to engagement.

That is related to having the content of the page being increasingly relevant to your target audience, something that is crucial for attracting visitors who are most likely to eventually become customers. SEO optimization on this end of the equation involves tailoring the landing page’s content, keywords, and meta tags to align with what those potential customers are known to search for. You’ll need to know what that is, but if you don’t then again it becomes a situation where you’re highly advised to pay for the services of someone who does.

You also want to have your site being identified favorably by paid search campaigns and getting better quality scores from them. This is especially true if you have invested in PPC ads that redirect potential customers to your website. Getting that SEO makeover for your website and landing page ensures it is much more like the page is seen and also that is resonates more with those potential customers. When that happens they are more likely to engage with content and take the course of action you want them to.

SEO-Friendly Landing Page Key Elements

Continuing with our look at SEO services for your landing page, we can now pinpoint the certain components of the page that need to addressed and what’s the best means of doing that for better landing page SEO.

• Headline and Subheadings

The headline presents the initial opportunity to capture interest and improve relevancy for search engines. Effective headlines and subheadings use targeted keywords to improve the page’s SEO, while also providing clear, concise information about the benefits that will be presented in greater detail in the content below. Well-constructed headings and subheadings promote more reading and interaction, and this correlates to higher engagement and conversion rates.

• Supporting Copy and Visuals

Having a landing page’s supporting copy succinctly convey the value of your offer is hugely advantageous, and even more so when it is complemented by relevant visuals that enhance the message. Aim to have your text and images working together to form a cohesive narrative, with visuals serving to break up text and add contextual depth. That type of formatted page layout helps to retain user interest and improve page aesthetics.

• Keywords and Semantic Variations

Integrating primary keywords and their semantic variations throughout your landing page continues to be the foremost approach in effective landing page SEO strategies. Content that has the right keywords and associated keywords / phrases incorporated organically and at the right keyword density helps search engines understand the topic and context of your page. Then its visibility is boosted as a result.

And by organically it’s meant to use them naturally within the text to ensure the page remains readable and engaging for users and it doesn’t read like the keywords are just stuffed into the text and not being natural in the flow of it. This is also important for optimizing a landing page for search performance.

• Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title tags and meta descriptions are also components you’ll want to be reviewing to see if they’re contributing favorably to your landing page’s SEO or not. You will need to be summarizing the content of the page for both search engines and potential visitors. With an optimized title tag and meta description you’ll increase the number of click-throughs you receive from search engine results pages, particularly if they’re written smartly to capture attention and highlight the key value propositions you are offering to these prospective customers.

• URL Structure

There are certain elements of better SEO approaches that most small-time webmasters are often unaware of. Some of them are not among the primary considerations with SEO services for your landing page but still have the ability to factor into your SERPs to a much greater extent than you’d imagine. The URL for your website and how it is structured is one of them.

It’s when a URL structure is clear, concise, and includes relevant keywords that it becomes super SEO-friendly and will be assisting search engines in understanding the page content. Site user experience will be improved too. A well-structured URL can convey information about the hierarchy of a website, making it better for user navigation and for search engines to index the content. Those are 2 more big gains related to search engine optimization.

• Image Optimization

When images are optimized they help speed up page load times, and faster page load speeds are seen very favorably by the search engines you’re looking to rank higher with. Compress images to reduce their file size without sacrificing quality, and use descriptive file names and alt attributes that include relevant keywords. This helps search engines index your images properly and improves accessibility for users with visual impairments.

Strategies to Enhance Landing Page Visibility

Start here by looking at your content relevance and search intent. As for having more relevant content, you need to make sure that you don’t have too much content you have on your landing page, and what you do have is not vague, indeterminate content that doesn’t speak very specifically to the nature of your business or whatever else it is you’re doing with the website.

Content must not only be compelling and informative but also specifically tailored to meet the needs and expectations of the target audience identified through search intent analysis. If the content can be even better than okay then it becomes possible to have it resonate with the audience. This will increase engagement, reducing bounce rates, and boosting the likelihood of conversion.

Next, aim to have an understanding of search intent categorization. This is not as much of clear, concrete step but you can look into it online yourself. It involves determining the informational, navigational, transactional, or commercial interest prerogatives that the average visitor to your website is going to have. When you have knowledge around why users search and what they hope to find, you are better equipped to craft content that precisely answers their questions or provides the solutions they seek. As a result of this the landing page becomes more relevant and attractive in search results.

Go with on-page SEO tactics, and with internal linking and alt text for images too. Internal linking strengthens on-page SEO by directing visitors to other relevant pages on your website. When they spend more time on your site that also contributes to better search engine rankings. Strategically placed links encourage deeper exploration of your site, and this offers the same benefits as it signals to search engines that your site provides valuable content. Internal linking spreads link equity across the site, which may also boost the SEO performance of individual pages, and including your landing page.

Alt text for images is a very integral part of SEO as it gives search engines some context as to what an image displays. Effective alt text should describe the image content with accuracy while incorporating relevant keywords. This helps with image indexing plus better accessibility for users with visual impairments – which is another consideration the search engine algorithm will be looking for in relation to how the site is ranked.

Conversion Optimization Techniques

We’ve really stressed in other blog entries here how it is so important to have a clear and emphatic CTA on your landing page and possibly on other pages of the website. The placement of it is strategic, and if it is contained in a button then where that button goes can influence the conversion rates for a landing page. What you should do for SEO is place CTAs both above and below for better visibility regardless of how much or little a visitor scrolls.

Try to personalize CTAs based on the visitor’s journey or interaction with the site. Dynamic CTAs that change based on the user’s past behavior can really bump up conversion rates when the offer or value proposition is more tailored to that user and the way they’ve shown themselves to have moved through the website.

Form optimization for lead capture is your next consideration here if there is a form to fill out when the user takes you up on your CTA. Simplify the form to include only essential fields, as each additional field means it is more likely the form is eventually left incomplete and unsubmitted. Use engaging language that resonates with the audience and really emphasize what users will receive in return for completing and submitting the form. It’s also a good idea to provide a reassurance to these prospective customers that the site is secure and their data will be kept private.

Tools & Resources

A keyword research tool is going to be part of the monthly marketing budget for any webmaster operating a website for their business. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush will give you the valuable and up-to-date keyword information you need, identifying high-potential keywords and phrases to integrate into your landing page content so that the page more aligns with what your audience is searching for.

Utilizing these tools allows marketers to discover long-tail keywords which can attract more qualified traffic and lead to higher conversion rates due to their specific nature and lower competition.

You may want to go with an SEO and Analytics Platforms too, and ones like Google Analytics and Moz provide crucial data on your landing page’s performance with traffic sources, behavior to conversion metrics, and other very valuable insights. These platforms help identify which elements of your page are doing well, and which others are not contributing as positively.

Have a look for any collection of known successful SEO-optimized site landing pages to get a good look at what are the most effective strategies and the common themes among them. You can glean a few of the SEO best practices, from keyword optimization and compelling content to technical SEO and speedier page loads, as well as the extent the experts have seen them contributing individually to higher rankings and better user engagement.

There can be pitfalls too though. The typical spots where landing page optimization goes wrong are neglecting mobile optimization, using generic instead of targeted content, and overloading the page with too many calls-to-action. These mistakes can detract from user experience and diminish conversion rates. Make sure you’re doing none of that, and again if a mobile version of your site is beyond your abilities then it may be a good idea to use our mobile website builder here at 4GoodHosting that is available for people who choose us for their affordable web hosting in Canada.

Understanding these common errors can help marketers avoid them and instead focus on creating streamlined, focused, and user-friendly landing pages that are optimized for conversions and SEO performance.

Monitoring and Improving SEO Performance

Most webmasters tasked with keeping the company’s website in good stead will be using analytics to monitor the performance of their site’s landing page. Tracking metrics such as page views, bounce rate, and conversion rate provides insights into what’s beneficial and what may be detracting from SEO value. This data is important for making informed decisions about SEO and content strategies as they aim to always be keeping the page SEO optimized. Plus analytics platforms can alert marketers to trends and patterns that may not be so easily identified and then lead to smart adjustments that make the page perform better with SERPs.

A/B testing is fairly standard too, and is especially good for weighing changes to headlines, images, or CTAs. All in all, an ongoing process of testing and optimization is vital for keeping the SEO for your landing page at its best and responsive to user behavior and search engine algorithm changes. If you feel you need to know more about effective landing page SEO strategies one of our representatives would be happy to help you with that.

Reading Time: 7 minutes

So much to be said for simplicity nearly all the time, and then with websites there’s the way that DIY is the way to go if you’re not at all keen to pay a web developer to put together a website for you. Obviously you won’t choose that if you’re making the decisions for a big and well-established business of any sort. But if you’re in business on a significantly smaller scale and it’s not so much about branding as it is providing a quality product or service at a good price then a DIY website is often a good choice. WordPress gives you that option, and what we’ll look at here is Divi vs Elementor as the best WordPress page builder.

It’s not even a choice you need to make if all you’re after is the simplest of websites, and good examples of these are ones for recreational sports teams or maybe one where a person is showcasing their music or arts or crafts. You can use WordPress as it comes out of the box to put together the entirety of the site, but for some they’ll want more functionality with how certain pages are assembled. Divi and Elementor features both line up with being able to do this, and what we’ll aim to do is determine if one is better than the other for doing that.

As you’d expect there are Elementor vs Divi pros and cons and taking all of them into account and weighing them against each other is how we’ll come to our conclusion. There’s more than a few people who will be looking for the best drag and drop page builder, and you can be sure that at any given time there’s at least a handful of people out there who are getting set to use WordPress to build a website for the first time. That means that a topic like this can always be relevant, so without going on any further let’s start our Divi vs Elementor comparison.

CMS Considerations

A content management system (CMS) is usually a must for the creation of websites, and WordPress has been the leader of the pack there for years now. Anyone hoping to create a WordPress site that looks good and functions as intended will do well if they know how to use the right tools. And that means being in the know with the array of them, plus all the plugins and builder available for making a WordPress. But not all of them work, and of the ones that do some are decidedly better than others.

We will be evaluating two tried-and-tested themes here, Divi vs Elementor. Both page builder are good enough, and it needs to be said that both will get the job done. Which is important to be assured of, because a page builder is the way to go when it comes to building a dynamic site with ease. So choosing a WordPress page builder becomes the matter, and here’s our comparison.

Divi Builder

We can start by saying that Divi, like the Pro version of Elementor, should be seen as more than a page builder. It can serve as a theme and a theme builder, making it a multi-purpose resource for anyone looking to create dynamic websites. It is also one of the most popular WordPress themes in the world. Let’s provide definitions for a few important terms here as they relate to using these themes.

A page builder is a tool for creating attractive website layouts and doing so without the need for coding. A theme is a set of files that determines the look and layout of a WordPress site. When using a theme builder you have a tool that lets you create your own WordPress theme without having to write any code. So to cover this all together briefly a page builder is used to create individual layouts, while a theme governs the overall look of the site. A theme builder offers in-depth customization of the WordPress theme as a whole.

Our focus here is going to be on the two page builders though, and not so much on WordPress site builders. With Divi vs Elementor performance it tends to be a fairly even comparison, so if there’s other differentiators then that is where we need to focus with a Divi page builder review.

We first noted that Divi has an impressively intuitive interface, and with it you can create highly dynamic pages. In addition to its extensive library of templates to help you design these pages, it’s also easy to use and has the type of drag-and-drop functionality that a lot of users will be looking for. The other pros for Divi is that it has an advanced block page customization that is very much conducive to putting together unique sites.

Other advantages for Divi is that the builder’s design options are highly flexible, and mobile compatibility is easy to set up. Divi’s front-end mode also gets high marks with the way you can see changes you’ve made in real time. Plus the integrated page templates that are available in the builder’s library make it super easy to get started. For anyone who might have more than one WordPress website for business the single license payment is a good arrangement and that factors into our WordPress page builder comparison too.

Rounding out the pros for Divi are very efficient customer support that is available 24/7 via chat and an extensive database of video tutorials.

On the flip side of all of this, Divi is certainly pricey and you’ll have to spend over $250 for the license. This is only a one-time payment, however, and once paid there is lifetime access to build as many sites as you need. Another consideration that may not be so appealing for people looking to build you own website with WordPress is that the learning curve with Divi can be steep, especially for beginners and considering there are so many customization options to potentially work with.

Customer support is only available in English, and as you’d expect nowadays some people are offended by this. There are also reports that Divi-designed sites slow down considerably in instances where there isn’t regular optimization by images and content

Elementor Builder

If there’s one most prominent page builder for WordPress, it is Elementor. Continuing with our Divi vs Elementor comparison, Elementor is renowned for its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options. It tends to be a good fit for both beginners and experts with the way it simplifies website creation and enables users to design responsive, visually appealing sites and not asking too much of them to do that.

Elementor offers an intuitive interface in the same way Divi does, earning the same points in this evaluation of the best WordPress page builder. Go with this page builder and you will also be able to create dynamic sites with supremely usable drag-and-drop functionality. Elementor also measures up with having a variety of tools to tailor sites to your needs.

The pros for Elementor include there being a free version of Elementor that will be sufficient for most people who are aiming to build a basic website. And it is also similar to Divi in that it has a Front-End mode where users are able to preview in real time how the site will appear to site visitors. Another advantage of going with Elementor is that it offers a mobile-specific editing mode where users can identity and adjust the appearance of the site and how it will display on smartphones and tablets.

You will have fewer options than Divi, but that works out to Elementor being a more intuitive choice if you’re not at all savvy with this type of stuff. And in fairness much of what comes additionally with Divi won’t really be required if you are building a basic website and using WordPress site builders for doing that. Another plus is that customer support is available by e-mail and chat 24/7, along with plenty of articles, videos and frequently asked questions that will cover a lot of the most common basic queries users will have.

Moving onto the drawbacks for Elementor, what users find is that they reach the ceiling with the free version of Elementor quite quickly. Accessing many of the advanced features will require users to pay for the much more comprehensive Pro version. That may be a good way to go, but even with the Pro version you are limited with the number of sites you can design. 25 per year for the $199 price. As with Divi, customer support is only available in English and again some people are super offended by that.

Key Features

Continuing with our WordPress page builder comparison, we need to look at the Divi Builder Elementor. It does very well for being intuitive, but there is a steep learning curve due to the complexity and diversity of its options. Alternately, Elementor’s interface is intuitive and equally suitable for beginners or more seasoned users. If we factor price into the equation Divi may be better even though there is no free version.

With the 1-time payment for lifetime free access you have more of what you need if you are planning to build your own website and build more than one of them. With Elementor there is that free version a lot of people will be pleased to have, but the tradeoff is that functionality is limited. If it is not meeting your needs with the Elementor features you have then the alternative is to move up to the paid Pro version that will give you a lot more functionality.

The next consideration will be with creative flexibility and Divi page builder reviews go on at length about the flexibility and wide-ranging design options. With this level of advanced customization, you will be entirely equipped with what you need to create a unique site. Elementor also offers great flexibility, with simplified options that will be a fit for both beginners and experienced users.

Divi is not only just a WordPress page builder, it is also a WordPress theme in itself. With it you’re able to design a site from A to Z, without adding an external theme. There’s a basic theme designed for Elementor called Hello Elementor and you can choose to start with it or go with a range of free or paid themes.

Performance will always be a consideration too with choosing a WordPress page builder. Sites designed with Divi offer stable performance, but are known to be slower. Faster loading times can be achieved by Optimizing images and content though, although that is always essential for maintaining faster loading times with any type of website. Elementor delivers solid, fast performance and even with the most advanced features.

Adaptive and responsive design features are also going to be a part of what people are looking for with the best drag and drop page builder. Divi offers adaptive design options to ensure your site is responsive across different devices. Elementor matches that here, offering similar features to optimize adaptive design and we like how users can see changes in real time.

The consensus is that they’re pretty much evenly matched with mobile compatibility, real-time site editing, block page customization, and customer support. So accordingly with Divi vs Elementor we don’t necessarily recommend one over the other. What is likely best for anyone is to try the free version of each and see if one is better for you based on what you’re aiming to do with it. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, even though the two builders are very similar.

We’ll conclude by saying there are other page builders you may want to consider. Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, and Site Origin are also good ones that have much the same levels of workability when it comes to building WordPress pages. But if you have the budget then going with Divi or Elementor is recommended.

Reading Time: 9 minutes

A relatively captive audience may have been a possibility in the early days of the Internet. Nowadays, however, there is very likely no shortage of others with the same to say as what you’ve got to add to any conversation on any subject. That doesn’t mean you’re any less of the expert on it if you genuinely are the expert, but if you have a WordPress blog or a WordPress website then there’s plenty to do to ensure your quality content is best positioned in the sea of content that exists out there. WordPress updates are needed.

The enduring popularity of this online publishing platform has endured for decades now, and it reflects the fact that WordPress is perennially usable for people who need a very basic means of publishing a blog online or having a DIY website that is good enough for their simpler aims with it. Some of you may have a blog or site that hasn’t had any changes to the web infrastructure of it since its inception, and if so and you are wondering why you are not getting the same traffic as before then we need to start looking at the benefits of updating WordPress.

The reason being that simply improving website SEO for WordPress isn’t the all-encompassing solution for increasing your blog or website’s visibility with the audience you’re aiming to have it be more visible to. There is plenty more that goes into the equation and with newest update there are so many new WordPress features that are going to appeal even if your aims are simpler and you just want to make your pages look better and promote greater interactivity with a – hopefully – growing audience.

So what we’re going to do with this blog entry is go over 6 reasons why WordPress updates are something you should be considering if what you’ve got on the web is in need of a makeover. We’ll also look briefly at ways to improve website speed for WordPress and what’s the best approach for WordPress bug fixes if you need them.

Mandatory Move

The fast-paced world of website management makes keeping your WordPress site up to a real necessity and it has become more than just a good practice. Some would even say it’s essential. Regular WordPress updates can provide you with the peace of mind that your site is set up for optimal function and also safe from malware threats or other undesirable outcomes. When you consider that is doesn’t require much of you to implement them, why wouldn’t you choose to give your WordPress site a quick and effective optimization from time?

The reason it’s needed is that WordPress is continually evolving, and with it comes new features, improvements and security patches bundled into each update. We’re more than 2/3 of the way through 2024 now, but over the entire course of 2023 over 75% of WordPress sites used version 6 of the platform. That’s a solid adoption rate, but we can say clearly that that the other 25% choosing to remain on older versions chose to be at a disadvantage too. Especially with the way they’re exposed to security risks plus missing out on new features.

It is important to secure your WordPress site. With regular updates your website stays secure, compatible with the latest web standards, and performs without any types of limitations based on not being up to date with the standards or other factors that will either benefit or impeded a website.

Right then, let’s move onto the 6 reasons you should always proceed with WordPress updated when they become available with the newest version of WordPress

Maintain website reputability

A website that remains outdated is going to be more vulnerable to infection with malware, and if that occurs then it is possible that criminals operating online may use your website as a vehicle to conduct attacks on other websites, and they generally tend to aim for bigger fish – financial institutions, streaming sites like Netflix, all sorts of spots connected to social media platforms like Facebook, and others. Before you’re even aware of what has happened your site or blog may end up being blacklisted by Google Safe Browsing via anti-virus software or by major browsers.

That’s going to be a headache on a large scale, and so it’s something you want to avoid and it is why WordPress security updates are so important. Again, this isn’t going to cost you anything and it’s quite simple to have WordPress updated, so be smart and prevent any type of infection before it even has a chance to start. There’s so many more of them out there nowadays, and any cyber security expert is going to tell you that the risk is only going to increase from here on out. We’ll add as well that going with the best managed WordPress hosting Canada here at 4GoodHosting is going to be better for built-in security too

Enhance Website Security

We’ll continue with that aspect, and say further that security is increasingly a top priority with website management, but that is even more important when you have a WordPress website for a business. When you update your WordPress you will be equipping your site with the latest security patches. Putting updated patches in place is everything when it comes to making website hacking or data breaches very unlikely.

The way WordPress is an open-source platform is a big part of why it’s been so successful and so widely used, but at the same time being open-source makes it a target for hackers. Regular updates will come with vital fixes for known vulnerabilities, and staying on top of those new and ever-changing viabilities is a big part of ensuring your site’s safety.

Instant Access to New Features

Regular updates give users access to the latest WordPress features and functionalities. The developers at WordPress are renowned for the way they continue rolling out new and innovative ways to make your WordPress site that much better, and with WordPress V6 they’ve done that yet again. These WordPress updates will enhance your website’s capabilities and provide you with a whole bunch more customization options.

Look no further than the advancements like the Gutenberg block editor and the Site Health tool. Each of these is continuously refined, and when you take advantage of them and all the other advancements you enable your WordPress site to spread its wings and operate at maximum capability. You just need to choose to go ahead and do it, and that’s why we are so big on the benefits of updating WordPress.

Boost Website Speed

We said we’d touch on ways to improve website speed for WordPress, and so here it is. Choosing to stick with an older version of WordPress is very likely going to slow it down. Each new version of WordPress brings performance improvements that enhance the speed that your website is capable of running at, and that is directly connected to user experience and how favorably your site is going to be regarded by these users.

This is even more important as page load speed is part of the criteria that search engines evaluate when it comes to page rankings. If you’re in business with a WordPress website, you had better be putting importance on that.

Consider this – there are studies that have shown that around 40% of visitors will leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds for it to load on an e-commerce website. Faster websites not only offer a better user experience but also rank higher in search engine results. That’s the plain facts of the matter and it’s yet another reason why it is important to keep a WordPress site updated.

Resolve Bugs & Issues

Next we go to WordPress bug fixes, and that capability is another part of why these updates are so recommended. Updates are vital for fixing bugs that may occur in major releases, and when they are fixed then your site’s stability and functionality is improved. Even minor WordPress releases focus on resolving specific issues, and that is essential for a seamless user experience too.

If you’ve ever spent any time reading through WordPress forums you’ll see that getting the lates WordPress update is often what is suggested as a first step in troubleshooting bugs. Want to be as bug-free as possible for your site, and have that be the case for the long foreseeable future? Get the latest version of WordPress.

Maintain Compatibility

Regular updates of all WordPress components, including themes, plugins, and your WordPress core ensures they’re all from the same ‘generation’ and cross-compatible for your site. Updating some components and leave others as they are and you may find you now have incompatibilities that are hindering your website.

If you have a complex website that uses several plugins, it is recommended to wait a few weeks before upgrading as major upgrades may break some plugins/themes.

How to Update a WordPress Site

All of you who are now persuaded to update can do so from either your WordPress dashboard or cPanel. As we said it is a pretty straightforward process to do it yourself, and if not then you can pay a webmaster to do it for you. Talk to our customer support staff here with the best web hosting in Canada at 4GoodHosting.

The one thing you do need to do is ensure you have a working backup before making any changes. By having the backup in place you can quickly revert to your previous installation if any problems occur. We’ll recommend managed WordPress hosting here too, because with it you can create a staging site to test out the new version. This will create a copy of your live website in a separate staging environment for testing.

Considerations Before the Update

Before you go ahead and implement any of the WordPress updates it’s important to take care of a few things first so you avoid potential risks. Here’s what you need to consider before getting started.

1. Plugin/Theme Incompatibility – not all plugins or themes may be compatible with the newest WordPress update. You may have your eye on some of them and be planning to have the worked into your site following the update, but a mismatch can sometimes cause issues with your website’s functionality.
2. Bugs – unfortunately new updates may have their own set of bugs. WordPress is on top of this stuff, and they will remedy the situation quickly if so but you still need to be prepared to deal with this and if you go to WordPress support forums you may be able to be tipped off to them.
3. Importance of Backups – Again, be sure to back up your site before proceeding with any updates. You’re creating a safety net by doing so, allowing you to restore your site to its previous state if there are any problems down the road.
4. Use a Staging Site – Anyone with a more complex website with numerous plugins are advised to test their updates on a staging site first. This approach helps identify and resolve issues before they impact your site once it goes live with the update in place.

Tracking Update Availability

The official WordPress website is going to be your primary source for staying informed with new WordPress releases. You’ll have a cPanel made available to you through your Canadian web hosting provider. Go there by pressing the WP icon you see with the interface in the Admin panel. Once it opens you’ll see whether or not a new WordPress update is available.

What’s good about this is you can select to receive automatic updates for your site. Of course we think that’s your best choice, and what’s also good is that you can make customizations to your updates.

Auto-update is recommended for minor versions. The consensus is that manual testing is advisable for major versions before updating. And provided plugins are reputable and trustworthy then auto-update is good for those too. But for plugins with dependencies – including the super popular WooCommerce for WordPress that is a standard choice for eCommerce websites – it is going to best to do your updates manually. The same will go for custom themes, and especially those with child themes.

FAQs

Why should I update my WordPress site regularly?

The two primary reasons you should get regular updates for a WordPress site as soon as they become available are improved functionality and better web security. Updates will include improved structure for plugin functionality plus the latest and best patches to address bugs and / or security risks.

Will updating WordPress affect my website’s speed?

Yes, and beneficially so. WordPress updates will ensure that your pages load with as much speed as possible, and this is beneficial for both user experience and page rankings via search engines like Google and Bing. You can test your website speed after an update and it is quite likely it will be faster after the update.

Can updating WordPress resolve existing bugs on my site?

Yes. WordPress bug fixes are always a leading focus for the developers when they are putting together the most recent WordPress updates. You can expect to see existing bugs addressed along with any of them that may be the result of a previous update. This is all part of the appeal of keeping a WordPress site current with updates.

Is it safe to auto-update WordPress plugins?

Choosing auto-updates for WordPress plugins is only recommended for plugins that are known to be reputable and trustworthy, and one way to determine this is to only consider plugins that are among the most used ones through WordPress. This information as well as reviews of the security of WordPress plugins can be easily found online.

How can I backup my WordPress site before updating?

You have two options here: you can backup the website using your hosting via SiteGround, or you can do it a WordPress plugin like All in One WP Site Migration. It is important to do a site-wide backup before updating WordPress or any major plugins. It is also advisable to conduct a full when you are choosing to update any more than 6 WordPress plugins at the same time.